Time

life will only last

as 

long as life will

until then

time 

will be on our side

(c) JR. 2023

Fall back

young, starting out

not knowing life

what it is

and is not about

he fell, face down

life changed

and taught him

a valuable lesson

he would never forget

when you're weary

and down on your luck

'fall back, regroup

start over again'

so he stepped up

looking towards

a future

in which he would

not prosper as he should

his goals

now different

were still goals

he was aiming for

he knew

when you're weary

and down on your luck

it never is too late

to fall back, regroup

and start over again

following a path

not

necessarily celebrated

by the happy few

who couldn't see past

their limited notion

of what it means

to succeed

and he did succeed

in many ways

and it has brought him

where he is today

fulfilled

in everything he has done

yet

willpower is the key

to everything

so...

when you're weary

and down on your luck

it never is too late

to fall back, regroup

and start over again

(c) JR. 2023

Still wondering

sitting here, remeniscing

wondering what life's

all about

when no one's around

no one walking about

wondering, was it fun

was it troublesome

wondering, wondering

what went wrong

but I love life

the sound of children

the beauty of a sky

a sun going down

a quiet night

and

its morning sunrise

so still

I'm sitting here

wondering

what the essence of life is

I know, I don't know

all the don't knows 

and why's

but what I do know is

it was worthwhile

my wondering

and

wondering why

(c) JR. 2023

The only word

when life doesn't live up to its performance

leaving you its scars somewhere down an empty street

where you're drowning your soul in sorrow

an answer is what you need an answer that

will again make you whole and complete 

if nothing else .. 

it's the only way to meet your need

so do what has to be done put your question to the test

knowing you have nothing to lose and everything to gain

as ' yes ' would be the only word to make you stay

(c) JR. 2022

 

Life

as the pain reaches its outer limits

I still think I can take 

the trophy life

is

(c) JR.

A new road

 when there's nothing left

and all your clouds come together

with the problems they bear

many as they are

brought on by all those wrong turns

in your life

waiting to be cast away

with all their sadness inside

a promise of a new tomorrow is waiting

where time will try to fit you in

at this stage in your life

as now you're walking  another road

with a changed mind

(c) JR. 2020

Takin' it easy

 and I'm taking it easy

lying low in the shadow of my thoughts

thinking of you in that new morning of our past

hoping I'll find us a peace in which you and me

can have more than a promise in life much more

we can ever forget

knowing, hoping searching for a way

finding a way, finding again what we once had

in which we laughed, loved yet never cried 

yes, we were only living the good times

 and now I'm taking it easy

lying low in the shadow of my thoughts

thinking of you, wondering how I can get to you

so far away, so far out of range, so lost in your memories

of a past almost dead and gone and a future that didn't last

and I'm hoping, searching for a way

to leave that past behind bringing it up to you

into a new morning where we can wonder again

and find a way to live and not forget there's always

a way in which we can find each other in a promise

of a future that will last

and I'm taking it easy

(c) JR. 2020

Eyes

see the eyes that shine
see the eyes that once smiled
see the eyes made to cry
see the eyes go blind
see them look for justice
see them go to war
see them look for freedom
see them fight the evil
see them look for a reason
to reclaim and live out their life
on the land which they were born

(c) JR. 2020

A house with many rooms

in a house with many rooms
all with a part of my life
I'm dusting them one by one
see what I find

it's bits and pieces
and I don't see what I like
been making some wrong turns
those doors are closing in my face
got to open them up again

and I can't let go of those memories
they're so much a part of me
even though they're bad
they're all I ever had

I seem to have lost the key
a world has turned me out
gonna build a new one
those doors will open loud

and the house it will be standing
as it always did with closed doors
they will open up once more
with the many rooms
with all the memories

so let me live my life
I've lived hard and long
it will pass
and I'll walk along

(c) JR. eightees-ninetees

A lonely road

somewhere, out there someone's waiting
walking down a lonely road he has never
seen or known

and he's looking about him waiting not
seeing the richness in his life, he thinks
it's only pain and sorrow that have arrived

now looking ahead into the distance he sees
something out there, a stir on that lonely road
it's that light of fortune coming his way

it has come to take his pains and sorrows
and turn them away

(c) JR. 2019

Times do change

just one more time, will I go out there
see them once again, look if they have
changed, too bad if they have

take my car and drive it down, they're
still around live a life quiet like, I don't
find what  I've left there's nothing there
for me to take back

we've forgotten how to talk along the same
lines, their eyes sre shifty, voices leaving trail
we're staging a play

I decided not to stay, they're almost glad to
see me go away, a tension's in the air, no time
will I spare, we've drifted apart

no matter the talk, we've drifted apart
we smile, we don't laugh, it's no more
in the heart

(c) JR.

Pieces

waitin' at the threshold of time
as life leaves us lookin' out over
a field where a late season dies

my life is as that season, lookin'
over its shoulder, lookin' at what
it leaves behind maybe with some
of those lost pieces it just can't find

sometimes you're collecting those
pieces remains of what once was
until they al come together as it was

I spend a lifetime collecting those pieces
and they almost have come together still
a couple are left, I myself am the last piece
to collect

that's what life is collecting pieces
until they all come together at a window
in time giving us a chance to see what lies
ahead on the other side

(c) JR. 2019

Life

I'm standing here
right out of the blue
in a ray of light
don't know what to do
don't believe in life anymore

but I've got to hang on
just for the sake of livin'
must get through this
it will cease to excist
but it'll take time
I flip a dime

time will be all mine
my life is like a shell
hollow and empty
getting drowned
by a sea of emotion
thrust upon a shore
barely alive

I will recover
I will crawl to freedom
and take it by its tail
I will shake it
be once more
in the running again
get rid of my pain
that grabs me
again and again
I want to get rid of
and be whole again

I'm downcast
thrown unto the ground
I crawl around
where is my way out
always in myself
got to do it myself
to be whole again

I'll take my stand
be back on the edge
work my way back
and ask myself
what do I want from this life
it's not much, some sanity
to live on in peace
and lie under the appletree
thinkin', this life
it is to be

(c) JR. eightees

Wrongs of life

Has anybody asked me about the pain that has been
has anybody asked me about the troubles I've seen
has anybody felt the wrongs life sometimes breaths
would it have been different if strenght had not been

would it have forsaken me had my armour been pierced
it would have had it not been, so if you ask me how it was
it was huge it was that wrong of life nobody wants to see
it was one of those dreams only meant for me to dream

an' yes, I dream ev'ry second, ev'ry minute, ev'ry hour
ev'ry breath I inhale, ev'ry drop of water I waste away
an' ev'ry day I hope I can make through to another day
an' ev'ry day grants me a moment thakin' life again

so if you ask me how was life today I stare in anger
is he jokin' is he sane has he seen the wrongs of life
does he know what it is like when it wrongs you again
he doesn't dream 'cause life has not wronged him today

an' yes I dream ev'ry hour ev'ry day ev'ry breath I inhale
an' yes I dream ev'ry hour ev'ry day ev'ry breath I inhale
an' yes I dream, I dream, dream an' dream

(c)  JR. 2018

Wear it well

collecting things
throughout my life
tires me so
I'll leave you tomorrow
collecting one ev'ry day
is why I give them away

They give me
all the challenge I need
working the roads
collecting one ev'ry day
I know you'll wear it well

tomorrow a dry bell
poppin' in the wind
jumpin' the gun
when I fall
must slowdown again
stop playin' the game
start givin' tommorows
away

I must
I'm a prime suspect
I'm losing trust
they're just an inch away
at knowing I collect tomorrows
ev'ry day

collecting things
throughout my life
I'll  leave you tomorrow
wear it well without a lie

(c) JR.  eightees

Lost once, twice

I was standin' standin' there

in the darkest hour of my life

with the eyes of age starin' at me

she looked at me once 

she looked at me twice

wondering what she could do

to cure my achin' mind

she knew I was lost once 

now twice she knew I had lost more

than I could ever wish for or find

and the hurt it had never died

yes I was lost inside, inside my mind

and the eyes of age were starin' at me

wondering what time could do 

for a lost an' weary mind

(c) JR. 2018

Perfection

if there's a yesterday

I'd make my mistakes 

my failures yesterday

lead a perfect life today 

all the time

a perfect future ahead 

a perfect job I'd have

perfect children I'd get

always a correct act 

no wrong word said

acting always in line 

no mistake is mine

not one's mine

perfection is my wall 

the wall I have to climb

just to make a mistake 

a mistake that's all mine

'cause perfection can kill 

kill the soul within

a life that doesn't live 

is one that doesn't excist

is one with nothing to give

(c) JR. ninetees

As my soul weeps

and yes, he was my father
in ev'ry sense of the word
I his promise to the world
he meant to keep

and when I fell in the face
of my future he raised me
up unto my feet so I could
live the life meant to be

and when he fell I raised
him up as well as I could
but in the end his life was
no longer meant to be

and yes, his souls's still
in me the one I couldn't
keep sometimes I can hear
him speak as my soul weeps

(c) JR. 2018

My Place

I know, this is where I'll die
somethin' tells me, this place
I found

will be where I'll end my life
it's a beautifull place, so peacefull
it has no lies

as far as I can see, this place, it will
be true to me, it's what I want this
place

is something, like a fantasy or more
a wish to rest my weary bones, to get
away from the world

let it leave me, near a dyin' fire, wine
flowin' close to an early morning where
birds can sing

an' noise is in retreat, my place as it is
is not much but mine to live, as long
as I can

it will protect me, shelter me from an
aging storm, that will get to me when
I'm ready

yet, 'till I die, I will live in such a way
it will drive 'Man' insane, in a surge
I will take it all

an' finally when I drop, I will whisper
under my breath: 'it wasn't all that bad'
in a beautifull place

so peacfull it has no lies, this place
true to me, is what I wanted, my need
to have

where I took a last stand, I did it well
nobody knew, 'till I fell, in this beautifull
place

so true to me, and under my breath I'll
whisper, ' it was my need to  have those
walls around me

'My Place', as it stands

(c) JR. 1985

Trophy

as

the

pain

reaches

its

outer

limits

I

still

think

I

can

take

the

trophy

life

is

(c) JR. 2015