Grain flashes gold in the fire of the sun.
Summer breeze flirts ‘til day is done.
Dust rises heavy and piles in heaps..
The river runs still and the brook is deep.

Dark clouds fall over solemn sky.
South bound doves coo mournful cry.
The forest dons jacket of crimson and gold,
As the wind bites hard and the ground grows cold.

Icy wind scours the barren hill.
Snow diamonds settle deep and still.
Icicle fingers strain to touch earth
One year dies, another gives birth.

And when the day was over,
I stood and turned for home,
But I really didn’t have one.
My home is just a room.

One room in a two room shack
I share with my three brothers.
What we own fits in a gunnysack.
And we belong only to each other.

Yes, freedom is what we share
As we move from town to town
But we hope we’ll find a place somewhere
Where we can settle down.

A church, a school, a neighborhood,
The things you overlook.
As you eat the grapes I picked today.
And page through your Redbook.

In the early dawn hours,
As I looked to the sky
I saw the moon through the trees
Whispering good-bye.
Gently she faded from my sight
As the darkness waned
And the day waxed bright.

Light

I wish that I could paint the light
So you could see from far
How it fills the trees with morning stars
And changes leaves to amber
And back to green
More beautiful than I’ve ever seen before;
Yet causes me to remember
Another bright September
The kind of days I wish we’d share once more.

Mankind: such a beautiful word!
Reverse the syllables.
The meaning is clear.
If every man was a kind man
Unlimited change would appear.

Yet inflamed by fear,
Ashamed we hide.
We dwell on difference in color and creed.
We build walls without doors,
Make rules we can’t bend,
Draw lines we can’t cross
When if we would blend
We’d find the companionship each of us needs.

Alone we hide behind our walls,
Reside within our boundary lines.
Until our make-shift rules collapse
We remain only man
Instead of mankind.