Intelligent or Smart?
When they’re wrong, it’s intelligent to know,
But it’s likely smart not to tell them so.
With this you may not totally agree --
Often I wish this was a rule for me.
Falstaff says that valor needs discretion;
He preferred very passive aggression.
If nobody noticed, that would be fine;
He still knew without his butt on the line.
Should you keep your opinions to yourself;
Just bundle them and set them on the shelf?
Who needs the benefit of your learning
When it’s their beliefs you’re overturning?
Well, you may say some things are worth the fight.
Sometimes someone must set what’s wrong to right.
Perhaps that someone sometimes should be me,
But when, I would bet. you would not agree.
St. George - Patron Saint of Dragons
Saint George, they say, was known to slay
A mighty dragon in his day.
But dragons scold, those whom I polled,
I should not believe all I’m told.
Holier than this saintly man
Were not so many a Christian.
Ready with Might for what was Right,
He believed in the Holy Fight.
While in Silene, George saw a scene
With a dragon, so fierce and mean.
There a princess was in distress,
Wearing her last and finest dress.
‘Twas her duty, said this beauty,
To be sacrificial booty.
Chosen by lot, as she was taught,
Any objections were for naught.
She tread the swamp with proper pomp
To save Kingdom from Dragon’s stomp.
Alone she faced, both calm and chaste,
With none to see her be disgraced.
George intervened, stepping between
The princess and the dragon green.
From mounted stance, he drove his lance,
Smote his foe a staggering glance.
While beast was felled, down George hurdled,
Asking Princess for her girdle.
While still so weak, wrapped ‘round his beak,
This female garment made him meek.
They marched to town, all gathered 'round,
And at her feet, Dragon laid down.
But people feared, something so weird,
As Dragon tame as he appeared.
They did demand to free their land
That Dragon be killed while at hand.
It is alleged, to Christ all pledged
As George held Dragon with sword edged.
Dragon did plea, What about me?
I would also a Christian be.
I would repent, from here be sent,
And live in peace whither I went.
Mercy, new found, folks did astound --
In George's heart this plea did resound.
It was the Way, not heartless slay,
But let Dragon go free that day.
Few can know how beast kept his vow
But he stayed faithful until now.
By George, they swore, truce evermore --
That's the last dragon-human war.
Optimistic About My Past
Does what you have seen, to some degree,
Lead to what you are going to see?
Maybe less of what and more of how
Are affected by your life up to now.
Survive your lows and enjoy your highs
And the next good thing is less surprise.
Forget the good and dwell on the bad
And what comes next may well make you sad.
It does not change what did happen then
Nor prevent nor make it come again.
But what you take from experience
In attitude makes a difference.
Enjoy National Poetry Month --
It's not all that bad.
IRS Tax Day
(tune: My Way, lyrics by Paul Anka,
sung by Frank Sinatra, et al)
And now, the time is here
And so we face the final deadline.
Accounts, we’ll make all clear,
We’ll state income on the right line
We’ve made some cash, that’s sure,
We invested here and there along the way
But now, time has arrived, IRS tax day.
Expenses, we’ve had a few,
Too few to itemize deductions;
We filled forms as best we do
And made sure to subtract exemptions.
We checked math at each step,
Each detailed line in the taxing fray
And now, the money’s due, IRS tax day.
Yes, it’s the time, I’m sure you know,
When we say bye and watch our cash go.
Something to do nothing about;
Checkbooks open and we shell out.
Through all, we hear the call, IRS tax day.
We earned, saved, and invested;
Some shares gaining, others losing.
And now, dues are requested
And there seems just no refusing
To think companies do too
And yet they say, not in a shy way,
No, we do not pay on IRS tax day.
For what is a man, what has he got?
The IRS will tax the lot.
But aren’t companies people too
And should pay their taxes as they’re due
When their math’s done, their income is gone
On IRS tax day.
IRS Tax Day!
El Rana
(tune: El Paso, by Marty Robbins)
Out in the Florida swamp called Big Muddy
I fell in love with an enchanting frog
Nighttime would find me waist deep in the water
Pepena would sing as she sat on a log
Sweet as music were the croaks of Pepena
Surely and slowly I was under her spell
My love was deep for this small amphibian
I was in love but in vain I could tell
One night a strange young bullfrog stopped by
Swollen up like a balloon
Belching and honking, he attracted the eye
Of pretty Pepena, the frog that I loved
So in anger I
Challenged his right for the love of my girl frog
Out flew his tongue to snatch a dragonfly
I answered with bug spray to poison his prey
The bullfrog croaked there in a blink of an eye
In a moment all went totally silent
Shocked by the pollutant I sprayed about
Swamp creatures stared at me with rage rising
I had one choice and that was to get out
Out of Big Muddy I splashed so quickly
Fast as my legs could churn
I reached the dry land, ahead of the mad band,
Jumped in my Jeep and the rubber did burn
Just as far as I
Could from the Florida swamp of Big Muddy
Out of all wetlands I used to study
Back in the city my life seemed so pointless
My herpetology degree was a waste
But I dreamt of my beautiful Pepena
My love drew me back to the place I disgraced
I packed my bag and loaded up my car
Driving all night on back roads
"Maybe the next day a predator will find me
But I must get back before my head explodes"
At dawn I got to
The dusty parking lot at the Big Muddy
I heard it singing its sweet song to me
My love was strong and it drew me swamp-ward
Into the muck my Pepena to see
Off to my right a Crocodylus acutus
All around me swarmed Aedes aegypti
Splashing and slashing, I couldn’t let them get me
I had to reach Pepena ‘though I might die
Something was dreadfully wrong for I feared
A. piscivorus swim here
‘Though I must walk through this murky water
I struggled on almost frozen with fear
‘Though my love for
Pepena was wrong, yet perversity raged
‘Though I was scared I can’t stifle the need
I saw her log where so often I watched her
Now for all their forgiveness I must plead
From under a leaf, Pepena sat besides me
Oh, a Rana okaloosae so near
I cradled her between my loving fingers
One little kiss and I changed my career.
Anhedonia
(tune: Pachalafaka, by Irving Taylor (1958)
Also sung by Soupy Sales and by the Muppets)
Anhedonia, anhedonia
It’s sweeping all over the nation
Anhedonia, anhedonia
A symptom of our long stagnation
Oh, I know the term
Will make you sadly squirm
For it reminds us of bygone days
There’s no pleasure in
This year’s endless tailspin
Leavin’ us in a bleary weary daze.
It’s not apathy
Nor quite misery
For those don’t express what we’re feeling
Even fiddlesticks or
I-can’t-get-no-kicks
Just don’t describe with what we’re dealing
But anhedonia, anhedonia
Makes us wonder if it cured by vaccines
So confused we’ll stay
Lest comes the day
We find out what anhedonia means
We find out what anhedonia means
The Lonely Rabbit Revisited
Oh woe, I am such a wretched rabbit --
Homebound is now a deep-seated habit.
The past year I ate undelivered treats,
And now I think my rump has ingrown pleats.
I used to have a job to do each year,
Now I have nothing as Easter grows near.
Once people would root for me; that was nice;
And now they want to shoot me; maybe twice.
No candy to make, no baskets to fill,
No prep, no eggs, and no children to thrill.
Another Spring gone down the CO-VID drain;
Check back next year if I’m canceled again.
