They haven’t learned to take out a bay leaf
Or how to open wine
But they know how to create a game
And spin a shiny dime.

They haven’t learned to crack a walnut
Or how to say, “you look nice.”
Yet they can climb a slender tree
And candy can entice.

If I was always eager to play
I would know the beauty
Of my children every day.

They haven’t learned to carve a turkey
Or how Presidents can lie
And when we can’t play 
They only ask, “why?”

And when they see a red Corvette
They say "Vroom" but don’t look twice.
But they know good packing snow
And they assume everyone’s nice.

If I was always eager to play
I would know the beauty
Of my children every day.

If I could find joy in a spinning dime
Or was always eager to play
I would know the beauty
Of my children every day.

When candy waits and kids giggle
When an evening waits with open arms
When the morning beckons more the same.
When daylight shines until we’re through

When thick grass cushions our falls
When we never separate by a yard
When time drifts softly on our smiles
When only half our sounds are words

Hair nuzzling cheek
I drink skin’s calling.

Enclosing for these moments
An aura of gentleness 
An angel’s wing sweep.

I dwell in this moment
And let all else rest.

Senses washed by stillness of 
Trusting head
Against tired face.

If I was always eager to play
I would know the beauty
Of my children every day.

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

Eager to Play

Mom's song about an autistic son.

Lyrics
Touch the lens, brush it free
Unfog the mist with kisses breeze
Encrusted jewel please shine free
Greet my eyes with a child’s pleas.
 
Make more than cooling shadow.
Have summer days and lazy play,
Climb trees, make well-placed throws.
Chase adventures far away.

Touch the lens, brush it free
Unfog the mist with kisses breeze
Encrusted jewel please shine free
Greet my eyes with a child’s pleas.

Now I watch as a boy too tall
To bury face in sobbing breasts
Looks at walls I can’t see
Reaching to mysterious quests.

Touch the lens, brush it free
Unfog the mist with kisses breeze
Encrusted jewel please shine free
Greet my eyes with a child’s pleas.

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

A Boy Too Tall

You’ve been to this field before
Looking only at the pretty yellow flowers
Dancing gracefully with the warm breezes.

You were with your family then
But now you have walked to that field
Alone
Some force is pulling
With cold, icy hands.

And so you must go.
But where?

You must take a path never taken
To a place never seen.
Terrible is the fate of Man
That he must walk alone in that field.
But those cold and icy hands
Come from within.

And so you must go.
But where?

Remember after you go
Among the yellow flowers
Waits your family
And within their hearts
Will always lie your true home.

And so you must go.
But where?

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

A Difficult Time for a Friend

Wrapped in parchment,
Already curling.
Sunshine has worn days,
On those paused in learning.
 
The door is slammed shut
It is your time to lead.
Knowledge meet wisdom,
Courage meet need.
 
Feet vault where they will,
They can manage all curves.
Summit the lithe garden
Where it's the victor who serves.

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

Colleagues

At your doorstep waits the swaying,
Frothing ocean.
Vainly attempting to regain
That small portion of the earth
Outside its voluminous grasp;
Defining the sky so
Infinite, void, delicate and beautiful.
Caressing the celestial objects of many
Man's ponder.
But even then our minds
Look farther.

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

Looking Up

Starlight laughs through
branches of the elm tree

Watching the past
and future he sits
Looking between
leaves of nature’s bastion.

He thinks of magical things
The stars are far
impossible to grasp.

Turning to face his night friend the moon
Who seems to warm him with its soft hue.
He can see the moon well now for the tree
Had shed its leaves.

The moon was conquered
within man’s reach.
He watched as flaming rockets
burnt their host.

He thinks of magical things,
The stars are far and impossible to grasp.

Electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic controls
Turning, grasping, moving
The home of conquering pilots.

The wind blew stronger around the tree
Returning small branches to the cycle of life.
Through the widening gaps he sees,
The bright planets which were like his home.

Again he saw the rockets
Controlled from far away.
Cross these other worlds
Only to show they were
Swirling, colorful, strange.

He thinks of magical things,
The stars are far and impossible to grasp.

Places not like home but unique to something
He only could imagine

The things he has seen and watched man do
Gusts through his mind
As the wind does through the tree – and it begins to shake
And he waits
Waiting to see what lies behind the tree.

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

Imagine

Imagine Extended

I walked to the marsh where flowers waited
I wanted the brightest one’s for you
Popping yellow heads beckoned
My shoes slurped through muddy goo.

The furthest flower glowed the more
I ploughed through marshy mud
To reach that blade and pluck that one
And another far away

I finally had the right bouquet
To share some joy for you today.

Outside your door I laid them soft
Nudging the bloom that lay astray
I knocked three times
Then ran away
My smile flushed with joy

I finally had the right bouquet
To share some joy for you today.
I finally had the right bouquet
To share some joy for you today.

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

Flowers for Mom

The roots of the tree had long dug a tortuous path 
Into the frozen ground 
With slow power 
That came from the infinite resources supplied by Nature.

Eating into the ground 
Past all sorts of vile matter 
Worse than that which appears to me on the surface.

Dead leaves.

Long dead and indisposed of, 
Rotting and festering on this frozen graveyard.
A few sticks lie with them, 

Victims of freezing torment.

Everything is gray – or black.
No color, no sunlight, just cold, gray and death.

Why doesn’t the snow come to bury these martyrs?
Why, even in their death are they subjected to this cold?

Even nature isn’t fair to her own.

A few rocks stand around the tree, 
Epitome of strength and toughness. 
They don’t care, they can survive anything.

No sympathy is given to the rocks, 
How sad
Tough and rugged as a slave-trading sailor 
But they don't know the joy of growth 
And have nothing to look forward to, 
Not even death.

Yes, no sympathy for the stones.

The tree carries some vestiges of life that it once supported, 
The fractured birds nest, 
The squirrel’s home, 
A hole for some creature… 
All abandoned and gone, 
Just the poor tree standing there, 
In the cold.

Does it know its fate?
The cold and maybe the promise of Spring across this cold dark landscape?

Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided.

Tree Awaiting Winter

Tree Awaiting Winter Remix

Tree Awaiting Remix

Song about the Rock Run Flooding of 2024. Lyrics are written by Thomas Ask and are not AI created or guided. Photograph is by Thomas Ask of Trout Run trailer park on August 9, 2024.

Lyrics:
Ripped, raging water ravages our run
But we are not done

We fire up our people
And race before the sun

The roots run deep here
Don’t test how far

Because you won't find a
Bottom in people like us

Its people like us
That keep things going

Its people like us
That make fire from rain

Its people like us
That make this place run

The roots run deep here
Don’t test how far

Because you won't find a
Bottom in people like us

And it will take more than
Raging water to wear us down

And it will take more than
Raging water to wear us down

People Like Us

Trout Run Flood: People Like Us

I wrote these poems many years ago--all pre-AI and without its charming guidance. I tweaked the poems into suitable lyrics and developed the song structure. Finally, I used AI to compose the music. I guess this is striving to be a troubadour of the 21st century.

Many of my poems were written during my long traveling months when I was young and traveling a lot overseas. Later ones are about parenting, my Christian faith, and other life stuff.

These songs come from my poetry. The lyrics have not been AI generated or assisted. I did some tiny alterations of some of the original poems for musical flow. Except where noted, the musical compositions have been AI generated, where I took my poem and used some of the verses to create a chorus and bridge.

Trout Run Flood: People Like Us

Melodity