cherub so fair
raven black hair
eyes azure
as grandfather
face radiant
perfect, pure, true,
features salient
i remember you

with tiny hands 'n fingers moving
there you lay swathed in pipes
in distress from convolut'd tubing
not from teething or testinal gripes

in ICU unit of babies diverse
at mercy of overworked nurse
no sound left your mouth, no whimper or cry
when they said you had predilection to die

when no-one was looking, your face turned blue
from lack of oxygen from outside to you,
no-one noticed as your life slipped away
none there for you on your last day

when blood is cheap
is it time to weep?

when animals matter more
is it time to keep score?

when police abuse
do we watch more news?

as rivers run purple with human blood
earth saturated with pain
skies run scarlet as lava flood
sweeps life 'n limb down the drain

Covid and war
who's keeping score?
what will come next?
send me a text

there's a valley being filled
with pain and tears
its colour scarlet grill'd
by scare and fears

spilt by tool infernal
all the years
every drop eternal
wails in ears

the cries of babes and wives
rent asunder
the innocence of lives
laid to plunder

let me wade in the blood
be part 'n under
let me sink into the mud
o' eternal blunder

or may i choose life
for every drop spilt
for every cut of the knife
for untimely wilt

for the sake of the slain
stand up straight
for the sake of the pain
give up hate

increase acts of love
soar toward
on wings of white dove
the Elusive Lord

take His Hand in mine
salve His Sorrow
for together we can twine
a better morrow

father of child
bent over 'n smiled
bound with love
at his li'l dove

human umbrella
shelters the child
poor little fella
will ne'er be 'conciled

death wrought the air
tore it with scare
ended a life
too soon afterlife

blood on side-walk
on wall pasted
once laughed and talk'd
now spilt 'n wasted

new scar to be healed
new anger revealed
a killer's fate sealed
by dead human shield

blue velvet
eternal sea
royal curtain
'I am that be'.

devil incarnate
shatters the peace
muscle of hate
venom'd release

scarlet tears
human blood
Ancient of Years
buried in mud

metal and powder
pierce the external
but no earthly power
can stop the eternal

for yet from chagrin
shall salvation sprout
as new world begins
and old world will out.

it started like any other
a day in a month in a year
i waved good-bye to my brother
mother held back a tear
with pack on my back
i boarded the train
all set to track
a rougher terrain
to mountains alive
with celestial music
a buzzing hive
of quiet acoustic
in wood and in glade
every grass, every blade,
all light 'n shade,
matter calcic and humic,
buttons o' G-d's tunic
shining pure gold
the ancient, the old,
a bastion of peace
from avenging ire
from man's caprice
from world on fire
from lust for success
in G-d's largesse
heavenly blest
no greed or excess
no rush for progress
in milieu of emeralds
no nascent dictator
no destroyer of worlds
no human-life baiter
but midst the Eden
lay archetypal snake
interspersed with reason
bred on heartache
a venomous tooth
foxy and furtive
language uncouth
aggression assertive
coiled at bend
ready to unwend
the henchman at crossroad
waiting at gate
with poisonous goad
and age-old hate
overused trope
from mouth void o' hope
arguments specious
ostensibly sound
gaining impetus
as he held his ground
polluting, plundering
the sweet mountain air
innocence encumbering
with insidious fare
till he'd decimated
the Garden of Eden
it subjugated
to blood of the demon
and G-d had grown wings
had flown far away
the Ancient King
now waits for new day.

ever seen a restless lion,
impatient, antsy, a lion on-edge,
roaring at his bars of iron,
longing for the rocky ledge

yearning for the arid savanna
the sweet smell of savage hunt
the scuffle with the young hyaena,
the vanquished's final grunt

ever seen the tired ape
the depressed orang-outang
lying captive, a worn-out cape
benumbed from all pain or pang

lost all hope of hanging branches
the overgrown Amazon marshes
forgotten the delights of the wild
the call of tribe and his sister's child

ever seen a prisoner's despair
locked away from all society
his loss of self-worth and self-care
his state of mental inebriety

once-gregarious reduced to staring
never hears the music blaring
a listless, languid, brainless zombie
outside world inane cryptography

ever seen your mate in club
your chum-friend at the local pub
smiling, laughing, without a care,
taking part in truth-or-dare

beneath the outer charm and suaveness
calmness of a Greek Adonis
lies a restless, confounded soul,
prisoner with no parole

lies an intelligence rattling the bars
peering out through aged scars,
muffled, muted by cruelest medicine,
fated eternal jail denizen

longs to escape to outside world,
break the bars, flag unfurled,
but as those captives in the zoo
has lost all hope of living like you.