New Prose and Poems

oh my god it is life
and it happens
sometimes seemingly long
in our short lives
and yet again in momentary flashes
that are relived later
in slowing motion
though in an instant occurred;

my father past a few months ago
and a cousin my age
spent special time to comfort me;

in a couple of days
she was struck down with a stroke

my mother's sister
dying slowly of cancer
came to my father's service
and seemed strong enough
to be there with us.

this aunt lived a true Christian life
of decency and charity
and dropped me a card from time to time
and she passed just a week later...

at my father's service
in a country church
of good-hearted people
my special son of six years old
walked to my father's open casket
and said "wake up, wake up"

at that sweet and gentle moment
that I did not collapse myself
I cannot say...

I heard a radio report from the recent
China earthquake of a young couple
who had left their 22 month old boy
in the care of his grandparents.

the parents held out hope
the child would have survived
and maybe the grandparents also.

As rescue workers dug in the rubble
that had been of the grandparents
apartment building, they cried and prayed
with just a little hope
and great, great pain.

The parents wailed when soldiers
found the child and grandparents
tucked near one another
crushed in the remnants of the fallen building

Tens of thousands are recent dead in Myanmar
as tin horn generals restrict aid
for survivors
and play petty politics
to claim credit for what little aid
is reaching those left living
after the terrible cyclone.

Israel is sixty years old this week
and I grew up watching the footage
of film of the Holocaust and the
starving bodies of those survivors
of those damn camps in central
and eastern Europe.

I see Palestine wanting to be free
as rebels fire rockets
into the Israel of today

I remember Viet Nam
the murder of Dr. King
of Bobby Kennedy
of John Kennedy
of John Lennon

tell me no more about fair
tell me more about peace

even when leaders
cannot bring immediate peace
and war seems destined to come
the goal must be to bring
even a little peace

Peace: we must want it
Peace: we must embrace it
Peace: we must find a way to build it

tell me no more about fair
tell me more about peace

I have my own sadness
and I have my moments of joy

and let us all remember yesterday
and then build a better tomorrow
in an imperfect world
that with prayers for peace
in any language
ring out louder than any bullet
or any bomb

let us want peace
let us embrace each other
of any and all nations
who would share a new and better peace
and let us work together
in sorrow of those gone
in joy for the moments
we shared their lives
and build a monument of peace
in honour of those taken or fallen
while trying to make this world
a better place to live

*****************************************

and techno beams and satellites can magic-like
transmit all the pain and all the joy
across the planet in whatever be
a nano-second...

still it be just you
and it be just me...

as i see what i see
and you shall see
what you see.

and i hear what i hear
and you shall hear
what you hear.

it is simple
would you deliver pain
or ease the suffering;

would you not see hunger
or feed those in want;

would you take yet more
from the poor
to give to the wealthy;

would you absorb the dignity
of another
rather than build their pride;

shall you lay aside weapons
or wield that power wrongly
what may you possess
or could obtain;

and shall you and i
choose to live as a brother
or a sister
side by side
or still side by side
in want or turmoil
or even in violence...

sometimes i may have a foolish tongue
as in sometimes your words
ring sour as a broken bell
for hardly do we reach perfection;

and when i see or hear
what is beauty to me
so may you see or hear
what is beauty to you;

let not the quests of ourselves
bring harm and suffering
to the others
and let these quests bring peace
and fill the needs of the others

let these be the gifts
we bestow upon all others
so that our children may see
and so shall they hear and know
what goodnesses can prevail
even in a world
that is divided between joy
and joylessness;
in a world
that would destroy others
as well as tend with beauty
those who suffer greatly...

and yesterday has past\

and letting it rest

things said now forgotten

for things said in tempest

and mild turmoil

need little linger

it is as it is

the daily things

of small tempers

and perhaps even

a bit of laughter

slip into the light

late summer breezes

and I float upon

that light breeze

of this body

yet looking down

as if not of all

within this form

that there be greater purposes

that there be higher callings

perhaps of perhaps not

just a smile again

and a bit of the bump and grind

of the wok-a-day blues

and I remember little of

the previous day

and it was good

and a little not so good

as it is with most days

and I say ‘good-day’

in all ways

that yet could be taken

as a greeting and

as description

and time passes

and one person memories

fade

left not to be lingered upon

except the better ones

and shall we leave it at that

and tomorrow shall important be

in peace as in hopes of peace

even today…

have not recently read the real Whitman poet

though know not of any relationship

i with affection recall him as Uncle Walt

during the Civil War

i believe he tended the wounded

in Washington D.C.

we alone cannot

end current wars

and yet we have

if not always the best voice

this nation does have

the loudest voice…

From Ramalleh to Jerusalem

and from Gaza and Tel Aviv

people want peace

for their own people

and Baghdad and Beirut

and in this land

people want peace

for their own people

and i would say

i believe Uncle Walt

who wrote as he could

to represent the all

of the people

especially the working class people

he would likely agree

the rough and wrangle

of the great and lesser conflicts

that with the information age

first born with the telegraph

so that we now see through the lens

the suffering of those

whether innocent

or not so innocent

affected in these conflicts

and suffering of people

is as it is for all people

in the grip of suffering

for the crucial point be

that such conflict shall only end

when great and lesser leaders

decide to end the suffering

of their own people

and to even extend their compassion

to those who suffer as well

even again of who would be called

-the other side-.

and i believe Uncle Walt

who wrote of peoples of all shades

and would tolerate peoples

of all faiths and honourable views

likely would appreciate these words

and as i have said before

there be times when i

wearing the grey fedora

poet hat of mine

become naïve’ and dreamful

that peace and compassion

for its own sake could prevail

peace and compassion

need neither excuse nor apology

though be it impossible

to shake a hand with greeting

while it holds a sword

a gun or bomb

it be possible when each side;

is willing to share

the bounty of its land

with all who reside there;

to respect the views

of all who live in the lands;

allows those of slight difference

to live in peace

whether side by side

or in community nearby.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I awaken to a new dawn

tired and mild refreshed

and see a feeling within

of a little better hope

not from outside;

so much on the wider horizon

for daily it goes

each with that routine

yet also for those

that routine has no meaning

I delve into the unknown

not the mystic

though if better things

came to be

it would ring magical

and if not this day

to have routine broken

in a mystic and magic way;

it would raise that sweet

inward song

that song of joy

that would echo within

built on hope

extended to deeds

not of anger

or apprehension

rather the bravely bold

of standing for peace

in a peaceful way

though not in weakness

or silence

for peace is not a weak thing

as love is not a weak thing

for peace shall be a passion

as true romance is pure;

though it be not always gentle

as the hue of each flower

shall be shaded of each colour

the shades of peace

and of love

has in its own time

and moment

with differing strengths

and power and intensity

and yet what is seen

as soft and gentle

to reach out for peace

and love and romance

may yet take the strength

mightily from within

that the out-reached hand

the offered cheek

be accepted

and not slapped violently away…