Knowkedge is King

Einstein said imagination was more important than knowledge

But dangling such intellectual bit of lofty smoke
Is like postulating that a baker’s fancy strokes
Overtake in importance the baker’s final thread
Like subordinating the bread to a desire for bread

It is true imagination travels the universe and time
But knowledge is here and now useful in its prime
Knowledge is the reward for wayward imagination
Imagination cannot trump knowledge or education

Sunshine is coming

Allow the recesses of your soul

Serenity and equanimity control

Such mental nourishment follow

The bright sunshine of tomorrow

Son-scared

He shed his lousy life of strife

The day he found and wed his wife

And now he doesn’t want a boy

He’s scared a boy will shed his joy

His heart is broken

These ups and downs of my heart
This heart that you’ve taken apart
When it stops beating stop the act
Accept these flowers, it will restart

I depart on a trip to the boulevard
Of broken dreams and one diehard
No dreamers or romantic scorecard
If I ever recover I’ll send a postcard

Clap for the romantic man

If a man gestures, offers, and pleads
If he goes down his figurative knees
If he issues poems worthy of degrees
Clap for him and his romantic deeds

Those sweet nothings

Offers of  sweetest of sweet nothings
Coated with fanciful sugary trappings
Tempt open hearts with good tidings
Life is full of such romantic cunnings

A French Couple Dance

When I was in France

In twilight of the night

I saw this couple dance

I backed away in fright

I tell you it wasn’t right

To see the couple prance

I took just a little glance

And ran away with fright

Rainfall on iron roof

The steady drumming on the iron roof

Music, resonating better than laughter  

Oh soothing, self-authenticating proof

Of rainfall as the medicinal comforter

Growing Penny

Just as I stepped out of the store

I found a tiny penny on the floor

I vowed its dignity I would restore

Today it is a grown dollar to adore

City madness

Quartered in high-rise office suites

Learned colleagues litigating suits

Such chaotic madness and pursuits
So mad you lose your valued roots

Money lenders have ruined my cousin

Cousin Moneynia likes money

She borrows but never repays

I said: Moneynia you are funny

You will never mend your ways

She said: how can I ever worry

My ways need no mending rays
Let the lenders mend their ways

Princess

Oh perfect princess of the style of days long gone

As you relax on your elevated and golden throne

Grant me this one request, infinitely laudable one

My request is modest and I know it is not wrong:

Would you get off the throne and sing me a song

Yes, princess, and I, your prince, will sing along

Come, let us sing as one ‘to each other we belong’

Lazy hands

You wait all day and wring your hands

Wishing daily for spiritual magic wands

We work and toil all day for sustenance

And for idle wringing hands’ maintenance

Has my critique offended you idle hands

Are you incensed that I now call you out

Rejoice and exit that union of lazy bands

Rise, for idle hands find an empty mouth

Rejoice

Shall we not rejoice now with the poet and the trumpeter

Why do you hesitate to celebrate our glorious sight

Are we not abundantly blessed with artistic insight

Do you not see that you are the poet, and I, the trumpeter

His head is her pillow

He vowed he’d be her hero

And worked for her to please

She gently massaged his ego

And worked for marital bliss

So when he became her hero

She made his head her pillow

The way you make her feel

Ah, she is alive in the presence of you

Her spirit is uplifted, hope ignited anew

Cool breeze and drops of morning dew

Ah, what a gem in the presence of you

Imagine

If you were the only person I ever knew

Would you still walk away from me so

Ignore my presence many times in a row

Imagine you were the only person I knew

If I were the only person you ever knew

I would walk with you daily toe to toe

I would seek your presence as I walk so

If I were the only person you ever knew

Rise, morning has broken

See, it is past the midnight hour

Daylight strengthens our power

Darkness is gone with our fear

The road to the future is clear

Yes, indeed, nature has spoken

Rise now, morning has broken

Moments of Inspiration

Inspiration sneaks in like a thief

Like a thief it is quick and brief

Arrest it just as you would a thief

 But spare it the moment of grief

Grandpa's shoes

Grandpa’s shoes were big for me

I prayed for months behind a tree

A big large tree where I was free
I prayed the shoes to shrink for me

My age then was three or four

I was praying and hurt my toe

Wise grandpa said he was sure

My hurt toe would surely grow

Now the shoes are just my size

Though out of style in my eyes

Now I walk in grandpa’s shoes

I wish grandpa would rise again

Faithful Friend

I shall have faith in you down or risen

Faith is belief with or without reason

In good times, in freedom or in prison

Faith shall not change like the seasons

That mystery that unites us

That unknown essence of human existence

Which you seek with religious persistence

Is the unknown that unites our co-existence

For I, too, seek it with passionate insistence

Peace

If peace has found a friend in you

Give her a home a friendship true

Without peace other friends will go

When you find peace they will show

What the broke toad said

I am oh so broke and that is why I croak
When I croak no one knows I'm broke
They say "he is croaking just like a toad"
I am so broke that one day I will explode

Still on those heels

A college-dropout went on heels
Up and down she climbed the hills
In heels and hills she found no thrills
And back to school she went for skills

Those high heels

How high do you get on those heels
Do they intoxicate like cheap thrills
Make you float like eagles on the hills
Are they to you medicine that heals
Or are they just for the way he feels

Life is Wealth

Let us pledge, you and me
That when in the morning, in perfect health
We can talk and hear and see
We shall rejoice that we have wealth

Wedding Eyes

She smiled at him as he marched in the band
Then she feigned that in her eyes were sand
He knew the trick and rushed to her eyes
Today their wedding band has tears in their eyes

Mother's Kitchen

Far from intellectual reasoning
Away from the teacher's teaching
The sweet aroma from the kitchen
Brought us home in the evenings

Attempted robbery

I closed my eyes when she promised a surprise

So long ago, at a college where she worn a prize

With my eyes shut tight she almost stole my heart

College was long ago but I learned to be smart
Now I keep my heart at home, oh yes I'm smart

Chuckle Bicycle

That ride is so fine, that automobile

I would buy one too if I had no bills

This my rickety bike, this my bicycle

Is oh so bad it makes people chuckle