The Ancients

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Ancients

 

When mythology ruled the heavens

And the gods ruled the earth

When superstition ruled the hearts

Of mortal men and women

We lived at the mercy of greater forces

(forces beyond our control)

We dined at the table of destiny

We walked the ordained path of fate

 

When the ancients walked the earth

And the goddess claimed our hearts

We followed the winds of fortune

Never knowing how it would end

How many lives would be altered

How many innocents would suffer

For our acts of blind allegiance

 

We did not possess free will

We were not responsible for consequences

We did as we were compelled to do

And looked to the gods for forgiveness

 

The ancients had a hard life

So subject to human frailty

So wise and yet so ignorant

 

We have traveled through the millennia

With advances in science and technology

And yet when all is brought to account

We are very much the same

 

Serving Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Serving Democracy

 

A nation born to displace all the monarchies

and aristocracies of old Europe

The right of hereditary succession

The right of lords and princes

to rule over the people with an iron fist

The right to make and enforce laws

The right to tax and seize property

Can never fall to one man rule

without sacrificing its soul

 

Have we failed to teach our children

the essential value of democracy?

Have we failed to learn as a people

what makes America special?

 

We are the longest running democratic

government on the planet earth

We are the greatest hope of humankind

We are the reason our nation is not

afflicted with perpetual civil war

For though we have our differences

(some that move us to our core)

We are all agreed on this:

 

We will have another election

We will have a chance to change

our direction our representatives

and our president every four years

 

We can all agree on this:

As long as we are a democracy

we are the United States of America

If we are no longer a democracy

we are neither united nor America

 

The Rio Grande (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

 

Rio Grande (River Series)

 

The river that divides north and south

El Norte y el Sur

A river that divides one nation from another

Dos lenguajes y culturas

A river that gives life

And takes life away

 

Songs sung and stories told

Midnight crossing under dim moonlight

Coyotes bent on betrayal

Money lost

Families broken

Children swept away

Mothers weeping

People abandoned like stray cattle

In the barren Arizona desert

 

If the Rio Grande could tell its story

Its waters would swell with tears

Its current run with the sweat of labor

Its banks stained with blood

 

The river gives and the river takes

Cross at your own peril

Cross if you must

Cross if you will

But beware: the river kills

 

The Journey

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Journey

 

At the birth of every journey

Lies hope tempered with knowledge

Obstacles will be encountered

Adversity will be opposed

There will be moments of achievement

Moments that transcend the limits

Of our common understanding

There will be moments of pure magic

And moments of shattering sorrow

Destiny looms on the road ahead

Yet the moment reigns supreme

Strength of character will be tested

Imagination will be challenged

Endurance pushed to the edge

And yet the journey beckons

Like a long lost lover in the fog of dreams

To witness the stars on a moonless night

To observe all life from the mountain top

To feel the power of a rolling river

The majestic beauty of an endless sky

To sense the heartbeat of the earth

The journey inspires the spirit

And lays bare the naked soul

Life itself is a journey and

Every journey is a life

Within a life

 

The Hidden Treasure (Putin's Wealth)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Hidden Treasure

 

The great dictator of the north

Holds his trillion-dollar treasure

In western banks and assets

He prefers his wealth is measured

In euros pounds and dollars

That western bankers can attest

His wealth rises from the north

But it settles in the west

 

The dictator’s greatest weakness

Is his fundamental need

For more and greater wealth

To satiate his greed

 

If we want to halt his march

To reclaim the Russian empire

We need not match his weapons

Fighting fire with greater fire

We need only seize his assets

And demand that he retire

 

The great dictator of the north

Will most assuredly change his ways

If he is made to understand

The price that he must pay