Exchanging Christmas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CHRISTMAS

 

Exchanging Christmas

 

Let’s exchange Christmas

For a day to help the poor

Let’s gather all the kindness

For an end to every war

 

After all our needs are modest

There’s little more we need

Let’s exchange the happy holidays

For an end to corporate greed

 

We know money isn’t everything

But it’s something that we need

Instead of wrapping gifts in string

There are many mouths to feed

 

Let’s celebrate a day of giving

By helping others to survive

Let’s improve the lives we’re living

For we are blessed to be alive

 

Let’s exchange just one Christmas

To make the world a better place

To give the gift of kindness

To help all the human race

 

Peace & Love to All!

 

A Christmas Wish

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CHRISTMAS

 

A Christmas Wish

 

I wish for peace on Mother Earth

May all have shelter from the storm

Let each receive what she is worth

May all be fed and warm

 

May all of us know love

As forceful as a lion’s roar

As lovely as a white-winged dove

An end to hunger, greed and war

 

May music grace the evening air

May beauty paint the sky

An end to sorrow and despair

May solemn truth replace the lie

 

May each of us respect the other

As if they were ourselves

All women sisters, all men brothers

Put all our bias on the shelf

 

May meaning be revealed to all

Enlightenment to some

May every child grow strong and tall

In all the years to come

 

May Christmas bring a special cheer

To everyone on earth

May we celebrate this time of year

Mother Nature’s great rebirth

 

 

A Workingman's Christmas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CHRISTMAS

 

Working Man’s Christmas

 

It’s Christmas for the working man

A time of joy and cheer

A time to listen to the band

Forget your worries and your fears

 

For other folks on Christmas Day

They’ll celebrate the past

The working folks must find a way

To make their Christmas last

 

Some will work into the night

To pay for these few hours

A second job to make it right

To build those Lego towers

 

It’s Christmas time for everyone

For Tom and Bill and Alice

The children must all have their fun

So grab the silver chalice

 

And raise a toast to the giving season

Give the workers what they need

For everyone must have a reason

To overcome their daily greed

 

 

No More Tears

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

No More Tears

 

A torrent of rain

So many people dead

From Gaza to Ukraine

No more tears to shed

 

The wars keep raging on

More hatred being bred

The fire in Hong Kong

No more tears to shed

 

The unsheltered army grows

The hungry are not fed

No jackets or warm clothes

No more tears to shed

 

A murder in the capitol

Our strength is being bled

Our promises grow cold

There’s no more tears to shed

 

The retribution tour

The sky is turning red

A smell like a sewer

We’ve no more tears to shed

 

We’re tired and we’re old

The end is drawing near

Our rights are being sold

But we have no more tears

 

 

Pity the Poor (On Thanksgiving)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POVERTY

 

Pity the Poor

 

Pity the man who has no bread

Pity the child who is not fed

Pity the stranger against the wall

Have pity for us one and all

 

We live our lives in desperation

Never knowing what it’s for

The poor within a wealthy nation

Pounding at the rich man’s door

 

We are the homeless in the city

We’ve lost our families long ago

We live on kindness and on pity

We’ve suffered every kind of blow

 

We rise up each and every day

We do what we must do

Try to find a place to stay

Before the day is through

 

Pity the poor who have no say

Pity the one who feels the pain

Pity the ones who’ve gone astray

Pity the ones who feel the strain

 

We don’t want your pity

We want a helping hand

We live in every town and city

We’d like you all to understand

 

 

Thank You

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THANKSGIVING

 

Thank You

 

What do you say or do

When the beauty of life overwhelms you

When everyone you see and hear

is a walking, talking miracle

When every force of nature rolls

over you like the waves of seven seas

When the sky seems to open up

and smiles to let you in

When every stranger on the street

seems like a long-lost friend

When every turn and every bend

brings another word of comfort

When all the people you’ve ever known

show up to shake your hand

When every new day is a promise

and every day gone by is a gift

When every playground is filled with laughter

and all the houses are filled with joy

What do you say or do except

to say thank you

from the depths of my soul

 

(On Thanksgiving Day)

 

The History of Me

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THANKSGIVING

 

History of Me

 

We made our way across the sea

Way back in 1493

At Plymouth Rock we planted seeds

That’s the history of me

 

We were cold and we were hungry

The natives gave us aide

They answered to our desperate plea

We bowed our heads and prayed

 

We founded thirteen colonies

The British tried to tax our tea

Our people said no thank you please

That’s the history of me

 

A hundred years we traveled west

We settled in the rolling hills

We thought to stay and have a rest

The buffalo were killed

 

We did what we were led to do

We were a different breed

We always wanted something new

That’s the history of me

 

A thousand years of slavery

A long and bloody civil war

Tales of death and bravery

The reaper at the door

 

The dust bowl pushed us out again

Until we reached the other sea

Degraded everywhere we’d been

That’s the history of me

 

We’re proud and we’re determined

To leave a better legacy

We tired of the sermon

That’s the history of me

 

(Happy Thanksgiving Eve!)

 

Congo Mining Disaster

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Congo Mining Disaster

 

Desperation breeds carelessness

Carelessness yields death

The Congo is a wilderness

Where the people hold their breath

 

A hundred people died today

In a crudely dug gold mine

The Congolese have little say

They’re stuck with what they find

 

A nation torn in civil war

Devoid of law and order

Arms are given to the poor

To defend a crooked border

 

The people live in poverty

They have no honest choice

They lack a true democracy

They have no honest voice

 

Violence is their only means

Of getting what they need

Poverty is what they’ve seen

A land of corporate greed

 

So miners go beneath the ground

To dig for precious gold

The mines are neither strong nor sound

In time they will not hold

 

A hundred people die today

A hundred more tomorrow

Until there is another way

The Congo lives in sorrow

 

 

Hope Rises

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Hope Rises

 

Hope rises like the Phoenix

And crashes like a bomb

Take a breath, make a wish

Decide what side you’re on

 

When you’re on the side of hope

You’re a moment from despair

From worrying how to cope

To doubting why you care

 

When hope rises from the dust

Every day becomes bright

When we shake off all that rust

We set out to make it right

 

We are the hopeful warriors

Just like we’ve always been

We’re workers and we’re lawyers

We’re ready to fight again

 

For hope rises with the sun

And hope falls in the deep of night

The long war cannot be won

Yet we will always seek the light

 

 

The Heist

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

The Heist

 

I cannot help but admire

The astounding brazen heist

After which they should retire

Though France will pay a price

 

In the heart of fair Paree

A town that treasures artistry

In the brightest light of day

They swept the crown jewels away

 

Where did they go in such a manner?

How could they vanish in the light?

As if they wore a magic banner

That protected them from sight

 

You have to give them what they’re due

A heist for all the world to see

They have shuttered down the Louvre

With an historically stunning feat

 

They will go down in modern history

Though we may never know their names

For the moment it is a mystery

In the heist hall of fame

 

 

The Ebro

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Ebro (River Series)

 

It flows east by southeast

From Cantabria to the Mediterranean Sea

It feeds the north of Spain

It borrows from the Pyrenees

On the northern border with France

It courses through highlands

To the broad open plains

Then narrows in the rocky gorge

Where the river is constrained

 

In ancient times it formed the line

Between Carthage and imperial Rome

Battles were fought and many died

For the right to call the Ebro home

 

In modern days it marked the beginning

Of the end of Spain’s democracy

La Batalla del Ebro left thousands dead

And helped found an enduring autocracy

 

The flow of the Ebro is running down

Due to dams, irrigation and warming

From time-to-time floods take dry ground

As the river absorbs extreme storming

 

The River Ebro will endure

Despite the inventions of man

Its future will remain unsure

Though Spain will do what she can

 

 

Flags on Memorial Day

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

Flags (Memorial Day)

 

Flags at the cemetery

Where our soldiers were buried

In wars fought so long ago

The cause no longer known

 

How I wish they might have lived

To the fullness of their years

All the gifts they had to give

To their families and their peers

 

They gave their lives instead

They were brave and they were strong

Now they have joined the dead

And we sing their praise in song

 

We remember what they did

With dancing horses and parades

Some were men and some were kids

For their victories we prayed

 

Now they’re resting in the grave

They will never rise again

The were born to fortune’s slave

As we remember where and when

The Core of Violence

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VIOLENCE

 

The Core of Violence

 

The core of violence is hatred

Hatred of self and others

It is not inherited but bred

A resentment of our brothers

 

How do we learn to hate?

It rises from deep inside

We are taught an intolerant state

From which we cannot hide

 

We learn to hate ourselves

When we’re taught to hate the other

We would rather go to hell

Than have love for one another

 

From this most violence springs

That hatred of the self

It spreads on hatred’s wings

It rings the vengeance bell

 

If we wish to curb the violence

We must learn to love ourselves

We can’t sit still in silence

While we’re captured in its spell

 

Power Failure

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TECHNOLOGY

 

Power Failure

 

Power outage across Portugal and Spain

Life goes on without electricity

The fuel that runs our electric brain

That powers our towns and cities

 

No one knows what caused the shock

But everyone feels the pain

Get out of your cars and take a walk

Your legs may feel the strain

 

We had to know this day would come

Our computers run the world

Without their power they soon go dumb

All their systems come unfurled

 

We are left to ponder the consequence

Of our dependency on machines

We are meant to question what we’ve spent

And to wonder what it means

 

We await the coming of the night

When all the cities will go dark

Will the people calmly seek the light

Or will madness light a spark?

 

A Pope for the Masses

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POPE FRANCIS

 

A Pope for the Masses

 

The leader of an ancient church

A conscience to humankind

In humble heart we held him first

A unity of heart and mind

 

He opened up the pearly gates

When once those gates were chained

He criticized both church and state

Though his kindness never waned

 

His words spoke to all of us

The wicked, poor and feeble

He understood desire and lust

He drove a stake through evil

 

He spoke to all the masses

The hopeless and oppressed

The rich and lower classes

Every one of us was blessed

 

We’ll never see his like again

Of that we can be certain

To every soul he was a friend

He carried a heavy burden

 

(On the death of Pope Francis,

may he rest in peace.)