Rev Matthew

Rev Matthew

The Gospel According to Reverend Matthew

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Escape down to the Amazon
Left disciples all behind
Really blew collective mind
Somewhere down there we split up
Overflowing Spirit’s cup
I went under the canopy
That's where I turned into We

Traveled down the Sacred River
Flaming arrows for my quiver
Poison darts tipped with Curare
Villagers could not ignore me
Looks I got would really floor me
Never seen white man before me
Became part of jungle lore
Hunters on the forest floor

I am rich and I am poor
I own nothing anymore
Left it all outside the door
Gone for good and that's for sure
20 years I spent down here
As it all came crystal clear
Listen carefully, my dear
We have nothing left to fear

Hunted the deep jungle trail
I took monkeys, parrots, quail
Made their deaths a sacrament
Grauman's Chinese wet cement
Spirit animal the Jaguar
Lucky Life under a star
Nowhere you could get by car
I became a superstar

Then the white man came on down
Started building cities, towns
Burned the forest tree by tree
Back in 1833
I was everything I see
I rowed a raft far out to sea
Nothing could ever touch me
I was barely 23

Like a man but still a child
Flying blind and running wild
Searching for Infinity
Learned Life's For Eternity
God then touch me on my back
Took the stones from my knapsack
Put my ship back on its course
Burned my raft and bought a horse

Set ourselves a Northbound course
Chose between Power and Force
Celestial mathematics
Crazy acrobatics
I found toys up in the attic
Behavior sometimes erratic
Cocaine-tipped kitchen matches
Morphine suckers, opium patches

5 more lifetimes came and went
This is not an accident
Gold Rush Creek, 1-8-4-9
Then struck oil, Saint Valentine!
Traveled with a dude named Cisco
Moved on out to San Francisco
Tried to put down solid roots
My woman only spoke Yokuts

I became a gunfighter
My noose rope was getting tighter
Price on my head gettin’ higher
Good tobacco, Zippo lighter
Down to the Southern Sierra
Kings, Kaweah and the Kern
Many dollars came and went
Oh, how the worm did turn!

Bunch of outlaws jumped my claim
Looking for to make a name
Polish up their tarnished fame
Brothers Frank and Jesse James
Took a bullet in my chest
In the dust, I laid to rest
Barbary Coast all undressed
Dying truly is the best

That is where she came to me
Out by the Pacific sea
Settled down and had some kids
She died of cancer, them of SIDS
One night at the Opera
I came down with cholera
One more lifetime came and went
For my sins, I paid my rent

Nomad living in a tent
Preacher said, “You must repent!”
Hangman got me one more time
I was down to my last dime
Came back to the oil field
Just outside of Bakersfield
Hit a gusher just like that
Sister, I was getting fat

Somewhere out there in the mud
Gotta know There Will Be Blood
Son of Lewis, Daniel Day
Man, I had some bills to pay
Then the money went away
Chinese girls came out to play
Found a wholly new position
Lost it all on proposition

Paid the wages for my sin
Barrel racer reined him in
Three more races, went all-in
Back around the wheel again
Born Again, 1919
Married to a beauty queen
She was only 17
Cheated on me, quite a scene

Burned our house with kerosene
She was still asleep inside
Farmed the kids to families South
Stuck a shotgun in my mouth
Peter said, “Don't come inside”
You'll be taking one more ride
I remember how I cried
That time it was suicide

Ran the circuit one more time
Drank tequila mixed with lime
Salty rim around my glass
Man I thought I had such class
Shadow in the looking-glass
Thank you, I will take a pass
Never made it back to class
This life fucked me in the ass

Through Saint James Infirmary
Wonder what's become of me
Ground my bones to make a sweater
Muscles hard and skin like leather
Made it up into crack town
Venice Beach after sundown
Skating down that concrete strand
Hyperdrive in Spirit’s hand

I became a boardwalk preacher
Healing arts and Kung Fu teacher
Rich as Croesus, busted flat
How could I have lived like that?
Cops were calling me a monster
Kambo healings, Warrior
Never mattered, rich or poor
Knock knock knock on Heaven's door

Worked the streets way down in there
Evaporate into thin air
Found my woman, quite a pair
I acquired her underwear
Became a monk, renunciate
Pair of Queens, I'm standing pat
Dealer hits a 21
Lost my fortunes just like that

Quit the tables just in time
Jesus is a friend of mine
Silent shadow, pits of lime
Sing the choruses divine
Brown-eyed girl with coal-black hair
Sparkling moonlight in the air
Dancing out there on the beach
Tried to practice what I preach

Spirit said I had it wrong
Broken hearts and shattered song
In the morning she was gone
Guess it's time to move along
Still broke down along the way
On that noise, I will not say
I did, however, learn to pray
I'm still doing that today

Ministry stayed in the street
Winter nights and cold concrete
Often not enough to eat
That's why I am so damn skinny
Went from extra large to mini
They called me a Soul collector
I became a fight instructor
Threw my punches from the feet
Never had a hard defeat

Took God's Word out on the road
Psychedelic overload
Ayahuasca, Mister Toad
Shucking off this concrete load
Woke up in 1975
Still a wonder I'm alive
3 defenses in the street
Broken bodies at my feet

No cops, ambulance or ER's
Left those fuckers seeing stars
With respect, just like a friend
Brother, your night's at an end
Listen to the word I send
Always got your back
I'll never be your friend
Mouth cashes checks you'll never spend

Atlantic Ocean I did cross
Much was gained but all was lost
When Jesus died upon the cross
And was reborn at such a cost
Tattooed on my heart, embossed
Round my neck an Albatross
Another sailor lost at sea
Searching for infinity

500 years come and gone
Choir angels sing along
Before the Bible's first verse
A Sow's ear or silken purse
No elevation
Bad situation
No conversation
Unholy nation

I wrote the first Gospel too
Dominus, 522
Strangely, that's my birthday too
My heart deep inside of you
High upon Mount Calvary
Iron nails and hardwood tree
Crucifixion One times three
Tore my soul right out of me

1500 years go by
In the blinking of an eye
Memory still make me cry
How I watch the good Lord die
Three days later all alone
Forsaken, rolling back the stone
Centuries go flying by
Still I cannot answer why

Lamb's blood door posts everywhere
Roman soldiers in the square
Christians get fed to the Lion
Civilization surely dying
Down below the Colosseum
Catacombs a mausoleum
D.C. aerospace museum
Product of the Age of Reason

Don't remember what transpired
I'm hired, fired and inspired
Hollywood won't set me free
Says, “Fall down and worship me”
I took a sabbatical
Rode a Ninja, radical!
Finally found my chemical
Interstellar spectacle

Heading Southbound on Interstate 5
6 Speed gearbox 1-6-5
Back to my old neighborhood
San Diego looking good
Serve the homeless, bearing food
Clothes and diapers for the kids
Through the Vault of Erowid
Mushrooms and four-finger lids

Kept my instrument in tune
May-September, early June
Summertime at Ocean Beach
Sports Arena, 6 ft reach
Across the ring a grizzly bear
Tattoos, scars and jet black hair
Broke him down and took his belt
Threw my chips across the felt
This time was a miracle
Playing like the Oracle
Delphi written in the sky
Made a fortune, that's no lie

Caesar's Palace Bellagio
True Legends of MMA
Champions are falling down
Blood and Sand all over town
Vegas is a cruel place
Wipe that smile clean off your face
Octagon with ringside seats
I scored 17 repeats
Then the cops came after me
IRS up in my tree
After one night's Victory
FBI came after me

Took me out to Lompoc fed
Fuckers laid me out for dead
One night as I lay in bed
I heard what the good Lord said
Get your ass out of this alley
You got a job in central Cali
Hopped the Ninja, cranked it up
Got painted by a pickup truck
Gotta tell you that one sucked
Brother, I'm completely fucked
I blew off another cop
Threw a piston out the top

My face on a wanted poster
Life became a roller coaster
Cyclone Racer in Long Beach
Suicide within my reach

Long ride North on Highway 5
Kiss the girls, they come alive
Dab and hash and OG Kush
Tina was beneath a bush
Service doggy, called him Brutus
This lifestyle will never suit us
110 pound Pitbull-Mastiff
Drove my heart right off a cliff

Put them both on my bitch seat
Gave them both something to eat
Their company a royal treat
I'll never admit defeat
Two days later we were lovers
Tangled up under the covers
Shithole town called Avenal
Read the writing on the wall

There began a brutal spiral
Videos are going viral
Live from downtown meth Motel
Dance with Grendel down the well
Partners now forever
Endlessly together
Silk and satin, lace and leather
Feeling change in the weather

So began our ministry
Just off Highway 33
Ninja crashed into a tree
Just west of Yosemite
Heading to the nature parks
Passion play and flying sparks
Kindest dispositions
Kamasutra positions

That's when Groundhog Day began
So far from the Promised Land
Praising in the parking lot
Bible verses, tears and snot
Giving thanks for what we had
Started feeling really bad
Kept going anyway
Saving Souls all night and day

Late one night I got a call
Stephen Foster, Darktown Ball
Balboa Park, oil can fires
Could not put out my desires
Drowning now and sex and money
Baby, Sweetheart, Love and Honey
Screenwriter for Stephen Cannell
Started up a 12-step panel

Went out on a rescue run
High mountains under the sun
Spent 20 years running wrecks
Up from nadir to Apex
Wrote my Sermon on the Mount
Save more lives than I can count
Best of times, without a doubt
And I was headed for flameout

Houston I am in flat spin
Opioids and Boodles gin
Couldn't let the light come in
Nights spent down at Cattlemen's
Playing guitar from the stage
Acting about half my age
Lots of women, a few men
Got clean and sober again

Then came Valentine's weekend
Skiing down my run again
Took a forward launching fall
That is when I lost it all
Just like I had hit the wall
Couldn't move or breathe or feel
Not a legend, this is real
Monty Hall Let's Make a Deal

My dad was the first on scene
7 years fell in between
His death hooked up to machines
Respirators, monitors,
Dragon lizards, Holy Wars
I was rotten to the core
Selling myself like a who're
Minimum wage, really poor

Ask my dad what I should do
Talk of me but feeling you
His words cut my heart in two
When he told me what to do l
Put his hands upon my head
“Breathe,” is what my father said
White vapor came puffing out
Eliminating any doubt

Rick and Scott and Joshua
Eddie, Alex and Chuck
All were devout Christian men
Brilliant Stroke of Luck
My brothers put their hands on me
They prayed for my salvation
Started feeling once again
Kirie Eleison

Spent a minute clearly dead
Loma Linda off to bed
I heard what the good Lord said
As my life turned from green to red
They said I'd never walk again
Jesus Christ is still my friend
Living somewhere in between
Got addicted to morphine

Clicker down there in my hand
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Still I had to make a stand
Maybe you can understand
Took my first steps 3 days later
Made it to the elevator
I rode up onto the roof
Transformation, Living Proof

Sweet Vicky came to see me
We'd been friends since 17
Michael was her lover
With me behind the scene
We stayed friends forever
Even through the worst
Then our verse became much worse
Blessing turned into a curse

Michael grew fine cannabis
Sold all over town
Cancer cure, marijuana
He developed melanoma
After 30 years together
It all came crashing down
A year of rage of venom
Till we put him in the ground

Our families together
Teardrops running down
My arm around Victoria
We cried without a sound
There we were in the garden
Beside a water feature
Prayed to beg our pardon
And Spirit was our teacher

That is when I took her hand
Looked her in the eye
Told her of the my miracle
In the mountains way up high
Angels in Red Jackets
White crosses on our backs
The way they put their hands on me
And brought my spirit back

There beneath the Banyan trees
Down at Daniel Freeman
Jesus reached into my heart
And he made me a free man
As I looked into her soul
I felt a new sensation
Had the strange impression
Someone joined the conversation

There are 6 angels I can name
My boys up on the mountain
Michael started speaking through me
There beside the fountain
What they said is not for you
It is theirs alone
They got to clear their final year
And spirit brought them home

Later on woke up again
Coming round the bend
She and I then kissed goodbye
My immortal friend
Late that night I went to bed
Michael came to me
Not a ghost, Sweet Lord of hosts
With a message for Vicki

Said he wanted her to read
The letter that she read
The day they said he's terminal
Silver box under the bed
She lost composure on the phone
In her bedroom, all alone
Still recall the way she wept
Heart open and secrets kept
Heard her grief cry tearing out
Please hear what she said
Five years since I read that note
In the box under the bed

Post what happened in the garden
I went home and read it
Again and again
Written at the bitter end

We hung up a bit later
Never said goodbye
Holding my hands to the light
Eyes completely dry
I need to remember
Why you chose me for this task
“Because I love you so much”
Really glad I asked

9 months later back on skis
Cutting fresh tracks through the trees
Out of business, my disease
Blow away the Winter freeze
Ashes out to Four Winds
Pins and needles through my skin
Empathy and crazy grin
Spirit comes, I let her in

There beneath the Banyan tree
Falling down on bended knee
Threw my hands up in the air
Sunshine beaming through my hair
Then I said to God, “Why me?”
Not said in a victim way
Celebration, brand new day
She has come to set me free
Answer came so very clear
Spirit whispered in my ear
Gentle hands and loving touch
I love you so very much

So began my healing journey
Never called back my attorney
Back-to-school, beginner's mind
I left all my shit behind

Grinning like a wild banana
Wheelchair dance, Carlos Santana
Supernatural at the door
Head up to the second floor
Pat rides on a rascal scooter
Baptist, denies the intruder
Blues guitar by old Ry Cooder
Rising Appalachia shooter
“I need a witness,” I say to Pat
She moves slowly, hippo fat
Fell in love with me that day
Still in love with her today
In the hospital's bright gloom
We head up to Macy's room
Macy Bowdoin, 85
Black as night and still alive
Christian woman, Minister
Still consider her my sister
Hooked up to some drugs by Pfizer
Never tried to analyze her

East LA, 1-9-4-3
Grateful she came to me
Lying in her bed
Looking halfway dead

Eyes were closed as if asleep
On her nose were lenses deep
She got their six weeks before
I came knocking on her door

They treated her like an appliance
Rule breaker with cool defiance
Regulations, no compliance
We developed an alliance

Choir Angel alto-tenor
Her life then in late November
Beautiful as I remember
Gentle eyes and heart so tender
Pat and I rolled in the room
Feeling of impending doom
Nurses say she's on her way
To God's waiting room today
She looks up and smiles at us
Ash to ash and dust to dust
Magic Bus, sacred trust
River through the three of us

Day before she told her story
Sad one still, despite her gloryt
Told it to me anyway
Worked for 50 cents a day

Just a humble castle keeper
Hemi engine still a sleeper
Flying below the radar
Never even drove a car
No family would come by there
Seems like they just didn't care
Choir sisters stayed away
Listen to the music play

Macie couldn't move or walk
But that woman sure could talk
Tears come streaming down her cheek
Let the Angel voices speak
Healing vibration
Ecstatic sensation
High elevation
New situation

We rolled up beside her bed
This is what the Reverend said
“I've been in the garden again”
Stigmata like Jesus bled
God told me to understand
You can heal them with your hands
Shifting like Sahara Sands
All across the holy lands

We came up on either side
Made a journey deep inside
Still remember how we cried
When our sacred Master died
In His house we still abide
Hearts still bleeding, circuits fried
God forgive us how we lied
Sacramental, unified

We went in for half an hour
Currents of magnetic power
Crumbling the ivory tower
Meditating in the shower
I just spoke up like the men
Who all showed me the Lord again
Introduced me to her friend
Harmony comes around again

Spirit coming down the hall
Music playing through the wall
Healing work a straight-up ball
A billion miles from Avenal
Chakra colors, feel them all
Hieroglyphics on the wall
When God rings, please take the call
Baby, we can have it all
All around the bed we prayed
I'm so grateful that we stayed
Feeling like we just got laid
Lottery we just got paid

Orbs or flying through the place
Sunrise up without a trace
Institution, plaster walls
Spirit Light receives our calls
Pretty soon the lights come on
I come back from fully gone
Just like someone flipped a switch
Humming like a son of a bitch

To my girls I bid goodnight
Went to bed, turned out the light
Barely made it through the night
Wings out like an owl in flight
Shifting now to present tense
Give up all pretense, defense
Regain balance on the fence
Welcome, baby, to the dance

Dancing naked on the beach
Always practice what you teach
If you're hungry, stretch and reach
Allman Brothers, Eat A Peach

Listen to the slide guitar
Pedal steel will take you far
Bonneville Flats supercar
Flying out to your home star
Pat and I met down the hall
Morning workout: basketball
In the saddle, sitting tall
Sharpie in the bathroom stall
An hour of physical therapy
Listen to the symphony
This is what just set us free
There beneath the Banyan tree
So began my worldwide fame
Love the player, hate the game
Om Na Ma Shivaya, Namaste
Sat Nam is the sacred name

We round up beside the wall
What’d you see? What do you know?
hat happened last night
Really quite a show
Then we heard a wee small voice
Echo down the way
“There he is!” we heard her say
Power of Christ done come through you
And I can walk again today
These words changex my life
Cut through me like a knife
Even more compelling
They truly saved my life

Macie walked on down the hall
Smile upon her face
Beside her was her therapist l
In rapt Amazing Grace
She stared at me in wonder
Unsupported, uncontorted
Can you feel the thunder
Coming from down under?

Let no man put asunder
What God hath joined together
Life is forever, nothing but a treasure
A world of pain and pleasure
On the day that I went home
Macie did the same
Cadillac Eldorado
On top of her game
Driven by her nephew
Family back around
God had rescued her sweet Soul
From the lost and found

That's the last I saw of her
She waved a sweet goodbye
Grinning now from ear-to-ear
Teardrop in her eye
We stayed in touch a long time
Till she went away
Pat and I remained in touch
Until her dying day

I can't believe what happened
Had to find out why
Streaking off like Pegasus
Apollo in the sky
I went back to college
I had to know why
I picked up a Master's
In the blinking of an eye
Graduate with honors
Beside my only son

Adam is a genius
Don't know anyone
Who's had such a privilege
It truly takes a village
Double-major; biopsych
And philosophy
Quantum physics, higher math
Spiritual psychology
Open up our practice
Energy and Sound
Healing countless others
Hundreds come around

Wrote a book I called The Touch
Miracles and Methods
Put it out on hallowed ground
Really got around

Everyone got better
I started to run
Marathons, triathlons
Fire the starting gun
Bay to Breakers, Bay to Bay
MS 150 a
Adventure racing, still embracing
My new ecstasy l
Conquer the bear and Whitney
Up the mountainside
John Muir Trail a challenge
Paddling class 5
Finished on the podium
A few times, maybe more
That is when the media
Came knocking at my door

They made a legend of me
For all the world to see
Medals, trophies, ribbons
For every victory
Brass bands, grandstands
Ray-Bans, suntans
Running, riding in the street
Ocean swims at Venice Beach

That's my story for now
We'll put a ribbon anyhow
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Guard this ground I stand upon
Jesus Is My Savior
Buddha is my friend
We'll all be together
When we reach the end

Masters, Saints and AAngels
Relatives and strangers
Hear the messages they tell
As we walk through hell
Devil takes a back seat
On this with long, wild ride
Bring us all back home
When we reach the other side

Thanks for your attention
To my story and my heart
Bonfire Of The Vanities
Se make a brand new start
Planetary Confluence
Cosmogenesis
A time of transformation
Transmute playing to bliss

I myself am grateful
I'm alive today
Basket full of blessings
As we make our way
Let me say a Namaste
Never questioned why
Om Na Ma Shivaya
Till it's time to say ~~~

~ Goodbye ~