If the laws were changed
So that rich old men
Were the only ones sent to the wars,
There'd be a lot less fighting then
And the dead number barely scores.
If the rich and the politicians
Had to live on a "minimum wage",
Poverty and hunger would vanish
In a swift outpouring of rage.
If "pro-lifers" were forced to rear
All the babies they push to be born
There'd be many less unwanted babies
And much less self-righteous scorn.
If ever rich man trade places
With a beggar for just one day
There'd be homes for the poor and the starving
And a place for their children to play.
If the rich could be sick and hungry
For even a day or two,
There'd be hospitals, medicine, blankets,
And great pots of "mulligan stew".
Inequities flourish around us --
But no matter which option you choose,
Never judge a man till you know him
And have paid the requisite dues.
****************

Is there a chance the Jains are right?
Should we revere all forms of life?
Should we banish war and civil strife?
Forswearing all coercive might?
Should we respect life's higher forms?
While trampling the very weak;
Or should we help the poor and meek
Survive life's vagaries and storms?
Though future generations judge us 
By how we evaluate the worth
Of those with which we share the earth --
Their opinions hold no power to budge us:
If we spoil the world on which we live,
That verdict won't be theirs to give.

Caught up in torrents of cascading hours,
Our lifetime skirt mysterious shores.
Where Lethe joines the nebulous Styx,
A millenium's flood water pours
Over whitewater rapids and foaming falls,
While coruscading boulder licks
The torrent to frothing squalls --
The sages writes scintillating verse
To capture the threads of invention,
Proving with language tight and terse
That he really WAS paying attention.
A bubbling spume of pure delight,
Nourishing sylph and water sprite,
Thus distills to ethereal poetry:
It's a draught so fresh and light
Nymphs bottle it as Destiny.
*********************

How may the big bad wolf pursue
Right to his humble digs
The contents of his favorite stew --
Three clever little pigs.
How cheerfully he huffs and puffs
To blow their tiny dwelling down --
How cheerfully his pot he stuffs
With hamhock lean and brown.
 * re: 'How Doth the Little Crocodile',
                      with apologies to Lewis Caroll

The rain forests are dwindling fast --
We've learned no lessons from the past,
And this mistake could be our last.
Dying oceans, plankton, fish ...
Resonate a ddark death wish.
As Malthus pointed out before,
Old Earth won't hold ten billion more --
We're surfeited with starving poor.
And faster than the eye could blink:
Ten thousand species grown extinct.
As civilization runs out of oil,
The cauldron has commenced to boil:
We rape the land and leach the soil.
We'll lose the oxygen we breathe,
While atmospheric poisons seethe...
The murder of fair Mother Earth
Just illustrates our lack of worth --
We punish her...who gave us birth.

Where did we come from?
Where are we going?
Why are we here?
Ideas,
Thoughts,
Wishes,
A maelstrom of conflicting emotions --
Heart, 
Soul,
Mind,
A melding of everything you are --
Dreams,
Hopes,
Aspirations,
A formulation of all you yearn to be --
Happiness,
Serenity,
Sorrow,
A face presented to the world --
All this,
And yet we
Never know ourselves --
How then can we know God?
The eye of a hurricane,
The fall of a sparrow,
The endless sweep
Of interstellar space,
Atoms and nebulas,
Waterfalls and rainbows --
Is God there?
Does he live in your mind?
The answer is, I guess:
Of course, he does.
***************

THE FIRST KISS

An ecstasy so pure and clear
Evokes a wonder, strong and bold--
A passion wrought in molten gold--
Emotions flare, to burn and sear.
Eternities will coalesce,
As heartbeats escalate--
While shyly they initiate
The wonder of that first caress,
Poignantly, lips form a kiss--
Minds and feelings mold in bliss.
Tentatively,  they explore
The realm adjacent to love's door.
It seems such fiery incandescence
Comes oftenest in adolescence.
Also originally published in Tucumcari Literary Review, Jan/Feb, 1993.

The history of planet Earth
Involves changes in its climate --
Though men try to change the weather,
They don't do more than mime it.
The Dutch hold back the ocean
With a string of mighty dikes,
And reclaimed deserts bloom
With condos and turnpikes;
But the real story of Earth
Is dictated by its seas --
If the climate's growing colder,
More water will commence to freeze --
If the climate's warming up,
That ice will quickly melt
And inundate Earth's coastline,
Submerging lands where millions dwelt.
Vast portions of Antarctica
Are embedded in floes of ice ...
But its glaciers are receding --
How much more will suffice
To drown the worlds' seaports
And flood low-lying lands.
Preparations must soon commence:
We'll need every pair of hands.
The Netherlands and Venice
Might sink beneath the waves ...
Many cities and island nations
Will transform to liquid graves.
"Ignorance of history must
Doom mankind to repeat it ..."
Let's plan for the cataclysm coming
So we'll be prepared to meet it.

The Journey

Be ready for life's every turn and twist --
Determine every possible aspect...
The secret is to live, not just exist.
Observe the things you can and can't resist.
Act only if you know that act's effect...
Be ready for life's every turn and twist.
Plan your time...and even make a list
Evaluate all choices you detect...
The secret is to live, not just exist.
You must decide of what your needs consist,
And mostly live the life that you select.
Be ready for life's every turn and twist.
Success will surely come, if you persist --
Set goals--each dead end you must reject.
The secret is to live, not just exist.
So...when it comes, give luck a strong assist.
Be honest, friendly, candid and direct.
Be ready for life's every turn and twist --
The secret is to live, not just exist.