18th January 2011

Have mercy, Lord, have mercy

Upon this dying cat

Whose life You're taking back early

And should in three days flat

For it was just a baby

Whose heart was just as pure

And I don't ask that maybe

You might provide a cure

For one whose end was near

But that it might not suffer

But angel voices hear

As each last breath gets tougher

And vision slowly fades

Of waiting men with spades,

As vision slowly fades

Of waiting men with spades.

15th January 2011

Value what you have,

What you've been blessed with,

And give thanks to God,

For it can all be taken away,

In the wink of an eye,

In whole or in part,

Just as it happens all the time,

To others,

Never to us,

Until it actually does,

When you least expect it.

It is a common misconception -

The belief in one's own indestructibility,

One's own immortality,

But the good thing about it is,

It gets the job done,

Whether it's climbing mountains,

Or going to the moon,

In the manner only extraordinary people are capable of,

And so on,

And so forth.

5th January 2011

How nice to fade into the sunset

And leave behind all earthly cares

And work-related headaches

Which, on second thoughts,

Wouldn't be such a good idea after all

If sunrise brought it all back, Jack.

How nice to melt into the wind

And shed the mantle of human toil and suffering

That's worn like a second skin

Since the day you were born,

In my case,

Fifty-three weather-beaten years ago, Jo.

22nd December 2010

Should ye knock upon my door

And find nothing of interest within

Let it dawn upon thee

Here and now

That a virtual door in a virtual house in a virtual neighborhood in a virtual land in a virtual world in a virtual universe

Hath not the soul nor the touch

Of a real door in a real house in a real neighborhood in a real land in a real world in a real universe

For the simple reason that,

Even were I not at home,

Nor, for that matter, my beloved mother,

My cats shalt thou find either a-greeting thee or scattering like the sparks of a firecracker explosion

And that alone, dear Visitor, is a wonderful thing.

9th December 2010

The ferry that transported souls

Way across the river

Was anchored in the harbor

Where anyone would shiver 

Who saw it through the mist;

It would be tough denying

Your name was on the list,

O Pussycat Afflicted,

Like one despised by God

And from His sight evicted

With one swing of the rod of damnation;

If on the boarding list

My own name isn't found

May the ferry that transported souls

Way across the river

Halfway run aground

Rather than my grieving heart

Be utterly torn apart.

4th December 2010

The dice were rolled

And your mother's number came up,

O Pussycat,

Which might explain her absence

These two days past.

But what's this?

Here she cometh,

Lively and looking well,

Suggesting that this bit of verse,

Begun some ten lines back,

Might have neither substance nor stamina

To hold its course

Or even one line more last, Jack.

30th October 2009

God wears a mask
Not recognizable any more;
Until six months ago
He was my God and benefactor,
Guardian angel and protector,
For fifty-one years of my life;
Now He wears war paint
And counts me among His enemies;
Even my cats are not spared
From His fearsome arrows,
Dropping like flies
Like victims of a holocaust
Or that of a private vendetta.