These are poems and lyrics I have written over the years. Some are sad  and deep while others are expressions of joy and happiness.      

You can hear some of the songs in the Music page.

"Tymor Park", "Waiting for The Rain", and "Snakey. The Snake" are new.

"Tymor Park" is actually being updated as time goes by.

"You're Always Welcome Here, My Friend" is dedicated to all the lost, abused, mistreated, and unloved dogs in the world. Please adopt.

You can download the song on the home page.

You can repost my poetry and verse by asking first.

Everything is, of course, Copyright 2009 Philip Butta. All rights Reserved. yadda, yadda ...

WAITING FOR THE RAIN

When the sky above starts turning grey

And you shiver from the cooling spray

Let the droplets fall where they’ll remain

Listen as they call your name

While you’re waiting for The Rain.

Do not despair or fear the storm

The clouds will keep your body warm.

The weaknesses you feel today

Will one day all be washed away.

But if the waters come and the flood lines rise

And they just can’t cleanse the wounds inside;

The waves come crashing at your door

And you can’t keep swimming anymore

And you’re just too far away from shore

Turn your head toward horizon’s light

Keep the daylight in your sight

Then close your eyes; dream of home again

Where I’ll be waiting for The Rain.

TYMOR PARK

I am driven by the winter. Frost on my skin. The ice in my hair. My feet crunch through the frozen snow. I am walking with friends who speak gently and softly. They take me on a journey to the fields, where the birds fly in wide circles and the wolves run wild. The sky is overwhelmed with clouds and the trees embrace each other to fight the cold. I wipe the frost from my face and eyes to better see this vision as I am led along trampled walk ways around and up the hill. I’m compelled to march with short steps more left and right than forward to keep from losing my stance. My shortness of breath stalls me but briefly as I imagine why I’m here. I can’t remember ever being anywhere else. I should have worn warmer gloves. The tips of my fingers are numb.

My companions turn silent and offer no explanation for the numbing cold, as if there was never anything else. As if the bitterness was always there. Glancing at me, I wonder if they feel the same. Do their bundled fingers hurt like mine? Have they become immune to the harsh elements? Without knowing, the hilltop is beneath me. The air has become deafening with its emptiness and I am alone. Where have my guides escaped? Why have they left me? Spinning around, the tree tops blur and the horizons fall further into the distance. The sun has fallen to dusk. No sounds. No souls. My legs become soft rubber. I close my eyes and fall to my knees, sobbing. Something has surfaced from deep inside that I thought was gone … a memory and a feeling. I grimace to bring the experience in more clearly but can only recognize small slices of it. Blocking out the outside world I assembled the pieces into an incomplete picture, and I was able to roughly discern the image of my lost friend, Katie. Katie is walking through the trees, her golden coat blending in with the summer’s foliage. Intermittent slivers of sunshine contrast the dark green forest and spotlight her luscious fur, as if she was a movie starlet, snaking through crowds of admirers.

She stops every so often to see if I am still watching. Of course, I am. Her dark eyes telling me, speaking to me from the dense: “I cannot come to you now, but I am here with you. I hear you when you call my name, but I cannot come to you, now.’ She sniffs the ground, and noses the shrubs. Her tail is like a fiery flag following her every step. I narrow my stare to track her as she winds through the brush. Here and there, she disappears. I call her, but she cannot come to me, now. She has wandered off and I am again, alone …. I feel wasted and drained, and weakly get to my feet. The chill has returned and the hours have passed. The sky is black, spotted with speckled light. The birds have nested and the wolves have begun their nightly hunt. Lunar light edges the rock hard path and the trees have become a curtain, framing the way back down the hill. My steps become heavy as the descent pulls me back to the fields. I can hear the voices of my friends as their forms emerge from the shadows and they are calling my name … gently offering to take me back … to the winter.

 YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME HERE, MY FRIEND

You're always welcome here my friend
 When your journey's at an end. 

There will always be a place for you

There will always be some time for you

We’re holding out our hands to you

You know you’re always welcome here, my friend. 

There will always be an open door 

No matter what you’ve done before.

There will always be a burning fire

To keep you warm when you are tired.

There will always be an empty chair

You know you’re always welcome here, my friend.

A place to go where you belong

A place to go when things go wrong

A place to come in from the cold

A place to go when you get old

A place that you can call your home

You know you’re always welcome here, my friend.

IF MY CAT COULD SING

If my cat could sing, Oh, what a joy,

The sounds would be so sweet.

He'd sing real loud and look at me,

So I could keep the beat.

I could sing along with my little friend,

(sometimes we sound the same).

We could raise our heads and stretch our necks

 to echo the refrain.

If my cat could sing I'd pick him up

And dance around the room.

It'd be so nice to have a cat

Who really liked to croon.

I'll bet the dog would bark and yelp,

She'd want to sing along.

She’d try real hard to sing the words

But always get them wrong.

The words are strange, some silly, too.

That doesn't mean a thing.

We sing because we like the song,

We sing because we sing.

Now-a-days, the time goes by,

It's quiet here at home.

I just can't seem to find the heart

To sing our songs alone.

Oh, my little cat,

I think I hear you

singing all the time.

WINTER

I close my eyes so I can see your face

It comes to me from out of nowhere.

A faint outline and then your eyes,

Your long gold hair, and then your smile.

It’s so dark when I close my eyes.

Is it dark for you as well?

Do you see me like I see you?

Do you feel the way I do?

Is your heart heavy with sadness?

Does it crush you like a winter storm?

I feel buried under the evening snow

And I can’t feel a thing.

All I can do is close my eyes

And hope to see you again.

INVITRO

Is there someone outside there who’s

waiting for me to appear?

Is there something outside there that’s

worth it for me to leave here?

Can you give me a reason to leave

For a world that I cannot conceive? 

I’m the one that you asked for,

the one who will soon set you free.

I can feel what you’re feeling,

You’re scared “cause you don’t understand.

Is your innocence making you wish

that I’d stay where I am?

Your heart feeds me and runs through my veins.

Is the emptiness all that remains?

I’m the one that you asked for,

the one who will soon set you free.

Will you love me, protect me,

deliver me … when will this end?

Will you stand there beside me

regardless of what happens then?

Like a wind that refuses to die

I will always be there by your side. 

I’m the one that you asked for

The one who will soon set you free.

SEASONS (for Eva)

Seasons change too frequently.

Summer’s coming way too soon.

I can’t wait for June.

Looking forward to a springtime moon,

Like the time that we first met.

I saw you standing on the street.

The boulevard looked oh so sweet.

You captured me.

Locked the door and threw away the key.

Life just hasn’t been the same.

You took my hands and you took my heart.

You took my life from the very start.

You took the time to discover me.

Life just hasn’t been the same.

I think we make a perfect team.

You’re so beautiful. It’s hard to see,

Why you love me.

How can I give you what you’ve given me?

All I know is I love you.

I really do.

THICK AND THIN

I will never forget

We were always more than friends

Though we went our separate ways

I remember where we’re from.

Stayed in touch through all these years

Watched our loved ones disappear

Some things weren’t always said

Even after such a long time.

After all that we’ve been through

I’m still looking up to you

Of all the people that I knew

I’m so very proud of you.

SHE'S GONE

 Don’t wake me up.  

It’s too much to deal with;

I’ve had enough.

It’s better to leave me alone.

Just let me be.

Just let me forget what she meant to me.

I can’t face the truth anymore.

She’s gone.

If I wake up now, she’s gone.

If I wake up now, she’s gone.

I don’t really sleep.  

I wake up each morning

I feel so weak.

I can’t get her out of my head.

 The light hurts my eyes.

I dimly remember

A better time.

I just want to go back to bed.

 Because I don’t dream.

I don’t feel a thing.

The emptiness clouds over me.

When I feign sleep. 

I fall in so deep.

I try, but she’s just out of reach.

She’s gone.

If I wake up now, she’s gone.

If I wake up now and turn around

If I wake up now, she’s gone. 

 UNTITLED

Every so often I sit and sigh,
For now is all ever, as Time travels by.

The cantors cannot voice their praise,

As vessels and their powers raise,

To be unheard is to be disturbed,

And to sit and cry, as all time travels by.

In every beginning there is an end,

As tomorrow finds solitude, and War finds a friend,

As sequence finds order, and life finds a trend,

So does the straightest also bend?

Love can't remember as time can’t foresee,

And I can’t distinguise the follow or the flee.

Maybe it's relaxing to fight for to be,

And maybe it's unheard of, so just wait and see.

Just trying to decipher the things of the past

And remember we all can't be saved in one Mass.

FOR SARAH

For wanderers seeking - yet to find

A meaning for life - left behind.

Run to catch - but never to keep.

The future’s bold. No time to weep

Over things been done and words all said

Believe in now and please don’t dread

The things to come though hard they seem

Life is Love. Love is Life. What does it mean?

To conquer your foes and be what you want

Live in your castle. Triumphant.

And feel all your feelings and try not to fall

Because life is for living. And living is all.

 LOOK AT ME

Look at me; see what I've become

Is this all I have to show for what I've done?

When I tried to change I was asked to leave

The world it seems got the best of me

Look at me and see what I've become

Look at me, see what I've become
Invisible and hidden in my home

Is this emptiness all that's left of me?
Is this who you think I'm supposed to be?
Look at me see what I've become

Look at me; see what I've become

Lost in a shadow of my own

Where nothing's real - nothing's what it seems

Mesmerized by my own extremes

Look at me and see what I've become.

Look at me; see what I've become

Is this all I have to show for what I've done?

I'm so desperate now and I hate to leave,

But before I go, give me one reprieve.

Look at me and see what I have done.
 

PEACEFUL MAN

My father was a peaceful man.

Did the “dad thing” the best he can.

Tried to keep up

And make a living.

He lived his life like a single man.

Played the ponies with his friends.

But he was always there

When I’d really need him.

Not a perfect world

But I still got to see him.

He tried to cut some corners short

But it didn’t work out like he thought.

He paid the price of the

Broken hearted.

When we were young my parents split.

My mom took off but he kept the kids.

I could see on his face he felt that

He was beaten.

Like it was all his fault

And he never was forgiven.

Well, lots of folks say I look like him.

That’s all right; we were the best of friends.

When I think back now I see that

We looked quite familiar.

Because the lives we lived were

Oh, so similar.
 

NO ONE'S PERFECT

 
I’m not lazy. I don’t want a job.
Just can’t be one of those working slobs.
Can’t rely on me because I’m always late.
No one’s perfect, Baby ain’t it great?

I fool around and think that life’s a joke.

Spend more money that I have. I’m broke.

Don’t criticize me ‘cause I’m not like you.

No one’s perfect. Baby, ain’t that true?

I smoke too much; I think I’m gaining weight.

Can’t get up early ‘cause I stay out late.

I’m no one special and I’m sure you agree

That no one’s perfect; baby just like me.

I would rather hang around in bars.

Ride my Harley; drive my fancy cars.

My friends all understand the reasons why

No one’s perfect, baby ...  so am I.

SNAKEY, THE SNAKE

Snakey, The Snake, was a friend of mine

I used to see him all the time.

He didn’t have that much to say

But, I liked to see him anyway.

He dressed real fine, his coat was nice.

I guess that’s from his diet: mice.

But I can’t find him in the shed,

He must have left; he might be dead.