The Beast

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Beast

 

There is a beast that lives within

the heart of every gentle being

from Mahatma Gandhi to Mother Teresa

from Saint Peter to Saint Paul

The gentler the being the fiercer

The internal beast

 

In the course of our daily lives

We may never see the beast

We may then conclude the beast

does not exist

but when cornered and aroused

the beast emerges from its hiding

The beast shakes mountains with its roar

The beast erupts like Mount Vesuvius

Toppling towers and cracking dams

Reducing cities to rubble

Marking a trail of destruction

 

A warning to all lords of aggression:

Do not feed the beast

Do not taunt it with you poison tongue

Do not push it to the breaking

Leave the beast be

 

Not even the gods know what happens

when the beast is unleashed

Let it rest in peace

 

Old Saint Paddy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Old Saint Paddy

 

Old Saint Patty she was quite a gal

I knew her back in the day

She never got her dress quite right

Seems her thoughts got in the way

 

Saint Paddy was a man ya fool

He weren’t no bloomin’ gal

And if he were you can be sure

He’d not make of you a pal

 

Old Saint Patty was very fair

She had a way about her

She’d dance all night and day

There was no one to doubt her

 

Your breath is just a waste of air

Not a word of it is true

You’d make an ocean of a pond

And paint the sunlight blue

 

A toast to old Saint Patty

A finer lass you’ll ne’er see

On this I’d swear my life away

Or am myself not me?

 

Billowing White Clouds

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Billowing White Clouds

 

Billowing white clouds the size of

mountains stretching out across the

landscape like a legendary dust storm

on the endless plains of Oklahoma

So magnificent they challenge all notions

of nature’s other worldly majesty

This once in several lifetimes display

of the planet’s sensual beauty

Like the spectacular sunsets born of

toxic waste emitted into our atmosphere

 

I sense that these skies of breathtaking

grandeur, these wonderland displays, these

masterworks of awe and curiosity, are

somehow warnings that the end of time

is near – not for the planet, not for the earth,

and not for whatever godlike beings watch

over us – but for us, the observers, the ones

who marvel at such stultifying grace

The gods are merciful after all for though

we poisoned the very ground we walk upon,

the air we breathe and the clear fresh water

that sustains us, we are blessed with one last

display of nature’s divinity, the greatest

show on earth.

 

As I Grow Old

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

As I Grow Old

 

As I grow old the less I know

The more I understand

As I grow old the knowledge

Gathered over years of hard toil

Crumbles like sandcastles at high tide

Knowing this I understand that knowledge

is a temporary state of certainty

It falters over time

It trips on mounds of inquiry

It rusts for lack of care

 

As I grow old the less I know

The more I understand

The ceaseless march of science

Bends knowledge to its knees

What once dwelled beyond all doubt

In the land of holy grails

Enlightened and revered

Like saintly signs of ecstasy

Forgotten and verboten

Discarded in the wastelands

Where fallen angels weep

 

As I grow old the less I know

The more I understand

There are those among us

Who dare to rise above

Who doubt the very essence of

the center of our being

Who challenge every platitude

Who bring the towers to extinction

Who build a new foundation

To give birth to greater glory

and live to tell a story of decline

 

As I grow old the less I know

The more I understand

 

El Gran Dolor de Mexico

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

El Gran Dolor de Mexico

 

I know we have not been a good friend

to Latin American democracy

For far too long we favored military

strongmen over elected leaders

In far too many countries we interfered

to overthrow or undermine democracy

From Mexico to Nicaragua

From Venezuela to Argentina

We betrayed our own principles

 

What a pity it would be if

after all this time and misery

When we stand strong for democracy

Mexico stands opposed

 

How ironic it would be

after all this blatant hypocrisy

After you defeated one-party rule

you founded a new autocracy

 

Fair Mexico you need to know

Dictatorship from the left is no more

Virtuous or acceptable than

Dictatorship from the right

 

Dangerous World

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Dangerous World

 

The world is splitting into factions

One side believes in human rights

The other is willing to sacrifice

One side believes in freedom of speech

The other believes in a unified voice

One side protects a free press

The other eliminates dissent

One side believes in democracy

The other believes in the nation

 

The world is splitting down the middle

Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia

All of Europe, the US and Canada

All nations are compelled to decide

Which side are you on?

With which side will you ally?

On which side do you belong?

Which side of the great divide?

 

No one wants a global war

Yet it is coming to the fore

At the worst of all possible times

We will crack the earth to its core

 

We know which side is just

We know which side is right

We know the people always lose

When all we do is fight