Chaplin

That old chap Chaplin

The Chinese want for president,

Chopped a checkered checkmate

With churlish, cheeky guile.

Swam as open fish-bait--

Silly, loose, bile.

That old chap Chaplin

The Chinese rightly chose,

Stuck a sticky slogan

With a silent, sleepy sigh.

Carried a frozen program--

Melting, rain, high.

That old chap Chaplin

The Chinese much adore

Hacked a hackneyed story

With ham-handed hush

Struck a tender worry--

Cringe, face, flush.

Bent

Haunting my walking dreams,

A figure bent by time, regretful by bent.

Around each decision's bend,

A glimpse of his ugly head,

Turning ever so slightly,

Mouthing wordless apologies.

Horror in the distance,

Final shame of my existence,

Morning's sun makes you ever so clear,

Your toothless snarl fans my fear.

You took the wrong turn

When you came to the bend.

The path has been forgotten,

It's weeds overgrown.

Dirty boots have trodden,

Where seeds were once sown.

No return to the yellow wood,

Your back will break and not bend.

In your wrinkles I read a story,

A tale dry and cautious.

When my hour of trial comes,

Guide me away with a bony bent finger.

In my mind your advice will linger--

I never want to meet you.

Being to Do to Be

To be what I will be, I must be here now

To do what I must do that I can one day say I did.

One day I did say that one day, I would do what I must one day do,

To be what I will be.

So one day I must do what I must do

To be what I will be one day, and that day say I did do what I one day said I must do

To be what I will be.

One day do be that I may do what I must do

To be, that I will be.

You Are Drinking the Cigarette

You are drinking the cigarette into the face of my heart,
Please don't drink it!

You are eating the devil weed into the state of my art,
Please don't eat it!

You are shaking the music behind the hand of my ear,
Please don't shake it!

You are commentating my life into the image of myself,
Please don't comment on it!

You are awaking the log burning in the fires of my loins,
Please don't wake it up!

You are drinking the cigarette into the face of my heart.
Don't drink it!

Wisp of Smoke

Oh! How I awed at that wisp of smoke,
How it was illumined by the suns soft rays,
How it shined radiantly the colors of the rainbow,
How mellifluously, softly, it spoke,
Words for minutes, hours, days,
Inaudible words of a beautiful glow.

What beauty! What sweet honey for the soul!
What mirth, what lightness from which springs this wonder,
That which separates smoke from coal,
That which casts them asunder.

Alas, confound this lightness!
Be damned, lightness!

Thou art the double-edged sword,
That split the living cord.
Beauty with strings attached,
Soon from existence detached.

Oh!...
Gloom-filled echoes,
Mourning in throes.
That river of life flows;
Towards, here, goes.

Dear wisp, life, thou art transcient.
But thou art immortal too.

Then, ever so often when the heart,
By memory is given a start,
And burns with love,
Wisp of smoke you exist a'gen!
"We will say you have risen above!!"
To your place in Heaven.


"To the beautiful girl,
Who too soon bade 'farewell',
We know you are well.
Hello, from those us left behind, to the 'Big Guy' tell. " - RJA

Changing Times

And so it ends....
That affair that summer had with spring,
And with it the light and warmth that christened this fling.

And so it ends,
Now as the leaves turn yellow,
The sounds of nature are soothing and mellow.

The end.
The first flakes today descend,
Under the soft weight the strongest branches bend.

There is silence,
And a kind of ethereal Conscience,
Attempts to understand Transience.

It sees there must be beauty.
Beauty in the realization of life's fact--
Nothing ever remains in fact.

But again begins
Life anew. Winter to spring.
The Constant of Change. Amazing!)

Stranger Stranger

Stranger stranger, the one I see often,
The one I hear when I soften
My hardened core.
Stranger, listen to me once more-
Yours is the future, mine's the past
You are the feast and I am the fast
Look not at me with disdain
I'm your Abel, you're my Cain.

Stanger stranger what's it like,
To notice that we are not alike?
Look into my eyes like you always do,
And stranger stranger show me something true.
I envy you stranger your wealth of time
As I work in the now through filth and grime.
I was told I'll get to meet you someday
But don't wait on me, I beg, I pray.

Stranger stranger I love thee so-
Till that end tears and sweat will flow.