Eminem
Look… If you had… one shot… or one opportunity…
To seize everything you ever wanted… one moment…
Would you capture it? Or just let it slip?
Yo
[Verse 1]
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
to drops bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
what he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth but the words won’t come out
He’s chokin, how? Everybody’s jokin now
The clock’s run out, time’s up, over – BLAOW!
Snap back to reality, OHH! there goes gravity
OHH! there goes Rabbit, he choked
He’s so mad, but he won’t
Give up that easy nope, he won’t have it
He knows, his whole back’s to these ropes
It don’t matter, he’s dope
He knows that, but he’s broke
He’s so sad that he knows
when he goes back to this mobile home, that’s when it’s
back to the lab again, yo, this whole rap shift
He better go capture this moment and hope it don’t pass him
[Chorus]
You better – lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go (go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime
You better – lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go (go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime
You better..
[Verse 2]
Soul’s escaping, through this hole that is gaping
This world is mine for the taking
Make me king, as we move toward a, new world order
A normal life is boring; but superstardom’s
close to post-mortem, it only grows harder
Homie grows hotter, he blows it’s all over
These hoes is all on him, coast to coast shows
He’s known as the Globetrotter
Lonely roads, God only knows
He’s grown farther from home, he’s no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
But hold your nose cause here goes the cold water
These hoes don’t want him no mo’, he’s cold product
They moved on to the next schmoe who flows
He nose-dove and sold nada, and so the soap opera
is told, it unfolds, I suppose it’s old partner
But the beat goes on da-da-dum da-dum da-dah
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
No more games, Imma change what you call rage
Tear this motherfuckin roof off like two dogs caged
I was playin in the beginning, the mood all changed
I’ve been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhymin and stepped right in the next cypher
Best believe somebody’s payin the pied piper
All the pain inside amplified by the
fact that I can’t get by with my nine to
five and I can’t provide the right type of
life for my family, cause man, these God damn
food stamps don’t buy diapers, and there’s no movie
There’s no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life
And these times are so hard, and it’s gettin even harder
Tryin to feed and water my seed plus, teeter-totter
Caught up between bein a father and a pre-madonna
Baby momma drama screamin on her too much for me to wanna
stay in one spot, another day of monotony
has gotten me to the point, I’m like a snail I’ve got
to formulate a plot, or end up in jail or shot
Success is my only motherfuckin option, failure’s not
Mom I love you but this trailer’s got to go
I cannot grow old in Salem’s Lot
So here I go it’s my shot, feet fail me not
This may be the only opportunity that I got
[Chorus]
[Outro]
You can do anything you set your mind to, man.
The Eternal Ecstasy- Rumi
You are the comfort of my soul,
In the season of sorrow.
You are the wealth of my spirit,
in the heartbreak of loss.
The unimaginable,
the unknowable-
That’s what you give my soul
when it moves into your direction.
By your grace
my eyes have looked upon eternity.
O King, how could this crumbling empire
ever take me from you?
The voice that sings your name
is sweeter than midnight sleep
more graceful than the song of a royal poet.
When deep in prayer
my faith is bound by the thought of you,
not the seven verses of faith,
You greet sinners with mercy,
you melt stone hearts with love.
If I were offered a kingdom,
And the world’s riches were placed at my feet,
I would bow with my face low and say,
This does not compare to His love!
Union is the pure wine.
My life is the cup.
Without your wine
what use is this cup?
I once had a thousand desires,
But in my one desire to know You,
all else melted away.
The pure essence of your being
has taken over my heart and soul.
Now there is no second or third,
only the sound of your sweet cry.
Through your grace I have found
a treasure within myself.
I have found the truth of the Unseen world.
I have come upon the eternal ecstasy.
I have gone beyond the ravages of time.
I have become one with you!
Now my heart sings,
“I am the soul of the world.”
From my first breath, I have longed for Him-
This longing has become my life.
This longing has seen me grow old…
But one mention of Shams-e Tabrizi
and all my youth comes back.
Bittersweet- Rumi
In my hallucination
I saw my Beloved’s
flower garden.
In my vertigo
In my dizziness
In my drunken haze
whirling and dancing
like a spinning wheel
I saw myself
as the source of existence
I was there in the beginning
and I was the spirit of love
Now I am sober
There is only the hangover
and the memory of love
And only the sorrow.
I yearn for happiness,
I ask for help
I want mercy.
And my love says,
look at me and hear me
because I am here just for that.
I am your moon
and your moonlight too.
I am your flower garden and
your water too.
I have come all this way
eager for you
without shoes or shawl
I want you to laugh,
to kill all your worries
to love you
to nourish you.
Oh sweet bitterness!
I will soothe you
and heal you
I will bring you roses.
I too have been covered with thorns!
In Silence- Rumi
A Guide has entered this life, in silence.
His message is only heard, in silence.
Take a sip of His precious wine
And lose yourself.
Don’t insult the greatness of His love,
for he helps all those who suffer, in silence.
Polish the mirror between the breaths.
Go with Him, beyond words.
He knows your every deed.
He is the one
Who moves the wheel of heaven, in silence.
Every thought is buried in your heart;
He will reveal them one by one, in silence.
Turn each of your thought into a bird
and let them fly to the other world.
One is an owl, one is a falcon, one is a crow.
Each one is different from the other
But they are all the same, in silence.
To see the moon that cannot be seen,
Turn your eyes inward
and look at yourself, in silence.
In this world,
and the next,
Don’t talk about this and that;
Let Him show you everything,
shining as One…..in silence.
If—
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
So the Baby Boomer that I am (Die Boomer, Die!!!) went to school in the 1970’s. What a terrible time to be educated in public schools. Empty days, over and over, without a profound thought. And worst of all, I missed the glorious, light-filled writing of the master poets and authors. The emptiness was fertile ground for an imagination like mine, yet hearing these poems today, my heart soars at the ecstasy held within the words.