Stephen Foster

© Copyright 2020 Peter Lloyd
Melody adapted from "Beautiful Dreamer" by Stephen Foster

No, bladder cancer’s not such a bad fate
Not ‘less you miss it or treat it too late
Urologists spot it, no matter how small
Then go in and scape it right off of the wall

To get to your tumor, they don’t have to cut 
They don’t turn you over and go up your butt
The way to your bladder’s not in through your nose
They go up your schlong with long, rubber hose

Poor little penis takes all the pains
Gives only pleasure and never complains
Poor little penis just longs to be
A stout-hearted poker and not a poke-ee
A stout-hearted poker and not a poke-ee

First they prepare you and put you to sleep
Into a twilight you go, not too deep
Meanwhile your penis takes all of the flak
While you in your twilight, lie flat on your back

Poor little penis takes all the pains
Gives only pleasure and never complains
Poor little penis just longs to be
A stout-hearted poker and not a poke-ee
A stout-hearted poker and not a poke-ee

No, bladder cancer’s not such a bad fate
Not ‘less you miss it or treat it too late
So go see your doctor, and one who’s well known
For treating each penis as if it’s his own

Poor little penis takes all the pains
Gives only pleasure and never complains
Poor little penis just longs to be
A stout-hearted poker and not a poke-ee
A stout-hearted poker and not a poke-ee

Poor Little Penis

Homage to Stephen Foster and to my childhood home of North College Hill, Ohio,  a suburb of Cincinnati, whose name does not lend itself  very well to melodic meter.

Words and music © Copyright 1969, 2003, 2011, 2016 Peter Lloyd

Oh, how the days passed, so long, filled with fun
We would play along the streets and alleys, laughing as we’d run
Warm was the pavement ‘neath the sweet summer sun
In my younger days in Cincinnati, may they be retold
Could I keep the laughter in my heart from those younger days in Cincinnati
Sure I’d never grow old

Oft times I ponder, oh, how my heart does yearn
What imparts a child sustaining joy a man should want to learn
Some day in summer, I’m sure I must return
When I see those children’s smiling faces, will they know I long
For the blessing of the joy to spend just one younger day in Cincinnati
Full with carefree song

How I return, I’m sure I’ll never know
Do I slip the gnarly grip of time or dream my way back home?
Somehow my child’s eyes upraise their sleepy shades
And the granite load of life’s long labor gently falls away
As the peal of laughter draws me home to one younger day in Cincinnati 
Mark what I behold

Who knows this stranger who on our games now spies?
No hint of harm comes in his heart, yet tears well in his eyes
There in his winter, I feel my own foretold
So I swear the roaring heat of summer never will grow cold
For I’ll keep the laughter in my heart from this younger day in Cincinnati
Sure, I’ll never grow old
Oh, how the days passed, so long

Younger Days in Cincinnati

Something in the Orange

Boys Of Faith

Nine Ball

There’s a part of you that drifts somewhere else when the house gets still — and I see it.
This one’s for the quiet you, the deep-thinking, hope-holding version you don’t always let out loud.
I don’t just love the way you live…
I love the way you dream.

When She Dreams

To the tune of "Old Folks at Home"
 
Wayne Bailey stopped on by this mornin’
As was his way
Called to my window without warnin’
“Here comes the same old day”
 
On down the road we went a-walkin’
As was our way
Wayne doin’ almost all the talkin’
Here’s what old Wayne had to say:
 
"Around the world the time-old story
"Ev'ry day the same
"Some risk their lives for love and glory
"Some treat it like a game
 
"One walks the dog and dries the dishes
"One folds the clothes
"One cuts the bait, the other fishes
"One weeds, the other hoes
 
"Some trade in slaves and steal their labors
"Some sell their wares
"Some grab a gun and slay their neighbors
"Some offer thoughts and prayers
 
"Around the world the time-old story
"Ev'ry day the same
"Some risk their lives for love and glory
"Some treat it like a game"
 
On back around we came from walkin’
As was our way
Wayne doin’ almost all the talkin’
Like ev’ry other day
 
"Around the world the time-old story
"Ev'ry day the same
"Some risk their lives for love and glory
"Some treat it like a game"
 
© Copyright 2022 Peter Lloyd

What Old Wayne Said

🕯 I Leave Ashes Behind 🕯
A slow-burning soul elegy wrapped in velvet smoke.
No anger. No goodbye. Just the soft hush of someone choosing absence with grace.
Minimalist jazz-inflected instrumentation meets intimate, breath-warm vocals — a departure so quiet, it echoes.

This is not closure. This is sovereignty.
She doesn’t vanish — she simply leaves nothing behind but ash.

🎧 Mood: detached, graceful, unshaken
🖋 Line to remember: “I leave ashes — dry and clean / Like I was never in between.”

Let the silence speak.

I Leave Ashes Behind

---

Verse 1

I don’t need closure, I don’t need grace
I watched it burn and turned my face
No final words, no bitter cries
Just smoke curling through the sky

Pre-Chorus
You’ll search the air for what we were
But darling, I don't leave a blur


---

Chorus

I leave ashes behind
Not love, not hate, not the ties that bind
No trace for you to follow back
No scent of me on your collapse
I leave ashes — dry and clean
Like I was never in between


---

Verse 2

I left the dress, I kept the name
I walk in silence, not in shame
No bags to pack, no doors to close
Just lighter steps where nothing grows

I didn’t flinch, I didn’t stay
I simply turned and slipped away

Pre-Chorus
You’ll search the air for what we were
But darling, I don't leave a blur


---

Chorus

I leave ashes behind
Not love, not hate, not the ties that bind
No trace for you to follow back
No scent of me on your collapse
I leave ashes — dry and clean
Like I was never in between


---

Bridge (the ritual of disappearance)

No candle lit, no mourning song
No looking back to prove him wrong
No trace of me in what you find
Just breath… just dust… just disinclined


---

Final Chorus

I leave ashes behind
Not love, not hate, not the ties that bind
No myth for you to twist or keep
No echo waiting while you sleep
I leave ashes — soft and wide
Then I return to what’s inside

I Leave Ashes Behind

Lover Girl

No sun shines bright on Breonna Taylor’s home
There sorrow and darkness remain
In empty rooms where the fatal shots have flown
The echoes of death will always reign

Our heads must bow for how far we fall behind
True justice without and within
When bullets fly, it’s the darker skin they find
No matter how slight or small the sin

Weep no more, good people
Oh, spare your thoughts and pra yers
Rather sing one song for Breonna Taylor’s home
And the shameful stain that lingers there
How many times will we pause at end of day
And wonder how long we must roam
Until we lay down that fair and level way
We take to our bright and better home
Weep no more, good people
Oh, spare your thoughts and prayers
Rather sing one song for Breonna Taylor’s home
And the shameful stain that lingers there 

Let us sing one song for Breonna Taylor’s home
And the shameful stain that lingers there

(c) Copyright 2025 Peter Lloyd
music by suno AI

Breonna Taylor’s Home

Snow White

**Description after the lyrics**

Verse 1
You paused before you turned—
Long enough for me to yearn
I felt the words behind my teeth,
I waited long for you to speak.
But both of us, afraid to fall,
Let nothing rise, we said it all.

Chorus
We almost said it, both of us—
A word, a touch, a wait for trust.
But fear stood taller than the need,
And silence got the final lead.
We almost spoke. We almost stayed.
What stays is what we never said.

Verse 2
We never fought, we never lied—
Just watched the light begin to slide.
You waited for me, and I did too,
Hoping the other would break through.
Maybe we were two of a kind—
Good at silence, just a little blind.

Chorus
We almost said it, both of us—
A word, a touch, a wait for trust.
But fear stood taller than the need,
And silence got the final lead.
We almost spoke. We almost stayed.
What stays is what we never said.

Bridge
I don’t blame you. I don’t blame me.
We just played it safe too easily.
I hoped you'd reach, you thought I might—
It turns out we were both not right.

Final Chorus
We almost said it, both of us—
A word, a truth, a wait for trust.
But timing failed, and fear rang true,
And silence got the best of two.
We almost spoke. We almost stayed.
Is that what we were meant to say?

Still…
If you’re hearing this someday—
I wish I had somehow found a way.

***** Does this song like you? You can bring it home with you if you like. Click the green button.

We Almost Said is a quiet ache turned into song. It isn’t about what happened, but about what didn’t—the words that stayed locked behind teeth, the closeness that never bridged the small gap. It moves on hesitation, on pauses that became endings, on the way two people can hold the same yearning and still let it slip away.

It’s tender, not bitter. More sigh than shout. The refrain of “almost” is its heartbeat: love nearly spoken, closeness nearly claimed, a truth nearly shared. And in that space between, the song finds its power—not in explanation, but in what lingers unsaid.

We Almost Said

How many times have we laughed  
And how many times have we cried  

And entrusted our words to the wind  
Like a disenchanted melody  

But we have always found each other  
Almost as if it were a dream  
Almost as if it were a sign  

In our love nest  
A soft cloud above the world  
In our love nest  
Touching the heart deep within  
In our love nest  
Love nest  
Love nest  

And I always see happy your smile  
You are like a drop of rain that refreshes the face  
I feel your scent your scent that surrounds me like an embrace of love like a wave  

That lifts me up and then sinks me  
And my heart beats so so so so  

In our love nest  
A soft cloud above the world  
In our love nest  
Touching the heart deeply  
In our love nest  
Love nest  
Love nest  

I think of you constantly of you  
Even though sometimes you're far away yet incredibly close  
You're my first thought in the morning  
And during the day it's pleasant to think of your company  
And I always wait for our moment to fly fly away  

In our love nest  
A soft cloud above the world  
In our love nest  
Touching the heart deeply  
In our love nest  
Love nest  
Love nest

LOVE NEST   (reworked)

Our Vow

Mirror of Lies

Songwriter since 1966. Can't believe I still have to write protest songs. Prefer writing love songs and songs of praise for stand-up women and men, parodies, lyrical nonsense, blues and adaptations.

What Old Wayne Said

Peter Lloyd

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