20211226.0430

I have never studied the sweet science
Never been in trunks in the ring
Ringing others' bells and hearing my own rung
As another marks the minutes out
And I suppose I am the weaker for it
Less a man than I ought to be
That it was hoped I would be
For that and other reasons

Don't forget: I'll be transferring fully over to Elliott RWI after the end of the year! Please follow me there!

20211225.0430

The armistice is signed for another season
But the battle will be said to start again
And always by those who want to think themselves attacked
Hoping that their entrenchment may find some justification
Although the few who rise against it are no army
Scattered ragtag band of partisans in the woods
Cut off from support except what they extort and steal
Although the same could be said for the fortified

Don't forget: I'll be transferring fully over to Elliott RWI after the end of the year! Please follow me there!

20211224.0430

Still she seeks out the delight
Promised by the coming night
That is marked by twinkling light
Set on trees and burning bright
And I find I cannot decry
What I know to be a lie
When I look and see her smile;
Let it last a little while

Don't forget: I'll be transferring fully over to Elliott RWI after the end of the year! Please follow me there!

20211215.0430

Has it been so many years
You have been out in the world
Taken screaming from where I was born?
They seem to have been good to you
I will hope they will continue to

Happy birthday, brother!

20211125.0430

For the day
For the days that have passed
     And that they are passed
For those who are present
     And those who should not be and aren't
For those who have been
     And should have been
For the roof above
For the food within
For the clothes on backs
For the chance to work to make things right
For those who do that work
For those who support them
For other things yet...

20211120.0430

The lights will pass by in review
Driven on by the labor of many
And I have struggled to see them before
To not frown and rant and decry
The expense in material and time
I will try again today
And maybe I can smile
Amid the sea of smiles in which
I will immerse myself
Once more

20211111.1111

Again and again
I give the refrain
Would that they had been right
But we don't abstain
From working that pain
On ourselves and increasing our plight

20211110.0430

A sixty-second time today
The sun will rise upon him
And our own orbits will remain in place
Held by his gravity
We speed onward even as we fall
Because he has been here to help us along
Even if the paths have sometimes been erratic
Which we have all of us taken

Happy birthday, Pop!

20211031.0430

As children gather in their joy
And youths as well
I remember a story that
The Good Doctor would tell
And recall that today is
Precisely equal to
Another holiday that
Seems to escape me
As the war about it looms again

20211025.0430

A scant two months remain
And some will try to explain
That they must yet sustain
A war, an old refrain
The lie of which is plain
Yet they cling to a pain
Unreal, and still they feign
To feel oppression's stain

20211024.0430

A week remains
I take no pains
To celebrate the day
Though others will
I find I still
Have little heart to play

20211011.0430

The day is not
So much to be celebrated as
Mourned because of what it
Notes beginning
And while I and many
Would not be here without it
Many others would be
Who are not
And never could be
And it's all because of one misguided jackass
Who does not need praise

20210925.0430

Ninety days alone remain
And soon will some sound the refrain
At thought of which they often claim
To feel some great oppressive pain
That not all their holidays proclaim
And by not doing show disdain
For words they themselves don't explain
Through the examples of their lives

20210922.0430

I and all the lands around
Have lost our footing, stable ground
Yet shifting winds can scarce be found
Though darkness more and more surrounds
The balance day is come once more
As it has often come before
The game goes on, but now, the score
Sways as the teams go on tour

20210916.0430

Each day I feel there's
Some observance that I'm missing
Some holiday that I should mark
Some occasion worth attention
And I am not paying that fee
An old cliché
About the gift that is each day
Comes to mind
And that might be it
But I do not think it is
Not really
Unless it is that every gift
Comes at a cost to somebody
And I still wonder who
Still pays the prices for mine

20210911.0430

Twenty years on
And they still say that the world has changed
That they remember the times before
And think that they were good
And there were good things about those days
For some
Just as there are good things about these days
For some
And maybe there are more for more
Which is as it ought to be
But if it is
Why do they look to former days
Knowing that the times before
Drew toward the one day
And these twenty years after

20210906.0430

Beside you now, I lift my fist
And even if my wrist is weak
It is stronger not alone
As is the case with yours
As we remember on this day
As we ought on other days
Because we've seen what happens when we do
And when we don't
And one is clearly better

20210825.0430

Only four more months remain
Until the time comes back again
When all the shopping must be done
And many have not yet begun
Though displays now start to appear
Though the day does not draw near
As yet. The early salvos fall
In what all too many call
A war. It only has one side
Though its hawks won't be denied
And call for muster even now--
I'll not buy gifts yet, anyhow.

20210801.0430

Today
Once again
They will gather
Who are separated by generations
If less now in area than before
Stand beside the first ranch road
Numbered fittingly
And communing once again in joy
Before it is too late

20210725.0430

Only five months yet remain
Until the day comes once again
Beleaguered in the red-voiced words
That fall stinking like the turds
Of pachyderms that plod along
To find a place where they belong
And trample places that they go
In passing through creating woe
So stuff and garnish all your homes
For who knows where that one will roam
Who by calling out for more
On the day has declared war
That in five short months will be today--
Or so the squawking pundits say