Taking the Low Road

Taking the high road,

Does well to placate,

Calms those around me,

Prevents arguments,

Can maintain the peace,

And promote goodwill.

This is not the time,

To placate or calm,

Prevent arguments,

Maintain a false peace,

Or promote goodwill.

Now the truth must be,

Told and told plainly,

So in this case I’m,

Taking the low road.

Dead to Me

Shall I quote you a sonnet,

Present a soliloquy,

Orate the greatest verses,

Sing an ode written for you?

And when would all of this art,

Bend your heart to fit with mine?

If your heart is dead to me,

Perhaps a farewell is best.

Collecting Your Useless Advice

Eagerly, graciously you dispense,

Pearl after pearl of home-spun wisdom.

But I have yet to find benefit,

From a single word you have uttered.

Though I’m sure I’ll be back,

To collect more of your useless advice.

Winter Breaks

When this constant chill,

Has finally left my bones,

When nature’s desolation,

Springs itself back to life,

When the dreary tedium,

Is replaced with motion,

When gray dark skies,

Give way to cheerful blue,

When this winter breaks,

All will be well.

New Day

Morning frost glistens like diamonds,

Frozen grass crackles under foot,

The air lies still and bitter cold,

Sunrise will warm the morning chill.

I and my dog on morning rounds,

To investigate the new day.

Sacrosanct

I.

Language monitored and banned,

Utterances verboten.

Silence is far more preferred,

Than a single dissenting voice.

II.

Love regulated and mocked,

In the name of moral outrage.

Subjugation based solely on,

One’s gender or racial profile.

III.

Dear friend please do remember,

Though you believe as you believe,

Interference is not called for,

In the lives of anyone.

IV.

Mankind is moving forward,

Not toward immorality

But toward a new kind of love,

Requiring minds to be open.

V.

We change not for the sake of change,

But to improve and make progress –

To care for our fellow man,

To provide freedom for all.

VI.

Will you accompany us,

Into the future we seek,

Or will you live in the past,

Ruled by myth and superstition?

Daily Sameness

Is today so much the same – nondescript?

Is it made out of all the same old stuff?

Does a daily pattern play on repeat?

Do the same obstacles stay in your way?

Change the script with new perspectives, new thoughts.

Bring in some new to mix with the old stuff.

Put the pattern on shuffle with new goals.

Don’t move the obstacles, just change your path.

A Gray World

What’s right and what’s wrong?

What’s been found moral?

What is immoral?

Your brush paints in black,

And in strokes of white.

But where do you live?

Not in the real world,

Where rarely is seen,

Just the black and white.

What is seen out here,

In this, the real world,

Are many shades of gray.

Behind the Curtain

Standing back quietly waiting,

Having received confirmation,

That nothing is here to be seen,

Just fruitless anticipation.

But I still wait patiently,

Hearing this carnival barker,

Repeat his case for nothing to see,

While refusing to draw the curtain.

Today to Tomorrow

Perhaps it’s a habit that I can’t break,

Or some segment of DNA strand.

Maybe it is borne inside each of us,

A trait that’s common within our species.

Difficult and demanding it might be,

But live this day as well as possible,

While waiting on our one more tomorrow.