Plato says that Heaven is perfect things,
that nothing pure or good exists on earth.
We leave the Ideal World when, at our birth,
like ants who've briefly flown, we shed our wings.
All infants cry, in Shakespeare's view, when first
they leave the womb, to find this Vale of Tears
is what they must inhabit four score years,
dreading hardships into which they've burst.
Our human life, so Seneca would say,
is prone to failure, suffering and pain.
The only shreds of solace that remain
are stoic calm, acceptance of decay.
They're wrong, of course, to tend towards this view:
but then, my Perfect Girl, they didn't know you.
~ a sad, harsh transit ride through the vale of tears - weather-beaten old shoes ~
Out of the night a black vice POTUS,
a cry of hope from poll to poll-
wrapped in our flag we know they loath us
and our unconscionable goal.
In the fell clutch of discrimination
we hear them wince and cry aloud.
Within our bludgeoning, christian nation
their heads are bloody, ja, und cowed.
Let them sulk in their vale of tears
We’ll never let them turn the page.
No prospect of getting four more years
finds ,and shall find us howl with rage.
Again we’ll make our country great,
what matter we lose our nation’s soul?
He is the master of our fate—
wir gibt unser Fuhrer ganz kontrol.
the email opens-
through a vale of tears
a rainbow appears
o'er the horizon
yesterdays imperfections-
look tomorrow awaits
I don't have everything,
And I haven't much money in the bank,
Nor do I have much shiny things,
Yet, I do have everything
That I'll ever need in this vale of tears,
And that everything is...YOU.
Bite Size Contest No. 60 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Line Gauthier
Date written: 01/31/2023
War is as ghastly as
It is astronomically costly.
The price tag?
Trillions of US dollars!
Yes, that costly.
The cost of injuries sustained,
The cost of human lives,
The cost of weapons,
The cost of grief felt
By families of soldiers
Coming home in closed caskets;
It's too much to bear!
The price tag of peace? Zero.
That's right. It costs nothing!
So why don't we try
To live...
And let live instead?
Humanity shines
As bright as
A summer afternoon sun
When we peacefully co-exist,
When we choose to be civil
And break bread in this vale of tears.
It's better to sit down
And brainstorm a solution
To resolve our differences,
As opposed to waging war
Against one another.
What a wondrous world it would be
If we bridged the divide
Between us
Instead of exchanging gunfire.
How about we shake hands,
Smile, and wish each other well?
Let us simply...
Live and let live.
My quest for what is honorable and right
Compels me to enter the constant fight
For justice and mercy, compassionate love,
I can be a despicable vulture or a peaceful dove
When I leave this tumultuous vale of tears,
I want it to be said, “He was a caring man,”
So, I set out on this quest to do the best I can.
No one has said the journey will be an easy one
But I must trudge on until my work is done,
And every day I will strive to do no harm
Unhesitant, if necessary, to sound the alarm
When I see someone mistreated or bullied,
Harassed, insulted, or reputation sullied
I believe my quest is an honorable pursuit,
That, in life, I have taken the finer route.
FIRST PLACE WINNER
written October 2, 2021
especially for "Q Contest NEW ONLY" poetry contest
sponsored by Constance La France
Sometimes my mind wanders into the distant future,
Long after I will have departed from this vale of tears
And I ponder the problems my generation has created
Which we are leaving for our grandchildren to solve.
I consider the advancements in computer technology
During my lifetime, and wonder how far it might go,
Whether in one hundred years robots will be in charge
Humans will be slaves, perhaps, no longer in demand,
Expendable commodities, with many clones of a genus
Then I think, perhaps, I have completely lost my mind.
written June 23, 2021
Her Side
By Sy Roth
Are they going to die like that?
Expire
Retire
As a broken, opalic string of DNA
Ribonucleic disaster
Worm-eaten womb
Ascerbic molecules.
Who enabled this procreatic mission?
They rimed it with a urine trail
Left --Her side
Discordant disdain
Heeding her rantings.
Across the hall a pink room
Only denoting her sex
Imponderable expressions of emotions
Laid bare among a string of rejections.
It echoes hollowly in the recesses.
She laid WMD traps,
Exploding in sickly apprehensions
A vale of tears.
The sisters fought the battle of Cain and Abel
Smashing their bloodless heads.
The progenitors walked between them
Without trepidation
To the other side
To vanish in a haze of decaying synapses
Leaving behind only questions
Left silent in the detritus of their disdain.
Great Jehovah
(Set to John Williams Schindler's list theme)
Great Jehovah, as we weep
We turn our hearts to thee.
As the storms of evil sweep us
In your loving arms you keep us.
Underneath an unforgiving sky
Not for us to know the reason why, oh
Great Jehovah, hear us as we cry.
Great Jehovah, in our plight
We lift our eyes to thee.
As in promises you gave us
Send a chosen one to save us.
Let him find us worthy in your sight,
Find the path to freedom in the night, and
Lead him through the darkness to Thy light.
In our bondage and our pain
We still sing out your song.
Sing it with us, once again.
We have done no wrong.
In this twisted vale of tears
We all call out your name.
Through the hatred and the fears
We can feel no shame.
Great Jehovah, hear our prayer
We lift our voice to thee.
In this place of shock and sorrow
We keep pushing to tomorrow.
Through the aching night to breaking dawn.
Give us faith and strength to carry on, and
Lead our children home when we are gone.
"Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind"
- Edna St. Vincent Millay
On
my back,
looking up
past the steeple,
I view pure beauty
beyond the vale of tears.
Soon, I will be going down,
but I am not resigned to stay.
This soothing peace is otherworldly
but for cries of all who mourn my demise
Written 20 May 2020
Too cold this winter
of my senior years,
I played my part in this vale of tears
the onslaught of older age
quickly close the curtain of this stage
for every escapade and experience
of youth and foolish dabbling and interference;
now so much wiser
or is it just an elder in life's analyzer,
I look back in a smile at the days of old
when I was braver and much bolder,
today the winter chilled with cold and snow
makes me grateful for all I've seen and known;
but as the winter grows gray and dark
the fading embers that once sparked
are thankful to pass on the fire
to mold the future with hope and desire
as new generations take on the torch
I pray history's lessons and enlightenment be their source.
We are the story tellers,
Once of nature loving best.
River and mountain lake and forest
Teaming life of air or land.
We loved the wolf, big hearted proud
The stubborn boar reclusive bear.
Each with spirit man endowed them
To tell of knowing natures worth.
Shaman natures laws need master
Herb law, river, the running deer.
The seasons passing they knew them,
Living with all, wild untamed and free.
To share in stories at end of day.
But Abraham this way came stalking,
Telling stories of a jealous god.
Soul giver only to his chosen
Nature shorn, a play thing made
Hidden in mists behind the vale of tears.
Shaman cast anew to be witches,
For knowing natures secret ways.
Cernunnos, Pan, soon turned to devil,
By prelates of numen promising eternal life.
Nature made wicked will loose its value
When souls stand knocking at heavens door.
Fantastical tales are loved the best
When men will argue of dancing
Angels on the heads of pins,
Or flights of fancy to travel the stars.
Dry vale of tears ... color blind soil,
where poor and rich labor and toil
Souls bound by mortality’s yoke,
plans buried by a shovel stroke
Time was the fallow reaper foil
Womb roots wither, the dire worms spoil
Dry bones be pauper and royal
Fretting skies do mournfully soak
dry vale of tears
Sad thoughts of fear now famine roil,
seeds of depression sour the soil
Death was the reign that evil spoke
Dust to dust always coffin cloak
the misty pain that heartbreak boil
dry vale of tears
Moms beat their children half to death
For scissoring up their best white sheets
Cutting out two holes for eyes
Ghosts don't really look like that
Damaged linens is the Outer Limits
Is Addams Family crazy beyond the pale
Whiter than white turned gray
Thank you Thing!
Give Cousin Itt a comb for all that hair
To see through this vale of tears and darkness
Hand him a brush with death
A hand sandwich with mustard on it
Hand him a knife to cut through clouds
Gray beyond the pale
Beyond white sheets with holes cut in them
Blowing in the wind with ghosts still in them
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