I am held fast by chains of fear and yet The day will come when fear will let me go So many fears that I could not forget And many fears to come I do not know When my young days were long I was afraid Of losing love and being left alone I yearned the comfort of my mother’s words My father’s arms as strong as any stone They both held back the perils of the night That I might set my face to the unknown In these dim days I find my fears the same Of being old, and living on my own Without my heart’s true love to hold my hand And comfort me when night begins to fall I fear one day...

There’s a fence I need to mend And some bills I need to send But, hey, the world’s not going to end Tomorrow There’s a friend I need to write But there’s a movie on tonight So if I wait it will be all right Tomorrow There’s that book I’m working on And I have yet to mow the lawn The moments here and then it’s gone Tomorrow. And when my yesterdays have passed And this today becomes my last The world will still be spinning fast Tomorrow Wilson/05

A body at rest Will stay at rest Unless somebody moves it And that my life Is as it is Most definitely proves it. So many things There are to do And yet remain undone And here I am Still sitting here With none of them begun I could get up And take a walk Or even wash some dishes So much of what We want from life Lives only in our wishes So many hats I might have worn So many roles to play I might have even Changed the world But here I sit today A body moves The way it does And so will keep on going What will stop it Newton said, There is no way of knowing Wilson/06

Symphony I Half my life is past Without a memory Planting carrots in a garden Drawing pictures of houses Making holes in the dirt and my knees Swinging in swings and climbing on ladders Singing simple melodies under an ice cream sky Hour after hour watching the clock in classroom Make one step backward before striking the time Flying on my bike past the chain link fences Until that moment when sun went down and I awakened naked II And then went so slowly towards the unrelenting goal Reading steinbeck and stanlee, singing in anger Notes chained by convention and sent to perdition empty handed Half...

Eve and God were walking on the path One and one, together in the light Long before she ever felt His wrath Before she learned of wrong and right Listening to His words she felt it burn A fire in the center of her heart Eve saw there was much for her to learn And knowing this was keeping them apart Desire burned and then Eve understood There was something more than what she had Being one with God would be so good And things the way they were, were now so bad In that moment Satan took his place And gave to Eve the fruit of her desires Mother Eve, who saw God face to face Took that first step...

You may find yourself At the bottom of a pit Hurling curses At the filth and muck That hold you down And you may find Yourself below Gazing at an angry sun Above your head Stars behind the clouds But what eats at you More than flies that draw Blood from your veins Is that you must reach For hands to help you out Wilson/07

How many things I touched today In my pocket coins and keys And little scraps of that and this I lay my fingers where I please I guess we’re all of us inclined this way As if my fingers long to kiss Everything that comes along Especially when you say don’t touch As if touching things were wrong This life is good and I don’t want to miss One sensation; each one means so much Words and smiles may touch a heart From the moment we see light We touch our world right from the start For touch is how we come to be, as such And God knows nothing else could be so right Wilson/07

A Pirate’s Last Words I am the last man of my kind And soon there’ll not be any Black spotted as I stand here With treasure not a penny You mean to see me here well hanged This hempen halter fit for me You’d hang me for a thousand slaves My human booty now set free But not a life I ever took That did not mean to take my head I took the ship, but spared the crew And for that you would see me dead How many fell in ‘61? Were slaughtered in your civil war? How many brothers, fathers, sons, Will see their families never more? But I am just a privateer And from the poor I’ve...

How many times I’ve sat in prayer, Hoping there was someone there, To listen to the musings of my heart So many times I thought I knew, What I wanted God to do, And so I put the horse before the cart For as I put my order in, And waited for God to begin, To send my heart’s desire postage paid I never stopped to give a thought To all the good things I have got Or give a nod to plans God might have made For when I make my prayer request I assume that I know best What will bring me happiness on earth For what I fail to realize, A man, no matter how he tries, Can never estimate the real...

Let me give my love to those in need Let me comfort those who bleed Let me give my ear and heart To those whose lives are torn apart Let me be thankful for this day For good friends come and gone their way Let me see each day as new With those the years have seen me through Let me always realize The hope in every child’s eyes Let me walk upon the land With gentle foot and loving hand Let me value every friend Who walks with me to journey’s end And let me thank you for my death That day I take that final breath And let it float on summer’s breeze Please Wilson/07