Don’t ask me how I’m doing,
or just what I’ve been thinking.
I’m far too busy bailing
my little boat that’s sinking.
I must keep things in focus.
Do not keep up your prattle,
belay your hocus pocus.
It’s hard enough a battle.
Leave off me with your jabbing.
I don’t need added tension.
Besides, what good is gabbing
when I must pay attention?
There’s no time for that nonsense
when we both should be rowing.
Spare me your show and pretense
’til we get where we’re going.
23 Jun 2025
Who am I
to wonder at earth and sky
from such a small, useless spot?
I’ve got bigger fish to fry.
It seems odd,
to ponder fate, time and god,
to waste time at such a game.
All the same, my plan’s not flawed.
Honestly.
What other way could life be?
There’s so much of it to do,
and when it’s through, we are free.
Who can tell
what harm’s done to sit a spell,
and just watch the setting sun?
When it’s done, the day ends well.
19 Jun 2025
Nothing that is temporary becomes infinite;
each thing’s just a project. It starts and it finishes,
simply an effect of a cause, made of composites
that wax and wane. Being comes and then diminishes.
Everything is empty – it is not separated
although it seems to be neatly subdivided.
It is only by illusions it is frustrated;
in that shadow state nothing feels it is united.
Anything that’s trapped in time’s grip stays motionless;
it is not really living, merely an appearance.
A thing grows to another thing, not quite motiveless,
but only what whole contains it maintains coherence.
Something doesn’t come into being from emptiness;
our busy minds create those lines of separation.
While we glorify our own sense of great sentience,
the world is otherwise engaged in all creation.
20 MAY 2025
Leave a CommentWhen kingdoms fall, what is left
besides the dead and bereft?
War leaves all wounded and poor –
most more wretched than before.
Who cares how right the victors,
their flags, displayed in pictures,
atop the now rotting crop
of those stopped. In the bookshops,
pundits from the winning side
boost sales, playing on our pride:
we’ve won and evil is done!
The score: none for everyone.
13 MAY 2025
Leave a CommentNot soft and still, or squawking,
but breaking silence, seeking
to stand tall without slouching:
the time has come for speaking.
The truth must pierce the lying,
and loose the light, dispelling
the darkness that is growing.
These words need more than telling.
For night brings stormy weather.
The time is now or never;
to counter these foul measures,
we must be wise, and clever.
We must resist the hating,
else what hell we’re defeating
makes us the dark we’re fighting.
These words need much repeating.
Be bright and shining beacons:
the time has come for being
not just bravado boasting,
but light useful for seeing.
28 APR 2025
It should be more troubling:
a lack of common sense abounds,
and this thin gruel bubbling
is not fit food for the hounds.
Is there anyone believing
they will eat their fill tonight?
When your day’s spent aggrieving,
what meal brings you delight?
Look where the wolves assemble
just past the last fire’s glowing;
we prattle and dissemble
while darkness keeps on growing.
10 APR 2025
Leave a CommentOn these three things the world depends:
life purpose, effort and one’s friends.
The first provides velocity:
forward motion, destiny.
The second supplements one’s sails
when wind and tide desist or fail.
The third reminds us to respect
those in the world whose paths connect
with our own journey, for a while,
and share our sorrows and our smiles.
Without these things, the world is flat;
and our adventure, nothing that
is worth much. Neither time nor health
is substitute for this true wealth.
07 JUN 2017
Leave a Comment