2.1049 : 3/17/08 : A New State (Seventyseven: 54 of 81)

Plant it deep

clasp it well

a thousand generations

your saga to tell

hoe your row of virtue

till it grows in you

foundation of a family

yeah you know it’s you

basis of community

only comes within

understand a new state

ready to begin

we could draw the whole world

into its embrace

every person, family

community and state in its place

And how do I know

what the world might hide?

as ever and as usual

by what’s inside

what

2.1048 : 3/16/08 : Way (Seventyseven: 53 of 81)

With just a speck of wisdom

I will walk my way

not to stumble

not to stray

It looks so smooth and straight

but all around it’s wicked, wild

all around the bandits lurking

careful oh my child

look at them with their ravaged fields

look at them with their fancy clothes

look at their sharp shiny knives

our lives are in the hands

of such as those

gorged on wine and dainties

money that they’ll never use

knowing nothing of my great way

knowing nothing

about all they’ll use

what

2.1047 : 3/15/08 : Beginning (Seventyseven: 52 of 81)

This is a beginning

a common beginning

not an ending

not a loss

no I am winning

know the mother of the world

know the mother, her offspring

You’ll be free of earthly harm

you’ll be free of everything

Block every passage

lock every door

Then you’ll know exactly

what freedom is for

Or throw it all open

get busy as hell

you may find you no longer

see so well

it may seem a small thing

but its use is endless

watch me start a new life

now I’ve got the changeless

what

2.1046 : 3/14/08 : A Gift (Seventyseven: 51 of 81)

Life simply a gift:

nursed by virtue

shaped by matter

you’re perfect aren’t you

respect to the gift:

respect to virtue

not by any command

I just adore its rich hue

nursed and grown

fostered and sheltered

claim no reward

however I sweated and sweltered

about to close

a chapter I slaved on

Called the hidden virtue

no record yet I saved one

what

2.1045 : 3/13/08 : Life or Death (Seventyseven: 50 of 81)

Life or death

it sure seems binary

thirteen breaths

Life, death the refinery

If you draw down

the account too hard

You’ll take thirteen steps

before you feel the shard

if you walk well your path

no danger you’ll see

escape every snare

death says:

no room there for me

what

2.1044 : 3/12/08 : Self Interest (Seventyseven: 49 of 81)

I can’t deny my self interest

though I want to be kind

though I want to be faithful

to be shy and self-effacing

I would surely be grateful

for the sake of the world

I would play it so nebulous

if not for my self interest

if you could be so credulous

what

2.1043 : 3/11/08 : Stacking (Seventyseven: 48 of 81)

So much learning

stacking and stacking

not at all the scenario

I need to be attacking

cut it all down till I

get back to zero

I could achieve everything

and be the real hero

I could renounce it all

and serve only mankind

But me with private ends to serve

I’m left in a stark bind

what

2.1042 : 3/10/08 : The Wire (Seventyseven: 47 of 81)

I can stay right here

get it all on the wire

keep the shades all drawn

see heaven’s holy fire

the farther you go

the less you know

so I stay right here

shut my eyes tight to see

do by doing nothing

all access, all free

what

2.1041 : 3/9/08 : Yoke (Seventyseven: 46 of 81)

The simple division

yoke to peace or war

our sickness decides

what the harness is for

it turns out it came down

to knowing that what

is enough is enough

it seems simple, sure, but...

what

2.1040 : 3/8/08 : Identity (Seventyseven: 45 of 81)

So amazingly perfect

You’ll think I’m flawed

the seeming vacuum

of this vast space I’ve gnawed

line by line and song by song

so crooked it’s straight

One it gets infinitely long

watch me skillfully screw up

and fumble my lines

till I shiver a sweat up

but freeze ‘cause there’s landmines

pray for the normal

peace and serenity

A way to overcome

this strange bent identity

what

exactly five of my favorite things

Finished posting another volume of the songs of days not too long ago and have now updated the Favorite Songs list on the Sidebar as well as the full archive of past favorites from the preceding 13 volumes (and change via the "Interim" side-quest).

what

2.1039 : 3/7/08 : Your Money or Your Life (Seventyseven: 44 of 81)

Lose your body or lose your name: choose

Your money or your life, what you want to lose

What’ll make you fret more, gain or loss

You hold on so tight: hey I don’t give a toss

So why store up a pile of what you can always go and get

Had enough? Well you don’t seem able to say so yet

Knowing when to get when the getting’s good will save you grief

And I’m going to go a long while without final relief

what

2.1038 : 3/6/08 : The Soft (Seventyseven: 43 of 81)

The soft

ultimately

defeats the hard

only nothing can go

everywhere

so if I turn that card

please take a moment

for the less of quiet

not a lot to do

when you’re God’s co-pilot

what

2.1037 : 3/5/08 : One (Seventyseven: 42 of 81)

One from nothing

two from one

three from two, and

here comes everyone

man and woman

me and you

breathe in breathe out

count to two

what’s hated more

than to be helpless and small

yet we love the smallest

weakest ones most of all

If you live by the sword

well you know what they say

it was true in the garden

and it’s true today

what

2.1036 : 3/4/08 : Mediocre (Seventyseven: 41 of 81)

If I were wise I would be

practicing practicing

If I were worthless I would be

laughing my ass off

I’m mediocre and I

oscillate

What can I do it’s a hard truth

I pass off

day is night and progress

looks like  collapse

hard to fit the contradictions

through a synapse

Virtue looks like a valley

the greatest white space is spattered

abundant, deficient;

Firmly founded - tattered

cornerless, late to ripen

Silent and shapeless

they say it alone can help

me need to escape less

what

2.1035 : 3/3/08 : I Am (Seventyseven: 40 of 81)

3,225 : 17 ?

As to movement I am always

returning

As to use it is only in

softness

Everything is born of

the something

itself is born of a nothing

called the lossless

what

2.1034 : 3/2/08 : The Unified Way (Seventyseven: 39 of 81)

it’s no rare thing to take to the unified way

the sky is clear and the earth is calm

and the spirit is subtle and mystical

and the fountain overflows just like that psalm

and ten thousand hearts also beat as one

And every prince and bishop has his day

And every single one of them comes to such estate

by virtue of their taking to the unified way

just imagine the sky’s falling

just imagine the earth torn asunder

just imagine the spirits all vanishing

and every fountain dried just think and wonder

and every creature dying childless

and the rulers fallen flat on their face

Can’t build the high without the plinth of the low

so good leader better call yourself low

I think the wisdom of not outshining the sun

is a lesson even those bastards know

what

2.1033 : 3/1/08 : Virtue (Seventyseven: 38 of 81)

Our highest virtue is beyond virtue

but we so seldom get so high

as to get over ourselves much

To get back up to the best of us

Humanity does all right to make the nut

though it’s true it tends to make a fuss

And your vaunted morality it’s just as bad

and what’s more always serving private ends

And ceremony stands when all else fails

and if nobody bows or bends

It rolls up the sleeves

to administer a beating

It sure comes up in the cards a lot

but sure to hell its moment is fleeting

When the way fails an you gotta rely on virtue

If you gotta rely on virtue you’ll end up

relying on humanity but sad to say

that’s a manifestly half empty cup

humanity always ends up

relying on morality

And it always rots back to ceremony

from the altar to the lethal spike whatever the modality

But I’m effortlessly on the mark

and so for me exists no doubt

I seek the fruit not the husk or flower

prefer what’s within to what’s without

what

2.1032 : 2/29/08 : Little Peace (Seventyseven: 37 of 81)

All things are accomplished

without notice, or bother

hold tight to the fathomless

to all mother and father

and when it all gets riled up

a simple word will still it

restore the natural order

raise the cup and fill it

and finally we’ll know

a little peace

and for a little while

the world will settle in its lease

what

2.1031 : 2/28/08 : Stretch (Seventyseven: 36 of 81)

I gotta stretch this failure out

to shrink it down to nothing

build it into a juggernaut

to bust it up with just one thing

I took it to the highest hill

didn’t tempt it I just hurled it down

I dressed it in such fineries

then stomped it in the muddy ground

and every rock will be

by water all eroded

stay in the deep my fishies and

Keep your damn bombs unexploded

what