Memorial Field

Memorial Field

By: Tyler Ross

If I looked back at the years we had

To say thank you for I was glad

To have you in my life

I don’t think anyone is ever ready to say goodbye

I hold your picture close to my face

And fight back the tears so I can replace them

With a smile because you would have wanted it this way

You showed me love and laughter during your days

Had lots to say, but didn’t speak soon enough

To this day reflections of you do get rough

But that’s because I miss you and the times we had

Standing at your funeral it’s hard not to be sad

I can’t thank you enough as I yell toward the sky

For all the hard times you pulled me out of so I could get by

And shine on the world, I try and try

Holding you close and never forgetting our time

I want to say thank you

I want to say thank you

I want to say thank you

Thank you

We are never promised tomorrow

Our only guarantee is that we live for today

We won’t try to live in sorrow

We are here to celebrate your life in each and every way

I want to say thank you

For sharing your life

I want to say thank you

For sharing your life

I want to say thank you

You may be gone

But your memory will live on

Swimming Upstream

Swimming Upstream

By: Tyler Ross

You tell me I’ll make it

But I know how you play it

I can’t fake it

Work hard, but I know I’ll never fully make it

How can I see all this through?

When I don’t believe you

A world such as mine

Lower class status aching for more and more

The hand that breeds green looks past us

Can’t choose to ignore

Never will settle the score

So I’ll break these thoughts of hope

Just to cope and move on in struggle

Its what I’ve always known

No truth

No peace

This war inside my head won’t sleep

And it won’t quit till I’m buried deep

I fight and fight, but this life will die

In front of a nation built for scum to survive

Falling short in a life I didn’t ask for

Struggle to see more than poor

Never will settle the score

Swimming upstream

Fuck the American dream

Mind’s tired; resources always expire

Stuck with the same scene

Can’t build on what I’m willing to work hard for

So I’ll always scream

While trying to swim upstream

Fuck this American dream

Smoking Mirrors (No Permanence)

Smoking Mirrors (No Permanence)

By: Tyler Ross

My mother said, one day son, you will know what it's like to feel alone. I neglected her for years and swore her words were just her own. Now that day arose and boy it has got the best of me. To see what she saw all those years and tears in this town Los Angeles has offered me. All these faces come and go. There is no permanence. It’s all for show. I’ve come to know. They front just to get by and leave you all alone. But son she said, don’t let their actions hold you down. Take them as a grain of salt and send them blowing in the wind. The one’s that end up coming back more times than some. Never turn your back, for those are the ones you want under this California sun. All these faces come and go. There is no permanence. It's all for show. I've come to know. They front just to get by and in the end leave you all alone. The way it is. I'm better off on my own. Letting go.

Dead At 25

Dead At 25

By: Tyler Ross

Sharpened sparks shooting me still

The constant complaints I keep to myself

Lessening me now day to day

Finished at 25, I couldn’t be saved

Aching shocks come and go

Digging themselves in, they thunder below

Under my ribs and down to my arm

Too fucking young to sound the alarm

Dead at 25, the news will say

Many will weep over an early grave

Questions of why the good die young

Answers won’t come for this fallen son

Panic pains pinch and cut off my air

Random jolts to my body keep me aware

This could be it as the lights dim south

Ready to rest from this sting

My teeth gritting down inside my mouth

Over and out

Our Own Ghost Town

Our Own Ghost Town
By: Tyler Ross

This ghost town
My country
This neglect
You will see
And now you know
My birthplace
These memories
My worst days
Like these centuries
Bought off in silence long ago

I ain't the man that I used to be ever since landing on my two feet. This world is in fear and we still can't see that clear. I've been enslaved for too long here. Just a man built on broken dreams, while watching success slip through the cracks it seems. My father tried and my mother cried, so they decide like humanity penny-pinching like dope fiends. Now tell me what happened to the fight. Did we all just lay our heads down and say goodnight. Something isn't right for something so leading to not share their piece of the pie. I ain't the man I inspired to be since this unbalanced world got the best of me. We all talk sincere, but the truth has been here. We're just too busy making excuses and overlooking our strength. Frustrated, I want to disappear.

When the night falls
You will see
The emptiness in me
Gone and left
Me and this dream
Abandoned or stand
Either way you ran
Like the rest
Now becomes this ghost town
Its all been a test