Thursday, February 27, 2014

2.1030 : 2/27/08 : Great Symbol (Seventyseven: 35 of 81)

If I just had the Great Symbol
I’d get everything
significance importance
and the shiny ring
while you dally at the table
with the trifles and the sweets
I’m onto something stellar
with such sublime beats
though it’s bland as buttered bread
pale as the sky
though it appeals to neither
the ear nor the eye

what

2.1029 : 2/26/08 : Source (Seventyseven: 34 of 81)

Universal like a flood
no turning aside
source of all things
and nowhere to hide
work without recognition
caring for all
holds none to accounts
So it might seem very small
but it is everyone’s home
So you could call it great
And it doesn’t even care
thus it attains this estate

what

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

2.1028 : 2/25/08 : Clever (Seventyseven: 33 of 81)

Aren’t I clever I know you so well
how much better if I understood
my reflection
Push you right over
Doesn’t mean I’m strong
mere force will never match
true introspection
I’ll be rich
when I stop wanting more
I’ll have my purpose
When I stop dwelling on what’s in store
Someday to find my true homestead
there to stay in perfect repose
long after
long after I’m dead

what

Monday, February 24, 2014

2.1027 : 2/24/08 : Nameless (II) (Seventyseven: 32 of 81)

Call me nameless
Who is?
There is no there
second to nothing
counsel of all kings
everything, everywhere
heaven and earth
came to perfect accord
rained down sweet dew
We made peace under no lord
simple existence
became so many names
epistemology
it it worth all these games?
isn’t it time to stop?
if nothing else to keep safe
as much as I can be
this great ocean’s little waif

what

2.1026 : 2/23/08 : War II (Seventyseven: 31 of 81)

3,218 : 10 ?



All the destruction we’ve bottled
What do you expect
I will not acknowledge them
or give them respect
This ritual of violence
that turns it all upside down
the last resort of the fool who wears the crown
I only want peace and quiet
I don’t even care to win
Should I be happy
the vicious cycle begins again
our history of war is a
protracted funeral dirge
and we can only mourn and wonder
if it’s a defect we will ever purge

what

Saturday, February 22, 2014

2.1025 : 2/22/08 : War (Seventyseven: 30 of 81)

If the ruler were right
he would not seek war
blowing up in your face
is all it’s good for
Soldiers spell trouble
I’m sorry it’s true
tearing it up is
what armies do
Keep you borders
don’t go on parade
civil and modest
that’s it, you’re made
We should regret
every war we wage
eventually I’d bet
we’ll be wiped from the page

what

Friday, February 21, 2014

2.1024 : 2/21/08 : Lost in Space (Seventyseven: 29 of 81)

You wanna change the world
you’re crazy
we’re lost in space
and inviolate
not for grasping at
or lazy
tampering, short-
lived disaster’s all you get
a time for going forth
a time to follow
breathing slow
or fast and hollow
time to get strong
time to fall apart
So I eschew all extremes
and keep counsel with my heart

what

Thursday, February 20, 2014

2.1023 : 2/20/08 : Towards the Infinite (Seventyseven: 28 of 81)

Rock cock but keep it soft like a bitch
And flow like a river for the world
Flowing like a river is walking always straight
and narrow no matter how big wave finds you hurled
up against smacked back like a baby
maybe: mind on bright but always in the dark
To be a pattern constantly in virtue
Onwards towards the infinite and never miss the mark
Inward glorious, outward lowly
I am the global fountain
From virtue to simple in my hands all soldiers
my tailor’s brigade storms up that mountain

what

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

2.1022 : 2/19/08 : No Tracks (Seventyseven: 27 of 81)

See how when I left you
I left no tracks
You’ll never pin down what I say
though I say stacks and stacks
I shut that thing like a
stone made whole
and you’ll never open it again
if it’s your lifelong goal
I tied you to that stone
and sent you to the bottom
You ain’t no part of it no more
So smoke ‘em if you got ‘em
I’m gonna save all I can
So nothing gets wasted
I’ll follow my light
and every love I tasted
led me here to teach the bad
and how I cherish my charges
and like a fool where angels fear to tread
in love barges

what

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

2.1021 : 2/18/08 : I’m Light (Seventyseven: 26 of 81)

3,212 : 4 ?



I’m so heavy I’m light
I’m so serene I rock the mic all night
Therefore the sage, traveling all day
I don’t look out the window not a thing to say
No matter the signs or roadside attractions
I stay home avoid distractions
You think I’m going to tip you all the heat I got?
You think I’m going to let you unseat my spot
I’m restful and thus my own master
For all your restlessness you won’t get there a minute faster

what

Monday, February 17, 2014

2.1020 : 2/17/08 : Nameless (Seventyseven: 25 of 81)

Big nameless
and yet whole and undivided
before heaven and earth
silent and boundless
standing one unchanging
all-encompassing pervading
think we could all call it mother
I don’t know it by any other
name
I call it the Great nameless
a thousand
the same
things that go
that go far
to return
so what you are
great like heaven, great like earth
Yeah you’re the king
man to earth
earth to heaven
heaven does its own thing

what

Sunday, February 16, 2014

eponymous

Grasping concludes Songs of Days Volume 2.6, The Axis. Up next, Volume 2.7: Seven

what

2.1019 : 2/16/08 : Grasping (Seventyseven: 24 of 81)

You can’t stretch grasping forever
and stand at peace
Get up on the pedestal
You’ll get seen but not release
If it’s all excuses
You’ll never rise up to glory
And you’ll never be for real real
if you’re only telling your own story
The victories that go out on parade
don’t outlast their season
All these things are waste and mutant growths
And nature abhors them with reason
And as the man of this endless hour
I will not allow my heart
to give them power

what

Saturday, February 15, 2014

2.1018 : 2/15/08 : Whirlwind (Seventyseven: 23 of 81)

Is this simple enough
is this quiet enough
to come to fruit on its own terms?
no this is a whirlwind
no this is a thunderstorm
writ brief
by the air with its birds
by the earth with its worms
To be One with the all
to be one with virtue
to be one with loss
owned by the all
owned by virtue
Caught without counting the cost
and if I have no faith in it
it will have no faith in me
that is my whirlwind prose
my frailty

what

Friday, February 14, 2014

2.1017 : 2/14/08 : Bow (Seventyseven: 22 of 81)

Bow to be whole: curl to be straight
the empty shall be full and the old shall relate
have less to be more, much will bemuse
so I gather the one and all others refuse
The pattern under heaven I do not myself display
And this I shine all the day
I keep my mouth shut and everyone knows me
I get the credit by saying nothing of my ability
I bury my success and so I endure
I yield to everyone so my enemies are so unsure
No my fine low bow’s not just sewing the wind
and like a mighty magnet I draw all things in

what

Thursday, February 13, 2014

2.1016 : 2/13/08 : Elusive (Seventyseven: 21 of 81)

What is the nature?
Elusive and evasive!
Yet everywhere is form
persistent and pervasive!
Yet everywhere is substance
shadowy and dim!
that kid has got a core
of vitality in him
don’t doubt me now
this is for real
my unfailing sincerity
a name that’s set in steel
recollecting the way of things
at the beginning of history
how would you know such a thing?
by what is within me

what

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

2.1015 : 2/12/08 : Miss America (Seventyseven: 20 of 81)

I’m done with learning it never made me happy
your little here and little there
I refuse to fear what everyone is fearing
But the consequence of bucking the tide is a bear
Everyone is smiling like Miss America
Like they’re grilling the golden ox on the fourth of July
I tell you today I really miss America
It seems like there’s no one left to ask why
I am staying silent from now on
like a baby that has never smiled
While everyone is swimming in prosperity
Look at me plunging into the wild
What a fool I am what a muddled mind
While everyone is bright I am so dim
All your sharp brilliance wafts over my silent sea
When they seek the one nobody will say that’s him
settle into your upholstered ruts
while I crouch on the muddy verges
but you know I got one thing on you
I am at peace with my natural urges

what

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

2.1014 : 2/11/08 : I Should Dispense (Seventyseven: 19 of 81)

I should dispense with my
big brain antics
every one would be so much better off
dispense with my finer feelings
my focus on right
they’d all go back to just normal
though you well may scoff
If I weren’t so sharp playing such a close hand
there’d be no more robbers and thieves
And yet all of these fine foundations
are not quite enough
So this age so sadly grieves
So it must bow down to
Something higher
one stroke and back to basics
make so little of myself
come to be next to nothing
hey watch this old dog play tricks


what

Monday, February 10, 2014

2.1013 : 2/10/08 : Great Principle (Seventyseven: 18 of 81)

3,205 : 15 ?



Once a great principle
now left behind
replaced with humanism, law
the blind leading the blind
with the brightest and the best
came the biggest hypocrites
and it all fell out of balance
and nobody gave two shits
and from family to tribe
to city state to nation
your great principle appears
to be on permanent vacation
So it all gave way
to chaos and spats
and sure enough here come
the loyal bureaucrats

what

Sunday, February 09, 2014

2.1012 : 2/9/08 : Ruler (Seventyseven: 17 of 81)

I am the greatest ruler
who you never heard of
Not like that handsome fellow
you hung on every word of
but the ones we have now
any one with half a brain
would fear and despise
but when will be defy again?
no faith for the faithless
I bite down on my words
watching the contented
self-satisfied herds

what

Saturday, February 08, 2014

2.1011 : 2/8/08 : Empty Cup (Seventyseven: 16 of 81)

Would you believe: I’m looking for the
all the way empty cup
trying to bullseye peace in the maelstrom
envisioning how every number comes up
return to the root
find peace
fulfill destiny
be constant
have insight
‘Cause failing insight well blessed be
It’s a headlong into disaster
but knowing constant
I know all, embrace all
and it gets me to that gear faster
to be just to be over-reigning
to be like heaven
Don’t think I’m complaining
I’ve got a feeling this thing
lasts forever
after all is said and done
that’s a damn long lever


what

2.1010 : 2/7/08 : Ancient II (Seventyseven: 15 of 81)

Insight to the enigma of
the ancient of days
unfathomed depths of oceans
you can only know them by their ways
walk on eggshells
peeking ‘round the curtains like a shut in
proper like a diplomat
while you stick your ugly mutt in
soft ice left in a scotch glass
flat and simple like a slab
hollow like a cave
a muddied stream, slow brown and drab
but at its end runs clear
spilling life into the gap
Which is never filled
but ever spanned by
the cosmic bootstrap


what

Thursday, February 06, 2014

2.1009 : 2/6/08 : Formless (Seventyseven: 14 of 81)

The looked at the unseen, formless
The unheard soundless
More listened, informed less
Vanished through clasped fingers
incorporeal but no spirit
Unfathomable fused
three is one but I do not fear it
facing the sun not shining
hugging the earth no shade
undefined unimagined
of form and image unmade
Face to face it’s faceless
Chasing find no back
It unlocks the gate on anything
with charges seething up the stack


what

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

2.1008 : 2/5/08 : Welcome Disgrace (Seventyseven: 13 of 81)

Welcome disgrace
with a big grin on your face
Hey Calamity!
Hey kid you know I love you like you were me
Because it’s good to be low
How pleasant to find it
Good to get back up
at least that’s how I mind it
And as long as we’re alive
we get calamity
without my self
What could my troubles be?
thus the one who gave it
all away
holds this world in his hand
And only if I raise
the rule of love
will my steward’s promise stand

what

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

2.1007 : 2/4/08 : Five (Seventyseven: 12 of 81)

3,199 : 9 ?



The five colors are blinding my eyes
The five tones make my ears ring like:
Ah-ay yi yis
My tongue lies in my mouth pressed by
the five flavors
And the racing and the hunting
are such maddening behaviors
Somehow we’ll always find a way
to make things most can’t have
I take care of the belly not the eyes
preferring what is within to without then
preferring to pause where Silence lies

what

Monday, February 03, 2014

2.1006 : 2/3/08 : Cipher (Seventyseven: 11 of 81)

The cipher at the center
is called the hub
thirty spokes turn the wheel
but here’s the rub
without nothing
there’s no movement or change
Parmenides knew it
but that cat was strange
spin a cup out
of a lump of clay
the hollow in the center
the use of it you weigh
imagine a room without windows or door
and see what terrible emptiness is for

what

Sunday, February 02, 2014

2.1005 : 2/2/08 : Files (Seventyseven: 10 of 81)

What’s the essence what’s the spark of life
They must not separate on pain of strife
Gathering and channeling the energy wild
become as soft and supple as a newborn child
The inner eye grown clouded and gray
the masters need so badly to put cleverness away
hiding in the role of my anima
storming heaven’s gate from here to Panama
Seeming silent, prescient but still
Doing all yet seeming as if with time to kill
I set no store by these burgeoning files
I call it hidden virtue hidden in these piles

what

2.1004 : 2/1/08 : Fullness (Seventyseven: 9 of 81)

Ply the sword and ply the sword
the stone that you apply to the sword
You will sharpen the edge to dullness
grasping after and hanging onto fullness
You can’t trust treasures
gold or jade
the fancy titles or rich
friends you made
there it is
written in letters of fire
the way of heaven:
do the work
and then retire

what

2.1003 : 1/31/08 : Water (Seventyseven: 8 of 81)

Never striving always
choosing my moment right
super efficient
keeping order through the
next long night
keep my counsel
gentle and kind
diving hidden depths
to cultivate my mind
dwelling low to the ground
in places loathed by all
helping them despite themselves
like water: highest goodness
goes before the waterfall

what