(“Enemy of the State Merit Badge”, 2011, original oil)
- Ship of fools, on a cruel sea
Ship of fools, sail away from me
It was later than I thought
When I first believed you
Now I cannot share your laughter
Ship of fools -
Tide so high, the fleet just sails on in
Like at the beach of Normandy
Only now it’s no liberating force
But a farce of laughing mothers
Coming to claim what we now value
So cheaply as to have no worth at all
Wave after wave they come
Laughing all the way
No care for customs, no care for culture
Just here for the hand out
A little anchor in the storm
The storm that rages the whole world round
Let me into your homes
Let me into your schools
Let me into your halls of power
Because they are all mine now too
The whole world together, united
In this ship of fools.
(7/1/26)
466.
Prayer For Citizenship
Oh Father God, we pray for citizenship
That its citizens establish good relationship
Oh Lord Jesus, we ask to strengthen our nationalism
That we unify our nation & avoid schism
Oh Holy Spirit, we beg for the welfare of our country
That it can always have justice, peace & prosperity
This we implore to our Lord God. Amen.
-12/22/2015
(Dumarao)
*Gideons Prayer Poems For Christian Values
I can’t disarm this horde of army
Won’t try arresting the police
Can’t judge the judges by a jury
Can’t get a cold on foreign breeze
Thus, I was meant to sail on fool’s ship
That’s how they probably see it
Blamed just for my citizenship
I am the fact they won’t admit
“Stay where you are”- they say to me
I’m smiling back - “stay as you are”
That’s not a tragic disagreement
But more a comedy so far
So cloud my weather, make it sunless
It’s still not dark enough for me
I'm playing cards to hide from sadness
While sipping ever-tepid tea
Too many things went out of use
The old world dies, seems that we get
The most efficient little truth
That can improve the worst to bad.
Come out of the darkness, stand in the light.
Speak from your heart and give us insight.
Don’t treat us like animals lured by honey.
Saying you care and you’ll give us your money.
Offer instead, a small thread of hope,
A plan to slow, illegal immigration, guns, dope.
Shore up our borders, build a great wall,
Help the murder and theft totals to fall.
Give us a chance, a dream we can earn.
The legal citizenship for which our hearts do yearn.
Make America great, let us be a part.
Workers can stay, would be a good start.
Think of others, give up your greed.
We’re just asking for the things that we need.
Membership is an elite process
Grace saves us, and not
By what we did for the Lord
We have citizenship within the Kingdom of God and
As Citizens of this great kingdom, we declare our characteristics
Citizenship is a legal position
We are regal people, so
We live out our status in this dispensation
We are Citizens and not members of His kingdom.
Mark Frank
Copyright 2025
The Path To Citizenship
Miracle Man
October 4, 2023
With our country’s future
he plays a political game,
Conforming to this pattern
exhibits no pride or shame.
We’re quickly becoming home
for any would be moocher,
Who views land of the free
as being now not in the future.
Most all readily avow
to being poor asylum seekers.
I suppose my preferred name
for them would be sneakers.
They illegally cross our borders
without being vetted.
Their take over is coming
because of those who abetted.
I SAY I AM A GOOD CITIZEN
WHEN ASKED BY TEACHERS AND PEERS AT SCHOOL
YES, I PARTICIPATE IN CLEAN-UP DRIVES
I PICK UP LITTER ON THE SIDEWALK ON PUBLIC PLACES
I GET THE STARES AND SOME AWE AND I FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF
BUT WHEN I THINK NO ONE IS LOOKING I THROW MY CANDY WRAPPERS ASIDE INSTEAD OF LOOKING FOR NEARBY TRASH CANS
“I HELP CLEAN IT UP ANYWAYS IT’S JUST A CANDY WRAPPER NO NEED TO FRET ABOUT IT.”
. for public domain
Hidden on bookshelves
in Great British Halls,
where one thing's another,
or nothing at all,
Truth is well written,
but not spoken well
widely, for few
rarely read well.
It takes time to read well,
but who has the time,
between work, sleep, and prayer,
sips of Scotch or some wine?
No mind, no mind. Truth will out.
Barristers and Eggheads
are always about,
and we, adoze in our bed,
to our comfort we are wed
more than to our city and state.
And if it all should crumble?
Don't worry, it can wait.
Green Card Soldier ~ Pantoum
seasonal migrant worker
unwed mother in Arizona
temporary work visa expires
sent back across the border
unwed mother in Arizona
allows her teen-aged son
sent back across the border
the chance to have a better life
allows her teen-aged son
now after his first eighteen years
the chance to have a better life
by staying and joining the US Army
now after his first eighteen years
he fights to become an American
by staying and joining the US Army
by becoming an American fighting man
he fights to become an American
offers his life for this country
by becoming an American fighting man
becomes an American citizen, posthumously
OK, Students -- Please repeat after me:
Republicans have no hearts,
(Republicans have no hearts),
While Democrats have abandoned their souls.
(While Democrats have abandoned their souls).
Yet both parties are financial geniuses,
(Yet both parties are financial geniuses).
~ When it comes to digging vast deficit holes ...
being born in a certain place
having a relation with a certain race
a melting pot of every creed and color
yet one race with each other
being born in the United States
each of us having a different face
yet being here by Gods grace
a freedom found like in no other place
from persecutions some escaped
to a better dream a new land scape
a struggle to get here where hope would strive
certain reward if you just stayed alive
to give themselves rights they dared
unalienable rights the fathers declaired
we fight for those freedoms everyday
even though we fight from a grave
no one asked the ones who died slaves
if they had the right to make them slaves?
even thought the rights they gave themselves
didn't apply to slaves though they bred children
and taught them Gods way they were still slaves
and now that freedom has found equality
does that standard still apply?
where they're rights still out weigh
those who were denied
(to be continued)
Thoughts on Citizenship day.
Frank Halliwell
Can you hear the trumpet fanfare?
And the crowd shouting "hooray"?
Cause they're making me a citizen
Down at the hall today!
Who will make the presentation?
Will it really be the ones
Who have the greatest claim on it,
Or those who had the guns...
To wrest it from those peaceful blacks
Who owned this ancient land
To make a place for criminals,
...The thief and the brigand!
But I'll front up for the paper
And attend the little bash
While the pollies in Canberra
Dip their fingers in the cash...
...And fly around the country
Visiting ficticious joints
While the Australian taxpayer
Funds their "frequent flyer" points!
"Matilda" always stirs my soul
A song without compare!
But I have reservations on
"Advance Australia where?"
But I love this land of blue skies
And I have for decades past,
And when the dealer calls my hand
It's here I'll breathe my last...
Where sparkling diamonds fill the night
And nothing dulls the gloss,
Of paradise in southern seas
Beneath the southern cross!
****
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