I'd forgotten walnuts
lying on the sidewalk,
turning black.
I'd forgotten
all the things I did
to keep
from turning back.
I'd forgotten
how it feels
to know
for sure
I come from somewhere
I'm remembering.
And it seems
I spent
the best part
of my life
in Jonah's Wail
In the belly
of a mammoth force
that simply
must prevail
My resistance
gets me noplace
except deeper
in the dark
I'm returning.
The sum total
of what's happened
since I was young,
idealistic,
and completely
convinced
has done nothing
to change
my values.
It's just
changed
my speed.
Everyone
who took
the
easy way out
has paid
a high price
in anguish
and doubt
Getting old
before their time
and lookin' like
they can't
seem to find
what they need.
And it's funny I guess
But in the end
it costs less
Livin' what you believe.
We
the first generation
to renounce
a holy war
To challenge
the authority
of those
who'd gone before
Have not vanished
in
the wind,
although we have
managed
to
blend in
to
the scenery.
Though our styles
went out of fashion
after coming
into vogue
We weren't
setting any trends,
we weren't
doing what we were told
We were not
following orders,
nor were we
telling others
What to be.
They said
we'd feel different
with the passage of time
That with age
and experience
we'd be towin' the line
But
as far as I can see
that just
hasn't come to be.
They said
that rebelliousness
exacts quite a toll
That
we wouldn't
play the hand out.
We'd fade
or
we'd fold.
That in time
we'd discover
it costs
to damn much
bein'
free.
And it's funny
I guess
But in the end
it costs less
Livin'
what you believe.
If you want to know
where God is
I can say
where not to look
He's not trapped
inside the Bible
or
in any single book
Nor is He
some distant goal
to be achieved
through hot persuit
That don't prove anything.
More than that
I cannot tell you.
If your life's
at all like mine
What's important
reaches out to you
from
in between the lines
With a firm
yet gentle hand
that takes the wheel
and sets a course
beyond all reckoning.
So
pass it on
to Generation X
It ain't about dollars,
it ain't about sex
It ain't about nothin'
come easy
or somethin'
for free.
By the time
you got it characterized
It's taken half a lifetime
just to recognize
That
the outcome's implicit
in the form of the seed.
No matter what
pays the best
In the end
it costs less
Livin' what you believe.
In the shadow
of a question mark,
when certainty recedes
In the calm
where there's no one
to tell you
what
you should believe
In the poetry of silence
when the question of belief
Is in the reckoning.
All the sages
will agree
that no one needs
to be a sage
For the answers come
to everyone
afresh
in every age
In
as many forms
as there are
seekers seeking
Truth
comes beckoning.
Expect a miracle
and one there will be
Like the joy
that comes
in risking loving
what we love indeed
Like the ease
that comes
in following
the path
as it unfolds
Beneath our feet.
Take the time
to find
what's precious to you
After that,
it becomes apparent
what
you need to do
And
no forces opposing
can cause you
to falter
or retreat.
For when push
comes to shove
When you do
what you love
You live
what you believe.
And it's funny I guess
But in the end
it costs less
Livin' what you believe.
August, 1995
After Wail Again!