121. The Lord’s Prayer Today
Our Father, who art in heaven above
And earth below
In sun and snow
In joy and grief
In hope and disbelief.
Hallowed be thy name
Throughout the universe
In far galactic swirls
In village boys and girls
Black, white or grey
Straight, unsure or gay
Reflecting your creation
Beyond imagination.
Thy kingdom come
May thy peace reign
In hearts and nature
Now and later.
Thy will be done
Thy world preserved
For future children.
Every species cherished
For its own sake.
No candle quenched
Through greed or ignorance.
You give us today our daily bread
Let us be grateful
And share it willingly
Within the family
And with strangers equally.
You forgive us our sins
Being human is to err
To repent divine.
Help us to forgive to forget
Refresh and renew
And copy you.
Chapter 6
124. In the last hour
In the last hour
It doesn’t really matter
Thinner or fatter
For the undertaker.
He doesn’t care.
Into the last day
No longer worried by pay
Or money or tax
Time is the only fact.
Money can’t buy time.
With only a month to go
Have got to choose, say no
To good intentions
And bad relations.
Choosing means saying ‘no’
I’m in the final year
But I’ve no idea
That it’s actually here
The end is near.
But it’s always been.
125. Buildings
Buildings are like bodies
They need some loving care
Buildings breathe or die
They yearn for paint and company.
Some are tired and sad
Some are peaceful
Some are mad
All give shelter in our sleep.
Buildings thrive with air and light
Buildings bravely fight the fight
To arrest the jungle
Day and night.
Treat it well and it will care
For you and your beloved family.
126. We only borrow
We only borrow
We can never own
The clothes we wear
The skin we’re born in.
The house we live in
We’re just minding
We’re just guarding
For next of kin
We never own
We only borrow
The time and seconds
Since life begins.
Until it ends
And we give back then
Swap everything
For a plain coffin.
But the happy truth
Is that enjoying
Is free to all
Without owning.
The smell of coffee
The roar of ocean
The smile of stranger
Costs nothing.
We can borrow this
We can borrow that
We can admire all beauty
Without owning it.
No need to own
To conquer and possess
What often comes
Freely anyway.
We can admire beauty
Enjoy the view it’s
Cheaper to borrow
Than pretend to own.
There’s no point in building
Barns for next year’s harvest
When we’re missing
The here and now.
Forget the owning
Relax the shoulders
Embrace the journey
Absorb life simply.
As we step out of
Locked cars and houses
To greet the strangers
Who have been our neighbors.
The great eternal
Always close by
Never distant
Reached by a sigh
As we pass finally
From this life lived simply,
Have we already
Started life eternally?
127. It’s Original Win — Not Sin
Dear people of God, I'm very sorry
That a typo of mine has caused you to worry
The 's' and the 'w' are sadly stored
Closely together on the Qwerty keyboard.
I'll blame it on Genesis,
The book, not the band
The next bible I write
Will be slowly, by hand.
The chapter on Adam
Was written by Eve
In a moment of anger
But never by me.
I thought you were clever
You'd soon spot my error.
To me it's abundantly clear
Unlike a dark Guinness
More like a Weiss beer
All I created
Is good and is true
Including all people
And certainly you.
Just ask yourself, silly head
Your intentions as you get out of bed
Is it to kill and maim?
Or head to work and take the train?
The world I made is clearly good
I just presumed it would be understood.
All this talk of sin and death
It's just bad logic and worse math
Open your eyes and smell the tea.
What a typo, silly me!!
128. Take the shorter path
Take the shorter path my dear
Enjoy the shorter stride
Tarry here a while my love
Await the evening tide.
Feel the earth beneath your heels
Beneath a summer sky
Embrace the moment drink the juice
Our date to leave draws nigh.
Hand in hand for now
Soon to be departing
Once we cross that stream
We enter heaven’s garden.
129. War is coming
War is coming
I’ve got that feeling
Light a candle?
Write a note?
Join a party?
Cast a vote?
So I’ve decided
In what’s left
Months or years
Till I’m bereft
I’m going to live
And drink a little
And live a lot
And give this life
All I’ve got.
Nineteen thirteen seemed so quiet
And thirty-eight felt edgy
Twenty eighteen seems so innocent
Unless you live in a tent in Syria.
Wall Street parties like there’s no tomorrow
And in a sense they’re right.
If the end is near
There’s all and nothing to fear.
Better go bust for a million
Than go hungry for a dime
Explode with the light of a comet
Exit with the money all spent.
Don’t expire with a whimper,
Go, if you must, with a bang
Better to drown in an ocean
Than succumb in a goldfish bowl.
130. Ocular bells and verses
Poetry, once the preserve of ear
Now is parsed and appears
Neat on a page
So far from stage
Of Homer or of Shakespeare.
Lines and stanzas
Deaf to ear
But crafted and craftily
It’s clear to art lovers
Far and near.
Let’s close our eyes
And listen to the crest that rises
Falling on ear
Reaching the heart
Touching the spirit.
Let’s listen, not read
With silence for commas
With space for the mind
To wander untethered
Untrammeled by lines.
The rhythm of verse
Should keep a beat with the heart
The sweetness of sound
Keep the senses apart.
Poems once spoken and decried
To families round the fireside
Not silently mouthed in towers
And academic bowers.
Bring back the sounds
And shield the pages
Guarding symbols;
For the ages
Listen, the spirit sings
It trings and rings Celestial bells, whispering things
That only spoken words can bring.
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