If
If I could turn back time, and change a single act
What pressure there would be, how would I react?
Would I stop Jesus' crucifixion, make Hitler a peacemaker?
Would I snuff out Bubonic Plague or kill the first cells of Cancer?
I could warn of Nuclear damage, the burn of radiation
I could help the natives in their cause, protect their sovereign nations
I could equalise the gift of wealth, and slavery abort
There's all manner of historical hysteria I could sort
But knowing that each tiny change will lead to new endeavours
Who's to say that all the consequences would be better?
So what if Hitler's noble peace prize makes a German hero
Only for Goebbels to emerge, as Fascism's De Niro
So what I'll do, I'll accept fate is fettered by said powers
And focus on tomorrow, which gets nearer by the hour
I'll own my regrets, I'll stop blaming and start living
I won't look back or change the past, I'll spend my time forgiving
I saw something subtle, in Mr. De Niro
I get the gist Trump, is just not his hero.
He’s not a good fella, and not his godfather;
And was sure the election, would be a big slaughter.
The Kennedy Center is known to the world
For honoring those in the arts –
From Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Astaire,
Whose talents top all of the charts.
Sinatra, Gene Kelly, L. Bernstein, Kazan
And Benny and Lena and Merce,
Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, Isaac Stern and George Burns,
The list both profound and diverse.
Belafonte and Ailey and Hepburn and Peck,
Gillespie and Sondheim, the Who;
Aretha and Dylan and Kander and Ebb,
Judith Jamison, Chuck Berry, too.
Baryshnikov, Quincy, Paul Simon and Cash,
Warren Beatty, James Taylor and Cher;
Tina Turner and Spielberg and Barbra and Tharp,
Yo Yo Ma, Dustin Hoffman – all there.
Al Pacino and Elton, De Niro and Streep,
Lily Tomlin, Santana and Sting;
LL Cool J and Reba and Joni, Mel Brooks,
Lionel, Dick Van Dyke, Carole King.
There are more I’ve not mentioned, but going ahead,
It is going to be quite a shock
When the Kennedy Center will honor, perhaps,
Village People or maybe Kid Rock.
Oh, I fear for this country in so many ways
And it feels we’ve been stabbed in our hearts
With the Kennedy Center now being run
By a man with no stake in the arts.
A classic tale written here of hero to zero
This man once acted with Robert de Niro
Acting roles a plenty always in demand
For him everything was lovely and grand
He splashed his cash on needless things
Like golden furniture and a butler that sings
Good times the saying goes never last
A hidden secret he had was part of his past
This secret couldn't be hidden for long
Confessed to it all and knew he was wrong
Now the zero times are for him in store
Longing no doubt to be a hero once more
Searching for a topic for my next limerick post
Should it be romantic, controversial or a toast
To some movie hero
Like Robert De Niro
Maybe an exposé 'bout a famous Mickey Mouse
Searching for a topic for my next limerick post
Should it be romantic, controversial or a toast
To some movie hero
Like Robert De Niro
Maybe an exposé 'bout a famous Mickey Mouse
Previous winners were Elie Wiesel,
Mother Teresa, Bob Hope,
Norman Rockwell, Rosa Parks,
Walt Disney and a Pope*…
B.B.King and Yo Yo Ma,
Dylan and Pearl Bailey,
Frank Sinatra, E.B. White,
Tom Hanks and Alvin Ailey…
Meryl Streep and I.M. Pei,
Spielberg and De Niro,
Harper Lee, Casals, Aretha –
Every one a hero.
Shockingly, another name’s
Been added to the list,
With whom most honorees, I think,
Would hate to coexist.
For if you read Rush Limbaugh’s quotes,
So shameful, cruel and mean,
You likely would agree his presence
In that group’s obscene.
It should have come as no surprise
For such a bad decision
Is what’s to be expected from
The master of division.
*Pope John XXIII
Searching for a topic for my next limerick post
Should it be romantic, controversial or a toast
To some movie hero
Like Robert De Niro
Maybe an exposé 'bout a famous Mickey Mouse
Onye ebezina na uju na oga adinma
Onye echezina maka na echi nabia
di ime oweghi onye ma ihe oga amu
obu nwoke ma nwa nwayi oma
Jiri ndidi sowe uwa na oga adinma
Efi na eweghi odudu obu chi ya na
Achuro ya ijiji na ahu ya oge nile.
Onye ejila ugobe nke ndu ya na aka ya
Make uwa bu nke na akpa onye ya yo ba chukwu
Maka na emesia na oga adinma kpebere obasi
Mezie onwe gi emezi maka echi na abia abia,
Ifeoma di niro onye elela anya na azu.
Le ka umununu si agba egwu na elugwe
Le ka ndi ekwe na akopu onu ha nile
Lekwa ka elugwe na eluwa si buru enyi ugbua
Okuko na Efi na Mbe na akparita uka na udo
Maka na ifeoma ka ha nile nacho na uwa.
Ebezina na chukwu no nso
Ficha anya gi na ifeoma na abia
Ifeoma di niro, nke di iro ka nma
Ogazi amaka ejiri ya ago mmuo
Oweghi ihe na adigidi na eluwa
Mezie owegi emezi na oga adinma.
I live my life vicariously,
Through everyone else’s eyes.
I live my life through every low
And every one of the highs.
It began when I was a child,
I’d live like batman every day.
Pretending I was by his side,
Cutting and weaving as I play.
My teens, I was the movie star,
Robert de Niro, an extreme survivor.
That’s when I was the skin head, Bickle,
The paranoid vigilante Taxi Driver.
By my 20’s my kids success at
Debates and sports became my badge.
I was there to remind folks how proud I was,
Cleaning and bandaging every scratch.
My 30’s I walked like the enigmatic Jack White,
Of Detroit garage rock stance.
This phase didn’t last long though,
Couldn’t play the guitar, or even dance.
Now my 40’s, I don’t need actors or musicians,
To show I’m a flamboyant musical fighter.
I just feign that I know how to scrawl like the bard,
Living vicariously through poetic writers.
I was a torpedo, skimming the surface
of the green summer sea; I was a mountain,
touching the clouds at the summit, where
Frozen ice-pools lay. I was a crumpet, soaking
the butter of chat and cream tea. I was a musical
note, a skirling pipe, causing a dance in Firelight. I
Was a lover, loving in a plush hotel room, every day.
I was a massage, muscles bending, relaxing, in sweet
scented room. I was a cinema goer; drinking the flicks
With Milan, De Niro and Munro. I was a free man, away
from work, and bosses and targets too. I was a beach,
with white sand and too much drink. And, like the
Torpedo; I was a poem I wrote; which skimmed the
surface and made me feel free.
15/4/2015
Written for the Vacation contest 15/04/2015
Why, it has to be?
Has there be pre, d day or post Valentine,
For you and me
Everyday is a Valentine.
With my fiancee
It is a feeling so consummate
Now through marriage
We are lovers knotted in a simple one.
But I remember most vividly, my mama
Post Valentine is an anathema
Why? Cause my mother died February 15th
Just after Valentine.
No winter no spring
Blizzards around here and there
No stopping always an oozer
The tenderness kept us sublime abating.
But to CJ Dorner
The ex-cop turned hunted from hunter
A witch hunting for both is red
And definitely no Valentine.
No Silver Stallione as Rambo
Never a Russian roulette by Robert de Niro
Only like Romeo and Juliet
Of Cupid’s one heart.
For as long as we have a rose to a sweetheart
And never been a loser but predict
No matter the weather just right on time
Just we in a tango or in a waltz time.
Collaborated poem with GWSL.
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