Government of the party,
By the incumbent,
And for the elites.
Is this what we celebrate?

If democracy stands for
Liberty, justice and equality,
Then we are miles behind,
Suffering bitterly in our clime.

Did our vote for Abiola count?
Maybe that's history,
But we still have leaders that were not elected but selected.
Why is election rigging a celebrated culture?

Will we continue exchanging our votes
For money, meals and fake promises?
Let’s fight first for human values before party values
So that our lives will count more than ballot.

They tell us,
About a great future.
They tell us it is coming,
Not today but tomorrow.

Our dear Nigeria,
A safari for its rulers,
Stealing our freedom,
Yet showing a victorious future.

Our leaders,
They keep on telling us,
Democracy,
Of the people,
By the people,
For the people.

They come as bearers,
Bearing freedom,
Removing slavery's chains and rods,
Yet trampling on our humanity.

Our leader's democracy,
A temple built with words,
Yet plastering it with,
Power and constant deceit.

They bribe our conscience
They fail to discharge their duties,
Yet singing victorious praises of their democracy,
Telling the world of vague achievements.

They play their drama,
Displaying it in public,
Showing a ****-a-doodle-doo of theatre,
Narrating nothing significant.

They claim to hear our cries,
Yet they are blind spectators of beauty,
Having no eat for our mass cries.

Democracy,
Their ideology of power.
Their way of life
A culture so dear to them

Democracy,
A backwash from future's deep
A begraggle of corrupt leaders
A pointer to Me, My Belly and I

They claim we have rights,
Yet they keep us in chains.
Their democracy,
An emblem of an immoral compass.

I look out my balcony window,
Waiting for change.
I stand at my front door,
Hoping for a brighter tomorrow.

My father waited
My mother hoped
I in turn prayed
Our children echoed

I dream of a great democracy
I dream of liberation
I put down my pen,
It is tired of being,
Mightier than the sword.

Oh democracy
I raise my hand up in your honour
Nigeria's democracy,
Our leaders' famous slogan.

She is running chronic fever,

Low grade but constant, like the hum of the HVAC at the beginning of July.

She coughs and spits, constantly clearing her throat, hacking away at the never-ending buildup of thick mucus.

Her speech is low and gravelly, praying this pain is heard by her extended family.

She is physically, visibly ill, sick to the nth degree.

The antibodies fight and claw, scrapping with the disease to fight the virus.

The virus always prevails.

He always wins, and there is nothing she can do to stop it.

She keeps asking, “what’s going on, where is the vaccine?” hearing the same story, same excuse:

“It just ain’t ready yet. Here take this pill, take this drink, take this hit, give your mind a much needed break from the pain that you feel.”



Voices are chanting over and over in her head:

“No relief, no peace, the virus, defeat!”

He doesn’t listen, too concerned with his real agenda.

He hears your pleas, cosigns your cries,

begs for your forgiveness, all while refusing to look you in your eyes.

When you sing a song, he listens, hearing only dollar signs,

Cashing checks on your pain, refusing to pay any fines.

To him, the bandages have helped mend the sores,

“You have made progress, what is it you are still fighting for?

Sure it is tougher, and there are still some hurdles to leap,

But keep ya head up and remember to turn the other cheek.”

She feels like her life is a lie, “did I make any progress if the virus won’t die?”



He said he DON’T discriminate against who gets the disease,

That “if you work hard enough, you can beat the odds, defy God,

And even have a place at the table right there next to my mom.”

She has hope that one day she will win the fight,

That the fever will be lifted, and she can live a long and healthy life.

Her condition has turned for the worst, and he acts like he cares,

But will he continue his compromise and stance in solidarity,

Or repeat over and over and over again the cycle of false prosperity.



She is not alone in her fight against the virus.

We all have a piece of the disease in our bones.

The virus looks like us, sounds like us, smells like us,

dances and plays like us, the virus lives like us, laughs like us.

The virus defines us.

The virus is U.S.

The following is not a paid advertisement. It is the truth. It is arguably plausible for me to state that I received the best secondary and higher education in the world.

I graduated from Phillips Academy (more commonly referred to as Andover now), the oldest boarding school in America founded in 1778, two years after our nation was founded. Andover and its sequel, Exeter, it seems, now take turns being voted the best high school in the United States.

Though I received an essentially unequalled secondary education at Andover, I paid an exorbitant social and emotional cost to receive it. The years I spent at Andover were the worst of my life.

I chose to matriculate to Columbia College, the tradional undergraduate liberal arts school of Columbia University, over Yale
for principally two main reasons:  the Core Curriculum and New York City. More years at Yale would be like returning to Andover, anathema to me.

The Core Curriculum, now over 100 years old, is a rigorous, two-year course of studies that include philosophy, literature. art, music, language, frontiers of science, and writing. All College students, regardless of her or his majors, must take all the Core courses, which, in turn, make them learned for life. Columbia College is the only Ivy school to have anything like the Core. Living in and exploring New York City, the veritable capital of the world, for four years makes one a Citizen of the World for life, even if one decides to reside elsewhere after graduating, as I did. I now live in Boulder, CO. Columbia College's 2019 admit rate was 5.1%. Columbia College admitted a few over 2,000 applicants out of slightly over 42,000 applicants worldwide, making Columbia College the second most selective school in the Ivy League. 5.1 % admit rate:  that's about 1 out of 20.

But even Columbia has its "bad apples:"  Roy Cohn comes to mind readily. So does William Barr. But it also has Barach Obama. 84 students who studied or professors who taught there won the Nobel Prize.

So what to do with this piece CAN WE PROFIT OFF IT?

It sees to me that the maxim  DO UNTO OTHERS...is rapidly being supplanted by CAN WE PROFIT OFF IT? Our political leaders, who have never been paragons of virtue, have for 3 1/2 years have become, in a word, corrupt. The Washington Post has authenticated more than 15,000 lies emanating from the Oval Office, not to mention the cheating, the racism, and the ******.

CAN WE PROFIT OFF IT? is the new adage these days.

I say "Make America A Democracy Again!" should be.

Isn’t it unnerving
To think that people are smart/wise enough
To choose the right person,
Able to rise to the task of being the president of a state,
And find the answers to the most urgent questions in society,
But at the same time,
That these same people are not capable
Of answering to any of these same questions themselves?
How can we reasonably decide who best fits a blank profile?

Those who remain silent in a democracy are complicit in its destruction.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Epigrams II

Love is either wholly folly
or fully holy.
—Michael R. Burch

Civility
is the ability
to disagree
agreeably.
—Michael R. Burch

Death is the ultimate finality
and banality
of reality.
—Michael R. Burch



Original Prose Epigrams

We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it.—Michael R. Burch

Experience is the best teacher but a hard taskmaster.—Michael R. Burch

Time will tell, as it always does in the end.—Michael R. Burch

When I was being bullied, I had to learn not to judge myself by the opinions of intolerant morons. Then I felt much better.—Michael R. Burch

One man's coronation is another man's consternation.–Michael R. Burch

The most dangerous words ever uttered by human lips are 'Thus saith the LORD.' — Michael R. Burch

Hell has been hellishly overdone.—Michael R. Burch

If one burns below, what the hell is "above"?—Michael R. Burch

Teddy Roosevelt spoke softly and carried a big stick;
Donald Trump speaks loudly and carries a big shtick.
—Michael R. Burch

Thanks to politicians like George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Donald Trump, we now have a duh-mock-****.
—Michael R. Burch

As a general rule of thumb, ignore naysayers unless you agree with their criticism.—Michael R. Burch

Love is exquisite torture.
—Michael R. Burch (written after reading “It’s Only My Heart” by Mirza Ghalib)

Poetry moves the heart as well as the reason.
—Michael R. Burch



Epigram Translations

Birdsong
by Rumi
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Birdsong relieves
my deepest griefs:
now I'm just as ecstatic as they,
but with nothing to say!
Please universe,
rehearse
your poetry
through me!

Raise your words, not their volume.
Rain grows flowers, not thunder.
—Rumi, translation by Michael R. Burch

The imbecile constructs cages for everyone he knows,
while the sage (who has to duck his head whenever the moon glows)
keeps dispensing keys all night long
to the beautiful, rowdy, prison gang.
—Hafiz loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

An unbending tree
breaks easily.
—Lao Tzu, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Little sparks ignite great flames.—Dante, translation by Michael R. Burch

Once fanaticism has gangrened brains
the incurable malady invariably remains.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Booksellers laud authors for novel editions
as pimps praise their ****** for exotic positions.
—Thomas Campion, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

No wind is favorable to the man who lacks direction.
—Seneca the Younger, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hypocrisy may deceive the most perceptive adult, but the dullest child recognizes and is revolted by it, however ingeniously disguised.
—Leo Tolstoy translation by Michael R. Burch

Just as I select a ship when it's time to travel,
or a house when it's time to change residences,
even so I will choose when it's time to depart from life.
—Seneca, speaking about the right to euthanasia in the first century AD, translation by Michael R. Burch

Improve yourself through others' writings, thus attaining more easily what they acquired through great difficulty.
—Socrates, translation by Michael R. Burch

Fools call wisdom foolishness.
―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch

One true friend is worth ten thousand kin.
―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch

Not to speak one’s mind is slavery.
―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch

I would rather die standing than kneel, a slave.
―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch

Fresh tears are wasted on old griefs.
―Euripides, translation by Michael R. Burch



Native American Proverb
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Before you judge
a man for his sins
be sure to trudge
many moons in his moccasins.



Native American Proverb
by Crazy Horse, Oglala Lakota Sioux (circa 1840-1877)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

A man must pursue his Vision
as the eagle explores
the sky's deepest blues.



Native American Proverb
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Let us walk respectfully here
among earth's creatures, great and small,
remembering, our footsteps light,
that one wise God created all.



The Least of These...

What you
do
to
the refugee
(the least of these)
you
do
unto
Me!
—Jesus Christ, translation/paraphrase by Michael R. Burch



The Church Gets the Burch Rod

How can the Bible be "infallible" when from Genesis to Revelation slavery is commanded and condoned, but never condemned? —Michael R. Burch

If God
is good
half the Bible
is libel.
—Michael R. Burch

I have my doubts about your God and his "love":
If one screams below, what the hell is "Above"?
—Michael R. Burch

If God has the cattle on a thousand hills,
why does he need my tithes to pay his bills?
—Michael R. Burch

The best tonic for other people's bad ideas is to think for oneself.—Michael R. Burch

Hell hath no fury like a fundamentalist whose God condemned him for having "impure thoughts."—Michael R. Burch

Religion is the difficult process of choosing the least malevolent invisible friends.—Michael R. Burch

Religion is the ****** of the people.—Karl Marx
Religion is the dopiate of the sheeple.—Michael R. Burch

An ideal that cannot be realized is, in the end, just wishful thinking.—Michael R. Burch

God and his "profits" could never agree
on any gospel acceptable to an intelligent flea.
—Michael R. Burch

To fall an inch short of infinity is to fall infinitely short.—Michael R. Burch

Most Christians make God seem like the Devil. Atheists and agnostics at least give him the "benefit of the doubt."—Michael R. Burch

Hell has been hellishly overdone
since Jehovah and his prophets never mentioned it once.
—Michael R. Burch

(Bible scholars agree: the word "hell" has been removed from the Old Testaments of the more accurate modern Bible translations. And the few New Testament verses that mention "hell" are obvious mistranslations.)



If every witty thing that's said were true,
Oscar Wilde, the world would worship You!
—Michael R. Burch



Shattered
by Vera Pavlova
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I shattered your heart;
now I limp through the shards
barefoot.



Keywords/Tags: epigram humor satire religion politics love poetry hell trump democracy mrbepi mrbepig mrbepigram

Published as the collection "Epigrams II"

"I'm gonna," isn't good enough,
And good enough's not far enough,
And far enough's not near enough
To get us half-way there.
Forget about a song and prayer,
To get us where we need to be,
To where we breathe deep and free.