Mandate

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Mandate

 

Freedom has its limits in a free society

You are not free to do harm to others

You are not free to seize my home

You are not free to steal my property

You are not free to invade my privacy

You are not free to spread disease

 

Freedom has its limits in a sane society

You are not free to pollute my water

You are not free to poison my air

You are not free to disturb my peace

You are not free to practice medicine

Without a legitimate degree

You are not free to spread disease

 

You have a right to speak your mind

You have a right to vote as you will

You do not have a right to make me sick

You do not have a right to kill

 

For the greater good of all

The rights of the one must fall

If a mandate is what we need

To a mandate we will accede

 

Freedom Day in London Town

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Freedom Day

 

It’s Freedom Day in London Town

One has to wonder why

Is it the freedom to live one’s life

Or the freedom to rot and die?

 

Boris the Clown is back

He shrugs with a mischievous grin:

If not now then when?

 

Here’s an answer for you Boris

When the virus is on the wane

Not a moment before then

Or have you gone completely insane?

 

But Boris is not listening

Seems he’s been here once before

He’s in quarantine again

And he seems a trifle bored

 

So Britain becomes a petri dish

For mutations to rise and spread

How will it all affect us?

Will we stop counting the dead?

 

We must wonder if it had to be

Could the people stand no more?

Will we wonder at the price and ask:

What were we fighting for?

 

Blunder Down Under

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Blunder Down Under

They’ve hit the streets in Sydney

To strike a blow for wonder

How did they lose control?

The great blunder down under

 

They locked their borders early on

To keep the deadly virus out

But it found its way somehow

And now they have their doubts

 

They thought they were a lucky nation

They didn’t need to vaccinate

Now they know that vaccination

Is the only way to escape this fate

 

They thought they did it all right

In so many ways they did

But when it came to the vaccines

They submitted a lower bid

 

So now they pay the price

And the price seems too severe

If you’re planning a trip down under

Best wait until next year

 

March of Civilization

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

March of Civilization

 

We slithered out of the swamps

Grew limbs fingers and toes

Stood upright and developed our brains

Formed families tribes and traditions

 

We developed spoken language

Increased the ties that bind

Invented the written word

So that lessons learned could survive

Across the generations

 

We built societies into nations

Nations into kingdoms and empires

Gathered magnificent armies and alliances

Constructed walls defining borders

Fought battles against fierce enemies

Defined human rights

Gave birth to representative government

Founded the principles of science

Formed institutions of education

Built civil societies and social order

 

We created from the raw earth

The most astounding works of

Art and architecture

Medicine and journalism

Government and literature

Technology and entertainment

 

Yet here we are

On the precipice of oblivion

So many of our people eager

To push us over the edge

 

Have we come this far only

To crawl back into the swamps

From which we came?

 

 

The Colorado

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Colorado

 

The river that carved Grand Canyon

That courses through vast deserts

Giving life where none existed

Now fuels the water wars

Of Southern California

 

The wild Colorado with its twisting rapids

The flowing Colorado easing its way

To the monumental Hoover Dam

At one time the seventh wonder

Of the modern world

 

Without the Colorado

The expansive Los Angeles basin

Would have dried and cracked ages ago

 

Without the Colorado

The phoenix would not have risen

 

Without the Colorado

There would be no Las Vegas

 

How long before the great river itself

Dries to a barren crisp

Leaving us to our own device

Abandoned in the wasteland?