![Photograph of a statue of a young vagabond taken at Fo Guang Shan [佛光山,] near Kaohsiung, Taiwan.](https://berniegourley.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/img_0378.jpg)
Each Soul contains its Vagabond
- Who yearns to travel light & free -
But they load too much baggage on,
Then tether him to a big tree.
Vagabond [Lyric]
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Tag Archives: Lyric
Nameless / 无名 [Lyric Poem]
![Photograph taken in Hualien, Taiwan at the Hualien Temple and Dongjing Temple (花蓮寺東淨寺) [Buddhist.]](https://berniegourley.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/img_1218.jpg)
They call me Nameless,
Well-known as fameless.
My plans are aimless.
My faults are blameless.
My chess is gameless.
My disgrace, shameless?
But my glasses are framed.
My passions are inflamed.
My wild horses are tamed,
And my arrows are aimed.
All due credit is claimed,
And nothing else remains.
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Beetle [Lyric Poem]
A Beetle that was built like a tank
Crawled over a blazing riverbank
Now as any sane one would think
It should head straight for the drink
To cool off its little ole toes.
But as astute readers will know,
It hasn't really got any toes,
So, it can walk hot sands real slow.
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River Taco [Lyric Poem]
We kayak where lives Hippopotamus,
And hope it isn't submerged, a-bottom us.
With kayak a quite crunchy hard shell --
Us: savory filling that screams and yells, --
We'll be a three-bite river taco to hell.
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Dancing Dragon [Lyric Poem]
A dancing dragon winds
through streets of Chinatown.
Head pivots, nods, and turns
as it looks all around.
I hope its golden eye
will not catch sight of me
because its big, curved fangs
do not look so friendly.
You may say its paper,
and those teeth can't do harm,
but there's life in its moves
that's cause of my alarm.
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Mystery Door [Lyric Poem]
There's something about an old wood door --
ornate (but on some humdrum street)
that makes one wonder if it's more
than its neighbors -- something offbeat:
Perhaps, a portal into Hell,
a Speakeasy of unknown vice,
a smelly cheese smuggling cartel,
a school for wizards, imprecise.
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Squirrel Grandiosity [Lyric Poem]
A squirrel sat straight upon a dirt mound.
It could survey the woods for miles around.
Holding an acorn like a microphone,
The rodent seemed to be deep in the Zone.
Perhaps comedy stylings or folk songs?
But it just chewed its nut loud and long.
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Common Box Turtle [Lyric Poem]
"The race is to steady turtles!" --
Even if the race has hurdles?
Even with its great longevity
it'll never have lift or levity
to finish before life runs out.
Hold off with race applications.
Is racer your ideal vocation?
I don't mean to be Sower of doubt,
but think speed isn't what you're about,
and that you'd make a fine doorstop.
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Raccoon [Lyric Poem]
Looking like a masked bandito,
Raccoon dunks expired burrito.
It dips it not to get it clean
but to flavor it: Swamp Latrine.
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Great Blue Heron [Lyric Poem]
Skittish is the Great Blue Heron.
It feels when you're stopped and starin'
and will crisscross water like Charon
to keep you on the other side.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 