SOME LIVE

Some live
for the piano
a violin partita
or a Bach aria's solo,

Others help
the rank and file
sisters and brothers
who feed saints
of those on trial
with a good deed
of support
like the misunderstood
who have a need
in court,

Some rage
at the stock exchange
locked in for mammon
for others it is games
of chess or sport
playing monopoly
or backgammon,

Some page the press
or express with words
still life's for another
will paint sky birds.

BE COOL

Today be cool
is the answer
to the questions
of every school

Whether it be science
jazz or math
on records
with lines of graph

Yet a hot ballet dancer
from every step will ache
after she has been taught-
no laughter at her Swan Lake.

CONSCIENCE

Conscience
has a mate
in silence
for she is innate

Those suffering
for a human right
need us as justice maps
our day and night

wherever we may be
for those who are quiet
shout as Byron for freedom,
as the nations rose to riot.

OPINION

Opinion rises
like an onion
or potato
in a famine

When scarcity
in the bin
we strive
for felicity

with voices
sometimes feckless
with faceless words
featureless choices

by the curious
in a comic page
or at editorial ease
with facile sincerity,

Yet the ageless free
even have hope
when Cain is at table
with Abel slain at rope

Not to the fainthearted
as an impoverished promise
a saint taught impartiality
like doubting Thomas.

THOMAS HARDY

The human condition
was his concern
souls on earth's perdition
heaven for the unlearned

Pessimism took a turn
in each character's life
without any belief
for man or wife

Yet love holds out
its only reaction to hope
Hardy in brilliant novels
wants our satisfaction to cope.

RETREAT

Reading the desert mystics
about their hiding retreat
one hurts as they cried out
by the washing of their feet

As a choice daughter bride
reaches for wells of peace
pure prayers water a cloister
inside shells oysters increase.

AT CAPE COD

Beyond the back shade
scenting our sea's sand
in this certain place
dunes grace this land

Invented trees so great
to tell in a few lines
a poem in my hand
creates a lilac shine.