30 May 2012

subjects of your talk


mark this for turn of hope or choice or chance
that when we rise our hearts to joy are turned
instead of knowing that our work had earned
such tiny wages but the real advance
we did not realize nor yet enhance
those ways in which the greater fires burned
but did not eat up all of those who yearned
to set their feet free in the happy dance
now we have given you our honest word
and you fall silent it is not enough
that you do nothing to prevent our walk
along the forest path where golden bird
is seen at sunset matters not so tough
must in the end be subjects of your talk

25 May 2012

groupons nous


we can't escape the honest final fact
of what we are but knowledge of the when
evades our thought for women and for men
the whole affair requires a lot of tact
while ancient legions trooper and cataphract
do battle to control both hill and fen
while we are in the grip of thought again
having no choice but fearing still to act
all voyages must come at last to port
or end at the sea-bottom ever lost
those are the options and we cannot choose
the fate that we are given time is short
as we find out we have to pay the cost
of all delaying and we always lose

24 May 2012

cross communication


all of our memories slip out through the net
fearsome grandmothers will not let us hide
the truth is bound up tightly with regret

when pain of living has us most upset
then we hear loudest voices that deride
all of  our memories slip out through the net

leaving behind just the fury and fret
the shouts of anger and the words that chide
the truth is bound up tightly with regret

no matter what the lie or epithet
effects of injury won't be denied
all of our memories slip out through the net

so we are trapped knowing we cannot let
our hearts be opened to the other side
the truth is bound up tightly with regret

for all we knew still the true course was set
from the beginning by our manic pride
all of our memories slip out through the net
the truth is bound up tightly with regret

22 May 2012

no honest name


we do not get the choice to grow or fade
since each of us is placed just where we ought
to find the truth of all the things we're taught
which is much more that what life must abrade
with its rough edges we are ever frayed
broken and blinded knowing that we fought
both hard and well but losing were caught
in the old trap and sent back to the shade
so much to tell about where we were cast
the clawing upwards that's another fight
though none will listen to the loser's tale
nor should they we recall the faded past
while today's children look towards the light
and have no patience with the ones who fail

20 May 2012

the meaning of the word


this is the truth that no one need be told
we do not go the same way that we came
the downhill path is not the very same
as the short tunnel out of the long cold
but journey's one for coward and for bold
with equal vision for the wild and tame
and one good reason that we guard the flame
from foolish youth until we are too old
the crooked timber frames a crooked world
still we would have no other and the best
is what we make since there is none above
to judge or burden so with flag unfurled
we must go forward to confront the test
our only certainty before is love

10 May 2012

missing the answer


 missing the answer means that when the true
vision of justice fills this hungry mind
it is not understood i have turned blind
to what is obvious not known the due
reception of the gifts of midday blue
warm and attractive nothing left behind
to be cleaned up by the unfailing kind
while i accept the price for what is due
time makes no changes on its very own
except in the bland lies that old folk tell
to calm the foolish on their downward run
instead they  seek to gnaw upon cold stone
while listening for the distant warning bell
and for the sound of the last urgent gun

08 May 2012

not worthy of their salt


each walks away from the last awful wreck
convinced that they at least were not at fault
in pain from foot right up to shaking neck

one had been certain but now what the heck
the blame is placed on pot or single malt
each walks away from the last awful wreck

a little more afraid daring to check
for signs of trauma not wanting to halt
in pain from foot right up to shaking neck

but silent refusing to note the beck
of anyone around in fear of assault
each walks away from the last awful wreck

stiffly uncertainly just like a mech
robotic being we would not exalt
in pain from foot right up to shaking neck

what's visible from up here on the deck
are shaken folk not worthy of their salt
each walks away from the last awful wreck
in pain from foot right up to shaking neck

06 May 2012

then they say goodbye


being denizen of no place ready set
within the bounds of the sublunar realm
is nowise daunting the facts overwhelm
only the weaker minds instead each debt
incurred in course of duty or regret
is paid in full by shade of oak or elm
in memory of the old man with cracked helm
by one who can't resist that final bet
each night is sacrificed so that my rest
becomes a loss that's added to the pile
just one more line that goes into the jest
another little twist those are in style
the truth is always harder than the lie
that's what they tell us then they say goodbye

03 May 2012

flowers have been cut


what choices for the poor or for the dead
in myth or legend amount to the same
decline of knowledge ending of the game
feasting on shadows and the ghost of bread
stale waters and the odours of the head
nought to the matter there is no more shame
where we have gone only the dirty flame
of penny passions when the nights are red
now dreadful options face us on each side
when we must turn toward the fallen night
with little hope that anything we say
could make a difference it's a thorny ride
where we'll be going and the sort of plight
we find ourselves in is not healed by day