1. MY GARDEN

I Pray
That I may see clearly
Things as they are not as I want them to be
Mountains are mountains
Just as they are
Not as I want them to be

My eyes are burning
My tongue is burning
My nose is burning
My ears are burning
My body is burning
My Mouth is burning
Death is the ultimate fucker
Death is the ultimate…

Now I know who’s in my garden
Now I know what form it takes
Gone but never quite forgotten
I have found a resting place

I believe
There is no separation
Every moment is like arrows that meet in mid-air
But sometimes I fee like my head is on fire
Behold it burning
Listen!
Buddha said: “Everything is burning
All of the senses, the mountains and the fire’
This is it
The fire sermon

My eyes are burning
My mouth is burning
My nose is burning
My ears are burning
My body is burning
My Mouth is burning
Death is the ultimate fucker
Death is the ultimate…

Now I know who’s in my garden
Now I know what form it takes
Gone but never quite forgotten
I have found a resting place


2. FLEA

My dog's haunting rabbits in the yard.
Casey's at home, watching tv
I step in, do what I can, he
Doesn't care, just wants to watch them

Flee. Say no, the word's despair, he
Gathers, folds, takes a leak, dim
Light depresses, dusts the top and
Sits with april as she unfolds her

Knees, sibylle calls, like no one’s home, her
Mouth tears open, sigh, breathe, and
There, I saw a lonely doe, suz wakes up, gets dressed and leaves, it
Looks like hunger, this tableau,
Birds descending on piles of feet in

Living rooms, they’re born again to
Men like ghosts attached to

Teeth, the words sting in passing
More or less
—
What’s left to find for
You anymore

What’s left to find that
You don’t see
—
I’d give
Truth to your life

When I could

I’d try
To speak you clearly
—
I paled
Against so many

Denials every day
“I wanna die”
You took your life
As if what's broken
Laid inside
I couldn’t help it
I tried

So what
—
“So what
If wood learns
She's made a violin?”
—
Where trust and love fail,
Fear makes a map

You followed it


3. MICAH (5:15AM)

Can't seem to find it
What's in the way
Woke up this morning
It’s all the same

Can't seem to find it
what's in the way
woke up this morning
it’s all the same

Can't seem to find it
what's in the way
woke up this morning
It’s all the same

Can't seem to find it
what's in the way
woke up this morning
It’s all the same

Can’t seem to find it
What’s in the way…

You left us with a whisper I wanna scream

Satan's laughing, boys are laughing,
and the current stays the same

Nothing remains


4. THE WEIGHT

Now I’m facing it. 

At carol's apartment,

Ass flat upon the frame,



Mind doing something,

Waiting, looking, spitting 

Image, cars and heat



Casey got beat

While out with tessa

I heard days later 

When we reconvened



And suz was followed 

That same week

And casey and tessa 

Still can't sleep,


Hammer and screw. 

Some guy yells faggot,

He drives off gnawing,

Flexing his cheeks.



Suz left the tool shop 

Before she finished

And called my phone 

Once she was relieved.


5. SERENITY

I have found
A love so sublime
That nothing else could
Take its place.

I have found
A world in mine
And nothing could
Take it away.

My god is enduring
This world every day.

Each day
I leave god to it.

No death could be worth
Escaping

The timbre
Of this pain.
—
I’ve been born of many fathers
And I’ll be born again
I’ve been born of many fathers
And I’ll be born again
I’ve been born of many fathers
And I’ll be born again
I’ve been born of many fathers
And I’ll be born again


6. THE SPIRITUAL SOUND

(Instrumental)


7. DAN'S LOVE SONG

Oh my love
When you are born
And you take shape and color
And your form arises as if from nothing

May you see
That even right now
So many years before you
You can be found
And I love you

Just as empty skies are filled
Every moment touches all of time

So I tell you I love you
Right now
And this is
Right now
So I have always loved
And I will always love you

Just as brightest day becomes the night
Every moment touches all of time

So I tell you I love you
Right now
And this is
Right now
So I have always loved
And I will always love you


8. BODHIDHARMA

You look like you’re dying

What do you need

Lift out from the clutter fuck
Sitting under
Ten grams of weed

Feels like you’re gonna hurt forever
What do you need

Huike is at the bottom of the mountain
With his head on fire
Seeking the great master
To pacify his mind, bodhidharma
The great see-er who cut off his eyelids
And stared at a wall for 9 whole years

One thousand little leaves

One thousand trees

Each filament known by light,
Earth, sap, and seed,

Each drop of rain in fall,
Each beast and breed

One thousand little leaves,
One thousand trees

Huike is at the mouth of the cave now
Holding his flaming head in his hands
And crying out:
“Bodhidharma, I’m freezing to death!
But you just stare at the wall and say nothing
And nothing, and nothing and nothing and nothing at all.
How can I show great faith in the wisdom of the dharma
And doubt in the self?
I cut off my arm!”


9. HALLELUJAH

Hallelujah!
How do you call out to God
If you say that the great words
Are the moon on the water?

Bodhidharma,
My head is on fire.
My head is on fire!
Should I cut off my eyelids
And stare at the stone wall?

Could you pacify my mind for me?


10. THE REPLY

Here I am.
I can see my breath at the edge of the ocean
Where scattered debris
Is cast about in crazy circles
By the water.

And I look up at the sky
Towards the point where sky encounters the water
And I reflect
On the early spring in Europe in 1914.

At the very height
Of the world they built
They destroyed it
For no reason.

I am fucking freezing
And the water looks cold but I wanna try swimming
And go out beyond where I can stand
And float around in ceaseless motion
Of waves…

Sometimes I’m lifted and sometimes they crash down on me
I’m totally out of control
With a mouth full of water