The Wrong Road To The Right Place

The Wrong Road To The Right Place

Whistlin' in the dark

As I traverse this here dark road

This road that ain't found on no road map

Nor on no piece of paper

Nor drawn on a napkin by a "greasy spoon" waitress.

No, this road don't rightly take you no wheres

Didn't start no wheres and who but God 

                      Knows where it ends..................

I don't. Or I didn't.

I just closed my eyes as I stood there

At the fork in the road and threw a stolen rose

Over my left shoulder

                 And it fell to the right............

And that is how I ended up

        On this here dusty road tryin' to get to Heaven......

Honk HONK!!!! Get out  of the road, you OLD fool!!!!

(Some kid feeling his oats in his daddy's car, I reckon)

NO.....some wanna-be gangster boy from up North

wantin' to mess with somebody out here on these back roads.....

What am I lookin' for?

    You tell me........boy!

You're the Son of A Gun askin' the questions!

I didn't ask you nothin'

And I reckon that's what I 'll get.....

Story of my life.....Always nothin'!.

The Bible says: You have NOT

  'Cause you ASK not............

But I don't know what to ask fer

(I don't want to get...smited) (SMOTED?) Kilt...

Lord, I don't know....God always uses such BIG words...

My brain can't hardly ascertain the little ones

Like thee and Thou and How Now Brown Cow....

Oh, wait! That ain't scripture, is it? Or is it?

Shoot! I don't know nothin. I'm half heathen, I guess

But I AIM to make HEAVEN my HOME!

WHERE AM I GOING?

   you just full of questions, ain't ye???

Dang fool Yankee!!! (sotto voce)

You don't hear me goin' off half cocked

Askin' you jack! 

                  Mostly, 'cause I don't care

And secondly, 'Cause I don't CARE!

I got enough problems fer the both of us 

                     Plus everbody in WhyNot, Mississippi  

Damn! I sure could use me a good ole cold drink!

You got a RC cola on ye? Or an Orange Crush?

Pepsi???! Damn, son, we don't drink no Pepsi down here!

Might as well drank swamp water......Pepsi!!!!!  Goll durn...

Hey!! HEY!!!  No use gittin' all riled up about it!!!

What you doin', boy???? CALM THE HELL BACK DOWN!!!

What a little feller like you doin' with a BIG ole GUN like that???

Naw, I ain't gonna be quiet! Naw, hell naw! Didn't yore Pa told ye

Not to point no PISTOL at nobody lest you aim to....to.....

No..............I can't help ye with no gas money....

I ain't got no Money, son! If I did, you thank I'd be out here

 hitching in this here hot sun tryin' to find my way to Heaven? 

                                    Nooo...not that HEAVEN.......!!!

Heaven, Alabama. Where the purtiest girl in the Whole WORLD live!

You got a girl, son? Anybody on Earth love your sorry ass?

No..no..I didn't mean nothin.....Just talkin'. 

No need to get all bent outta shape.........

I done tole you I ain't got no Money! I can't give you Nothin'  but ADVICE!

C'mon, man......Don't do me that a way...I ain't lying'. I try not to lie......much...

I wants to go to HEAVEN one day. (I just don't Want to go right NOW....

you know what I'm sayin?)                Quit that now! That hurts!!!

No need to kick a man when he down!!! Lord, have Mercy!!!  Here...Here..

 I got a five dollar bill here in my shoe...You can have THAT. Just don't hurt me. 

No...I ain't got no MORE...

I ain't got nothin' but some Juicy Fruit gum I'm saving fer supper.

What??? 

You gonna take that too? Well, if that ain't a damn cryin' shame...! 

 I bet yore Mama sure would be proud of you 'bout right now, wouldn't she????

No, no, not trying to talk about yore Mama! Not meaning no 

Dis Respect to nobody.... let me go now, boy..I gots to git on down this here road

fore it gits too DARK to see...LET ME GO NOW!!!! Dadblame yore hide!!!

No, I won't tell noBody...I promise.  I won't report you to no POLICE... I won't TELL,

I swear to GOD....let me go NOW.....I won't.......

                                                      BANG!!!!

LORD GOD, son!!! You didn't have to do THAT!!! Why You want to KILL some old

NOBoDY like me???? I didn't mean you no harm....here, take this JUICY FRUIT.

Take it! You wanted it a minute ago! Here, boy.......

A little blood won't hurt ye.... I don't need no gum where I'm goin'...

                                           Where am I Going?????              

WHY.....Heaven, Alabama, OF COURSE!!!! Where my girl at....She waitin' on me down there.

She been WAITIN' a long TIME.  She love me, she says last time I seen her. 

I love her too, I shorely do!  Hot damn! She gonna be happy to see my ole raggedy butt!!!  Hee Hee

LORD..it shore is Bright out heres. I can't hardly SEE, it so BRIGHT. 

What's goin' on here? I feel like I'm fadin'.....jest fadin' away....

         right here in this dirt with the Sun in my eyes.......

Where you goin', BOY???? Come back here!!!! Why you runnin???? 

THEM ain't nothin' but angels.....

 Them ain't nothin' but.......................ANGELS....????!!!!!   Lord God....

Come to thank about it...I thank that ole rose fell to the LEFT! 

I should a done took that OTHER ROAD.................................

         I don't thank this 'un is goin' to Alabama..........

                                                      no, sir....not to no Alabama.........

                                     Not to no Heaven...........Alabama.....
                             Not to no...........................................................no

©By Voo Shining Stone

August  16, 2019

4:22 a.m.

copyrighted

Wisteria and Ever Afters

Love Songs flute cover

Wisteria and Ever Afters

💜

Whenever I see wisteria, I think of you

You and that moon on the water,

The candle, the wine

And the gleam in your shining eyes.

How my heart raced like a Serengeti gazelle

Being chased by a lion

My mind kept telling me to run away

While my heart demanded that I run toward.

And so I did........that starry night

Falling into your arms, your eyes

My mouth devouring your mouth

With a new appetite that would never be sated.

You made that shy girl into a woman

That woman into a princess

And the princess into a queen

A queen that knew she was loved by a king.

I remember how our bodies fit together

Like puzzle pieces,

How the moonlight highlighted the sweat

Running down them like liquid silver.

My hair draped over your face,

 I bent to kiss you

With a kiss I had only just learned to kiss

As your fingers wound 'round my curls. 

I was suddenly afraid of the urgent sounds

That issued from my own throat,

The breath that went out of me

And came rushing back like a violent storm.

I remember you said you loved me

And I felt it with every fiber of my being

Even though love had ever been foreign to me,

It coursed through my body and blood like a fire.

Afterwards, you wove strands of wisteria

And placed the purple crown upon my head

You made me feel serene and regal as you bowed
And then again, like a wild thing in your arms.

And I loved you back. god, I loved you!
The touch, the taste, the sight, the scent,
The breadth, the length
And every inch.

In two day's time, you were called away
--Not that you wanted to leave--
But the way of war overrules the love of life
And does not care how an unscripted fairytale ends.

Every time I see wisteria, I think of you

Your lips on mine, the sweet red wine

The moonlight and the water

I was your queen and you were my king...........
And that night was our happy but brief ever after.

💜

©by Voo Shining Stone
*words*

Aug 23, 2020

3:15 a.m.

Resistance

Resistance

I almost burned my tongue when I kissed you
The heat was hotter than the noonday sun
Raising my eyes to meet yours with their brown
The color of warm, sweet honey with a twinkle of mischief
I couldn't resist the tasting
I couldn't resist the wanting
I couldn't resist the wildness
That flooded through me like a colt set loose
On a green, green field in a sun drenched month of May
But I pulled back
And hurt crept into your beautiful eyes
And puzzlement frowned at me using your face
Tossing a lock of hair off your forehead, you tilted back
Till all I could see was your chin and all I could hear
Was your sigh
Then you shrugged and hunched your shoulders
And walked away, crunching the gravel with angry shoes
Silently, I watched you go, willing you to turn back
And when you did, that sweet, sweet mouth
And those honey brown eyes
Were as cold as ice.



©by Voo
December 23, 2006
 7:30 p.m.

She's But Braiding Her Hair

She's But Braiding Her Hair



I thought I saw her yesterday
Down at the park where we would lay
Under the elms and willow trees where she would run and hide and tease
And kiss me softly when she was caught and concede the battle that wasn't fought
I thought I saw her sweet face there just momentarily but a stranger stared
And I blinked my eyes and she was gone and I cried to find myself alone.

I thought I heard her musical voice
Tthough in my mind I have no choice
I hear her calling throughout my dreams that wake me to hear my own voice scream
I know she's gone, I know she's gone and left the house, taken the home
I know she's crossed to the other side and left me on this one to reside
With these sweet memories and these sweet dreams that feel so real it merely seems.

That she's still here, safe in my care
She's in front of her mirror, just braiding her hair
In the room down the hall where the moonlight is spilling
And the scent of her perfume is alluring and chilling
There, I hear her faint laughter. There, I see her hair flow
On the silk of the pillow so alive in the glow.

And I want so to love her and I want so to be
With the love of my life that was taken from me
My life is a shadow of the life we once lived so I lie to myself that I've more love to give
That at the end of the day at the top of the stair...............
She's at home, she's not gone, 
She's but braiding her hair.

 ©by Voo
   Oct 28-29, 2004
   for D 

I Wish We

I Wish We


In this world of highs and lows and whys
I seek the wisdom of one who's wise
To tell to me why this whole world cries
And runs so fast to it's own destruction.

A baby's born only to expire
And those who survive are passed through fire
Souvenirs of lust and a night's desire
Born to a world that doesn't want them.

I think of childhood and I can't recall
What it is to rise but remember the fall
And I long for my mother at my doorway to call
But there's nobody there I can see.

A world full of motherless children cry
And beg and plead and hope and die
And reach out their arms towards you and I
But our arms are too full of our pain.

The world in war is a terrible place
Replacing the smiles with it's dread on our face
Promising us hell and giving us taste
As we go marching in to the feast.

The floods have come, the floods have gone
And taken our souls and taken our homes
Left us in sorrow and left us alone
And we walk in the water and weep.

Then the fire, it comes and burns us up
And forces our mouths to drink from it's cup
And the wrath of the world fills our hearts as we sup
And it wins in the end, we concede.

I look around me on this saddest of days
And see humankind in all of it's ways
And I feel so low I can barely pray
So I whisper my wishes out loud.

I wish we could go to a mountain top high
Away to a city hidden there in the sky
Where nobody hurts and nobody cries
And nobody misses their mother.

Where floods cannot reach us and fire cannot burn
And all of the lessons of life have been learned
Where nobody cowers in another man's scorn
And we all live in peace with our brothers.

I wish we could throw down our weapons at last
And live without fear of the future or past
We could seal up that hole where our hate has been cast
And throw the key in the sea and forget it.

I wish we could reach out and take someone's hand
And teach him to live and to love and to stand
For we're all, after all, fellow man's fellow man
Though it's clear we're a disfunctional family.

But I wish, I wish upon a star
For this land so near and for those lands so far
That the rain of peace would put out flames of war
So we'd never fear death anymore.

I wish we could rise up on the wings of a bird
On the winds of the morning like a song to be heard
By the ears of the world with it's clamoring words
And put an end to it's suffering forever.

I wish we could know and I wish we could go
To a place where we all would be ever loved so
To a sky filled with sunshine and to streets made of gold
Far away from this place, I wish we...................

©by Voo
September 3, 2005
 8 p.m.


dedicated to all the Katrina flood victims
and to all victims of the world everywhere

I Called Unto The Night

 this music inspired the write

please play now

I Called Unto The Night

I called unto the night

And night was silent

I called unto the winds

They wouldn't blow

I called unto my love

And love was hiding

I asked the sky to find him

It said "No"

I asked the underworld

If he was sleeping

If he had fallen

Dying like a leaf

I begged for hope

But there was no hope offered

No angel came

To comfort me in grief

I called to science to help me
And to magic
I couldn't live without him
Or his love

I called to love itself
And it was listening
There in the secret place
It dwells above

I called unto the sun

It wouldn't shine

But shrank and hid itself

Behind the moon

I prayed unto the heavens

They were distant

But love whispered "Have some faith

You'll see him soon"

I called within my dreams

And there I found him

Laughing with the smile

 He often wore

I called his name

And up the trail he hastened

Grabbed me in his arms

There at the door

I woke in morning

And he was not there with me

I looked for him on ocean

And on land

I sought his face

Without his love to guide me

But all I held

Was just my empty hand

I called unto the night

And then it answered

"Nothing in this life

 Is as it seems"

"You'll never find your love

When you're awakened

For he is waiting for you

In your dreams"

And so I slept forever

As the night fell

And covered me with stars

From heaven's skies

And saw my love

Just waiting in the distance

With all the love I longed for

In his eyes.

©by Voo

Jan 29, 2019

11:40 a.m.

I Wonder

I Wonder


I wonder if you're lying there
Miles from where my eyes can see
Lying in your bed alone
Thinking about me.

I wonder if you miss my smile
My soft beguiling voice
I wonder if you understand
That I didn't have a choice.

To let you go, to let you know
That some things had to change
Things that could only be fixed by you
If some things, you'd rearrange.

I didn't mean to hurt you
Or fill your life with strife
I only meant to love you
And bring joy to your life.

I only meant to share my self
Like I'd never shared before
You said it meant the world to you
Until you slammed the door.

And here I am and there you are
On opposite sides of the door
And I'm alone and you're alone
Just like we were before.

And the world's a duller, dimmer place
The stars don't shine as bright
The sun at dawn feels so forlorn
And each night's an endless night.

Those velvet nights we dreamed together
Now seem so far away
Lying in your lover's arms
Until the break of day.

How we used to talk about everything
Make a joke of anything
Share the music that we loved
Sometimes, I'd even sing.

And the poetry that flowed from us
Like a fountain from our souls!
I thought we shared our hearts and minds
I thought we shared our goals!!

But my goals were not your goals, it seems
You chose another path
A path that I could not walk with you
And it tore my heart in half.

That 'once in a lifetime' 'forever and always'
It was not meant to be
That one soul split in two and then
'We' became 'you' and 'me.'

But my arms still miss you in them
My lips still crave your kiss
My body burns for your tender touch
And your love, I'll always miss.

I wonder if you think of me
And remember how it was
Those things I said and did for you
And gave you, just because.

I wonder if you say my name
Sometimes in your sleep
Hold to me there in your dreams
That pull you down so deep.

I wonder if you feel me
Touching you sometime
Running my hands over you
Driving you out of your mind.

I wonder, how I wonder
If anything with us was real
Or if it was a spell that we were under
That made us feel the things we'd feel.

I couldn't be sure, I could never be sure
If what we had would last
Now the future that I dreamed with you
Is laying buried in the past.

Still alive, but just a ghost
A mirage that shimmers there
On a place that once was lush and green
Now a desert, dry and bare.

And all we have are memories
And words and poems and songs
That we can't bear to hear again
Now those right things turned to wrongs.

How fast can love turn into war
How quick the heart can shatter
How soon we grab what matters not
And let go the things that matter.

But in the midnight's lonely hours
When my mind is full of thunder
My heart tells my mind to be quiet
And it's then I lay and wonder.

And it's then I wish we could go back
To the way it was before
But neither of us seem to have the key
To that locked door anymore.

I wonder if you think of me
I wonder if you care
I wonder if you know my heart
Is always with you there.

I wonder..........................

©By Voo Shining Stone
spur of the moment write
July 21, 2020
12:53 a.m.

CRESCENT MOON ON THE HIGHWAY

     (start song  before reading)

Crescent Moon On The Highway

Lying here on this cold and misty Sunday afternoon

Cat at my feet on his blanket

The threat of rain outside my shuttered windows

I listen to Villanelle For Our Time by the master

Of the rough and tender voice

His verse running down my spine like a lover's fingers

Crooning bittersweet lyric into my ears with his distant tongue

The melody caresses me and makes me senseless

As he repeats "bitter searching of the heart" over and over and over

Until images conjure up from memory and lay themselves down

Upon my mind.

You, in that convertible under the stars on that long ago highway

We were laughing like mad people, kissing, more than paying attention

Music soaring on the tape deck 
And ebbing off behind us with the desert wind

My hair whipping around us like long black scarves

And thinking that if I could die of joy, then I would surely die

We were racing under clear cold skies looking for rain and storm

Loving lightning and angry clouds

But finding none, we drove on into the night

Listening to Leonard and holding each other hard enough to bruise.

Look, baby, you said and pointed to a crescent moon
Hanging low in the sky on the side of the highway 
A hundred miles from nowhere

And we pulled over 
And danced underneath that moon

Toasted it with champagne and kisses no one had ever kissed before

While the music trailed off into silence and clicked to a stop
As we stood in the glow of the headlights,
Our eyes locked onto one another

And our hearts as close as hearts can be.

That long ago highway 
And that crescent moon and you

With your crooked smile and wind blown hair

How it all comes back to me now

Damn you, Leonard, with your bitter searching of the heart
and your rough and tender poet's voice

Bringing the past alive and spotlighting the present
with it's loneliness

And loss.........................

Damn you, Leonard.

©by Voo

December 5, 2005

5 p.m.

  BLESS YOU, LEONARD