In the hall of eternal fame
There were no stakes to claim
For the hall was built too small
There was no room at all
Until one day in spring
Came the sight of a friendly fin
Along with some other kin
It was a dolphin, a killer whale and a porpoise.
A porpoise! What’s a porpoise?
A young girl exclaimed
After her self confidence
Was once again regained
A purpose, a purpose
We all must have a purpose
And the dolphin chewed your hand
But did not bite.
If you’re in the hall or up against the wall
You’ll mess it up create a flaw
It happens to the best of us
Happens to the rest of us
And death and taxes messed it up
As we all began to fall
From an angels walk on earth
Into the young bloods and the street marshals.
And on and on and on into
Some mossy cavern rendezvous
For celebration, ritual
Or some lesser of life’s essential duties
Jesus Buddha and Mohammed
Each created their own planet
Then left behind a hologram
To accept the worship of their clan
And all the souls who made it there
Found the splendor beyond compare
While some who’d been there for a while
Graduated and upheld the smile
Of the master or the Lord
To know the feeling of being adored
And on and on and on into
Another cosmic rendezvous
Looking for the real source
Seeking out divine force
Some climbed up to the highest realm
Others fell where demons dwell
The rest came back down to earth
To try their hand at another birth
Promising as they chose a womb
To get it right and make some room
And all they had to do was pray
Or chant the Name on the final day
For most it just seemed too hard
Distracted by some amorous bard
The grand illusion standing guard
At the portal of the heart
And on and on and on into
Another cosmic rendezvous………
Where all we’ve done was duly stored
As images in the akashic record
There for those who have the skill
To see the past or future at will
In a dream or an astral travel
Where unknown mysteries unravel
And in the sea the dolphins play
And who knows maybe some of them pray
As we dump poison in the ocean
Guided by a faulty notion
That we’re the lords of all we survey
And they’re just dumb creatures anyway
Because they don’t speak to us in words
Their pain their voices are never heard
But you know my friends as well as I
Animals suffer and they cry
What’s wrong with our picture of this place?
What went wrong with the human race?
We don’t care what kind of misery we make
No thought about the lives we take
The eco systems that we break
All the dead fish in our the lake
Pick up your shovel
Pick up your rake
Let’s care about it for heaven’s sake.
Coming back from vacation clutching a cheap
straw hat
I’ll never wear again
Working faithfully for agribiz multimedia
Pharmo-medical giant auto silicon mountain tech
I turn my time into beer and soda
I buy relief from Hollywood’s latest classic
My work provides me with music
Which glorifies temporary relationships
I turn my time into fast food
I work in a factory a store an office
So I will be able to wander down supermarket isles
Choosing from two hundred varieties of
de-vitalized bread
I work from nine to five
Or all through the night
Serving people in a rush
So I can sit down for a few hours
In front of a television before I sleep
I enjoy my one or two days rest in playing sports
Going to a park
Watching more television
Eating something special
I live for my parents and my children
We argue and fight but we love each other
I went to school
I went to work
I retired
I died
I was born again
I went to school again
I worked again
I retired again
I died again
Once I was a dinosaur
I ate vegetation or flesh that was raw
I moved around the ocean floor
I consumed whole forest
Like you’ve never seen before
I’m a consumer
I live in Yuma
And other towns and cities across the globe
I eat and wear
Build and tear
I cut and slash and burn and fry
I’ll exhaust all the resources of Mother Earth
But I will never die
I’m a consumer
I drink from cans and bottles
Eat from plastic trays
I microwave my pesticide pasta packet
Buy pictures of mountain streams and fields
of wheat
I eliminate the rainforests to get my meat
I’ve got no scruples
Because I’m sold out to my bosses bosses boss
Mr. Big who fills the ocean with radioactive dross
I’m a consumer
My excesses make me ill
I wait in line to see a doctor
Who sells me permission to buy a pill
Made from chemicals in big factories
Who’s occasional spills
Kill a stream or two a river or three
But that’s okay it won’t affect me
I bought a water filter
To take out what they put in it to make it healthy
There is no end to the lengths I’ll go
To make Mr. Big more wealthy
I’m a consumer
Bye and bye I buy and buy
I collect the latest issue
Of commercial art to make me think
Of something other than the streets that stink
Of fumes from burning
That which lubricates Mother Earth’s joints
I’m a consumer
I vote to make my point
Of course it’s lost on our leaders
Who consume more than we
By dint of their privileged position
At the top of the consumption tree
I’m a consumer
A pawn in a greater game
I think I have my own opinion
But really I think the same
As the rest of the helpless masses
Canon fodder cable classes
Tranquilized working lasses
Petrol burning plastic wielding
Brew downing McGlomerate yielding
Defender of states and long lost freedoms
A nine digit number in computer kingdoms
Just one chance to have it all
And I gotta have it now
Before I fall
I’m a consumer
I buy the limited truth
Issued by mad scientists
That I’ll buy back my youth
Because I’m not buying the fact
That one day I’ll age and die
And these guys have it all figured out
And I couldn’t even understand Pi
I’m a consumer
I believe the news
I believe in commercial Christmas coming
I believe in Hill Steet Blues
I believe in my country when I’m doing alright
I believe I ought to party on Saturday night
I care for my brother and sister (in my own family
&bsp; that is)
But if my neighbor has a problem
It’s not mine it’s really his
I’m a consumer
I buy lies if they have enough make up on them
Or if the scapegoat isn’t me and mine
I can’t go too far wrong
I’m a consumer
Getting as much as I can
Has got to be in this day and age
The most sensible plan
I was born to pay tax and tribute
To consume from an empires hand
Extending my chances of consuming
In a scheme so wild and grand
I’m a consumer
I was happy as a citizen in Rome
But I’m even happier now
With my cellular phone
I’m a consumer
It’s a happy deal
I believe in ketchups with brand names
Value added cereal dairy photo shaves
The big banks keep my numbers safe
Irradiation keeps my tomatoes fresh
I’ve got faith in nuclear power plants
I believe they could even break even
Before they break down or go up in flames
Do I believe the statistics
On nearby residents with leukemia?
I’m not sure I’ll have to wait and see
If there’s any danger they’ll warn us
With a news flash on TV
Oh science you have proved to me
Through your discoveries and inventions
How clearly you can see
There seems to be nothing you will not soon know
Meanwhile I can relax after work with
my favorite show
I’m a consumer
I believe in what we call “the free world”
Where agro industrial super providers
Battle for the bullion of consumer loyalty
Where junk food giants are free to feed us
our disease
And under a different name sell us quick relief
To separate us from our pain
A course of tablets
The latest miracle cure
I may never have to die
Although I’m not completely sure
And if by chance or accident
It might possibly perhaps happen
There’s a funeral service down at the mall
Ready for family friends and all
They’ll squeeze us in at 10:45
Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back
Although I probably wouldn’t need it
If I didn’t exist anymore
Along with the rest of my plastic and junk
For which we went to war
But despite the fact they tell me
I will utterly cease to be
There’s something kind of strange about that
I’ll have to wait and see
It’s not what I feel deep inside
But hey, they got it covered from all sides
For a lifetime I’ve bought their rap
No God no spirit no coming back
I’m a consumer
I’ll be offended if you call me a slave
I’m a consumer ready made
Born in the US way
Separated from mom and reality
Given a number in a computer on my birthing day
With slaps and needles and rubber nipples
I’ll be trained up well to not make ripples
In the slick and shiny world of corporate control
And if they thought I might need one
They’s sell me a soul
It’s a sad song
But they sell flavored happiness in a recycled can
I leave aside my troubles
When I go to the Colosseum
And bow to Caesar who feeds me scraps
As I avoid his secret cops
I pay my taxes do nothing wrong
But should they decide to censor my song
I’ll have to back down unless I want to die
There’s no hiding now from Big Brother’s eye
It’s sad it’s true they buried truth
But it could be found by tomorrow’s youth
All that remains is to watch a game
Or some other kind of stimulation
It’s a rat race rat trap greed with determination
I’ve got to play I have no choice
Or I’ll be called in for extermination
I’m a consumer
I eat up all the forests
Dump my waste in the sea
I’m a consumer no desire to be free
No concern for others
Just looking out for me
I’m a consumer
At the funeral of Mahatma Ghandi
The spirit of Jesus came forth from the crowd
Like a misty white dove in hushes, tears
and lamentations
Embraced his soul, hovering a while above
the masses
Finally released, from even the most subtle
of bondage
As torches touched the straw of marigold
strewn pyre
Respected, even worshipped, rejected, even
called a liar
The Great Soul, The Mahatma found his
way up higher
Like every soul passing through this plane
He must have made some mistakes
But victorious and triumphant
With insight from his cherished Bhagavad Gita
He succeeded where no one else could
We’re told, as the bullet hit him
He called out the name of his beloved Lord,
Rama, Rama, Rama
Let all of this humble life’s work be for Your
glory and pleasure
Let me leave this body, this land, this fight
And find my way once more into Your association
Flames climbed higher as Brahmin priests chanted Sacred mantras
Sung by the Supreme Being to the Sun god before the world existed
Never was there a time when you or I
did not exist
Nor shall we ever cease to be
The embodied soul passes unchanged
Through childhood, youth, old age
Into a different body at death
The wise are not affected by this change
Never born, never dying, the ever-existing soul
Always endures and remains alive when
the body is dead
As one gives up old worn clothing
And puts on new clothes
The soul gives up the old body
And enters a new one
Never can the soul be cut by weapons
Burnt by fire, soaked in water or dried
by the wind.
There is no death for the embodied soul
There is no reason to grieve the loss of
any living being
At the funeral of Mahatma Ghandi
The spirit of Jesus came forth from the crowd
Like a misty white dove amid hushes, tears
and lamentations
Commended his soul high into the arms
of his Father