Moments From Within

Moments From Within

  A collection of poems

  Published by Christopher Kneipp

  Copyright 2011 Christopher Kneipp

  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 h
ave 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.