The Rhine (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Rhine

 

The river that gives life to Berlin

The beating heart of the German nation

River of castles and fortifications

Where the Romans claimed their empire

 

The Rhine has grown angry and proud

Determined to have its revenge

The only way it knows how

It rises to claim the land beneath homes

Beneath buildings bridges and towns

The people are at her mercy

They run for cover

They plead for help

They pray for survival

 

When the river is angry

The people listen

There will be no comfort

It will not be fine

Til they make their peace

With the River Rhine

 

Covid's Friend

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Covid’s Friend

 

People of Florida:

Is this what you wanted?

First in the nation in new cases

First in morbidity

First in new hospitalizations

Among the last in vaccinations

 

You’re nobody’s fool

You went to the best school

(Harvard University)

You have a law degree

Yet you’ve sentenced

Thousands to death

By executive decree

 

Do you just not care?

Is this some grand design?

Get rid of all the riffraff

Leave the takers behind

 

We know you’re running for Prez

By any and all means

Nothing less is sufficient

It is your only dream

 

But is it worth the price

To be a man among men

When it comes to Covid

There is no better friend

 

Square One Part II

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Square One II

 

How long (we asked) will this go on?

How long before it’s done?

Eighteen months and counting

Now we’re back to square one

 

We’ve been pushed to our limits

Some have strained their will to live

How much more must we take

When we have little left to give?

 

It is the summer of the warming

The August sun is burning hot

We dream of cooler climates

Somewhere where we’re not

 

So the test begins again

At least now we’re more prepared

We know what we must do

But do we know enough to care?

 

We are reaching for an end

But we’ve seen this play before

When it’s over it begins again

Til we’re angry to the core

 

We’ve searched through our memories

We know there is no other way

We must let go of all our anguish

And live from day to day

 

The Seine (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

 

The Seine

 

Along the banks of the River Seine

Sat Claude Monet with his easel

Toulouse-Lautrec and Marcel Proust

Balzac and Victor Hugo

King Louie and Marie Antoinette

Some call it the pinnacle of culture

Some simply call it vain

Monarchs have bowed before her

The mighty River Seine

 

Where Danton raised his rebel cry

And lost his life beneath the blade

Where students pledged their lives

And workers stood beside them

Hand in hand boot to boot

Liberte egalite fraternite

They marched for basic freedoms

Til the little emperor came along

With a promise of immortality

So they sang another song

 

The center of the western world

The best and worst of men

All along the River Seine

The French will rise again

 

The River Thames

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

The River Thames

The island river of old Britannia

Known by some as Isis

Its dark waters have floated kings

To exile and exultation

 

The rising tide under London Bridge

Projects a mirror image

Parliament the tower and the wheel

A window to princes and monarchies

Ancient grudges and uprisings

The birth of human dignity

The rights of humankind

 

Echoes of the Globe Theater

Where Hamlet philosophized

Where Henry railed against the French

Where Falstaff belittled kings

Before his bitter end

 

All along the River Thames

The people take their comfort

For through the storied ages

While royal houses rise and fall

Their pomp and pageantry aglow

No matter who the palace holds

The river always flows

The river always flows