One World (Ode to India)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

One World (Ode to India)

 

The virus explodes in India while

The western world begins to breathe

America regains her footing

In Europe the crisis begins to ease

 

The vaccines slowly work their magic

Supplanting despair with hope

Transforming a worried world

Inspiring the ability to cope

 

There is little hope in India

Fear consumes the masses

Death invades the nation’s heart

Cutting across all classes

It steals the very breath of light

As hope slinks out of sight

 

There is not enough vaccine in India

It’s not that we don’t care

The western world has claimed its own

We just don’t care enough to share

To millions in Mumbai and elsewhere

America first becomes a death knell

Under the curse of Covid’s spell

 

India is not alone in desperation

Brazil and much of Africa cry out

For help that only we can provide

If we can overcome our doubt

And serve the nation’s pride

For we have more than we can use

We have millions who refuse

 

Open the doors and let them in

The world is a small place after all

We must unite to win this fight

We must answer the global call

Sacred Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Sacred Rights 

 

There is no right to yell fire

in a crowded theater

Yet there is a right to carry

weapons of war on the

streets of protest

 

There is no right to slander officials

for vile offensive acts

Yet there is a right to spew

vile abusive language on social

media or in the town square

 

The right to gather in protest

has long been under siege

undermined by both parties

as if they both agreed

to compromise our basic rights

in the interest of public image

or political expedience

 

We have stood by while too

many of our sacred rights

have been compromised or wished

away by overzealous officials

 

The right to vote

The right to speak out

The right to public protest

The right to impartial news

The right to free and fair elections

 

It is time to stand against the onslaught

It is time to stand for freedom

A freedom that is in balance

With democracy and civil rights

 

Guilty

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Guilty

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than an officer of the law

Justice itself was on trial

Compassion was on trial

The nature of truth was in the balance

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than a silver badge

More than the state of Minnesota

More than law in America

 

The history of race relations

The history of slavery and discrimination

The history of lies and betrayals

The history of civil rights

The blood of the martyrs

Tears of the fallen survivors

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than this nation

The tainted history of civilization

The oppressed and the oppressor

Centuries of recrimination

An honest reckoning for reparations

 

We were all on trial

The privileged and the innocent

The naïve and unknowing

The products of culture and education

Centuries of indoctrination

 

We were all on trial

And we were found guilty

Guilty of not knowing

Guilty of not believing

Guilty of not caring enough

To make the necessary changes

A long time ago

 

Hope Rises

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Hope Rises

 

Hope rises with a touch of spring

Fruit ripened on the vine

The scent of sun kissed pollen

Clouds of cream and golden glory

A symphony of wine and roses

The sweet and bitter taste of hope

 

We have bathed ourselves in

Endless waves of sorrow

We have seen the blood red sky

We have marched the mourning dirge

We have witnessed beauty die

 

Yet we have lived to tell the story

To keep our future’s faith alive

So we awaken to this morning

When tears of hope fulfill our eyes

Pray the worst is over now

Pray we have survived

 

Hope rises with the season

And empties out our shame

We remember all our wonders

Miracles too great to name

Justice in a Time of Passion

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Justice in a Time of Passion

 

Justice is not angry

Justice is cool calm and calculating

It desires truth as the poet desires love

It leans on facts as the toddler

clings to her mother’s hand

 

Justice is not vengeance

It is a balancing of the account

It is an assurance that injustice

will not and cannot happen

without appropriate consequence

 

Justice is not the great redeemer

Justice is not the avenging angel

Justice is not an impassioned warrior

Justice is a blind woman with a scale

 

She serves no one’s cause

She answers no one’s call

She stills herself to listen

She absorbs all the facts

She measures their worth

and delivers her judgment

 

If justice does her job well

no one is fully satisfied

but we are empowered

to accept her decree

and move on

 

Infinite Possibilities

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Infinite Possibilities                                                                              

 

The living universe explodes

with infinite possibilities

 

Possibilities that exist on every level

of every plain of existence

 

A black hole contains infinity

within a vacuum of eternal nothingness

 

A common object be it a lamp

a desk or a pen contains an infinite

amount of subatomic elements

within subatomic elements

 

We are the sum of all that exists

and all that has ever existed

in this life and all lives before

and after this existence

 

Every moment contains eternity

Every sunset is forever

There are no ends only beginnings

The world overflows with possibilities

Infinity possibilities

 

We possess the power

to select our experience

to choose the moments that form

the building blocks of our lives

 

Everything that was is

Everything that is will always be

In that there is hope and prayer

In that there is eternal being

 

Inside the Walls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Inside the Walls

 

For a year I have looked at walls

from the outside looking in

 

A barrier meant to be breached

by gates and doorways has blocked

my passage compromised my freedom

alter my perception and confined

my experience like prison bars

 

A world of spectacular sights smells

taste and touch profoundly altered

by a year of constant denial

 

How strange it now seems to enter stores

To walk freely among masked consumers

Testing produce by touch

Observing the public behavior

of our fellow beings

recalculating right and wrong

proper and improper

 

For I have dwelled upon another planet

far from the place I know

and I have returned to find myself

a stranger in a strange land

my normal no longer normal

my instincts out of rhythm

my song out of time

 

I will rejoice for I am welcome here

My feet can find the proper pace

My mind will restore the balance

My life will find its place