The Congo (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Congo

 

You can hear the drums of the Congo

As if they were moving near

Charging western imagination

Filling our hearts with fear

 

Tarzan was lost in the jungle

That was fed by the Congo River

Where animals were wild and fierce

Making civilized people shiver

 

Alas the Congo was mostly myth

Invented by western writers

Reality is far more subtle

Than strange uncivilized fighters

 

The Congo feeds an abundant life

Its wildness is its glory

Without it so much life would cease

To shorten the planet’s story

 

The Nile (River Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The Nile

 

The longest river on the planet

It shaped the lives of ancient Egypt

Gave birth to modern agriculture

Challenged our sense of entitlement

 

Cleopatra floated her royal barge

Down the waters of the River Nile

Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar

Made history for Shakespeare’s file

 

The granddaddy of African rivers

It feeds eleven modern nations

From Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean

It enabled an advanced civilization

 

Oh how we revere the River Nile

For its storied and mythical past

The river runs with an eternal force

Forever and always will it last

 

The Yangtze (River Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The Yangtze  

 

The longest river in Asia

Among the longest on the planet earth

As the birthplace of their civilization

The Chinese value its worth

 

The Yangtze gives and the Yangtze takes

Its yellow waters are a blessing

It is known for frequent flooding

Yet the people have learned its lessons

 

Some call it the river of sorrow

For it has claimed a great many lives

Yet the people give their humble thanks

For with the river all wildlife thrives

 

Mercenaries

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AFGHAN WAR

 

Mercenaries

 

Independent contractors

They don’t like to be called mercenaries

They don’t like to be called hired guns

Killers for pay

Have gun will travel

They answer to no one

They have no code of honor

They are torturers and war criminals

They are as old as war itself

 

So while we extend our forces

To evacuate diplomats allies and soldiers

Shed no tears for the mercenaries

Spill no blood for their safety

Let them find their own way home

 

One wonders what war would look like

If there were no hired guns

 

Woe Afghanistan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AFGHAN WAR

Woe Afghanistan

 

The Taliban is an ancient sect

Sharia law is primitive and cruel

We will oppose this way of life

We will oppose the Taliban rule

 

But we can no longer fight a war

That we could never win

Great armies fell on these grounds

And they will fall again

 

The Afghans must themselves prevail

For they have always known

While they oppose oppression

This oppressor is their own

 

Others cannot fight this war

As we have proven over the years

We gave our blood and treasure

We shared Afghani tears

 

But war cannot go on forever

When it depends on foreign might

We have reached our solemn limits

No longer will we fight