Happiness is the best vengeance

You built up the value of a life with you 

Speaking the words with practiced ease

Pointing out the sunshine and roses 

Disguising the truth of glib betrayal 

Toying with my fragile heart 

Saying all the right words 

Well-timed and well-placed 

Becoming a truth too true 

My heart so wanted to believe 

Clinging to a perilous perch 

Knowing I am more than worthy 

Knowing this was not too much to ask 

It came as second nature to you 

Folding the truth on practiced lines 

Eventually becoming careless in ease 

Until, even caught, admitting the lie was too hard 

Did I slam a door? Probably

Did I cry? Absolutely 

Will I survive? For sure 

Am I happy? Getting there 

You say I am just lying to myself 

Giving yourself a lot of undue influence

This is the lie I choose to believe

Until it is no longer a lie 

Little by little the smiles become real 

More and more the laughter deepens 

Time erases the pain and sorrow 

Happiness is the best vengeance 

Happiness is the best vengeance 

© Ron Simpson Jr.

September 18, 2022

Linda Marie

 

Beyond

What is easiest to see 

Is what is direct in front of us 

Sometimes it blocks out the world 

Preventing us from seeing beyond 

Life isn’t always like the road in Georgia 

You can see what’s ahead for miles 

Long before you reach anything 

You’ve known it was coming a long time 

In life 

Obstacles arise in the spur of the moment 

Clouds drop down and hide the future 

Problems obscure your vision 

Demanding all attention 

It is not an easy thing to do 

But, we must learn to see beyond 

There is still sunshine behind those clouds 

There will be days beyond today 

I get it 

It’s hard to do 

Much easier to say it 

Believing it, however 

Takes Herculean effort at times 

Here are some helpful facts 

There are still people who love you

There are still those who believe in you 

Not just before 

Not just during 

But, beyond 

Still there 

Still loving 

Still believing 

Still supporting 

Hold to that 

Keep it in your heart 

Say it with your lips 

Believe it 

Your problems won’t disappear 

As if by some magic 

But you are not alone in them 

And that’s a fact, not magic 

There 

Or here 

Anywhere 

Find it 

Borrow belief 

Borrow happiness 

Borrow strength 

Borrow from beyond 

Beyond 

© Ron Simpson Jr.

September 8, 2022

Solidarity

 

We are not the cry of the lone wolf

Penetrating the dead of the night

We are not the force of one

In this battle we fight

We are the thunder 

Rumbling across the sky

We are the quaking of the earth

Which refuses to die

We are the accumulated cries 

Of injustice in our land

We are the force of labor

Standing, hand in hand

 

We are northern and southern

We are from the east and the west

We are proud flag wavers 

And we bear our labor’s crest

We have shed our blood

And buried our fathers and sons 

We have stood for the fair and the right

Against the clubs and the guns

When I stand in your town hall

City council, House, or Senate 

I do not stand alone

There are millions you haven't met

 

We differ in religion,

Family, life, and love   

But we are all part of labor

A call instilled by God above

We are white and black  

And every race betwixt

We are male and female  

We are unified and mixed  

We are the strong

Standing for the weak  

We are the cry of victory  

Standing atop the mountain's peak 

 

America, We are your friend and neighbor  

We are your brother, sister, daughter, and son  

We will work and bleed and sweat  

And build this nation until we are done  

We are the thunder and the quake  

We are the voice of the one   

We are labor 

From the rising to the setting of our sun

 

We are one voice

Solidarity

 

© Ron Simpson, Jr.

Labor Day 2022

Jack Nicholson