Skip to content

Tag: pantoum

With Us: pantoum

Published on June 18, 2025

The world is too much with us to pretend
that it is just a temporary slot,
a way to pass some time from start to end
or make believe it’s separate. It’s not

that it is just a temporary slot,
a proving ground for weighing thought and deed.
It is the whole of everything we’ve got.
There is no other lifetime guaranteed.

A proving ground for weighing thought and deed?
Perhaps that is much simpler than it sounds.
Velocity implies both place and speed;
it’s relative to both the sky and ground.

Perhaps that is much simpler than it sounds:
a way to pass some time from start to end
does not imply more than one go-around.
The world is too much with us to pretend.

18 Jun 2025

Leave a Comment

Simple Ways: pantoum

Published on April 11, 2017

Some say that simple ways are still the best;
as we add complication, things decline.
How we live puts that principle to test:
it’s so subjective, what one thinks is fine.

So, adding complication wreaks decline?
Stop making babies; that’s simple enough.
It’s so subjective, what one thinks is fine;
applying principles yourself – that’s tough.

Stop making babies; but that’s not enough.
End all this mad charade of cheating death.
Applying principles yourself is tough;
it’s work that needs more effort than just breath.

End all this mad charade of cheating death!
The purpose of this life is growing old.
it’s work that needs more effort than just breath;
those simple ways, if possible, are best.

11 APR 2017

Leave a Comment

Greeting Christian Ladies: a pantoum

Published on July 15, 2003

Hello, I told the ladies at the gate:
Come in, I’d like to hear of your good news.
But first, and on this I’ll hear no debate,
I’d like to offer some good news to you.

You’ll need no chapter or verse for this news;
the Word of God is not inside that book.
But listen, to this truth I’ll share with you:
The Word of God is life – listen and look.

It says the Word became flesh in that book,
that that flesh died so you could live more full;
and so, in truth, the world lives, and then, look –
the carrot dies, the chicken, fish and bull.

With life, in each second, the world is full,
and too, with death, for each must turn to dust;
to think it otherwise is purely bull –
for we have eaten, and give back we must.

Now our time is so short, then turns to dust,
So ladies, please retire, and shut the gate;
I hate to bid adieu, but fear I must,
and bring an end to our pleasant debate.

15 JUL 2003

Leave a Comment