The Passing

Solemnity is hanging here,
As well as family members dear;
Candles dimly lit ablaze,
Give the room a smoky haze;
Everyone stares, their thoughts unknown,
At one figure, all alone;
He lies there in his sunken bed,
A pillow supporting his head;
His limbs are weak, his bones are brittle,
His resilience is very little;
The red that in his cheeks did flood,
Is now white with no trace of blood;
His brow, now wrinkled in a frown,
His lips, where spoken word did drown;
The silence, now thick as a cloud,
Becomes so deafeningly loud;
At last a lawyer does come in,
And everyone lights up in sin;
Poor sir, quite soon he will be gone,
But then a new richness will dawn;
And eyes flare up with fiery greed,
The cash? The car? Perhaps the deed?
Who will he pass his fortune to?
With neither son nor mistress too;
Perhaps I, who hardly knew him,
Or Aunt Ethel? Uncle Jim?
The lawyer reads his last request,
A breath is held in everyone’s chest;
“I hereby leave my fortune to…”
There goes Aunt Ethel, “Yes, thank you!”
“But wait, I have not said your name,”
The lawyer says, and Aunt grows tame;
“I leave it to my faithful cat,
So she can grow lovely and fat;
And keep her soft, silky smooth fur,
My everything I leave to her.”
The old man gave a tiny grin,
The sickness finally did him in;
He whispered to us all, “Surprise.”
And that was Grandfather’s demise.

My lash out at the modern world

Run!
Take shelter for it comes
To hammer down on limbs,
Made immobile
For their breaths of fire
Extinguished in a flick.
And here it comes to undo
What built towers of peroxide.
In streams running down
Amongst ridges of powdered visage.
Strike it does,
Making bridge and bone of metal
Age quicker in a day
Than a year.
Wash
Away, away,
Floating, the junk
of needless wants.
But happy, happy shower
Sprinkle with life
Each drop.
To grow, to start;
And a million green hands
Take graciously from the sky.
Wash, with gentle strength
The backs and brows
Of those who toil
Whose hairs adorned with beads
Of sweat,
And faces lined
With living.
And the world is anew.
And the world is now fresh.
Cleansed from material desire.