If I could turn the clock's proud hands around,
And make the past a silent, yielding clay,
What single thing would be my hallowed ground?
What solitary debt would I repay?
Not Caesar's fall, nor some forgotten war,
No grand design upon the human stage,
But just a little moment, nothing more,
A single, unremarked, forgotten page.
I'd find the day the friend-thread started thin,
The one I broke with words of careless spite.
I'd go to the spot where pride won the grin,
And chose the bitter shadow over light.
While with my power used to hold my tongue,
To bite the lip and let the anger cool.
To choose the path of love while we were young,
And not to act the self-important fool.
The world would turn, the stars would still align,
No empires built, no new philosophy.
Albeit, modest, subtle world of mine,
A broken thread would mend, eternally.
And I would trade history's roared acclaim,
I'd bid that one small change, so soft and low,
To keep a bond from ever knowing blame,
And watch the seeds of understanding grow.
Don't by me designer clothes, don't give me precious stones, don't need none of that. Take me for a walk on the beach by the cove. I want to feel the rocks beneath my toes.
Don't want to live in a mansion where fake people dwell.
Don't want to rent the penthouse in some fancy hotel.
Build me a shack that has a big wooden beam.
With a large front porch by a flowing stream.
Make me a hammock swinging from a tree.
We will lay in it together just you and me.
Don't want to eat in exclusive restaurants where I cant be myself.
filled with self – important people flaunting their wealth.
Lets sit on a blanket and eat under a shady tree.
Where time is not our master and we can be who we want to be.
Don't want to go shopping in luxury boutiques
Don't want to walk the streets of Champs -Elysees
Don't need no possessions to make me feel good.
Sit me amongst the wild flowers in some over grown wood.
Don't need anyone's approval, don't need to impress
Don't need my nails done don't need no fancy dress.
All the money in the world doesn't make you rich, don't you see,
love is all you need, and its within you and me.
(A seductive voice, smiles as it looks over New York. While the sun rises)
So my old record plays
As the early morning mists slowly
Drift in
And herald the new dawn of those beguiled by sin
The politicians
Government's
People
Lovers and haters
Oh, how the air is rich
With such irreducible tension
As they all wander around with delicious apprehension
Gossipping
Feeling self important and all the while never knowing
They've been all bewitched
(C) Copyright John Duffy
Foundation.
With global wars, politics and tensions worldwide, on many levels.
Has the power of influence shifted slightly to the other side, in the spiritual game of freewill
Between two immortal powers?
Can you feel the world slowly getting darker?
Sadly sadly farage it seems?has become self-important
Upon the world scene.' Denigrating a man who called for
His help..' in rallys in London..That were really well turned out.'
Is he taking for granted an empathy from Trump.? I've looked for other reasons.' Yet in truth I am stumped.' Small
Cracks can become fissiures.? And could pull down the
Elect I put nothing beyond the w e f, they have such a brass
Neck.' I suppose nothings new ever under the sun, just how true
To today, could that scripture run.?
“Prejudice wears a variety of hats, none of them becoming.”
~ Kevin Ansbro
Is it fear or is it hatred
Of a stranger, the unknown
The premise that the unworthy
Could deprive you of your throne?
Is it feeling self-important
With a right to underrate
Foreign people with behaviour
Prone to sow the seeds of hate?
Selfish, haughty, prejudicial
Are the stickers on your back.
Do your customs and religion
Make you special? What the heck!
-------------------------------------
Published in "Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace"
~ (PoetrySoup) 2026
In the News Today
How much water does a soldier’s water bottle contain?
Do we need to know, or do we want to know? Probably not
Whatever it is, the secret will be exposed when a young
man is handed the keys to the safe.
90 % of secrets are trivial, filling up electronic air-ways
The 10% tells us of the skullduggery leaders are up to
Self-important, but dangerous fools they are.
What shocked me in the news this morning was what
happened in Texas, when 18000 cows were killed in
a fire; how was this tragedy possible?
Are the milking cows kept indoors in a gigantic barn
while the grass grows on the prairies? But I think
This is animal cruelty on a massive scale
should we drink milk from animals to avoid this
catastrophe from happening? I fear this will occur again
we are the destroyers of a beautiful planet that have
room for all living beings.
The moral compass is spinning
Democracy’s light is dimming
The country faces ruin
The lies just keep on coming
No honour, dignity or integrity remains
In this government that fails and wanes
Scraping the bottom of the barrel
Our leaders are the worst kind of self-important, sociopathic rabble
Lies for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Just keep feeding the lies to the dim witted.
Make sure we get all their money.
Let them starve and suffer, it’s so funny!
Throw parties while they’re dying.
Laugh and joke while they’re crying.
Lie about anything and everything.
Lie about lying.
Let the people die crying because thanks to us England is now dying.
Small men do exist
Maybe it’s their egos
Maybe it’s their es
Either way they do not care
Attacking innocent people
Killing women and babies
Bombing without sight
They want the world to bend over
Accept them as a god
But everyone knows they are no gods
Just self-important jokes
© Poem – III/VII/MMXXII
I
dear human, will you make healthy honey for me?
gather what there is in wildflowers, weeds, "thy enemy,"
JUST DO IT. If not, will you save my habitat. Signed: a bee
II
dear self-important, Type A personality, man or woman:
eliminate mosquitoes. Maybe 4,000 a night, 175 million
I do that in just 4o years. If u can't, try bat-education#
NOTE:
A single bat could eat 175 million mosquitoes in its average 40-year life.
www.thebatbox.com
"One of them can eat up to 1,000 of the other every hour! That's 12,000 per night! 4.3 million per year, even in a non-Leap Year! Some bats can live for around 40 years, meaning a single animal can eat 175 million mosquitoes in its life, right?"
sharp words
scratching against the fabric
of civilized society
slowly tearing apart
the structure
of reason and tolerance
ignorant assaults
launched by loud
self-appointed
self-important
self-aggrandizing
fools
A vain, self important baboon
Would preen as he made ladies swoon
Chin chiselled and firm
A blonde curly perm
His butt still looks like a balloon
Unequivocally unequalled stature demands
a friend aint friend but right hand man
who must comply and serve their plan
expectant others lend their hands
Giving little demanding more
believe they help when not at all
if not the focus acting crawl
kicking others already small
Fine deception blinds your vision
denial, assurance and repetition
unknowing of their false position
self righteousness will talk not listen
Friends are always in their debt
believe they give more than they get
such self important intellect
stealthily pouncing those upset
Keep others down deny their part
point the finger and show no heart
situations controlled from start
playing dumb so in the dark
Then they act to be the saviour
socially empowered players
appear a helper when a slayer
Social righteousness portrayers
Empty promises waft effortlessly through the air
The vacuous bleating of self-important bloviators,
Who claim the best interests of the noble citizenry
Uppermost in their clever, plotting minds who dare
To seek approval from the greater masses at the polls,
While thinly disguising their not-so-quixotic intentions.
Such troublesome breaches in the breastwork
Of liberty, these mischievous self-indulgent trolls
Who feed from the public troughs. Even better,
They claim to do what is right for their constituencies,
And call themselves names like honorable civil servant
Purporting to faithfully execute oaths to the letter
Of the law. I think such is seldom the case, at all, since
They have made for themselves careers of chicanery.
Empty promises -- no more than carefully crafted lies
Cause the skeptical, intelligent folk to wince.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
Written November, 2020
Submitted to "A Meaningful Poem" Contest
Sponsored by Constance La France
(ex boss)
funny how I've won and got the better
you won for twelve years now I'll win forever
cuz I'm in the right and you're just not clever
i told you, i told you i told you I'd get ya
now I'm in your head,
permanent residence
through your guilt,
who needs evidence
the worst leaders are self important
just themselves at the forefront
narrow minded and dormant
you're being told this by a doorman
cuz you're dumb
you had nothing
whilst i had fun
i had sex and you had none
i told you i'm not going to get you sacked
but you lack foresight to see that fact
now everyday you're mentally zapped
I'm in your guilt causing collapse
that's your existence and your fault
i'm not there i can't get caught
your actions have come back to haunt
time is ticking it will reach naught
you feel how you feel
in time you'll feel ill
and I'm on the rebound
and I will heal
you'll never come back at me again
because you're so thick it's unbelievable
you'll never be free of this pain
cuz you're the reason it breeds you fool
I must take umbrage with this phrase
I’ve heard it stated in multiple ways
The essential nature of it goes like this
I’ve asked you to do this already
The implication that one is obligated to perform
Simply by the act of asking something of them
What kind of self- important attitude allows
That your request out ways the consent of the asked
And even if consented to the asked party should
Lose control of the time frame to complete the task
I’ve heard parents, teachers, bosses, politician’s, preachers, husbands, wives,
All succumb to the notion as if it was a magic potion
I asked therefore it creates an obligation by which
I should be obliged in my machinations
Well You’re not!
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