poetry

A VILLAGE IN THE NORTH

As a reporter I had been invited to see

a strange desolate land

the leader was a small desperate little man

come see for yourself, we have no such contraband

what much impressed me

was what I didn’t see

no dog or cat or birds could I see

but even so

where would the birds go

there was nowhere any tree

no green bushes or landscaping could there be

no green grass or roses or beauty for the eyes to see

hungry lean people slowly walking desperately

millions of poor plodding souls steeped in their misery

the small native driver of the faded Kimchi cab

was saying things might not be so bad

we will soon have a weapon so huge

respect for our nation will come like a deluge

we could make explosions and make a fire and clouds as big as the sky

where untold hundreds of thousands could die

we will soon have missiles to reach those not so near

we can make the nations of the world recoil in fear

there had been a day when soldiers from afar

had fought here in a bloody often forgotten war

the ones who came were quite a mix of ethnicity

peoples came of every foreign nationality

there were stories of truth never told

of brave ones who died in the cold

how could the writers of the pages of history

have missed the real story of the terrible agony

where thousands and thousands of the yellow race

poured through the passes at a suicidal and bloody pace

on they came through smoke and fire and this man made hell

until the numbers of the dead was too large to tell

did the writers of history neglect or forget to say

that the numbers of dead on a particular day

saw the battle come to a terrible and horrible end

when the piles of dead across the pass, were impossible to transcend

that the charges of the red soldiers could across the entire pass only stop

when the thousands still coming could not of the dead, climb over the top

maybe such a story is impossible to tell

perhaps history is so very sensitive, maybe its just as well

perhaps another story as well left alone and maybe not said

is of the soldiers who left their canteens unfilled, the rivers were too red

such a sight is hard for the mind to grasp and for the eyes

too hard for the imagination and numbed senses to realize

but one story that should never have been untold

is the one about soldiers who never died in the cold

thousands…thousands …left without a home or country

deserted by the nation they fought for to keep its people free

the driver had made a wrong turn and these eyes could see

in the village where we weren’t supposed to be

a blonde haired blue eyed man by the well was looking at me

with tears in his eyes that spoke of hunger for liberty

before the guard could with his drawn weapon come near

he said there are many like me…… many thousands here

whom ever in history could have told and held such a lie

about where we went and how we had to die

we will not and can never come home

we’ve been deserted and left all alone

we too had girlfriends and wives and loved babies

we had dear ones that we will never be able to see

we all know the happening years ago was the day

that they stamped us missing …. called us …. MIA

and told our families the unforgivable and shameless lie

that we did not come home, it was our turn to die

WATCHING A TREE

As the fewer days of the month was soon to be

He would be there under the tree

Then he would pass the time away

There was scarcely anything he would say

He did not want to hear a lot of sound

Thoughts in his head would abound

He would express no hopes, nothing of a fear

I felt perhaps I knew what had brought him here

I understood that if I kept quite , I was okay

There being little he wanted to hear me say

The tree was White Oak

with a large spread of thick limbs and very old

It had known many hot days of Summer

and days that were cold

The yard was large and its size gave it a certain beauty

Enough space to allow for the welcome privacy

Even the birds stayed in the tree

Singing and showing no fear

a soft melody they would bring

Maybe hearing them sing

and being at peace was why I was here

Day after day here he just wanted to be

Alone…perhaps and only perhaps…. except for me ,

For long times at the tree he would stare

For the world he seemed unaware

It was just him and me

and the old huge Oak tree

He was as small and frail

and thin as could be

I had wondered how could a man be this way

I was told he was much bigger on a different day

He did not know my name

or really know me

As a small boy of six,

I was walking down the road by the tree

When, in the distance I could hear a man cry

That’s when I left the road

and quietly stopped by

He saw me and indicated it would be okay

Maybe some company would be good.

…for awhile today

By being quite e I was able to hear

Softly, ever so softly

I could lend an ear

Little by little the story

had become more clear

What a rocky and tortuous road

had brought him here

And I was able to understand

and realize

What had brought the fixed stare

to his eyes

Years and years

Of horror these eyes had seen

He would softly say

Once my friends had numbered

Among many men

The years of struggle

And subsisting on a diet so small

That nearly all with me

did not come back at all

Hunger is a mind numbing pain that strikes deep

it torments every waking hour of the day

and robs the deepest of sleep

and the agony stays…it won’t go away

our captors were merciless architects of terror

probing the limits a body and soul could bear

They got their glory from a flag

with a rising sun

They said smashing Pearl was glorious

and so much fun

You people are cowards

and full of fear

That’s why we have brought you here

You were not so bold

to meet a victory or die

Now we see you throw your hands up

and cry

Without glory

or any virtue could you save

We will bury your honor ,

and let the grass grow freely

around his grave

Death started its march on the first day ,

then all night, and throughout the next day

no sleep, nothing to drink nothing to eat

endlessly walking struggling in the heat

If a friend should fall

there was nothing

we could do

You could hear the screams

the bayonets would fall,

he was through

But then…

but then….

No more talk today

You see the check…

this is the day

The check… by now is on its way

The fifth day of the month

has come again

Time for me to stock the bin

For mama and me, I’ll buy enough to eat

Our monthly dues I will then meet

I’ll pay the landlord ,

I’ll stock the hoard

I just need enough for mama and me

and a little for electricity

Then no more of me for awhile will you see

For me then I’m totally free

Then I could be here or there

or anywhere

Where I go most persons wouldn’t dare

This freedom will fall

when someone makes the call

That brings a man in uniform

who works from the city hall

The jailer says

you’re really getting thin

I do terribly much hate

once more to run you in

Sometimes a busted lip

Or a loose tooth

is all I can show

But it is freedom

and

I am free you know

Then once again they will turn the door

and set me free

And I come back to be with my friend

And this old tree

In his old car

he would leave

I could see the tears fall

and hear his mama grieve

For weeks he was not

anywhere to be seen

Until time and fortune

would bring him to this tree again

I would come often

when he wasn’t there

I liked it here…….

I really did care

So many days

I would sit all alone

under the tree

on the bench of stone

Then one day

one would come by to say

What has happened

I just heard today

I hope this is something

that can be under stood

He’s now gone…..

…gone for good

You see God has extended for him

his loving arm

and no one can any longer

do him any harm

He is now free of all pain

and agony

where he has gone ,

there’s no more misery

I had known the day would come

he would always be gone

I knew he could die away from home

And sadly , leaving his mama all alone

And no one would care

For him in his casket to see

Except for this old gray headed mama

and me

I would miss him dearly …

and cherish the memory

Of time spent on the stone bench

under the old oak tree

AN OLD HOUSE

They came by in the evenings to the old house

in the country with barely any light

from dusk till throughout the night

For talk they came to fill a need

to others who understood

In this we did not always succeed

but try we did, the best we could

Some who came were young men,

sometimes they brought a lady friend

They sat quietly to listen to the music

and to watch the evening end

Then they quietly thought and softly spoke

well into the night

Often til the sun came up

With warming rays and broke the hills

A welcome vision to greet their sight

When morning had broken, it was like the first day

A day to praise God for all that he had done

He shared the early morning’s blissful rays

And gave us loving warmth and rays from the sun

As we can see and reflect on this new day

There was a yesterday,

and there will be a tomorrow somehow

but for this …. that’s not now

the times of yesterday are gone

and still you are not alone

you are still alive

that is cause for thanks and praise

for you his only son

from the dead he did raise

he tells you this so you can see

that he will keep you company

Some of the guests had seen the battles

and grisly scenes

and during the nights had heard the terrible screams

Some had heard the loud explosions

and felt the fright

There were those who had felt the tremendous heat

As the jellied gasoline had lit the night

Some had a piece of ribbon

or medal to remind them of a feat

earned in a hazy hellish scene

in a desolate and faraway place they had been

Some came to voice their frustration

over things they did not understand

Why are the people this way ?

Why do they say what they say

Why do they hate us so ?

What is happening to our poor beloved land

Some were the people

the peace lovers

they came too

Why, they would ask

why do you do the things you do

why can’t you dare to see

love of harmony and peace

is the only way to be

Fighting for peace

what a shame,

What a contradiction

of man’s philosophy

That does stare you in the face

Where sanity

and logic has lost its place

Don’t you know what a wonderful

world this would be

If we could be

Like they were in the garden of Eden

before the sins of the man and woman

neath the tree

Inhale what you’ve drawn

As we approach the new dawn

Don’t breathe, just hold it deep

See a dream we all can keep

Mankind should be able to see

If there were no God,

no country , no borders and no wars…

only love and harmony

a wondrous world

where there is only peace between all brothers..

sharing the world like you and me

But for this,

the power of the contradiction grows

and ignores a truth

that only one who loves God knows

God is love , God is love …

he sees us from above

to imagine a world without God

…being a world of love

Is like seeing a large blue ocean

or a deep running sea

That has no water and how could that be

The evening wears on,

the numbers grow small

The smoke grows thick,

someone breaks the law

The group participates,

in spite of the fear

They deeply know

Why they do so

the ritual is what brought them here

Not too many words

are spoken or said

But as the night wears on…

the eyes grow red

but these eyes…they can talk

and a story they can tell

watching and studying these eyes

and looking so very deep

Becomes like looking

far into a large dark and murky well

Each mind struggles, within itself to tell

or a secret to keep

Each face and set of eyes

across the light of the candle I see

And sometimes silence

is the best way to be

And I know only too well

they can also see my eyes and me

Through these eyes ,they can see

The deepest part of me

They are looking into the windows to my soul

They are studying me too so they can know

Do I have an idea to which I am true

Sometimes the silence tells more

than many words in a flow

One tells me that he pays his room ,

his rent , makes his bed

By making for the people

the next days bread

He says I work all night

for wages extremely low

I mix the yeast, I turn the batter,

I make the dough

He says for myself and

others the same as me

We know we dredge the bottom of society

Little do the people know the hidden secrets

That works and sets us all so free

I counter to no effect ,

This freedom is false it seems

When the effects of the chemicals are gone

You are once again, a frightened human being

Once again you are scared and all alone

He continued with his tale

My concerns were to no avail

To labor intensely with all our might

all hours of the evening and so for so long

For little more to barter than a song

But for what fits our passion

and from what we have we will gladly share

You bring some and so will I, and so will we

… that’s only fair

its the different chemicals

that we are able to find

Seeking peace by altering

and engineering the mind

In the mid of night,

for our hunger we take our break

It is in this hour for each

this of their secrets will we forsake

I am at the back, the first out the door

These people are like me,

sharing a common fate

they are all intensely poor

I go to the porch and wait

and watch and then I know

Who does what by which way he will go

Some jump to the right

And fade into the night

off the porch they will go,

I see and then I will know

The secrets they share

have little to do with dough

They go down a long line to sit off afar

They do things that in their mind

they will seek a calming peaceful star

It’s a wanton being, it’s like faith,

it is nothing they can really see

the things they do will alter the mind

and bring a short peace

like a vain philosophy

That other people will know

what they do

is not in what they say

It is the thick smoke and the hue

that gives them away

But this ritual

is perhaps not really all that bad

It ranks as well with some

that others have had

Some jump straight through the night

And are soon out of sight

they then go through the lot

To explore what treasures they’ve got

They go deep, and away … and at best

They find a way to give their nerves some rest

Huge gulps of the finest blends

of tasty bourbon and gin

Will calm their senses

until they have time to come again

Still others a more serious act will perform

With tightly woven rubber

around their arm

But for the love and grace of God

their numbers are small

Their act is harmful to all

and…

no it’s not good, not good at all

The one with the sad eyes tells me

a truth I can clearly see

That who goes with whom is not by name

It is neither age nor sex nor nationality

they favor more a common morality

and that what’s in their blood runs the same

Beyond the chemicals

that either break or break not the law

This one truth ,

indemonstrably rises above them all

And then late at night,

in the room so dark across the candles I see

Looking into the face

And deep into the eyes

that have become wetted

deep wells of agony

I see a thought so horrible,

it frightens and terrifies even me….

don’t tell me I see what I think I see

I feel that you think I know

but tell me it isn’t so

I’ve seen a thought so very dark and grim

That you have forsaken even him

don’t do this thing, please…

please….. don’t do this thing

God could never forgive such a sin

only one man has ever lived and lived again

he has told us this is so

he has given us a book so we would know

God???…what God?????…

don’t be a fool… can’t you see

He is not here now , not for you …

not for me

All the things you think you know

Are because someone told you so

Could Mohammed move a mountain????,

that’s what they would say

Where is he now ?? ….You can see………

he is not with us here today

And what about Budda…another philosophy freed

do you know now where he is at ????

will he help you in your hour of need

no ..no….for sure I could have told you that

And you, you fool…

you have sat for hours on end

Listening to one who lied to you

and called you friend

Like a blind man feeling an elephant

for what little you saw

You didn’t know whether he was a rope ,

a snake or a wall

And don’t tell me, for all you know

you’ve got nothing to say

Whatever truth you have now,

will change on a different day

You have nothing I want to hear

Don’t let your confusion

darken the chambers of my ear

God doesn’t love you and he doesn’t love me

Don’t give me another vain philosophy

No !!!! NO!!! listen to me

A mistake is for all of eternity

Please don’t do this thing I see in your eyes

Even Jesus sees you now…

talks to you….

and I know he cries

Talk to him, listen to what he has to say

He will tell you, I’m with you …..

go another way

Be brave and be strong…

you are not all alone

On a bitterly cold and blustery

Winter night

The sleet was falling with the snow

A chilling effect

as the howling wind did blow

The children came to the church

All excited to describe a sight

A man was seen hanging high from the timber

and the wood

Where once proudly

an old icehouse had stood

At the cemetery ,

there was no one there

The wind and sand

had made the tombs all bare

A few weeds here ,

a scraggy tumbleweed there

No groundskeeper, no one to care

The place is desolate ,

the dirt and sands have turned it brown

I stood at the edge of the deathly quite

and desolate town

I was standing all alone

Looking at the writing in the stone

Today is a sad day,

Words fail me now, nothing I can say

I only wished that before you had passed to eternity

That you had spoken once more to me

You could have said

Its come time for me to go

I only wanted you to know

I am doing what we all will do

This is from me to you

I’ve come here to die

brother goodbye

THE HITCHIKER

A dark limo slid through the streets of the city

when the driver a stranger saw

No one knew why he stopped…. not at all

Thoughts are a gift from God, the driver had felt the need

To share this ride….to help one ..to see a burden freed

The man climbed in…… by the front window and the front door

and quietly gave his greeting

It was a strange combination of people …

this group…this meeting

The stranger said he was going to Baltimore

He had been there before

He did not offer a explanation of who he was or what he was to do

Or any schedule of his time that he had to be true

Nor did he offer a reason why

He quietly looked out the window towards the sky

He was not dressed for any impressive part

….with blue jeans and a cotton jacket

Maybe he was just hungry

and did not have a place to go

However he was welcome here, and they told him so

There was a general, bedecked with four stars

across his shoulders and hat

His position was high one could be sure of that

Battlefield hash marks crowded his arm…

. colors and ribbons adorned his chest

Surely tens of hundreds or even hundreds of thousands

would move at his behest

Two other men sat in back, dignified

but moderately dressed

This stranger knew …

.somehow…as James Nobel had known

That certain exploits are to be shown

Their credentials are to be held high

These two men of Nobel , who were feeling

modestly but intellectually all alone

began discussing quietly to each other

what their research had shown

An atom, when split , shows up as a candle with this much light

for to be given one neutron to his core

he would gladly for this neutron give up two more

which in turn were to go to another two

The same for them, they would do

In this way the one had become two

had become four which became eight

All holding candles and giving this much light

The total of all of these candles

will soon fill the night

Like grains of wheat on a chess board

one grain goes on the first square

two grains were to go on the second square

four grains to the next

astronomically the numbers soared

of how much wheat would it take

to satisfy the entire board

to what would the total score

a large bag, a stuffed bushel

Or …a tonne or more……??

These amounts are answers

but the numbers are small

They do not approach the total,

not at all

The answer

even a scientist would surprise

Enough wheat to fill the skies

Of all the nations, of all of the world ,

in all of history could not store

all the nations have never produced

it would take more

To even cover the squares

of this one board……

Then the question became ,

if the lights and the atoms were from uranium

What number of candles

would be needed to make the sum

How many generations would it take

before the party was too big

and the order would forsake

Then a bigger question set in…..

The unknown was of the same kin

with their imaginations reeling it would send

In a fast and furious way…

An answer needed today

would the party…

the give and take …

of these atoms…

the continuous growth of their numbers ….

would the chain reaction and the heat be one

that could never ever end ????

The limo rode on in calm

and a silence so deep

mankind held a secret to keep

the exit for the stranger they went past

the quietness did not end there

it would last

He could have said something

but he kept his peace

He could find his way on another day

His mind was somewhere else

grappling with a question ,

it couldn’t release

Like dogs and cats and lions and sheep

God had made each in his own way

each their own seed would keep

they couldn’t trade seeds on any day

Dogs could trade with dogs. .

cats could trade with cats…

sheep could trade with sheep

the answer to God’s order then

is apparent and deep

uranium couldn’t trade a piece of itself

with water or wood or air

The balance of the world wouldn’t be fair

The atoms would keep trading

of themselves

and adding to their numbers …..

each bringing a new light

a new candle,

their numbers would grow

each their light would show

until the distance between them was too great

Then, and only then,

would the magnitude of their destruction and order dissipate…..

but there was a question back there somewhere miles before

at his intuition,

at the core of his mind that still tore

before they had first passed the exit to Baltimore

How many generations would it take

before itself the order would forsake

the space between the atoms would grow

and soon stop this heinous trade

forever and ever of such a deal

that God’s law had forbade

He had known the number then

amid the silence with the driver,

the general , the two from Nobel

This number he would tell

at critical mass, it is eight times ten or

ten times eight

before the destruction would abate

This idea he could send

yes, after that, the reaction would end

The scientists did not doubt a word,

they knew what they had heard to be so

They knew of God’s order

And what was proven to be true

They all knew that microscopic organic chunks of matter ,

did not toss to and fro

Until this order called life would ensue

That life began first ,

with God’s order

had already been given

to know

the first single celled amoeba already

being embedded with more

than man would ever know

This trading of the elements

would not go on and on

..it is as God’s math is clear

The interaction of uranium atoms

could not mean the destruction of all matter is near

And of hydrogen…would that also be so ?????

This time the stranger looked out the window

mentally he looked long and far

He had somehow hoped to glimpse a star

but being daytime there was too much light

He would have to wait for the night

That last question needed an answer

that somehow did not seem fair

Hydrogen was everywhere

It filled the seas

it filled the air

Mentally he took the flasks to the lab …..

he held the elements and the proof

of the tests up to the light

He heated the evidence

and had done his studies

He made the numbers and pondered

Then he scientifically wondered

In his mind

mentally he ran the order of the equations

he did the math

what kind of an answer would any man hath

He loved God dearly this he knew

He always searched for what was true

This last question pierced his mask

and struck a fear

His composure loosened ,

the four saw a tear

If the answer were to be yes,

It had to go beyond a guess

As Shirer had said

the sunset and the moon will turn crimson red

And as he had grimly noted

If the reaction would continue,

unloosed in a test of man’s will

There would be no victory marches

for the troops come home, and no song

no celebrated charges up some famous hill,

this new war of lethal terrorism

would not last long

and none would ever follow it,

no nation to claim victories won

only left would be

the charred remains of an uninhabited planet

circling the sun

They had made the great arch

and the highway circle and once more

And had come upon the exit

that said Baltimore

He said I will have to get off here

I will answer the question before I go

The truth is …..I don’t know………

The Mission

Colonel, I saw the move, the one you tried to hide

You had opened your flight jacket, and slipped something inside

Many people, with scientific and military minds, have combined to do this thing

Echos of mankind and what we do will throughout our history ring

This thing, this act will never be forgotten and never this day

Men of reason, men of responsibility said its the only way

The pages of history will drip bloodily with your name

And humanity , suffering humanity, will never be the same

I saw a flash, time stood still, then I heard a tremendous roar

Then a beautiful city, with churches, steeples and bridges was no more

And then fire boiled over, a giant cloud rose and filled the sky

Then the many thousands, mamas , brothers even little babies had to die

A scorched watch , burnt at the exact moment could tell

The precise instant mankind was intoduced to living hell

No words or stories or tearful sagas could ever completely tell

The agony of a people the day the bomb fell

I listened to reasons given , to cause events, and sights too terrible to see

Of those that day who grimly said , this is the way it has to be

I know what you were hiding the day the people died

For you and me and the other three , it was our dose of cyanide

THE NIGHTMARE OF THE

SCIENTIST

A little girl….a small weeping child. .. was standing there,,,,

not speaking, her story was too horrible to bear

Her skin was shriveled , burnt and torn…

Her eyes an agony had borne

Her body lay .in shambles, it hung like rags

tattered and torn ,

The child’s hair was singed and burnt ,

her entire body sags under the weight

All of her kin. all she had known had suffered a terrible fate

The child could see she was staring at me

In her frail hand, she held an eye

This living part of life had refused to die

The eye, this living thing , knew …. it knew me

This eye , this living thing, wouldn’t let me be

The eye could also see, it was looking at me

Then this eye left the hand and soared towards the skies

In flight , in the midst of night it returned,

Huge, bigger than life , to roust my sleep

It did , it did, this act, it touched me down deep

In the mid of night it hovered over my bed ,

Most frightening were the words it said

In a trembling woman’s voice ,

seeming like a thousand winds,

It implored of my soul, seeking amends

The child you saw is mine,

It was always mine

The child never was thine

Al that I would or couldst ever love

Every precious drop of her

was given to me from the Lord above

Why?? Why ? when you split the atom…you knew

You knew what would happen, what they would do

All of this…is because of you

I spoke not. nothing of what I could say…

Never never had I wanted any of this ,

Save us Lord from this on any day

On a distant day the warrior had come to my door

What did he want ?

A small favor he would implore ,

He merely needed some math

What formula you do hath

Split the atom . what a weapon we can make

You’ll do it for our sake

The warrior has raided our very labs,

He has taken our science

He has taken what we know

The warrior has lain the fate of the world below

The warrior took our precious ideas , he didn’t ask

Without asking, forced us to bend to his own task

He had shaped and then laid bare

scenes so frightful the imagination wouldn’t dare

to win his game , he didn’t care,

Let the world’s rivers run red

We can win this battle this war, so there….

We will beat them at their own game ,

If we don’t do this thing they would do it first, its all the same

There is a culprit , there is a beast , it is under the warriors name ,

When revenge and fear drove him insane,

The warrior , it is he

The one who deserves all of the agony horror and shame

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