The Black Plague

I don't like spiders or snakes either!

I am going to share some personal writings with all of you now, and draw my own conclusions. Yes I will be drawing the conclusions. I guess it is all right to draw conclusions about your own words. In this instance the words are in the form of a song I wrote 32 years ago. Wow, that long ago?

At the time I was a bohemian turned hippie turned greenie and nearly turned anarchist, living in California. If you read this song of mine, and compare the emotions behind the song, with what you think you know about me now, you are bound to make wrong assumptions.
In the 32 years since writing this song, I have not abandoned any emotion this song brings to mind. Well that is not entirely right, I do not doubt the existence of God anymore. Maybe that fact alone has helped me along my sojourn upon Earth.
But you are a neocon! I can almost hear you saying this.
Let me be clear about this, I am a conservative, because I believe with all my heart that the problems I bring up in this song of 30 years ago, cannot be solved by the liberals as we know them today.
I could write long on this subject, but I will only relate one thing.
I practice good stewardship of the earth. I can take you on a drive by the 10 leading liberals of this city, and point out to you that their lawns are beautifully manicured, and green even now in the midst of a drought. Their sprinkling systems use more water in one day, then I will use all year. Sniff....sniff...sniff Yes you can smell the chemicals they use to kill weeds, and insects. Good Stewards? Not. Just a lot of rhetoric and little action.
Now visit my small city lot. I use no chemicals to kill insects or weeds in my yard. None! I also use my showers greywater in my garden. A pump takes it out to my garden. I have several varieties of marsh plants that need a lot of water, so they love my shower water. No jokes about bath water please. In the remaining space of my garden I have 30 or more different herbs growing that attract beneficial insects by the thousands. I have honey bees and many other kinds of pollen loving insects by the thousands. Many liberals have never seen a honeybee anywhere near their palatial estates. The bees are smarter than Dan Rather.
I don’t like spiders or snakes, but they are here also.
What I am trying to share is simply this……there is a lot of misinformation about conservatives, but I don’t care, I am what I am.

Now for the song.

The Black Plague

Verse One:
Orphans of war knock on my door,
Begging “Sing a song for our cause”
Neglected lands of the universe,
Begging “Pollute us no more”
Up steps a man whose skin is black,
Asking “Is my face that hard too look at?”
My vote the politician buys,
Then he tries to tell me I’m too high.

Chorus:
Lately I’ve been confused,
As to why now we’ve misused?
This our world and its populace.
Did God really create us?
Or did we just fantasize him,
So we could continue in our sin?
And go on dreamin’ of a heaven somewhere,
Neglecting our beautiful world down here.

Verse Two:
The tax collector tells me “Pay up.”
Today or go to jail!
Fourteen different ministers,
Say, walk this way or go to hell.
In my own simple way,
I walk upon this earth,
Hoping for some better days,
Taking life for what it’s worth.

Chorus here

Verse Three
This is the saddest dream I’ve ever had,
It’s screaming but I can’t awake.
It’s all too real, kinda makes me sad,
Is it all an unfortunate mistake?
Can the wrongs be corrected?
Can a good man be elected?
Can social wrongs, be rejected?
Will this world remain so infected?

Chorus here

Verse Four
We lay claim to the moon and outer space,
A prize for our egotistical brains.
If we’re allowed to leave this place,
I wonder who would want the remains?
Dirty water, over burdened soil,
Beer cans thrown everywhere.
Buffalo’s gone, broken glass,
Everything to breathe but good air.

Chorus and out………..
Copyright 1973