It's sad when people lie about you
And say that you said what you hadn’t said.
One would think that they should have
Better things to do instead.

What is it that makes them so?
Do they really believe their lies?
Or is the truth beyond their reach--
A thing they don't even recognize?

Do they feel so desolate?
Are they so insecure within?
Are their lives so out of sorts--
An imbalance of yang and yin?

It doesn't make me angry. Not really,
When they are so mendacious…disjointed.
If I feel hurt at all,
It's mainly because I'm disappointed--

Disappointed that they don't see
How their actions reflect on them
And NOT on the people whom they choose
To lie about, malign, or condemn.

And so I wonder if they'll ever
See the error of their ways
And maybe be able to turn their unkind
Comments from calumny to praise.

-by Bob B (3-26-24)

Trump with all his indictments and cases
Continues playing his usual games.
Political motivations are
What guide the indictments! That's what he claims.

He's trying to get the sympathy
From voters across the country who feel
That poor, innocent Donald Trump
Has gotten a horrible, horrible deal.

Victimhood's his major tactic.
He says it's all a witch hunt, and then
He and his lawyers keep trying to
Delay the process again and again.

Stalling is a strategy
That he has worked out to perfection.
He wants to postpone his trials until
After the presidential election.

If you're innocent, Donald Trump,
Then prove your innocence in court.
But that's not easy when honesty
And integrity are not your forte.

With all the evidence against him,
It’s hard to imagine him going free.
Don't ask "for whom the bell tolls,"
Donald Trump; "it tolls for thee."

-by Bob B (3-25-24)

A protest vote?° What the hell?
It really makes no sense.
Young voters can protest, but
It's at their own expense.

A protest vote? Trump over Biden
To shake up the status quo?
That's like shooting oneself in the foot:
Not voting for Joe.

A protest vote? What exactly
Are they trying to prove?
That putting Trump in the White House again
Is an appropriate move?

A protest vote? They'd rather have
A con man and a fake--
A man who caters to Putin when
So much is at stake?

A protest vote? As though Trump has
THEIR interests at heart?
To vote in an egomaniac
Wouldn't be very smart.

A protest vote? They'll find out
If off to the right they swerve,
That come November they will get
The turmoil that they deserve.

-by Bob B (3-23-24)

°Based on reports of protest votes in the primaries

Have you heard of the Angel of Augsburg?
Agnes Bernauer was her name.
Her fairy tale start had a tragic ending.
What happened to her was a horrible shame.

She lived in the early 1400s
And worked as a servant in Augsburg, where she
Met Duke Albrecht von Würtemberg
Who promised to make her his wife-to-be.

Agnes was said to have been a beauty,
With fine noble features and long golden hair.
Even her enemies praised her appearance.
Those who beheld her would all stop and stare.

Duke Ernest, who was the young duke's father,
Unfortunately, could not get behind
The thought that Albrecht would marry Agnes.
He had another young lady in mind.

Father and son both quarreled, and Albrecht
Took a major step in his life.
Defying his father's unfair demands,
He made the lovely Agnes his wife.

They moved to Straubing and lived in a castle.
Albrecht surrounded her with a court.
However, their happily-ever-after
Life--you can guess--would soon be cut short.

Duchess Agnes had known all along
That Ernest's wrath was something to fear.
He was a tiger observing its prey,
Awaiting the time to pounce to draw near.

When Albrecht was away on business,
Ernest made happen plan part one:
He had Agnes imprisoned for being
A witch who had enchanted his son.

How ruthless people can be at times!
But what was there for Agnes to do?
Nothing but wait to be tried and sentenced
As Ernest carried out plan part two.

The verdict: guilty. The sentence: drowning.
Such a cruel and heartless rebuke!
Agnes was going to be drowned in the river
In Straubing. The papers were signed by the duke.

Thrown from a bridge and into a river,
Agnes was able to drift ashore.
The hangman then held her head underwater
Until the poor woman could breathe no more.

History has demonstrated--
And if we ignored it, we'd be remiss--
How power, religion, corruption, and money
Play a strong part in cases like this.

The body of Agnes, the Angel of Augsburg,
Lies there in Straubing, where she'd lived and died.
Only a person whose heart has been hardened
Could hear how she suffered and still stay dry-eyed.

-by Bob B (3-12-24)

Watch Donald Trump. Watch what he does.
Beware of what might ensue
If he's in the Oval Office again
And does what dictators do.

Viktor Orbán° came to his home--
A strong man through and through
Who has rejected democracy,
For that's what dictators do.

Orbán and Putin are mentors to Trump.
He loves their world view.
He doesn't care how they step on rights,
For that's what dictators do.

He swears that he'll go after opponents
If he is elected anew.
Trump wants loyalists only because
That's what dictators do.

His anti-migrant rhetoric
Has a frightening hue
As he dehumanizes others.
That's what dictators do.

Repeat a lie often enough
And people will think it's true.
Trump is a master at bending the truth.
That's what dictators do.

Figuratively, his nose has grown
At least a foot or two
From all the lies he's told so far.
That's what dictators do.

Republicans who don't obey him
Or line up in his queue
Are censured, for Trump has called them out.
That's what dictators do.

The former president now has
Indictments up the *****.
Our system of justice he says is unfair.
That's what dictators do.

Criticizing others is fine.
To Trump that's not taboo.
But criticize him and he'll get even.
That's what dictators do.

He starts with others, and then just watch:
He'll COME after me and you.
It's incumbent on all of us
To STOP what dictators do.

-by Bob B (3-11-24)

°The prime minister (and current autocrat) of Hungary

After President Biden gave
His annual state of the union address,
Alabama's Senator Britt
Had some people to try to impress.

There she sat in the kitchen where
She gave her corny rebuttal speech,
Or maybe we should say that THAT's
The place from which she chose to preach.

She wanted Christian nationalists
To have a reason to rejoice,
And so she used what people call
Her sappy, "fundie° baby voice."

People who watched were flabbergasted.
There were Republicans as well
Who listened in disbelief and asked
One another "What the hell?"

Blaming all the nation's struggles
On President Biden, she showed her fixation
With following Trump's playbook regarding
Inflaming fears about immigration.

We later discover that some of her comments
Were really nothing but nasty lies.
Perhaps that's par for the course when there's
Someone or something to demonize.

Not to bear false witness is
One of the Ten Commandments. Aha!
Doesn't that mean that Senator Britt
Basically broke a religious law?

Oh, well! Hypocrisy
Is fine, I guess, for those who believe
That THEIR path is the ONLY path
And there are millions of folks to deceive.

-by Bob B (3-10-24)

°from "fundamentalist"

Cleo is quite the regal cat.
Whenever strangers meet her
They must pay close attention to
The manner in which they greet her.

A "Hi, kitty, kitty!" just won't do;
That she won't allow.
She prefers, "Your majesty!"
Followed by a bow.

"Such a princess!" people say
On seeing her noble mien.
"I beg your pardon," Cleo thinks.
"Princess? No, it's QUEEN!"

"Where's my scepter? Where's my crown?"
She asks as she marches away
To sit on her throne--a padded chair--
And keep her subjects at bay.

If forced to move from her comfy spot
She makes her displeasure known
With angry looks and a meow expressed
In a very undignified tone.

"There's no justice in this base world
If subjects can treat you so,"
Cleo thinks as she leaves the room
With her pride taking a blow.

She finds a safe, secluded room
That isn't filled with noise
And waits for her evening banquet when she
Can surely regain her poise.

Her subjects know that her taste is refined;
Her needs must be addressed.
Food that's fit for a queen must do--
In other words, the best.

If the quality suffers, Cleo
Will turn up her nose, refusing
To eat another bite and thinks,
"I DON’T find this amusing!"

When people address her as Cleo, she wonders,
"Why don't people see
That Cleopatra is really what
MY name ought to be?

"But, alas, I must remember
That humans are all substandard.
They think they control the world,
And WE'RE the ones who are slandered."

At nighttime Cleo will seek a place
Where she will be undisturbed.
Everyone knows to leave her alone,
Or she will be quite perturbed.

She dreams of sitting alone on a chaise
Pulled by a team of mice
And then of eating her favorite meal:
Anchovies on ice.

-by Bob B (3-6-24)