4000 and counting

Sir,
You said you stood for compassion
Were conservative in your appeal
4000 later and counting
I see no basis for your zeal

Compassionately have you broken the bank
Conservatively have you decreed
To kill the curiosity that has fueled
Our knowledge and need

The truth is clear, the writing plain
I beg of you to see
This combustible mixture you brew
Is total insanity

Its your idea and your plan
And thus your responsibility
History will judge and say
Based on evidence "He is guilty"

The Easier Battle

I thought I knew what I wanted
I felt I had matured with time
That for which I lusted
Had shape, meter and rhyme

So I picked a pair of scissors
And on a cardboard drew
To aid my vision a pair of visors
To reject all a little askew

Thus armed I went into the world
And chopped mercilessly
At any that failed, were bent or curled
Or lacked honesty

I drew the rules in black or white
For the world that I see
Somehow I'd forgotten that
The world included me

I stood upright and looked around
And could not really see
That what I could most easily surmount
Was right inside of me

Unpopular Choice

It would be easy for me to agree
Nod my head and smile
To gain your favor
For a while

And that would retain your esteem
For what you believe
Is not what I am
Or do

So I will look away and say
The truth I know
It makes sense
To me

And as I see the light fade
I wonder again if
I've made the
Right choice

Yet I think it takes more spine
To state what you are
Though the rest
Care less

No argument I make can show differently
For what I know you
Cannot believe
Directly

And sometime shape has poetry
That may not rhyme
In entirety
Or part

Thank you

In trying to figure
How to flatter you
I coined many phrases
And metaphors drew

Yet none seemed
To suit my eye
They reeked on account
Of the lie

So I figured that
All I'd do
Is say a sincere
Thank You!

And list for posterity
In angular verse
What I learned in lines
That are terse

First, and foremost
Be nice
Forgo the sugar
Leave the spice

Next, I learned
To be friends
Retaining still
My critical sense

Then, in October
I do recall
You showed support
And I did not fall

Yet above all
I have learned
Expressing an opinion
Is money earned
Saying what I thought
Is money earned

Goodbye

Since you have decided
To go your way
Thought I'd tell you
If I may

I liked it when you'd
Come to stay
In little Chi-town
On Saturday

I wish you luck
In all you do
I am sure success
Will come to you

And if ever someday
A thought should
Remind you of
This neighborhood

Make a few moments
Just take five
To swing this way
To my old hive

Stop!
I have no voice right now
I seek no judgment just acknowledgement
Of my humanity in mortal accoutrement

I seek no explanation
I seek no apology
Just understand my agony

I trusted, yes, put my name on the line
So do not give me your reasons
They simply explain the seasons

I seek this hole in which I huddle
Its dankness holds me in a cuddle
It shields me from reality
It protects me from insanity

Abject Surrender
How much hope should I carry
My soul is tired and weary
I have cried as much I could
Were insanity wine, drink I would

How many stations should I walk
My back is sore, I cannot talk
I've done nothing wrong
You won't even hear my song

The blood that trickles from my eye
Does not seem to wash my stye
Thoughts that burn my mind at stake
As they look for answers or a mistake

So if the cup is full I beg,
Face to the ground on bended leg
Release me and let me die
Wretched, torn, no justice on which to rely

I Hope
I hope that when you awake tomorrow
You will let go of all our sorrow
And with the dawn of day
You will smile and you will play

I hope that you go where diamonds are sold
And look for platinum, rings of gold
Where things are held in a different view
And character binds muscle and sinew

I hope that you retain hope and belief
Wash away all your grief
Let the sunshine weave within a spiders thread
Iridescence and joy on your morning bed

Loss

Return my call
Your voicemail cannot sustain me
Speak just a little bit longer
For in your presence I cannot be
Flawed though this love is
You cannot fault its honesty

Speak to me
Though you have nothing to say
Is the heat we share in proximity
The only toy with which you play
Weather, traffic, cell phone static
Anything, anything, just stay

Turnaround
I am dying in my grief
I've given all you asked for
I've shed my bark, shed every leaf
I've given all to sate your senses
I've let go of every belief

Destroy me
There is no more to spill
For love I gave my all away
In trust of an elusive ideal
Reason, shame, honor and sorrow
Will wash this earth by your steel

Measured Love

What promise can I make?
Which I know I won't keep
Not because my soul is weak
Its cos, it does not agree

Its right with all I've learned
It fits say all with whom I've been born
From customs, habits, science, lore
They all would have me conform

Life would be easier still
And it has been good to see
Yet of this, if I let go
Then what will become of me?

Its not selfishness, I seek
Though at first it be
Splattered with old ego's logo
It is my only steel

You ask for what I cannot give
You ask for more than life
You ask for love that I give up
That for which I'd die