You can’t see the real me
Cos I’m preconceived all through
I’m a slave and you are free
Though you speak as if subdued
Cos you serve the cult of Themis
So your words come out managed
Freedom’s your romantic thesis
You’re a usual kind of savage
Double minded, weighed and measured
Multiplied and taught to pay
And we share the same pleasures
In details and every day
What’s the difference, if there’s one?
Slaves are saboteurs, you say
While you spoke this, slaves all gone
And you’ve got to work all day.
In the ethereal realm, where Themis holds sway,
A cosmic ballet of justice, a metaphorical play.
Yet, in our earthly sphere, reflections intertwine,
Empower women—the catalysts of progress divine.
Like Themis, with scales, a celestial display,
Let women’s worth twirl within the sunlit ray.
Respect and recognition, whispered dreams unfold,
A symphony of progress, a story yet untold.
As Themis adorns the sacred tapestry of mythic lore,
So too can women ascend, their voices galore.
Grant them the stage, society’s sacred decree,
Witness progress soaring, untethered and free.
Dice, the goddess of morals, asked her mother, Themis
Why there's divorce, gambling, abortion, and alcoholism?
Why should dehumanization, like a Bloodstone, beamish?
Why should knives of nemesis nip the knots of neutralism?
Cores of conscience, like collapsed castles, Themis said, crash
The self within the inner sanctum, like sand grains, is split.
Joy, peace, harmony, happiness, and self-fulfillment clash
Empathy and sympathy submit to apathy's conflict.
Demons in humans delicately dominate their domains.
As though white sheep amongst black cattle, they cudgel their brains.
Their will to do good, like delinquent house dogs, is in chains.
Blood of cutthroat competitions, to win, flows in their veins.
Honesty should guide one and all, Themis said to Dice.
Summit of self-splendidness alone will never suffice.
Come, see the battle in that ship,
I see through these binoculars.
Master pilot fights for his soup
With up in air his dull sword;
Horribly the chief mates squabble
To gobble a slice of bread,
And authority’s ragged diapers
Pours anarchy through.
Handsail swiftly draws down
To veil Themis’ blushing face,
For pirates molest her;
Everyone fights on the deck;
They scream but no one listens,
And tall towers fall suddenly flat.
The ship floats hither - thither,
For there’s no one to steer her
And sailors just clutch at straws,
While a tempest is at hand.
Sept. 24, 2020
Clutching at Straws Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Kai Michael Neumann
Of Law, Negligence, Sentiment & Sonnet
(ignorantia populi est calamitas populi)
Of law, negligence, sentiment and sonnet,
Man is and must always be in commotion.
Law has given us many an asset
To mold our future with set-out notion.
Negligence camouflaged itself in Trojan House
Sanctity of law was exposed to Hiroshima.
Logic was to save glorious mother Themis
But sentiment crawled in from America.
Democracy is not always what it appears to be,
Where sentiment has blindfolded us against reason,
And what we see as reason is indeed treason
Democracy dies, and we’ll never disagree to agree.
Negligence has murdered law, and sentiment has
Swallowed fault
All may be lost, I fear, except my expository sonnet.
Bolaji Ramos
I flew to Olympus, to find its heart
armor intact against Hades' dark wrath.
At birth the power of light made its start
as Homer's ghost sent me upon my path!
Yet there I found only an empty throne
where once Zeus in glory firmly reigned.
So sad! For no lighted wisdom was shown.
Such that grievous and blue, my heart was pained!
The pain and the sorrow! Where was the heart?
I fell to my knees beseeching the Gods.
Supreme and great Zeus why did you depart?
Perhaps it was the Titans, the elder gods.
Then, Callioppe came for her father,
And Themis, the divine man was bidden,
Saying, Zeus gave his heart to his lover.
Seeker be still, wisdom I have hidden!
_________________________
November 29, 2015
Rhyme
Collaboration - Robert Lindley and Broken Wings
M y destiny is in seeing that the
Y outh of this world learns about the customs of
D escendants long gone.
I t's in remembering their ancestors struggles that they can get to the
V ery core of having any real order or justice
I n their lives.
N ot
E very child will adhere to the
P arents' truth however. My
R eaction to utter disobedience can
O nly be to allow an ending of
P eace in order for you to see that the order of the
H eavenly Gods is the only true way to live on
E arth.
C ustoms and traditions of the past is the true way of living, my
Y outhful mortals!
Eyes like the Aegean Sea,
Burn with a passion for life.
Like underwater volcanoes that erupt and make the sea rage.
Poseidon striking the sea floor.
With the intensity for experience,
Like the fire that smolders deep within your essence;
As if Hephaestus, God of Fire placed this potency within your heart.
Raven tresses frame the noble gentleman
Traveling along his journey like a silent Spartan: King Leonidas.
With Themis and Dike protecting him in battle; guiding his sword and shield.
Appointing him to be the leader of justice for mankind.
Like the regal Lion that sits upon his golden throne high in the Heavens for all to
see. Forever etched in the memories of men: so are you--endless;
Sitting with Hercules on Mount Olympus.
Celestial orbs safeguard the one whose utterances are as vast as the
mountainous landscape.
And whose songs are as boundless as the sea itself.
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