THERE IS A WIND

The wind in the trees the sound of what it like to be free

The cry of a newborn son is the beginning of love

Where is that mountain top where Martin saw the dream

Where is that path to the valley of peace

Where is that message of hope hidden from me

The wind on the water pushing the waves of the past

The cry of dignity echoing through these monuments and memorials

Where is that promise that you maid to me 

Where is that voice to call for accountability in our choice

Where is that hand reaching down to pull up

There is a wind blowing through the street

There is a wind blowing through the halls

There is a wind in us all

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

BORN OF PAIN / STOLEN NAME

Born of pain cursed to live that way
A forgotten name marked with shame
Guilt by association becomes your fame

A stolen name becomes the scares on the back of a forgotten man.

Fading away to become the dust of another land

Bitterness replaced by forgiveness justice is a slap of the back of a hand.

Born of pain the mind struggle the mental slaying 

The community broke apart day after day.

Families striving for a better way

A stolen name becomes a nations bitterness

Contempt for the past without forgiveness

Celebrating a heritage of hatefulness

Born of pain crushed by the inhumanity 

No matter how sharp the knife we still bleed

Reparations will not make you free

A stolen name becomes the bust on the history page.

A platform of uneducated political rage

Fact and feeling become the moves of this game.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

  

WE HIDE

Hunger hides in the schools

Hunger hides in the uneducated

Hunger hides in a child's mind

 

Why should this be a political fight?

We are not asking for a feast, just a little something to eat.

 

Sadness hides in the home

Sadness hides in the room

Sadness hides in the man on the streets

 

Don't want to run in your circle anymore.

Want to take that straight line leave it all behind

 

Pain hides in the head

Pain hides in the lie

Pain hides in the woman's box

 

Change your name change your life game.

Want to remove this pain just to replace it with a different kind of pain

 

Ignorance hides in the tip of a pen

Ignorance hides in the words of a little girl

Ignorance hides in the toothless follower

 

Red hat, red mask dyed with the blood of the virus of millions 

Showing off how privilege you can be when it is only attention you need

 

Love hides behind newborn eyes.

Love hides in giving without a witness. 

Love hides in a kiss unconditional.

 

More than a touch more than activity

Life, designed to be free

 

Hope hides in a morel decision

Hope hides in the silences before the dawn

Hope hides in the gift shop of the Obama Center

 

The last few dollars on a losing lotto ticket

Has more hope than what a preacher asks for in faith

 

Peace hides within the mind; the questions of life are inside.

Peace hides in the silence of nature  

Peace hides in the forgiveness of oneself

 

The things we search for we hide

The meaning to these feelings we hide 

All that we hide has become a part of life.

 

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

 

DON'T NEED

Have you given up on me have I given up on you

What is it we really can do as we look like fools

Can't see the future past my own dreams

But can you say your truly free

Don't need no blessed beads.

Don't need no lucky rabbit's feet.

Just need our leader's minds to be free.

Instead of thinking of a destructive ideology 

They have a death wish for our society. 

As we strive for peace out on the streets

Don't need no psychic reading.

Don't need no mystic miracle.

Our past history should be a lesson, not a political chant.

Why would anyone ever want to go back to that

Step on a crack hope to break the presidents back.

Has it really come down to that looking for an easy hack

Don't need no tarot cards.

Don't need no astrological reading.

Just like a lie and the truth, faith, and belief are two different things. 

When the bell rings we are def too injustice as society screams

Uneducated words argued without any proof, it is all they can do

Just to be heard, ignorance should not be an excuse. 

Don't need no prayer.

Don't need no mantra.

My blessings are my own my sins I control

I follow a path set from long ago.

Not by anyone man not by any sacred book

Don't tell the directions to a destination you have never took

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

TELL THE STORY

The voice so strong echoing the call to march to stand for all

Looking to the future to remember the past wondering will this movement last

As the halls go silent never to forget who brought us to this

Tell the story of those who came before us creating a movement that we trust

Tell the story of a boy taken from his home not long ago

Tell the story of the man who went to the mountain top to tell that story

The yellow paint on the streets will it become a forgotten page fading away

Fading away as our ancestor's vague story becoming yellowing pages in our history books

This is our story of those claiming peace and those claiming hate

Tell the story of those who started a movement all the children who grew from it

Tell the story of a girl shook the world just to walk into school

Tell the story of a dream yet to be fulfilled and the hope that it one day will

A friendly greeting a warm handshake is the kind of power I'd like to emulate

A true hero doesn't carry weapons he carries a conviction for peace and equality

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

 

DIWALI

Never seen the night so bright
Even inside when feeling soul the light
This is the time to change from wrong to right

Where is the party when it is Diwali
Music and dancing when it is Diwali
Celebrating a new day when it is Diwali

From the temple to home knowledge in the light is what we all know
I am soul, you are soul, intellectual cleaning will make us free
Remove all the webs and dust know that it is the love we can trust

So much food when it is Diwali

Light triumphs of the night when it is Diwali

Celebrating a new life when it is Diwali

Goddess Lakshmi comes and dances with me

She got all the wealth and prosperity it is much more than charity

Clearing the way for respect and dignity

Light the lamps when it is Diwali

Felling the peaceful mood when it is Diwali

Celebrating a new me when it is Diwali

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

GOT NO WORDS

Harts and souls have gone so cold forgetting what we are marching for

Others claiming to a movement that is not theirs acting like they really care

As Karin cries that this isn't fair worried about what she wears  

Got no words when the silence makes it worse

Hiding while my brother dying as the leaders are lying 

To you and me about what is so obviously 

To much worry in this world teaching it to every boy and girl

Punished for living in poverty hear the calls for equality

Not understanding the reality play hide and seek with COVID-19

Got no words when the heart hurts when every turn thing are worse  

So much consumption worried where our next meal will come from

When we should be worried where is all the peace and love

March during the day, dance during the night is the new way to fight

Walls and fences divide us all who has to die to save another life

Offended by the yellow paint as you live in your hate

Got no words when the third eye is blind to your own mind

Gave away your soul for nothing so one ego can have all the control

Living like a poor man just for a MAGA hat

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020