Fair maiden with the locks of molten gold,
Whose gentle grace doth make the sun seem dim,
No earthly treasure that the heavens hold
Can match thy virtue, pure in every limb.
Thine eyes, like morning dew upon the rose,
Do awaken all my spirit with delight;
When darkness falls and all the world doth close,
Thy shining tresses guide me through the night.
Sweet lady, let my humble heart draw near,
To tender thee a vow that shall endure;
Through every changing season of the year,
My love for thee abides forever sure.
No fleeting time can fade thy radiant hair,
Nor dim the sweet perfection of thy face;
For God hath framed no creature half so fair,
Nor crowned a maiden with so bright a grace.
His lantern shining on a summer's day,
To pierce the darkness of the human soul,
His pace deliberate, seeking on his way,
To find a man of only virtue full.
An idle quest, a philosophic stunt?
For surely roses cannot bloom in caves;
That man of virtue would the Furies hunt,
An angel cannot swim a sea of knaves.
But let us cast that light in different light,
Not if a man can be what cannot be,
But if one holds a candle in the night,
And choose a raft to be on moody sea?
For full perfection shall not grace this Earth,
But in the little things, lies life its worth.
In a world increasingly reduced
To postures of virtue signaling
It’s easy to side with the vocal majority
Crying real tears, gnashing whitened teeth.
But despite the emotional appeal
Of whatever we’re confirmationally biased towards,
Real issues exist in real time
Needing to be judged on real pros and cons.
History after all doesn’t exactly repeat itself
As much as spiral around a central core
Of habitual patterns
And stubbornly persistent delusions.
The next time you feel
The tug of collective empathy pull
Don’t just look at the banner
Look at the hand that holds it too.
(9/4/25)
What was the price I paid for life?
None; it was given me.
The cost of spite and strife
Was great, but I in turn learned humility.
With age came wisdom and dignity,
The scepter of compassion,
The scales of honesty,
Where we need
Consider the frailty
Of those tender hearts
Fallen before me,
For there is always a price to pay
For living as what we say,
Be it by fault
Or be it by may.
“Man’s word is god in man”,
I once read an old King say.
Before I start this poem, I seek
To acknowledge that I sit on the land of the Wequaeesgeek
And that my laptop, at which I peer through thick glasses
drowns islands in the Pacific with greenhouse gases.
I know life has always given me the edge
Due to my Jewish Ashkenazi privilege.
And being male I'm in the patriarchy
At the top of the oppressive hierarchy.
I apologize for my pronoun being 'he'
At least it could have been 'they' or 'we'.
I apologize that all these apologies are fake
And for the real apologies that I didn't make.
Now back to my poem, it occurred at night
I can't let that idea fade, take flight
I didn't have a pen; I should have written it quick
I've lost the thread and now I feel sick.
VIRTUE, HOPE, AND TIME
Patience, a virtue:
Remain hopeful in God’s time;
Answers have their time:-
Did you not take time to pray?
God’s healing grace comes with time:-
(“Citadel of Light Merit Badge”, 2016, original pen and ink)
Have you noticed
How it’s become a thing
To expect others to be as stupid as you
And then when they aren’t
Label them with whatever moniker
Of hatred their unvirtue deserves,
Like “racist”, “fascist”, “whateveraphobe”?
The virtue of fools
Is that whatever they think and say and do
Must be virtuous
Because of course, they are virtuous
Simply by being,
Which is, of course, simply
Why they are fools.
The stupid, like the dead, have two things in common
Neither know they are,
And neither know what they are missing.
What is virtue you say?
Whatever it is that fulfills your purpose
The fulfillment of which
Separates the foolish from the wise.
(6/30/26)
Black and sticky
Karma filled up
Wears me down
Achy swelling
Universal truth
Virtue uncultivated
State changed
Rebirthed anew
Matters energy
Never ending
Reformed anew
With karmic debt
Repayment due
Suffering, (dis)ease
Attachments galore
Cosmc disconnect
A sudden downpour
Catches me unaware
Dam burst in the sky
Concrete overwhelm
A mirror to my soul
My character in form
Detached from pain
The memory more vivid
The scars remain
Mine and others
Time to heal, mind!
Growing in virtue
You fall
The world keeps moving
You rise
It asks you to wait
Somewhere between the stumble and stillness
You learn growth is not a race
It’s a rhythm
Each time you miss a step
You return to the beat
A little wiser
T'is sunny outside
I shiver and shake
So much at stake
I'm hit, broadside
In virtue, my gain
Karma to repay
A coin for pain
One level up, say?
Body infirm
Mind at peace
Spirit confirm
Upstream to seize
DEFINING THE DEAFENING
Unhappiness isn't 're going through,
It’s thou we pretend to be.
Series of bio-and socio-cultural stage
That, Alter hormonal and physical change.
Everyone arrives via same matriarchal womb-
Why is it's same, When they want to change?
Isn’t it strange?
Erect by nurture, nature and norm,
Which grows aloud with past form.
Not outside, but within-
Oh! Peace, reach me please.
Don’t vapor like a musky cloud,
Drain Invincible poison out.
March, Oh austere mindset,
To bloom in borrowed hues.
Perhaps, deafening doesn't lie outside-
We breed it inside (individual).
One life,one choice
No regrets, just rejoice.
The dreams and smiles
Follow endless miles...
The promise of love,the vow of togetherness,
The sacrifices and the forgiveness...
In this life and then after
To be together, should only matter.
The moments and memories that I treasure
Is there a way to measure?
A promise that is eternal and heavenly
A feeling that is wonderful and lively...
A mystery untold
A secret,wise and bold...
The secret,he who understand
Will know the pain one has,all the storms, withstand.
A feeling so deep,year after year
Will shout louder,without fear.
The silent cries,the invisible tears,
A secret so precious, in heart one bears.
The broken desire, the burning soul
Has the will,to reach the goal.
He who knows the vows and Virtue
Will know the feelings,real and true...
A promise buried in the heart and sealed
Will it ever be revealed?
Epilogue: The Voice of Rome
CHORUS:
The years roll on, and men ascend and fall,
As waves that break upon time’s stony shore.
Yet virtue, like the sun, doth never set,
Though clouds may veil her face from mortal eyes.
We saw the tyrant crowned in purple pride,
And saw him cast to exile’s bitter wind.
We heard the sage rebuke with tempered flame,
And watched his seed take root in youthful hearts.
Now one who sat beneath his olive shade
Doth wear the robe once stained by Varro’s hand.
Temptation knocks, as ever it hath done,
Yet wisdom speaks, and he doth not betray.
O Rome, thy soul is not in marble bound,
Nor in the clang of arms or Senate’s cry.
It lives in minds that hold the law as sacred,
And hearts that scorn the lure of fleeting gold.
Let every age remember Lucilius,
Who taught that power is but a trust bestowed,
And that the highest rank is servitude
To truth, to justice, and the common man.
So ends our tale, but not its living flame.
For though the actors vanish from the world,
Their deeds endure, inscribed in memory’s stone.
And Rome shall rise, if Romans still be wise.
Nurture the virtues of your eternal soul,
those attributes that are eternal.
Share your best, make it your goal,
let them manifest from the internal.
Let others see what will unfold,
as it extends from within to the external.
Share the creative energy, as you’ve been told,
open your mind like a ripe kernel.
Allow your thoughts to flow like a river,
share your gifts, be a giver.
Don’t hold back, it’s time to deliver,
use all the arrows in your quiver.
Nothing you’re given is meant to be held,
and never a time for talents to be shelved.
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