Bitter, battered, bruised and spent
Throwing punches aimed to dent,
Bobbing, weaving, sighing loud,
Gladiators playing to the crowd.

Armed with words that cut like steel
Inflicting wounds that won't fast heal,
Nostrils flaring, bulging eyes,
Parrying blows with stifled sighs.

Indignation, slights of old,
Each man's purpose bitter, cold,
One sole aim, that fatal blow,
Boiling anger on full show.

As to us the silent horde
Stunned by this discordant chord,
We watch and wonder how we came
To such a place so sad and lame.

Is this all we now deserve
Screeching buzzards without verve,
Gone the poise, the weathered charm
Just two sluggers out to harm?

Mumbling, rambling, wizened and old
This sorry old man leaves me angry and cold.
How such a fool made it this far
Must be the luck of some weird Irish star.

Now I'm expected to play fair and smile,
But against this buffoon that really does rile
Each bone in my body from morning to night,
With his cocky demeanor and memory plight.

Protected and pampered by the media and stars,
He speaks from his basement and meets from parked cars,
Trading favors for votes, a pattern he's shown
And to pressure he’ll cave, for this he is known.

No wonder the Marxists all love him so much,
What better for President, one so out of touch,
The country in ruins but what will he care,
When all he can do is the 90 yards stare.

But all said and done I relish the chance
To prove once again how well I can dance;
And in the great words of my hero Ali,
I'll float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

Marco and Laura quite the pair
Out for fun, a teenage tear,
Blind to mayhem, filled with verve
Little caring where they swerve.

Mountains, valleys, cities, towns,
Their antics met by fear and frowns,
Spawned as orphans, wild from birth,
One only goal, to roam the Earth.

Frenzied action fills their days,
Movements masked by rain and haze,
Gaining strength at every turn,
Willful acts of no concern.

Yet amongst the Gulf’s blue sky's
A very special wonder lies,
Blooming Lovers set to meet
Another show of Nature's feat.

Conjoined as one an awesome sight,
Youthful ardor morphing into might,
Locked in embrace their story told,
Destined to love but never to get old.

Defeated , deflated,
despondent, degraded,
All fun out the door,
Am I mad to want more?

Hyenas all circling,
Baying and burbling,
They hunt for a thrill
The chase and the ****.

Bombarded, lambasted,
Prodded and tested,
My world pandemonium,
Surrounded by odium.

I've worked and I've tried
For greatness I've strived,
So little compassion
Today's angry fashion.

All I now say,
All I now do,
Battered and burned,
No sympathy earned.

Yet on I go,
I toil and I sow,
For a better tomorrow
Masking my sorrow.

But let the chips fall,
I'll weather this squall,
I'm great at this game
Who then will they blame?

Cancel Culture, Black Lives Matter,
Me too movement, Gay rights too,
Social media so much chatter
Have a gripe, just join the queue.

Pro-choice stalwarts, pro-life hawks,
Farm to table, Save the earth,
A world of slogans, countless squawks
A new cause daily sees it's birth.

Sound bites matter, the Media gloats,
Politicians scramble to take the stage,
Armed with purpose and ready quotes.
Often glib and rarely sage.

Where is reason, quiet thought.
Before action and verbal storm,
Popularity not earned but bought,
Measured now by Twitter swarm.

And as to us the silent mass
Forging lives amidst this din,
As we wade through this morass
To crack a smile is no great sin.

An old moral of the sea
Is avoid that siren's song,
Look away and simply be,
Then far less may just go wrong.

A country divided
Depressing but true
Leadership wanting
By both Red and Blue.

Faction's aplenty
Each shouting loud
The noise overwhelming
Fomenting the crowd.

Cities in uproar
Police under siege
Anarchists aiming
Our culture to breach.

The media ecstatic
With words to inflame
No boundaries or morals
As if playing a game.

Yet above all this din
A message breaks through
The need to treat others
As you'd like them treat you.

Neither color nor creed
Must poison our soul
Our aim be just one
To make our world whole.

Different indeed
In more ways than one
But Americans all
A freedom hard won.

The country's on fire
Buildings ablaze
A situation most dire
Filmed through the haze.

Protesters all shouting
Passions inflamed
Of their anger no doubting
For the victim now named.

They march with hands raised
Indignant and loud
Determined, unphased,
To pressure unbowed.

But the message is tainted
The moment hijacked
The vision now painted
Of stores all ransacked.

Looters in droves
Their arms filled with goods
From iPhones to clothes
Their faces in hoods

Frenzied they run
Opportunity knocks
Plate glass they shun
With hammers and rocks.

Men of no soul
These rats of the night
Not caring they stole
What's pure and what's right.

Sadness surrounds us
Few places to turn
So much to discuss
While our cities now burn.