Glaciers are melting away, as shadows in the darkest hour,
Nature’s enrage, has now turned into a war;
Even at a place so uphill,
There is no cold wind nor the chill.

The trees that we cut down fell,
And the green heaven turned to hell.
We pretend to be deaf of what we hear,
And stay blind of what that happens here.

Our voices never have raised,
Nor the fire inside us has blazed.
So, let us all stand straight and tall,
If not, we all shall fall.

i wish i was special
but all i really am
is a disaster
bruising along the coast
of your incomplete love

my heart doesn't want to let you go,
because you made me feel something other than numbness.

my brain cries to let you go,
because you're going to cost me much more than just a heartbreak.

Hey there, I'm Joe Sixpack,
an American full of pride.
I don't want no welfare state,
I don't want no free ride.

And I don't want no charity
'cause freedom don't come free.
I just got four priorities,
they're ME, ME, ME and ME!

I just can't stand the government.
Tax, I don't wanna pay.
Don't want no lazy welfare bums
to **** it all away.

Don't want no ******* FEMA
after flood or hurricane.
Don't want no public healthcare
to fix someone else's pain.

But if my house blows over
or if I get unemployed,
and I don't got insurance
and my health's getting destroyed...

Well, then you'll see me change my tune
and I'll be first in line.
Sayin' "I deserve a handout",
"Oh poor ME" I'll ***** and whine.

Ann M Johnson ( Note,Oct 2015, original copy)
On The Day the Earth Stood Still (revised 2020)
The Market crashed as the people dashed
   All the banks closed down
   the people frowned
   Natural disasters were all around
   Stock brokers quite literally took a dive
Sickness abounds
   Many people died
   On the day the earth stood still

    The daily grind
     The worry over bills
      Was replaced with the need to just survive
       Some people rioted just to get something to eat
       On the day the earth stood still
        
       Some people screamed
        While others cried
         Some people looked down looking for someone to blame
Some people selfishness stood out hoarded things others need
         Still others looked outward and sought ways to help out
        Some people banded together to keep each other and their neighbors alive
        Some people looked up
       While some people prayed for wisdom for themselves and others
        to get through this trial
        Some people looked within only and felt all alone
        Still others thought of this as a test of their will
        On The Day The Earth Stood Still
        
         I wonder if we were faced with this crisis
         would we stand together
         or fall apart ?
         perhaps the answer is found already in our hearts
         If we are lacking a strong network of family and friends
          Now is the time to start
          We don't want to be found slacking if the world falls apart
                     Sometimes things happen in a blink of an eye

April showers
bring with them atomic flowers,
strewn about Elena’s hair,
her forest painted
the colors of Red Square.
Children play in the fun zone
where radiation particles
are active and windblown,
forming flakes on rosy cheeks,
floating down toxic creeks.
The smell of graphite burning in a kiln
makes the nostrils flare,
what’s this metallic taste in the air?

Clouds drift over weddings
and Ferris wheels,
rain falls black and surreal.
Mother goes about her routine
humming dirges like a godless fiend.
36 hours to figure the science,
past time to evacuate
a city in brisk silence.
Brides scream and children cry,
from the fall-out they mummify.
Pripyat’s dying metropolis
they euthanize and lay to rest
in a sarcophagus.

And atop her shallow grave,
deep within the exclusion zone,
sit the sickened stems
and decaying fragrance
of nuclear flora over bone.
Here in the jackal's sanctum,
a capsule car on the lifeless
pleasure wheel
swings like a pendulum,
over a wooded lot with not a soul in sight,
only fresh morbid blooms
that glow in the night.

We ring bells
Clap our hands
Pray and give thanks

To doctors and nurses
Vegetable sellers
Delivery boys
Tourists and travelers
Urban poor
Rural rich
Railways and buses
Security personnel
Customs officials
Airlines and stewardesses
Everybody, everywhere

May they be safe
May peace prevail

In all hearts with fear
In all eyes with tears
May they be safe
May peace prevail

May love encircle
Our blue planet
Once more
With life
Enfolded
In her gentle grace.