The windows are boarded up in preparation for the storm
A weather event of this intensity is becoming the norm
Global warming continues to find a way to rule the day
For the planet to survive we must all strive to do things in a different way
If we could just drive a little less, recycle a little more, or just plant a tree
A collective effort would certainly help I am sure we all agree
Severe floods are leading to an increase in airborne diseases
Intense hurricane winds are far more destructive than just a gentle breeze
Droughts are far more frequent with soaring temperatures ruling the day
Making it even more difficult for our children to go out and play
Carbon dioxide levels up twenty-five percent in the last sixty-five years
A stark reminder if we do not change our planet will slowly disappear
Fifth of November
One quarter from age eighty
Memories intact…
Sorry to those in metric
Twenty five percent to go
© Harry J Horsman 2022
Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge movement, the leader Pol Pot,
Killed twenty-five percent of the population, a fact most people forgot.
To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss,
That was the ideology of the evil boss.
Buddhist monks were killed and religion was banned,
No one was safe with this beast in command.
Children placed in labour camps, civil rights were abolished,
Schools and hospitals shut down, homes were demolished.
People getting shot for wearing glasses, laughing and even crying,
And if you spoke a foreign language you were definitely dying.
Slave labourers dying from overwork, malnutrition and executions,
While the U.K. gave the Khmer Rouge plenty of contributions.
Minority groups were targeted, Thai, Muslims, Christians and Vietnamese,
But they explicitly targeted the ethnic Chinese.
Millions of pounds from the U.K., millions of dollars from the states,
All working together in terror, they were the best of mates.
What Nixon and Kissinger began, Pol Pot completed,
And none of them ever showed remorse for all the people they mistreated.
humans share twenty-five percent
of our genes with rice.
does that make us cannibals
when we call-in take-out Chinese?
© Goode Guy 2013-09-10
ON BARR TRAIL
the going is steep –
twenty-five percent grade –
twelve miles to the top
legs tire already
we plan to go half way up
to where the trees stop
from there only rock
and no beauty in the climb
we brought a feast
some four miles along
we happen on a meadow,
all nature at peace,
and this silver stream
directly across the path
glistening the rocks
wonderful to be
on this perfect forest glade
we shuck shoes and sox,
roll the pebbles round
wash our aching arms and legs
and luxuriate
then we see a fawn
standing by the wooded edge
feasting without fear
in such surroundings –
this hidden mountain haven –
we sense god is near
no continuing
timberline will have to wait
other time and date
...........................................
From Manitou Springs
Barr Trail goes to the top of Pike's Peak
SHORTEST DAY TRICKERY
Again December 23 is almost here
Frost’s darkest evening of the year,
Ok. But what really bugs me
Is that it is the date when we
Are actually closer to the sun
By three million miles - no I’m not making fun.
It’s like going to a supermarket where
It advertises mega-bargains in hardware -
Twenty-five percent off everything,
And then finding that we are paying
Three times the normal price in the western hemisphere.
Seems to me there’s a con trick here.
We’re being ripped off, short-changed somehow.
Getting a steer, having paid for a cow
Getting the short end of the stick
Like being victim of some card trick
I mean who would buy a heater that
Got colder as you moved your chair closer?
Instead of Shortest Day it should be renamed
Shortest End of the Stick Day.
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