My father left the world
But thoughts of him remain
Flashbacks in Super 8
Imprinted on my brain
He lived for many years
But stopped at eighty-five
Talkies in coarse slow-mo
Faint laugher still alive
My father lived with flaws
But I forgive each fault
Trespasses left behind
No longer soaked in salt
'Tis all about my heartache
not now but the ones I lost
not now but once I've died
how could I have forgotten
dead-ended road I'd cross
mad at my Jesus Syndrome
had a bit too much my dear
put away your sadness silly
time to multiply your cheer
doesn't matter now though
not about years of sorrow
the Jesus Syndrome lied
forgot then remembered
With her! my heart cried
We got born as Gemini
Look-alikes from head to toe
We saw the world eye to eye
Took our setbacks blow by blow
We dwelled both peer and rival
Duplicates in diverse turn
We clung on for survival
Felt the discontented burn
We grew old with like wisdom
Replicas in minstrelsies
We joined the solar system
Clean forgot as twin trustees
We were jealous of each other
and the stupid reason for that
'tis I couldn't see any addition
tween selfishness via selfless
To be a better man
Is the last jig I'll nail
Then bide the master plan
Out there beyond the pale
To let love be my guide
Is the last crux I'll face
Then eat some humble pie
Out there in empty space
To face death with a smile
Is the last thing I'll do
Then rest for a long while
Out there in Timbuktu
All life and living things must stop
Succumbing to biology
The laws of nature merciless
Acting without apology
All life and living things must go
Returning to past lifelessness
The blanks of preexistent slates
Lasting in constant quietness
All life and living things must die
Resigning to mortality
The gift of living transient
Ending in harsh reality
Oh, I'm feeling glory in your poem
pure power of a well human spirit
your ode 'tis Homo-sapiens hopes
re-boosting a Shakespearean love
Poets, poems and poetry
May no longer be in style
Yet all human hearts and minds
Prize the perfect poesy smile
It lifts up jaded spirits
With beams of mystic power
No evilness can resist
The fragrance of its flower
Minstrels of the silver screen
Auteurs in the faddish light
Ply the muser's wonder drug
Human truth in all its might
Poets, poems and poetry
In all carnal forms and casts
Cannot perish from the world
For love though frail always lasts
At one time poetry ruled the world of intellectual literature
but tribalists and warmongers pushed sonnets out of favor,
misogyny and homophobia made jokes out of Shakespeare
as odes have gone from limelight to back-burner obscurity
Better to have loved than not
Better to at least have aimed
Splendid is the heart let go
Still all flings pan out the same
Better to have won than lost
Better to at least have strove
Sterling is the life made full
Still each turn's a treasure trove
Better to have lived than not
Better to at least have tried
Stellar is the life well lived
Still all runs are worth the ride
The Great Experiment has failed
Its tenants deftly hypnotized
One nation now divisible
By party lines thinly disguised
The democratic dream has died
Its ruling classes doubling down
One fair republic torn by greed
That stood its omnipotent ground
The patriotic pledge has tanked
It's promise flunking freedom's test
Once an unconquerable land
Now gaga as a cuckoo's nest
Their empathy's mangled by tangled sympathy,
and worn-out compassion wears torn gratitude
Aggression's higher than their lowest grammar,
envy's taken what well human beings will give
