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

 

Ortega the Oppressor

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Ortega the Oppressor

 

What began as a Bolivarian revolution

Founded in democracy and human rights

Under the fearless leadership of

Daniel Ortega the Liberator

Now stands as a ruthless dictatorship

Founded in autocracy and brutality

Under the fearless leadership of

Daniel Ortega the Oppressor

 

What explains the transformation of a

People’s champion to the people’s foe?

When did his conviction turn to rust?

Why did his discard his love of the working

class to embrace corporate greed?

Can there be any other explanation but that

he never truly held convictions?

He was an opportunist from the start

 

Now he opposes and oppresses all

The pillars of democracy:

The right to free expression

The right to public protest

The right to fair elections

The right to a free press

 

The once proud nation of Nicaragua

Now stands as a disgrace

Its people flee their homeland

Their families and friends

Their livelihoods and dreams

For a long road of hardship ahead

Those who stay behind live

In constant fear

 

The Left Left Me

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Left Left Me

 

The left has been my sanctuary

A place where I belonged

A place that always welcomed me

Together we stood strong

Along came Trump and Putin

A force as evil as can be

Some say I left the left

I say the left left me

 

Putin funnels his dirty money

Into parties left and right

He offers you a spot of cash

He owns you if you bite

The left was once his adversary

Now they’re adversaries light

They’ll say it’s for the greater good

But we know that it’s not right

 

So now they do his bidding

On the invasion of Ukraine

They’ll pin the blame on NATO

Though they know that it’s insane

They pretend it’s not aggression

It’s the propaganda game

It’s a push for a new empire

By any other name

It’s a fight against democracy

They ought to be ashamed

It’s as plain as it could be

Some say I left the left

I say the left left me

 

Twenty Years Ago Today

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAQ WAR

Twenty Years Ago Today (3/20/23)

 

Twenty years ago today

The world awoke to shock and awe

And Iraq became a battleground

A killing field

A testing site for war machines

 

Twenty years ago today

The lies of war were bold and clear

Some believe them to this day

They became a litmus test of loyalty

A patriots holy grail

The weapons of mass destruction

The enemies at the gate

Complicity in terror

Not a moment could we wait

 

They lied to the world

They lied to the New York Times

They lied at the United Nations

They lied to the American people

 

They invaded a sovereign nation

For power and for greed

To demonstrate our awesome might

To warn our strongest adversaries

Beware of what you see

 

Blood on the streets of Baghdad

Blood on the desert sands

The blood of the innocent

Destruction across the land

 

No expression of contrition

No amount of tears

No measure of reparations

Can erase the guilt of that offense

Our president was a war criminal

Our government was the Kremlin

Invading Ukraine today

 

The Downfall of Macron

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Downfall of Macron

 

Trash piles high on the streets of Paris

Fires rage in Place de la Concorde

The people march down Champs-Elysees

They gather in city squares

Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon

Chanting Down with Macron!

 

We loved him at the Accords

We loved him as he stood against

The brutality of Putin

We loved him as he tried (in vain)

To reason with the Donald

We loved him as he stood with Europe

With honor and with dignity

We love him still for what he’s done

But you cannot turn on your people

You cannot bypass the people’s vote

On a matter so essential as the pension

And not expect explosions on the streets

Even if it is within the law

Even though you think it wise

In a republic the people must decide

 

As you hear the people’s roar

Remember who and what you are

You are the leader of the Fifth Republic

Dissent is a sacred right

That you cannot suppress and survive

 

Hoka Hey!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Hoka Hey

 

“Hoka hey!  It is a good day to die!”

 

The Battle Cry of Sitting Bull

 

 

Each day as I greet the morning light

I ask myself: Have I done all I could?

All that I must do to fulfill this life?

Have I helped my fellow travelers?

Have I walked on soft soles?

Have I created more than I consumed?

Have I fulfilled my vision?

Have I honored my calling?

Have I been honest with those I love?

Have I been true to myself?

 

If I have done all these things

If I have been what I was meant to be

Then yes I am ready

And yes it is a good day to die

Hoka Hey!

 

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

 

War Must End

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

War Must End

 

This war must seek an end

If the end is to be just

The Russian people must lend a hand

To stop their brutal leader

A message they must send

The propaganda no longer works

The blood of war is clear

There is no justice

There is no righteousness

There is no grand destiny

There is no patriotic glory

There is only thirst for power

There is only self-aggrandizement

There is only egocentrism

When your ego is put to rest

The cause for war disintegrates

Like the dewy mist of morning

 

This war must seek an end

Before the twisted needs of one man

Supplant the well-being of humanity

Before the poison of war spreads

Throughout Europe, across Asia

To the four corners of the globe

Before the blood of war becomes

A torrent, a waterfall, a river of remorse

This war must end and all those

Responsible for its perpetuation

Must be held to stern account

 

China vs. Chinese

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

China vs. Chinese

 

I have a problem with China

I have no problem with the Chinese

I have no problem with the Asians

They have no problem with me

 

Asian Americans are rightly proud

For the things they have achieved

They have a right to say it loud

When cut do they not bleed?

 

China is a wayward nation

Our adversary in many ways

They oppose our basic freedoms

They block the path to a living wage

 

The Chinese government is oppressive

Chinese Americans are not the same

They’ve worked hard for what they have

For China they’re not to blame