A carnival ride,
Of limitless potential,
With little control.

Mistakes are the tools,
The Creator provides us,
To sculpt our own souls.

Students take exams,
Hoping for my approval,
Who approves of me?

I quest for meaning,
Knowing it's not mine to find,
Yet the quest goes on.

Is life worth the pain?
It all depends on the day.
Wish it were not so.

The thoughtless pursuit,
Of any task throughout life,
Will never end well.

You are surely mad,
When you believe yourself right,
And the whole world wrong.

We all make mistakes,
Wise people will learn from them,
Foolish ones will not.

Government can take your land,
Confiscate your property,
Tax your earnings into dust,
Deprive you of your freedom,
Extinguish your very life.

But the knowledge you acquire,
And the honor that you earn,
Are a treasure they can't steal,
Tax, redistribute, destroy.

Governments come and they go,
Just and unjust ones alike,
And fade from memory in time.

Entropy rules in this world,
And the brightest lights fade out.

Knowledge and honor perdure.

The only true wealth,
Is one that can't be taken,
Honor your good name.

We quest for meaning,
Searching all the wrong places,
It is found in love.

Under the radar,
One avoids the flak of life,
But will never soar.

We are born dying,
But can plant seeds that may bear,
Fruit once we are gone.

An excess of pride,
Paves the road to perdition,
As does want of it.

Trust is earned slowly,
Over the course of one's life,
But lost in an instant.


____
I am grateful for the feedback our colleagues here were kind enough to leave (likes, loves, etc.). If anyone would like a free copy of the ebook version of my latest book of poems, Echoes of Dawn at Dusk: Collected Poems, Volume 2 you can download a copy in all ebook formats but only through one of my vendors, Smashwords -- no coupon necessary. Ends April 4, 2022. Just copy and paste the following link into your browser:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1035449

Thanks again for sharing this poem and for your feedback. Much appreciated!

Respect must be earned,
It is not bestowed by birth,
And cannot be bought.

If you have betrayed,
The one you pledged your life to,
Why would I trust you?

Opinions fly free,
But are worthless noise when not,
Supported by facts.

Night has come once more,
But the world will not release,
Its grip on my mind.

Truth like a flower,
Opens itself to the sun,
Lies thrive in darkness.

Of all the joys in life that we can know,
None can compare with that of shared true love,
From loveless *** nothing worthy can grow,
That one with self respect can be proud of.

Of all life's treasures that can come to mind,
True Love's by far the greatest one can find.

T
       a
             k
                 e
           a bite out
       of life.   Let the
          sweet juices drip
            from the corners of
              your mouth and run
                  down  your chin. Taste
              the **** flesh as it explodes
          with in your mouth. Its season is
        too  brief. Keep it not  for  tomorrow.
    Enjoy it today at its  peak.  Its  time will
soon pass. But the memory of its flavor will
   remain with you all the days of your life.

I honor our flag,
Better people than I died,
That she may fly free.

If you speak the truth,
You won't need to remember,
The lies that you've told.

I welcome dissent,
Disagreement is vital,
To democracy.

Personal attacks,
Are also acceptable,
When grounded in truth.

Malicious attacks,
Are launched by liars to hide,
Inconvenient truths.

We must condemn lies,
Used to defame good people,
With differing views.

Love does not die of just a single blow,
Its life flows out quite slowly over years,
One drop follows another as love flows,
From thousands of unfatal cuts and tears.

A thousand little stings from tongue or eye,
A thousand unkind words from me and you,
A thousand "I told you so’s" piled on high,
A thousand battles lost, refought anew.

Each wound a scab that grows harder with time,
Covering festering hurts that won't heal,
An unwise word morphs to betrayal sublime,
Suppurating reminders all too real.

Simple kindness is lost from lack of use,
And what remains just a facade in truth.

Glazed eyes stared at me,
Bereft of recognition,
But now you see all.

Tell me who you're with,
And I'll tell you who you are,
Spaniards say wisely.

The wise speak softly,
Fools yell out their every thought,
That all may know them.

The smaller the mind,
The louder it will proclaim,
Its inanity.

Words spoken by fools,
Are unworthy of notice,
Let them fade away.

Mi gran ambición,
Que todos mis alumnos,
Brillen mas que yo.

My great ambition,
Is that all of my students will,
One day outshine me.

Fear not the dark clouds,
They'll throw a weepy tantrum,
And soon will be gone.

Do good where you can,
Seek not praise or a reward,
And you will find grace.

Vote for the same folks,
In every election and,
Expect something new.

We take every precaution,
To protect the right of folks,
Accused of committing crimes.

The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Fourteenth,
Amendments safeguard those rights,
In our Constitution.

But the Bill of Rights does not,
Apply to victims who are,
Made no promise of justice.

Justice is unjust,
When it merely imposes,
The will of the state.

_______

Justice
Time: The all too near future
Place: A courtroom
Setting: Final sentencing of a prisoner convicted of the last remaining capital offense on the books of a kinder, gentler, fairer world in which equality is no longer a mere aspiration.
________

The prisoner stared impassively into the camera. The bright lights causing beads of sweat to form above his eyes and forcing him to squint, his perspiration-soaked thinning hair flattened unflatteringly against his forehead. No sound could be heard other than the faint hum of the air conditioning whose airflow was directed from the high ceiling above the high seats of the three judge panel, towards the three judges, keeping their immediate area comfortably cool. The camera trained on them remained a respectful distance away, and no harsh lights illuminated their somber countenances.

All three judges stared at the camera showing no emotion, their hands folded in front of them on the surface of their capacious bench on top of three equal stacks of paper placed before them. Everywhere on earth citizens watched the unfolding drama over the neural net that provided a fully immersive experience indistinguishable from reality, effectively placing every citizen on the planet in the courtroom as the Chief Judge began to speak in a deep, resonant, clear voice.

“The evidence against you has been examined. This tribunal finds you guilty of the charges against you by a unanimous vote. Have you anything to say before we pass sentence?”

The camera cuts back to the prisoner. The lights brighten around him and the heat rises perceptibly, adding fresh fuel to the trickle of sweat flowing down his flushed face, causing a bead of sweat to form at the end of his nose that he is unable to swat away because his wrists are restrained by metal bands at the armrests of his metal chair, outside the viewing range of the camera’s tight zoom on his face.

“I am guilty of no crime,” the prisoner protests in a low voice full of palpable weariness and resignation.

“You are guilty of the most heinous of crimes,” the Chief Judge contradicts, raising his voice and causing the prisoner to cringe.
“That is not open to debate. This is your final chance to make what amends you may to those whom you have harmed through your selfish, deviant act. It will have no effect on this Court’s sentence.”

“But I have done nothing wrong,” the man emphatically protests again, as ribbons of perspiration roll down his neck and deepen the growing ring of dark sweat absorbed by his bright orange jumpsuit, leaving a collar of dark moisture around his neck.

“Silence!” the Chief Judge hisses through tight lips. “The record will show that the prisoner is unrepentant. This Court finds that he willfully, maliciously and without justification removed his neural connector with the purpose and effect of severing his connection to the neural nets. We further find that the motivating factor for this most egregious, malevolent and repugnant crime was the attempt to abandon the Common Consciousness and establish his individuality separate and apart from the Communal Mind. We further find that the subject is in full possession of his legal faculties and capable of understanding the criminal nature of his acts, and, perhaps most tragically, that he fails to see the enormity of his crime.” The Chief Justice faltered slightly, delivering the final words of the Court’s sentence with a slight tremor in his voice. After stopping a moment to compose himself as his learned colleagues looked on impassively, he continued. “It is, therefore, the judgment of this Court that you will forever remain disconnected from the nets from this day forward.”

Upon hearing the Judge’s words the prisoner’s eyes opened wider, attempting to digest their import. Could it be? Might he finally be allowed the what he believed to be his unalienable right to be an individual for the first time in his life? The opportunity to live in a world in which he could have original thoughts, genuine emotions, privacy and the opportunity to be different from everyone else? The joy he felt nearly made him faint with relief and unbridled joy, allowing him for the first time in his life the possibility of hope as tears welled in his eyes.

He found he could not speak, could not express even the simple words “thank you” to the Court. It was as though he were emerging from a life-long nightmare, as if. . .

“The prisoner’s IP address, 999.999.999.999, shall be erased from the Nets,” the Judge continued as the prisoner’s tears now flowed freely. “His existence shall be forever stricken from the Collective Consciousness lest it germinate there and once again grow sedition in our midst.” The prisoner wept openly now while smiling broadly.
“The death sentence for this most heinous of crimes is hereby commuted so that the prisoner may be allowed the individuality he craves for the rest of his natural life, devoid of the comfort of our collective humanity or the distracting influences of life.”

The Chief Judge then paused and took a deep breath, as the prisoner shuddered with relief. He then continued in a slow, resonant voice. “It is further ordered by this Court that the prisoner shall have his eyes, eardrums, tongue and olfactory organs surgically removed that he may not taste, smell, see, hear, or speak with any other human being for the rest of his natural life. Thereafter, he is remanded to a hospital where he shall be restrained to a bed and tended to by robotic life support aids that he may be denied the comfort of feeling another human beings warm touch upon his skin. The sentence of this Court shall be carried out immediately and shall be witnessed by all the citizens of Earth as partial reparation for this most heinous of crimes against humanity.”

The prisoner’s screams lasted only a few moments as an anesthetic was administered and the cameras were re-arranged in preparation for justice to be carried out.

(C) 2011, 2019 Victor D. Lopez - All rights reserved.

You'll never find truth,
However hard you seek it,
In extremists' words.

By losing we win,
When pride is the only prize,
In our loved one's eyes

False friends are like leaves,
Blowing in an autumn wind,
Colorful, dry, dead.

Love freely given,
Ripples in the universe,
To outlive the stars.

Children are watching,
Learning from your every deed,
Careful what you teach.

S/he with the most toys,
In the end wins, but only,
What only fools prize.

At the end of life,
My only concern will be,
Have I done enough.

Life is an hourglass,
Sands fall to oblivion,
Leave something behind.

A grasshopper once came upon a colony of ants seeing to the fall harvest.
“Give me some grain. I’m hungry” he said.
“Where is your winter store?” they asked.
“Don’t have one. Too busy singing all summer” he replied.
“Well, if you sang all summer instead of working, you may as well
Dance all winter,” they replied smiling and returning to work.

The grasshopper turned from green to red, fuming.
“The harvest is not yours! You did not build it!
You did not make it rain.
You did not cause the sun to shine.
You just reaped the bounty of mother earth.
That belongs to us all. Now give me my fair share!”

The ants kept working, smiled and shook their heads.
The grasshopper cursed and stomped away.
But he returned an hour later with many kindred spirits.
They beat the ants silly while stealing their grain.
And as they beat them they chanted catchy slogans
While pumping firsts in the air:

No justice no peace!
Power to the people!
It takes a village!
Yes we can!
Soak the rich!
Property is theft!

Then they took away all the grain they could carry,
And burned the rest to teach the unconscious ants a lesson.
Back at their village, the grasshoppers had a wondrous feast.
It lasted three full days until the food ran out.
When winter came, they begged nearby villages for food.
But they were also populated by singers, dancers and actors who’d likewise
Spend the summer singing, dancing and making love, not war.

So having no food, they held hands, hugged a tree and
Sang Cumba Ya while lamenting the tragedy that had befallen them.
“All their fault. All their fault” they whined in unison.
“Those stupid, egotistical, greedy, inhumane, hoarding, hate-filled
Worthless bugs. Why could they not have been as enlightened as we?”