This side of paradise

If you already enjoy a slice
Of earth’s abundant spice
You’re one among the wise
On earth’s side of paradise

Our paradise on earth is nice
Let us stop telling fabled lies
No one ever lives here twice
Let all a paradise here devise

Drums, torment me not

You beat your drums with fanfare
Their stirring beating quite unfair
Unfair to those who cannot dance
We're condemned to look askance

I hear the beat of war drums of old
I’m heart-broken and uncontrolled
But I will dance to the beats for me
If drums will my shackled feet free

To threaten or to reason

Let go of the voice of threats

Which only weak minds baits

Make your vow good this once

That threats you will renounce

Our training in civilized reason

Safeguards from walls of prison

You’re given a luxury of choice

Denounce that threatening voice

Tree, do not cry for me

Be gone, oh despondent tree  
Uproot thy self and let me be
Away, eternally weeping willow
Those tears do soil my pillow

Turn and swing in the breeze
No more crying on your knees
Let it go, crying willow, please
And let the crying finally cease

Great-Grandpa's Spooky House

Startled by the rusted ticking clocks

All hidden in a creaky wooden box

Seven clocks, in unison, chimed six

Dead Grandpa’s full grave of tricks

The old grave in grandpa’s drawers

Gripping myth of ancient explorers

A treasure land of potent witchcraft

I feel like heir to stranded spacecraft

Beware of the hungry fox

The tired owl arrived at dusk

Broken wings soaked in musk

The hungry fox rose at dawn

I hate to say that owl is done

O yes, the owl has passed on

Let go of pain for owl is gone

That foxes kill no longer shocks

To stay alive you will kill the fox

The devil and his friends

Those who live and yearn
To steal what others earn
Don't you know it is a flaw
You are held in devil’s paw

When you steal again today
Take the devil along the way
You’ll be glad among his kind
For you and he are entwined

Unbelievable: Sonya loves Igor

Igor Vasilevich, a school friend of yore
An honorable gentleman from Moscow
He admired a girl in our class long ago
But he feared that snob like an old foe

I saw the girl, the fine Sonya Ivanovna
At a class reunion with a driven opener
Same girl Igor desired with infatuation  
Is now his wife with a mutual affection

Singing the praises of my roots

All songs of mine always praise
Tropical heat where I was raised
Big trees sheltered from the heat
Variety of grubs and fruits to eat

Whenever I have a day of crazies
I balm my pain with tropic praises
My tongue shall praise until I die
A solid bond only death will untie

Brother, lend me some money

Brother, I urge you for my sake
Be my hero and give me a break
My goodwill is surely credit true
When I grow up I will be like you

I have not come with misty eyes
But I’ve finally eaten a humble pie
I wish to cash this goodwill check
Enough to avert imminent wreck

A cuckoo and his nest

Aware her man was cuckoo
She fibbed he caught the flu
Cuckoo or flu is all the same
All sickness still by any name

But then he truly caught the flu
An overdose of sickness too
That cuckoo has a nest true
Faux nest from which he flew

A mouse of a spouse

Mad woman chased a rodent
For a reason not quite cogent
She thought it was her spouse
But poor rodent was a mouse

This went on all for ninety days
The rodent scared by the chase
Went doctor finally to her house
She said the doctor was a mouse

The Awakening

This fine morning she has risen
Radiant spirit has finally woken
She was engaged but not taken
Bruised a lot and almost broken

Her words frozen and unspoken
Drinks stirred and never shaken
See her melodious songs awaken
Clap for her the yokes are broken

Impossible Tweets

I thought it was impossible feat
For one to try to outrun his feet
Whose feet would he use to run
On whose feet lean if he’s done

A woman I know did try it once
To outrun her feet like a dunce
Ran upside down on her tweets
And tripped and fell on her feet

A shaman and a voodoo priest

A shaman’s story had a twist
So did a stupid voodoo priest  
The story was that I’ll be rich
But then I went to see a witch

That silly witch did for a tryst
Turn me into a voodoo priest
I am not rich and that is clear
I made the shaman disappear

Greed and Trust

At the intersection of trust and greed
Where you met a good friend indeed
You ran from trust with reckless speed
Got hooked on greed like potent weed

On greedy roads roam disciples of lies
They infest the weak like fleas and flies
Meet all good friends on lane that’s just
It's smooth and calm on the road of trust

Fantasy or Reality

If you dream of a magic coat
And on air you seem to float
Whatever else the reason why
Never wake and attempt to fly

But if you dream of sunny days
And of basking in warming rays
You dream in spheres of reality
Though not as sweet as fantasy

She cried for his pain

Today one stranger on the train
Coughing loudly and full of pain
Every time we heard him sneeze
Passengers would quickly freeze

He rose and bent like he was old
To cough then to spread his cold
His woman friend was mortified
She said his name then she cried

Good people should live forever

The folks who get the call
And choose to serve us all
I wish someone knew why
That like everyone they die

If we but knew the whys
A good man yet still dies
No longer would this life
Be full of doubts and strife

Less sugar please

When you are really sugary bad
For days it makes me feel so sad
I don’t like that your sugary card
Reduce the sugar and I’ll be glad

They say that sugar is bad for me
So please don’t kill me ma Cherie
Is it my heart you wish to enchant?
Your sweetest honey is all I want

The Unruly Teacher

Because he used the word “ruly”
He went to jail for being unruly
No word like “ruly” existed truly
But jailing him was quite unduly

To make his jail time even richer
He spent it as an English teacher
He started teaching words filthy
He got more time as filthy guilty

The pauper and the sadist

The Pauper of Poor Street
Was noble but low in spirit
The wicked and evil sadist
Gave Pauper a broken wrist

Sadist stuck in a broken car
Called on Pauper from afar
Pauper laughed loudly sweet
Now a Pauper of Sadist Street

A star was born today

A star was born on April eighth
To a couple full of love and faith
That star is here today with joy
To help this starry poem deploy

We celebrate that shooting star
Food, Champaign, and fine cigar
A birthday filled with life stories
Long live the beautiful memories

The gift of parenthood

That father raised you well is true
Mother’s part quite splendid too
Made the rules that molded you
To shape in you themselves anew

In happy times and times of blues
In you they left life’s perfect rules
So raise your kids with moral clues
For that is how you pay your dues

The stranger we loved to hate

Once a scary haggard stranger
Fuming with fiery, sordid anger
All words dripping in fluent glib
Upset the sanctuary of our crib

She seized our air and comfort
Exchanged for pain thenceforth
But on the third day of that hell   
We were sad as she bid farewell

Fear is Dead

Rise today with strength of steel
Vow to no longer spin the wheel
Announce to us that fear is dead
Fear is dead and a new you made

As strength of steel you achieve
Lofty dreams you will conceive
In a grave of steel now bury fear
And dreams once far will be near

Never Neglect Your Mind

Neglected, lethargic, or forgotten 
A mind shrivels and smells rotten
Emitting toxic odors of stagnation
Then suffocates from degradation

Resurrect a dying mind with haste
Neglected, the mind de-oxygenates
Sharpen your mind by any means
A well-sharpened mind always wins
 

The Asian in every Caucasian

Lover girl desired only an Asian
Went to Caucasia with a ruffian
Met a Russian
Loved his action
Now she sees an Asian in every Caucasian

Today I say thanks to me

To the inner me with an attitude

I offer my unvarnished gratitude

Me and myself one and the same

Strong, yet to myself solidly tame

No one does care for me like me

Yet never did I say thanks to me

Today, to this inner friend in me

A hearty, unqualified, thank me

Beautiful April

April is here today with showers
Showers to inspire May flowers
Flowers of summer rekindle lives
And that will start as June arrives

Every glittery raindrop like a pearl
Life’s shiny necklace around April
A hawker of drought labors in vain
April has come with life-giving rain