The American Dream

i woke up
from my American dream
things no longer
what they seemed
what was right
and proper then
relics now
of way back when
human kindness
in short supply
people so
impoverished
why?
how did things turn
so far around
to a time of delight
as others fall down
there must be a place
like the ones
i once knew
sanctuary please
is a dreamscape view
i woke up
from the American dream
and if i couldn’t sleep
i’d surely scream

© Copyright 2016 Brooks Bradbury / BrooksLooks / All Rights Reserved

GRATITUDE’S LATE ARRIVAL

you’ll never know the price we paid
to get you where you are
you’ll never know what it took
to carry you along this far

so if your lack of gratitude
is some strange way of giving back
we’ll check the rear-view mirror
until your attitude’s on track

we will love you from a distance
as we have now all these years
in time you’ll learn life’s lessons
of pain and loss and tears

and when you finally know gratitude
for all that’s been done for you
may you know what real love means
before karmic bills comes due

farewell my child we let you go
it’s your life please–go ahead
may your dreams come sweetly true
in spite of all the horseshit you’ve been fed

© Copyright 2016 Brooks Bradbury / BrooksLooks / All Rights Reserved

ALL THAT’S LEFT

in time we sip the finest wines
meet the wisest souls
we linger in love’s sweet bouquet
avoid the rocky shoals

the tide will try to pull us under
life will wrack and gnaw and grind
until finally we discover
the battle waged was in the mind

mountains scaled; a life fulfilled
time adds up as memory scatters
i realize now it’s all distilled
into what really matters

© Copyright 2016 Brooks Bradbury / BrooksLooks / All Rights Reserved

i’ve thought a lot about death of late
how life and lives are so finite
it’s best to leave dead things dead
a focus on living seems only right

oh we can try to resuscitate
if there’s even a shred of life left
but i’d rather leave dead things dead
focus on living if for a time bereft

what else in our lives is at a last resort?
what do i behold just this one time?
i cherish each for i know time is short
karma’s glacial pace sublime

i let it go, sanctifying the space
knowing something better will take its place
perhaps i can really let dead things be
savoring each sweet memory

© Copyright 2016 Brooks Bradbury / BrooksLooks / All Rights Reserved