Day of Fools

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Day of Fools

 

This is the day of fools

A day to tip your cap

To those who broke the rules

Just to make us laugh

They helped us get through school

By giving us a grin

That often lasted days

When laughter was a sin

We learned another way

And it was all okay

 

This is the day of fools

A day to turn it upside down

The kind becomes the cruel

A smile becomes a frown

The day will someday come

When horses will be hounds

The loud will be struck dumb

The fool will wear the crown

And all will be made well

The stories we will tell

 

It is the day of fools

Who speak in cryptic rhyme

Who always keep their cool

In the best and worst of times

They will always make us think

With wonder in our minds

What is the missing link?

What have we left behind?

So tip your cap and drink

To fools always be kind

 

(Happy Fools Day!)

 

Tornado in LA

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Tornado in LA

 

The Cubs will win the pennant

The mime has something to say

Peace comes to the Middle East

A tornado hits LA

 

Las Vegas outlaws gambling

The slots will finally pay

McConnell becomes a Democrat

When a twister hits LA

 

Moscow will honor justice

Vampires inhabit the day

China will pay fair wages

When tornadoes come to LA

 

The bullies will be kind

The wanderer will stay

The fiend will leave it all behind

When a twister hits LA

 

The rich will pay their share

The jerk will change his ways

The meek will inherit the earth

When tornadoes come to LA

 

Out of the Madness

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Out of the Madness

 

Out of the darkness ceaselessly soothing

Out of the madness calm as the waves

Out of the sadness endlessly moving

Out of the storm clouds end of the day

 

We are as normal men and women

Unfit to lead this wayward sphere

We march like lemmings to the sea

Never suspecting the end draws near

 

Out of the garden into the mire

Out of the wasteland into the maze

Out of the sunshine into the fire

Out of the jungle into the haze

 

We have the sense to end this mourning

We have the dream to show us the way

We have the means to heed the warnings

Will we have the will to turn night into day?

 

Out of the shadows dark as the night

Out of the prisons we keep in our heads

Out of the secrets beyond our sight

Out of the fears we take to our beds

 

(Re: Whitman’s Out of the Cradle…)

 

A Trail of Tears (Israel)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

A Trail of Tears

 

Andrew Jackson the Indian Killer

Cast aside the Supreme Court

Denied their fundamental authority

As a counterbalance to executive decree

The result came to be known as

The Trail of Tears

 

Thousands of Cherokees removed

From their native lands

Marched like cattle a thousand miles

To a land the whites did not yet want

 

From that moment we were no longer

A nation governed by the rule of law

 

If a president can decide which laws

To honor and which to discard

Then there is no law

 

The authority of the judiciary is not

An adjunct to democracy;

It is as essential as the Bill of Rights

The balance of powers or

Free and fair elections

 

Those who would deny that authority

Are enemies of democracy:

 

Erdogan of Turkey

Bolsonaro of Brazil

Putin of Russia

Xi Jinping of China

Trump of the USA

Netanyahu of Israel

 

The people have a right to protest

The people have an obligation

Long live democracy!

 

Seven Ages of Dismal Woe

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Seven Ages of Dismal Woe

(William Blake, The Book of Urizen)

 

How long must we wait for an end to

the seven ages of dismal woe?

 

How long must we wait for an end to war?

How long for an end to hunger and greed?

When does a hundred years of peace begin?

When does the nightmare end?

 

We have endured the age of never-ending war

We have survived the age of endless waste

We have witnessed the age of mass destruction

We have suffered the age of pandemic disease

We have observed the age inequality

We have endured the age of mass poverty

 

How much more can there be?

 

The seven ages of dismal woe

Have chronicled all of human history

Why and how we are still alive

Is the ultimate of mysteries