I could get no higher.

Then that summit that we climbed.

I swear there was a choir

Singing joys and words of kind.

There were trials, tribulations.

There was blue and fresh clean air.

Like some drug induced sensations.

No more need to stand and stare.

All over but the crying.

Now is the time to say so long.

I just got sick of trying.

It’s not the singer, it’s the song.

I tried to be a passenger, in this thing that they call love.

I couldn’t get too comfortable in what I knew so little of.

I know now, what I didn’t know, and for that there is a price.

I am just a little jaded now but I’m probably twice as nice.

There is a freedom in the knowledge that looks like you don’t care.

You look so cold and selfish, but you never learned to share.

I knew you, like few do, and there’s no prize for that.

Just older in the knowledge, that we’ve had this little chat.

It’s grey and wet on a Wednesday.

At least it isn’t snow.

I wanted change and heard a voice said,

“It’s best that you don’t know.”

I’m tired but that’s normal.

I think it comes with age.

It is wet and getting colder.

And complaining is all the rage.

We were sinking in the quagmire.

The dreams of silence didn’t last.

There were rumors of a rescue.

But the rumors faded fast.

The Lawyer called a banker.

The banker called his Mom.

They haggled on deliverance.

And handed me the final sum.

I’ve been working at the car wash.

I no longer have the blues.

Got that monkey off my back.

And my baby has new shoes.

The taming of the species.

All set? Now let’s begin.

All those fears have claimed your mercies.

And reframe your losses as a win.

They are talking New World Order.

Reset with Omicron.

You will be happy and own nothing.

You can wear what you have on.

No more Kings or Queendoms.

Just the smell of filthy rich.

There will be the talk of freedoms.

Just before they flip the switch.

You remember what the old ones said.

All your smiles and smug disdain.

What to do with such a warning?

With all this singing in the rain.

She was wise, but wasn’t happy.

I think she knew too much.

All that knowledge made her sappy.

Alone and sad and such.

She was searching for the common.

Someone plain and twice as thick.

I slid down from the tree tops.

But my sight just made her sick.

So I went back to the jungle.

God knows I really tried.

Left her reading at the library.

Laughed so hard, I almost cried.

The sun was brightly shining.

There was stardust in the air.

The Angel’s were all humming.

Broke a silence that was rare.

The whiners stopped complaining.

Twas still early, they were asleep.

Except for one Prince Charming.

And the Maiden in his keep.

You could see them at their window.

They looked down, but not for long.

The Maiden was far from satisfied.

The beat and rhythm were all wrong.

It was over before it started.

Prince Charming slept past noon.

The Angel’s went where Angel’s go.

No one’s expected back to soon.

Dennis Mantin

I got it all. Everything I wanted. Those words stuck in my head.

Standing tall. Everything I wanted. Remind me what I said?

I saw you. Everything I wanted. Can I have you too?

I forget sometimes. Everything I wanted. Sure is one strange brew.

I got it all. Everything I wanted. Sometimes dreams come true.

I got it all. Everything I wanted. I was young and had that too.

The rose’s came in bunches…

The love was soft and kind.

The baby grew and said some words;

And then she spoke her mind.

Not everyone is happy.

And some are quite insane.

But it’s when the roses are in bloom.

That we tolerate the pain.

I’d been searching for the answers… When finally she came along.

Preforming miracles, curing cancers. Giving music to the song.

She taught and gave directions. Even when I didn’t ask.

She let me know my fortune. In her sunshine I could bask.

She showed me all my foibles. And how little I evolved.

I felt criminally unworthy, so I left her. Mystery solved.