light the edge,
fan the flame,
make sure it reaches aim,
make sure it reaches,
make sure that it wont die,
the flame: let it burn out.
burn out.
burn.
aim.
fire: bright: deadly: marvelous:
a predictable spectacle.
fireworks: works of fire,
forged, colorful,
temporary: a mere distraction.
spectacle: superficial.
distraction from the bleak night sky.
sporadic.
nonsensical.



just like us.

At midnight tonight, the second decade of the twenty-first century will be no more.
At midnight tonight, the third decade of the twenty-first century will be what's in store.
At midnight tonight, billions of people will welcome and celebrate the new year.
At midnight tonight, some will celebrate with champagne and others will celebrate with beer.
At midnight tonight, it will be the first day of 2020 and the first day of January.
At midnight tonight, give your wife some razor blades because her legs are hairy.

there was a lot of love
in this decade
the people joined
a peace parade

the air was filled
with an upbeat atmosphere  
the flower children
were on a higher sphere

tunes started to sound
like they'd been set free
the musicians weren't
bound by a formalized key

fashion underwent
a considerable change
whereupon the beaded
look wasn't so strange

may these scant clues
aid all of you
in finding what decade
I'm taking you to

Odds stacked, but the overbearing
Often mistaken thoughts that are lending
More and more credence to my mind

Jaw slacked, but this mind has been sharpened
Its more than a fact, we breathe brokenhearted
But it's going to take far more than that this time

We spoke once, before it was over
We must speak again, cure the disorder
You're the only medicine I have in mind

Oblivion, or the loss of retention
Mysterious, if only for the second
Don't leave me sinking slowly into brine

It only takes a start and
You'll find yourself in time
Down an over guarded
Vaulted false start of a ending

Phileas Fogg,
On a brigantine sledge,
Braved the Omaha wind
As it twirled.
So, Jules Verne might say
That a full eighty days
Is plenty to travel the world.

Amelia Earhart
Crossed the sea –
The quickliest feat
…For a girl –
In twelve hundred forty
Short minutes, you know:
Others failed, but gave it a whirl.

Rosemary Doyle,
Our wonderful mum,
Exceeded these
Feats of grand scale!
She has crossed oceans faster,
Breezed over Great Plains,
And – without perspiration – prevailed!

Carefully, casually,
She raised five kids:
‘Neath our burden
She never collapsed.
Loving and giving
Us lives we are living.
Have there – really – eight decades elapsed?

Octogenarian?
Silliest word:
It sounds like
A sea creature’s vet,
But if you want true fun,
Then just orbit the sun
Eighty times, like our mom:  It’s no sweat!


© 2Mar2018 DracoTalpus
For Rosemary N. Doyle
On the occasion of her 80th birthday