I left you in the rearview, not long, awhile back.

You stood in the doorway saying… something, talking smack.

I never learned to love you, now I know I said I did.

I just learned to love myself and that embarrassment… yes I hid.

Sometimes we just grow up fast, then we listen to our heart.

Or sometimes we grow tired of all that being ripped apart.

Somewhere in that distance I hear an old song play.

There’s still time to change your path, I smile when they say.

There’s a bustle in your hedgegrove, not sure now what they meant?

The pipers calling someone but the gold has all been spent.

Words can have two meanings and sometimes there’s a toll.

The piper found the stairway, taken back everything that you stole.

A beautiful stranger smiled at me and I immediately got suspicious…

I looked over my shoulder to see who else it could be that she was looking at while simultaneously checking with my right hand to see if my wallet were still in place.

I walked away not daring to look back… the moment was gone and at the very least; one of us was exposed.

Dennis Mantin

It’s all getting very boring.

All these memories we be storing.

If I were sleeping, I’d be snoring…

Could we all just please shut up?

No more, Diddy. Please, who cares?

Or ‘TheDonald’ or Elon in pairs…

Is this the end of comments and stares?

Could we all just please shut up?

I said I would love you forever.

I was young and terribly shy.

Gave you credit for being clever.

Didn’t know how to say goodbye.

Was over before it started.

It’s just the way it was.

Don’t need to be so broken hearted.

Sometimes it’s just because.

I didn’t really know about love

Just kinda thought I did.

Only when push comes to shove.

Fight or flight? I ran and hid.

I have that thing going on…

That feeling where I can find whatever excuse I need to fail.

It has a need… This Thing.

A need to live and breathe and thrive!

What the therapist’s refers to as… Intergenerational Transmission of Family Dysfunction.

Awareness is the key I’ve been told and I am seeped in Awareness NOW.

I will break this chain for me and mine.

There is a heart shaped carve in rosewood.
There’s a line drawn in the sand.
I pray there on grace and wonder,
and there’s a baby, she’s in my hand.

There’s a virtue called forgiveness.
From a force we can’t see.
It’s how I deal with darkness.
Of how I feel when you’re with me.

I struggle now to hear you.
Seek approval in your eyes.
I hate you for your beauty.
Like I love you for your lies.

It’s a sad sad situation
Department sad but true.
You fear that they are coming
And you fear what they will do.

It’s a sad sad situation
Under heading sad but true
You fear that they are coming
No one is coming for you.

Dennis Mantin

I don’t know why my baby loves clowns.
Whose painted on tears never fall down.
I don’t know what she sees in their eyes
Perhaps the line between horror/surprise…

I don’t know why my baby can’t sing.
Why carnival music isn’t her thing.
It fills my head when I’m at the fair.
Searching for clues in clowns everywhere.

I don’t know why she screams at night.
I hope it’s not why she holds me so tight.
Because I’m the type I’m weak for love.
Carnival music I rise above.

Is it the pain or is it the tears?
For some carnival crime from yesteryears.
Maybe it’s you, maybe I’ll never know.
Maybe it’s me, baby let go.

(chorus)

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings horses and all the kings men.
Tried and they tried but she fell down again.

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
She went to her shrink ended up at the mall.
Humpty Dumpty wanted it all.

Dennis Mantin

The bad luck raised suspicions, on a path that was beat down.

No one dared to look within or see the wise men in the town.

It was happening for eons, as long as Grandad could recall.

Like a dark foreboding plank walk or a dream in which you fall.

Until the child spoke her words that, “Maybe somethings wrong with me?”

So we made a meeting with the Doc, down at the Family Psychiatry.

The doctor raised awareness and we all took a look.

Things are looking so good now, might take Grandma off the hook.

Now life is far from perfect however the family’s not so sad.

Looking in the mirror, not blaming blind luck, good or bad.

The feelings were confusions.

The expression was surprised.

The product of delusions.

The truth had somehow lied.

The children were selected.

In the group who would be spared.

No deception will be detected.

If you smiled like you cared.

It works for just a time or two.

Because bullshit baffles brains?

Even babies raised by wolves.

Know about deception pains.

From the safety of the Tele, we watch it all go down.

Not all… is truth or fiction, not all is swim or drown.

It’s kinda funny how it hits you, when we are all alone.

Beauty is just skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone.

You feel that the darkness, that roams in your own heart.

It is looking for a cuddle, but you come to rip apart.

Just try to face your demons and see the color of those eyes?

Just once try to calm your fears and listen to your lies?

You may never get there, maybe like the land of Nod.

Where Cain is still searching, in the shadows seeking God.