Before the Flood

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Before the Flood

 

Remember Notre Dame before the fire

Remember New Orleans before the flood

Remember how things used to be

Before a series of calamities

Took away our muse

Swept away our sense of glory

Stole the very heart of magic

Absconded with our soul

 

We know nothing stays the same

Even memories must change

Yet we remember with our hearts

We see through our emotions

We remember how we felt when

We first set eyes upon the Mona Lisa

We remember our exhilaration upon seeing

The Grand Canyon or Stone Henge

We remember the strange sensation that

Ran through our spines when we observed

The burial site of Geronimo

Or the ghost dancers of Wounded Knee

We remember the awe that knock on our

Doors when we entered the chamber

Where Mozart once played

 

We will never forget how it was

Before the flood

Even if it wasn’t

 

The Western Alliance

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Western Alliance (for Macron)

 

The strength of the western alliance

Had endured a multitude of tests

It has survived a president’s defiance

To affirm the unity of the west

 

Along comes Macron and Xi

With an awkward shake of the hand

A man too eager to please

Devalues the democracy brand

 

Does Macron speak for his nation

Or does he only speak for himself?

Does he work for the world’s salvation

Or is NATO now on the shelf?

 

We know that you are afraid

Of the Russian Chinese threat

But the price of Chinese trade

May not exceed the morality debt

 

Tyranny in Tennessee

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Tyranny in Tennessee

 

There is no tyrant in Tennessee

You cannot silence a dissident voice

There is in name democracy

You must honor the people’s choice

 

You value guns above free speech

You pick and choose your Bill of Rights

You mandate what your schools will teach

You favor those whose skin is white

 

This is not the Tennessee I know

The bulwark of equality

Were you only putting on a show?

The essence of hypocrisy

 

There’s time enough to change your act

Open your eyes and see the light

Admit you’re wrong and take it back

Reverse your course and make it right

 

(Note: Tennessee legislature expels

Members for sympathy with protesters.)

 

Stealing Children

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Stealing Children

 

What sort of depravity is this?

Stealing thousands of children

From their homes and families

For cultural re-education

In an enemy nation

 

What sort of inhuman mind can

Conceive of such depravity?

 

We can only assume they wish to

Recruit soldiers to serve in their

Invasion forces when their own

Citizens refuse and the mercenaries

Exceed their resources

 

The beast of the east wants Ukrainian

Children to fight Ukrainian soldiers

Their own parents and relatives

Their own friends and neighbors

For the pride of Mother Russia

 

It will not work

It cannot work

The world will not stand by as

The most depraved monster

Of the twenty-first century slips

Below the threshold of fundamental

Humanity

 

Loss

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Loss

 

The loss of one that never was

Has the power to take us under

Remember the love that guides us

The grace, the beauty and wonder

 

We rage at how this happens

To those who are good and true

But there are no answers coming

There is little we can do

 

The loss of something dear to us

Must serve to bond our hearts

For everyone must suffer thus

Before we can depart

 

Please know that love surrounds you

Every moment of every day

We feel the loss as you do

Though it is difficult to say

 

This too will pass in time

The mark we wear on sorrow’s face

Will slowly lose its bind

And joy will take its place