Original Sin

 ORIGINAL SIN

Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth,

            African slaves landed at Jamestown.

After Columbus destroyed the Caribbean,

            African slaves replaced the natives.

After America abolished slavery,

            Slavery went on,

                        Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico.

Slavery is as old as Rome,

            Which felt Slavs

                        Made good slaves.

The Japanese Army

            Believed Korean women

                        Made good sex slaves.

In Africa, captured children

            Make good boy soldiers.

The powerful will always find someone,

            Weaker, smaller, younger,

                        To use and abuse.

            It is our Original Sin.

The Plague

 THE PLAGUE

There is a plague upon the land.

            It infects far and near.

It ravages the people.

            It empties the cities.

Fields ripe for the harvest groan,

            But no harvester comes.

Factories stand empty.

            Homes are abandoned.

Schools are silent.

            No one knows its source.

No one knows its cure.

            No one knows its duration.

The people cry for salvation.

            But there is no salvation.

There is only the plague upon the land.

Vernal Equinox

 VERNAL EQUINOX

The sun stands poised equally

            Between day and night.

Dark night has ruled faint day

            For many long months.

Now, for this one moment,

            The sun is in the balance.

And then the sun moves.

            Tomorrow belongs to the light,

And day will rule fading night.

                        The world rejoices.

Blood on the Snow

 BLOOD ON THE SNOW

Blood on the snow.

            The war goes on.

It doesn't matter which war.

            There are so many wars.

            ***************

Blood on the green grass.

            The war goes on.

It doesn't matter which war.

            ***************

Blood on the dry leaves.

            The war goes on.

            ***************

Blood on the snow.

St. Patrick's Day Lament

 ST. PATRICK'S DAY LAMENT

There is the promise of spring,

            But winter has not yet released

                        Its cold hand from the land.

                        **********

The daffodils were fooled.

            They lifted their yellow heads,

                        Thinking spring was here.

They were wrong.

            Now snow shrouds them

                        As it shrouds the land.

                        **********

But it is winter's last cold grasp upon the land.

            As St. Patrick drove the snakes

                        From the Emerald Isle,

So spring will soon drive winter

            From the shrouded land

And release us from its

            Last, cold, dying hand.

A Cold Wind

 A COLD WIND

A cold wind blows across the land.

We shiver at its command.

Summer is just a memory.

There is ice so far as we can see.

It freezes us where we stand.

Tired of It All

 TIRED OF IT ALL

We stand dazed and confused

            And feeling misused.

With all the lies we're fed

            We can't believe a word that's said,

And we're tired of being abused.