Moments From Within
A collection of poems
Published by Christopher Kneipp
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Christopher Kneipp
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Birthplace
I’m back
Back in this city,
This birthplace
This bruise
upon my soul
Back where I grew up
This cage of concrete,
This
hole.
Where beggars, like bottles
litter the street
Men broken and
shattered
like glass at my feet
And everyone’s squeezed
Till
like plasticine they,
Lose all of their colour,
Leaving nothing
but grey
Where corporate junk-men
Dressed up in their
suits
While the punks are dressed up
In their Doc Martin
boots
And the speed gives them both
Dark rings under their
eyes
As their nostrils are filled
With the dust of their
lives,
I see building block buildings,
Stacked higher than
high
And the skyscrapers scrape
At the dirty grey sky
And
the trees grow confined
To their cages of steel,
While the
people ignore
All they see and they feel.
And so, I breathe
deep
Of the foetid grey air
And am grateful that I
No longer
live there.
Within
What can I say
That's not been said
Or do that's not been done
What road is there
Still untraversed
What race that's still unrun
And where is there
A virgin land
Where no one else has been
Where is that place
That untouched world
Whose sights remain unseen
I know of only
One such place
Which I alone can find
And none but me
Can claim to see
The world within my mind.
Something To Say.
I have something to say
About the things I have seen
The things that I hear
And the places I've been
I have something to give
Contributions to make
That may heal an old wound
Or correct a mistake
I have something to do
If the world would permit
Yet the world will not listen
Nor even admit
I'm the face in the crowd
That you chose to ignore
The one disregarded
You deem to abhor
I have something to say
That will not reach your ear
For I tell you nothing
If you refuse to hear.
Sugar Road
(Eulogy for a dead addict.)
Satin sheets and love songs
They're not a part of you
There's nothing I could do
To make them yours
I am a simple man
with simple needs
My heart bleeds
To see what it's done to you
So make the tourniquet tight
You're going down tonight
and the tracks on your arms
don't lead you to the answers.
You couldn't see that you were killing yourself
Thought it'd happen to somebody else
But not to you, no
It brings me down.
The needle's stroke
Speed, smack and coke
Couldn’t stop though you knew you must
The needle's stroke
Speed, smack and coke,
I watched the beauty die
Makes me cry
To watch your needle rust
Lies
Lies
Fill the world with lies
In my favourite disguise, they hypnotise,
I love those lies.
Lies
Blinding so many eyes
Truth compromised,
We criticize
and Feed 'em lies.
And if it's love they want
We'll just give them lust
And if they need a friend
Then we'll abuse their trust
Instead of dreams of hope
We turn their hopes to dust
Instead of bread of life
Give them a stale crust.
Pride
Religous pride
Let righteousness slide,
Let traditions decide
What's wrong and right.
Pride
The truth denied,
Rituals applied,
In their vestments they hide,
What's really inside?
Hide the words of Truth
Behind the rules of men
You don't need integrity
When you pretend
No commitment necessary
Just attend
At Christmas and Easter
An occasional weekend
Philosophy
You've got to agree
Easier to believe,
a fantasy
Than to search for the key.
Philosophy
If it was up to me,
Then no one would see,
that nobody is free
'till their master is He.
And in this world we teach you
To match and mix
You build your house of straw
And not with bricks
But if your new belief
It contradicts
Itself, don't worry
If the facts don't fit
Just take some Buddhism
but just a touch
A little Christianity
But not too much
Cosmic, new age, magic,
Meditation and such
Reincarnation
What's your latest crutch
Fatherhood
Trying to be a good father
Without fatherly advice
A son born into fracture
Raised within devise
No malice borne toward him
Through the decades that have past
Nor lack of understanding
Of the shadow he has cast
I remember very little
Of the man behind my scar
But his demons' ever haunt me
And his madness' never far
So I'm learning from my children
And my one truth, lover, friend.
And I fight to finally put
this damaged cycle to an end
The last breath
I don't know any more if I can take it,
I don't know anymore which way I should go
For this life is a thief it has stolen my resistance
All my hope and all my joy and there's nothing left to show.
I am empty in my soul
And my heart is torn asunder
All these questions without answers
Leave me here alone to wonder
I don't know anymore The right way from the wrong way
I don't know anymore Which road will lead me home
For this life is like night and it fills me up with darkness
My eyes are blind, I stumble through this nighttime world alone
I am hungry though I've eaten
I am thirsty though I drink
I am lonely though surrounded
I am swimming, still I sink
I have taken all I can from this world in which we live
It has taken all it can but the life that beats within
For this world is like the winter It has frozen all my senses
I am numb, I feel nothing But the winter wind inside
I am clothed, yet I feel naked
I have wealth yet I am poor
I have shelter still I shiver
Have so much, yet still need more.
I don't know anything And I can't take it anymore
I no longer have the strength To fight this tug of war
I surrender to the night And I hope I'll be alright
As the night-time wraps around me And I have to fight no more.
Now I lay me down to sleep
In the dark my soul I'll keep
Cut this cord and slip away
Forever night, no more today.
Waking from the dream
A dream I had so long ago
as I upon the fallow ground
lay watching wisps of vaporous cloud
drift slowly across the sky
and I cannot forget the dream
no matter how long ago it was
that dream today it has come true
Now I am standing here with you.
Guess who?
Allow me to introduce myself
I’m the callous on your heart
I’m every evil desire you have
I’m gonna tear your little soul apart.
I’m every evil thought you think
I’m the depths to which you are willing to sink.
I am
I am
Your sinful nature
And every time you tell a lie
I am right there by your side
And when someone tries to tell you the truth
I am that urge to run and hide
I am the fear in the back of your mind
I am that secret sin you hope no one will find
I am,
I am,
Your sinful nature
And if you think I’m not around
Or that my words you’ve never spoken
Then I am yours and you are mine
And your heart I will turn to stone
It will never be broken.
Allow me to present to you
My many qualifications
I’ve been leading people astray
Through all time and in all nations
I can lie in Cantonese,
French or German and English with ease
I am,
I am,
Your sinful nature
And though you can hear me all the time
I am very rarely seen
But even when you don’t know I’m around
You can always tell where I’ve been
Where there is arrogance envy and sleaze
Greed and anger and things like these
I am,
I am,
Your sinful nature.
And if you think I’m not around
Or that my words you’ve never spoken
Then I am yours and you are mine
And your heart I will turn to stone
It will never be broken.
Suburbia.
In every major city, where people live and eat,
There is a place, Suburbia, where Suburban people meet
They give Suburban lectures, of gossip till you scream.
And still they try to put you in their great Suburban dream.
And Mummy still loves Daddy, ’cause Daddy pays the rent.
And Sister loves the boy next door but I know that boy is bent.
And Brother’s got his closet, and Junior’s got his chains.
And I still have to hear about Gran’s arthritic pains.
And Granpa thinks I’m communist, Dad thinks I’m a queen.
Mum thinks I’m on heroin but my arms still are clean.
And my sweet lovely lady wants to go and slash her wrists,
She’s asking me for razor blades and it’s hard to resist.
But tonight when all is quiet, no one’s going to sleep.
For downtown in Suburbia the wounds run oh so deep.
Sleeping on the ground
Every day
Wherever your home
See the people barely skin and bone
Every night
All around
See the people sleeping on the ground
And you know
I wonder why
The rich get richer while the poor ones die
Oooh, you know
It makes me cry
To see people falling for the same old lie.
Selfishness
They say it’s right
It’s preached on television every night.
But happiness
How can it be found
While there are people sleeping on the ground
And, you know
I wonder why
The rich get richer while the poor ones die
And, you know
It makes me cry
To see people falling for the same old lie.
Hearts become
As hard as stone
If we refuse to do the good we’ve known
Hypocrits
We will be found
If we do nothing for those sleeping on the ground
And, you know
I wonder why
The rich get richer while the poor ones die
And, you know
It makes me cry
To see people falling for the same old lie.
Ask yourself
What have you done
To meet the needs of the needy ones
What goes round
Will come around
If we don’t help those sleeping on the ground
And, you know
I wonder why
The rich get richer while the poor ones die
And, you know
It makes me cry
To see people falling for the same old lie.
And, you know,
I hate to see,
A rich land blind to its spiritual poverty.
When those, who know
The truth are found
They’ll be helping those sleeping the ground
Trite good night
Another day and weary night,
And yet I still attempt to fight,
With all my might,I fight this night,
Its dreaded blight, sleep starts to bite
Though fight I might to write tonight
Though sandman's dust may blur my sight,
Though dreams may whisper nighty night
Though might I fight with all my might
This might be wrong, it might be right
This fight I fight to write tonight
This thing is not so black and white
While thoughts within my mind ignite
The idea burns in mind’s eye, bright
So fight I might to write tonight
Or perhaps tomorrow
Good night All right.