Different by Vincent Tabatha

How are we so "different"?
If "different" is just a thing.
If we all have certain features,
What does "different" bring?

People filled with hatred,
Can't possibly see,
That there's not really "differences"
Between you and me.

Looks can't show "difference",
If they're just there to be seen.
If you don't look like someone else,
Why are they so mean?

If being "different" is what is wrong,
I'd rather not be right.
And I'd want to finish living,
Doing the "different" fight.

Door to Decision by Robson Grant

We come from a turbulent past
To an info-age moving way to fast
The fate of these lands
Is now placed in our hands

Will we bring destruction to an end
Will we have the power to mend
Save this fragile dreamland
Wash away our footprints in the sand

Global warming is causing weather changes right before our eyes
But we still blacken our skies
Sunrays take less time to burn our faces
But we still destroy our rain forests and just leave empty spaces

The men spill out of the factories everywhere
Punching their time clocks basically unaware
Don't realize what's happening to the big picture
The massive devastation of the atmospheric mixture

Every day go through their daily motions
Waiting it out for measly promotions
Distant stares and silent prayers
Monday to Friday . . . say goodbye

Our oceans are slicked with oil spills
Our waterways full of toxic waste that kills
We build our cities on mountains of pollution
Without an environmental solution

We live our lives in search of wealth
In the process damage our good health
Crime stories are found on every newspaper page
People loosing control in an uncertain age

The victims of greed are getting younger
In a world that still allows their hunger
Our petty problems make us hang down our heads
While million's go unfed

Desire unfolds the light of our day
But we cannot give in to the subtle decay
We must rise above the haze descending
Toward mass action mending

We must take control of our actions today
or the children of tomorrow will be the one's to pay
The new innkeepers shall soon take charge
of the next generation's voyage at large

Trends are patterned and patterns trended
But man's damage must be ended!

If You Have Seen by Thomas Moore

Good reader! if you e'er have seen,
When Phoebus hastens to his pillow
The mermaids, with their tresses green,
Dancing upon the western billow:
If you have seen, at twilight dim,
When the lone spirit's vesper hymn
Floats wild along the winding shore:
If you have seen, through mist of eve,
The fairy train their ringlets weave,
Glancing along the spangled green;--
If you have seen all this and more,
God bless me! what a deal you've seen!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.

But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

There is Another Sky by Emily Dickinson

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Thy Days are Done by Lord Byron

Thy days are done, thy fame begun;
Thy country's strains record
The triumphs of her chosen Son,
The slaughter of his sword!
The deeds he did, the fields he won,
The freedom he restored!

Though thou art fall'n, while we are free
Thou shalt not taste of death!
The generous blood that flow'd from thee
Disdain'd to sink beneath:
Within our veins its currents be,
Thy spirit on our breath!

Thy name, our charging hosts along,
Shall be the battle-word!
Thy fall, the theme of choral song
From virgin voices pour'd!
To weep would do thy glory wrong:
Thou shalt not be deplored.

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!