You've a funny gate my friend,
I don't mean to offend..
have you broken something recently?
it's of little concern, thank you
in a while, maybe you'll see
won't be needin' it anyway.
Can't make out what your saying,
or what you mean.., have you lost
your voice, can't you speak?
yes, though I daren't above a whisper
though I'd hoped one day to-
afraid they'll be comin' for me.
Sorry really, don't want to intrude,
couldn't help but notice your bleeding-
down your arm onto your shoe..
a little pained, common peered at the wound,
said he, don't pay it no mind
just the rent that's due.
to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen
The common man gets up in the morning
To work in. order to feed his family,
The common man struggles to make ends meet
Not letting his family go hungry,
The common man prays for his family daily
From any hurt harm or danger
That's what the common man does.
The common loves his wife and kids,
Holding things together everyday.
The common man works sunrise to sunset
Does what he can in every way.
The common man is peaceable to his fellow man
Not in war with his neighbor
Being the kind of man who loves----
Yeah, that's what the common man does.
The common man believes in God
And all His wondrous things He do,
Prays with his family daily
He tries to be true,
True to his family and his God
That's common man as you see
And that's what he does.
Now that you know what is a common man,
And what a common man does and do,
I guess you can see my point of view
Then clearly understand
About the common man.
In case you haven't seen one
Look around and take a good look----
And you'll surely fine and understood
The common man and his purpose
Yes that's what the common man does.
WAR OF THE COMMON MAN
I live in the Land of America
where no politician stays honest.
Everything they promise us becomes a lie
to keep our salaries uncertain and modest.
The government taxes more than we can afford.
Politicians claim there's no choice.
They're taking away all our freedoms.
The poor have no money or voice.
There'll be a Day of Rebellion.
Blood will run where asphalt has been,
and nary a politician left standing alive,
a victory for working women and men.
Janet Marie Bingham
Every Day,
My Father got up early
And sat there, in the dark, like a mushroom,
And thought, and thought, and thought…
And... grieved...
He would not be the hero that he'd hoped,
An ordinary fellow with flat feet...
What DID he think? enveloped in the pre-dawn hush?
Perhaps he thought up all the ways that he would live the day,
And do some thing for everybody else... why? Just to pay
The
Deal He Bought.
To do something he hated, to provide…
To do something he loved, just to provide…
Perhaps he grieved for sons
He feared would fail him,
Or grieved for lonely life lived long in misery,
Or grieved for death's shadow… long, and inching closer
But, No.
I think that was his Pure time,
When stars were still alive, and shed a light
That could not yet be lost in day's grand smear of Sun,
When the silent house made the homely sounds
That only he, at that hour, heard
When the dark enfolded him, and was his blanket,
Reassuring him, that he would have the strength to face
Another day, another week, another year,
Like every Ordinary Man Does,
With slow faith,
And quick fears.
He may not be famous or rich, no not he
Born into oppression, struggled to be free
Toiled in the fields, and factories too
With his back bent in hard labor, all day through.
Though but a footnote in his generation
Only one person, he helped build a nation
A woman at his side, they worked hand in hand
With faith in their God, they soon transformed the land.
Throughout the decades as great men would appear
Being good and bad, some brought hope, some brought fear
But the masses were the ones who’d run the show
Without them the world could not ebb and flow.
So, stop for a moment whenever you can…
and salute the power of the Common Man!
Common Man I Am
common man I am
divinely made within sin
I'm just so common
2/15/18
written by James Edward Lee Sr. 2018©
Haiku
from anthology “Actually Happening My True Testimony Reality”
REVISED
When I was young I ignored age
and never thought of passing time
or viewed the products of its rage
upon this changing face of mine.
At that age blessed through life to go,
to walk high peaks close to the sun,
and think the clock was moving slow
above where the dark valleys run.
Slower the step with shortened stride
descending to the lowlands lie,
a shadowed vale of mystery
wherein there flows eternity
Each one may think they know the path,
some take the preformed, preordained
to that truth when we breathe our last,
they bow the knee and mind the same.
But man evolved to have a brain
for independent thought and choice,
his birthright without binding chain,
compose his song and give it voice.
Home and office are limited, the point of my life.
More work than me and no more prize.
Money is also limited to me, no other arrangement's.
Salary does not get much bank and balance is empty.
The home is expensive now,the family is a also expecting me
How to tell them my pain,their hopes are in the future.
So,those who earn less,this is a cry of always.
When will he come when the day will be all under me.
That's all I have to do in happiness and sorrow.
Become all the people getting the minimum wages are alone.
The life of a common man
Left to his own ways
He shares his life through words
From the edges of a page
Inside his story produces
A long-winded tale expressed
But fine is its story intertwined
With life’s long road impressed
This man has no longer a page
That is empty of life’s journey
Every detail is written down
And it surely feels like plenty--
Of his words are poetic in nature
As his life expressed is pure
Ups and downs, all winding roads
Left for us to explore
The common man finishes his work
The masterpiece of biographies
No matter what he did implore
He said it with all intensities
Which he only could understand
As this was his life being said
Making it open and feeling true
Wanting for it to be read
Russell Sivey
He wrote poems for the common man,
That everyone could understand.
Gave us life in rhyming works of art.
Brought smiles that could lead to tears.
Made us face our hidden fears.
Touched our souls then led us to our heart.
He painted skies with blues and grays.
With images that danced in haze,
To songs that whispered through the winds of time.
He touched the source that guides us all.
Felt life's essence, heard the call.
Filled our glass so we could sip the wine.
Like any common man I grope
And struggle to survive and be
Bold with Dignity and Hope
For life is hard and not so easy.
But this I say has made me braver
My hardships laid the lessons learned
Gave Wisdom, insight, character
My joy complete, sincerely earned.
Copyright Cynthia Buhain Baello
March 12, 2012
A man as common as others
create a story to tell, it covers
with common action no one sees
fore he keeps to himself it be
no other way to change that
and to be him not as good....
I clearly detect all that swirls this blue green world,
and all that toss me about like a ship on the ocean.
I hold the wheel within my hand, my ships Captain.
Keeping fixed to a horizon, slow, and steady as I go,
fighting off the pounding swells, one knot at a time.
I fight the good fight for my home, my family, and prevision.
The proletarian creed is an honest mans banner, and the only flag I fly. This voyage presents no security; nor the power of prevailing winds, to stretch out my sails. I endeavor this toil, and will not scourge my soul desire. I carefully weigh it all; willing to jettison all, keeping only one seed to root.
Don't tell me I won't like it...it's not for you to decide.
Don't tell me how to raise my children...we're doin' just fine.
Don't tell me not to worry about the economy.... you're not livin' back with mom.
Don't tell me not to agonize over the Gulf spill...well, I'll stop when I see one of THEM start!
Don't tell me the "Republicans" and the "Democrats".... it's all a smokescreen anyway.
Don't tell me terrorists are up to no good...I have a sneaky feeling neither are YOU!!
Don't tell me to feed the children of the world.... let's start with our own!
Don't tell me to save the planet..... from the window of your European S.U.V.
Don't tell me I'm wrong.... who made you right?
Don't tell me you're not keeping me down....and kindly take your foot off my neck!!!!
Will you leave this life
Without a murmur or a whimper
Be cast down to the depths below
In a hallowed tomb of timber
You did not exit stage left
To the sound of thunderous applause
Or the scream of heavy bombardment
Or some tearing tiger claws
To all the men who slipped away, unnoticed
Here is ye're epitaph
We looked at the world with unblinking eyes
And all we could do was laugh
Related Poems