________________
Wars and conflicts are raging all around the world. We all talk about loss of commerce and trade, of shortages and inflation, and occasionally loss of human life. But who talks of the sufferings of innocent animals clubbed under collateral damage?
_________________________
Pray tell me where hast my home gone,
Asks a kitten left all alone
In a subdued terrified moan.
Syria to sequestered Sudan,
From Ukraine to war-torn Iran,
Animals endure wars inhumane.
Men’s weapons of war smothered have
Their habitats, lives gone to grave,
Innocent creatures to deprave--
All whilst we discuss price of oil
And from human-life loss recoil,
Few think of these beasts so loyal.
Violence’ far from deemed banal
Whilst joy of profit’s gone carnal
And lifestyle all around venal.
The greatness of a nation, said
Gandhi, depends heart over head
On how animals are treated.
Poor pets were killed in World War Two
Lots of beasts in World War One too,
In current wars? We’ve not a clue.
____________________________
Happenings | 03.04.2026 | humans, animals, violence, war, Tercet
Those who are tough lived long enough
(from puerile juvenile to senile immobile)
to become on the world's bum a boil
in the very end my good friend old chum
will finally shuffle off their mortal coil
go to the dogs then pop their clogs
come to some harm and buy the farm
get a leg out check out peg out
or as bad luck would have it kick the bucket
when they give up the ghost and they're toast
if they were an eskimo
we'd sit them out on the ice and snow
but we're humane we do maintain
ne'er more to roam we condemn them
for life to an old folks' home
where the infirm may wither and dither
hanging around dwindling down
until the day they f-fade away
One day,
On a blissful Wednesday,
I crawl up the moon to cry away.
Dark night,
Take me away with the light,
Keep sailing through the storm with all my might.
Silence the dweller,
While roses for the pyre wither,
And all my hopes shatter.
As my last leaves bid farewell
and crumble under winter's foot,
or await the soggy slosh of spring ~
I shiver, and raise my naked limbs
up toward where young boys climbed
toward Heaven...
So long ago, that now, they wither too.
The sweet sap of my youth
no longer runs,
The osmosis of my roots,
no longer suckles Mother Earth.
An arborist's blades, like the Reaper's scythe
will sever life's ties,
but, weep not at my ends for
now I climb to Heaven's breast
and a sapling grows from whence I came...
Wither
I will wither away
Wither
I will die today
Wither
This will be the end
Wither
My bones will grow thin
Wither
My body will be gone
Wither
My soul may still live on
Wither
Today is the day
Wither
I’ve been waiting for,
so long.
We go crazy in the head, when you lie with lie in bed.
All are green lights, you don't see red !
No conscience cricket chirps in your calm corrupted head.
To wither in a wasteland, we are being led.
(11.08.2023)
I walk through the hell ridden hallways
The silence so loud it almost engulfed me, dragging me underneath the freshly polished tiled floor
Each room is a new hellish spectacle
Each person looked like a withering rose, desperately begging for a drop of water to survive.
I walk past them as if I’m better, but I’m not
I feel myself slowly withering away as well
I sit in the waiting room, barely aware of my surroundings
The low, inaudible hum of the tv giving me a sense of comfort
I liked this place, it made me feel safe
It was blank and bare, a comforting contrast to my thoughts
Everyone cared, it gave me a sense of peace
Maybe I would be ok?
I wanted to stay here forever and ever until I wither away
I remember,I remember when the river flowed,
I remember,I recall when my soul floated,
With every flow,
Don't fall,remember the river,
Don't drown,remember it flowed,
Don't die,remember it cleansed,
Flow me away river,gently down your path,
Gently down your stream,
Numb the poison that sinks with every flow,
I remember,I remember when the flowers withered,
Flow away this winter,this winter that withers,
With every flow,
I remember the boat,my boat in that winter,
Rickety boat,Rickety by that winter,
But I remember,I remember the river flowed,
Don't fall,remember the river,
Don't drown,remember it flowed,
Don't die,remember it cleansed,
River, 'O' river you manned the station,
Guiding the boat gently through,
Numbing the poison brought by that winter,
For I remember,I remember when you flowed,
I remember,I recall when you floated my soul,
With every flow,you saved,from the poison,from that winter,
I shall not fall from the boat,you flow,
I shall not drown, you float,
I shall not die,you save,
I remember,I remember when you flowed,
I remember,I recall when I floated,
With every flow you saved me from the poison and that winter.
We teach doubt
And worry about the dying belief
While we mock the most devout
Unknowingly feigning our relief
And soon the establishments strong and stout
Shed their every flower and leaf
As thirsty eyes begin to scout
For the ethics of life that were once chief
It's the wisdom of human cultures
To weigh one's words and deeds
For the modern freedom is for weird mixtures
Compromising the purity of ethics and creeds
So don't go around sampling textures
Heats, noises and speeds
Take discipline that holds up lasting structures
And shine the light that the future pleads
K. Muitherero
Flowers wither
Wither and fall
Delicate, yet brave
Their petals droop and dangle
Darken and shrivel
Succumb, shed, and scatter below
Perhaps they are afraid
Reluctant to fall
Fight to hold on
Resist letting go
Incredible loss precedes their season of mourning
As the beauty that was
Becomes...once was
Leaving the stem that cradled and sustained
Barren and standing alone
August 14, 2021
Sere, listless blades of grass
Joys of summer wither
Daily paper's soaked with sweat
~ So hot your lips just quiver
I wither and die,
My soul descends a nightmare.
sins not forgotten
Winter's twigs wither when wild wind whisks
sprigs in tempestuous blizzard weather.
1/7/2021
I stand out to look at the sunshine
That's now ain't bright nor pure in light;
Dark and black that's how it goes.
Wild dummies survive in dust and ash.
Where blooming buds wither in depression,
Still run the deadly processions.
From very little- the lads and the cuties
Teach them in advance, greed and lavish pride;
Make them the past of the forth bitter future.
While I know of the value
They give to the papers;
Why don't they,
To their birth-giving wise woods?
So gay we are,
With our families
But let the co-creatures live in the gloom.
Living lives of the little ones;
Make a snack for many,
Who dump them more than they partake....
Why live in this mad bad world?
Let's lift the anchors!
And set sail, to a better place!
A wall in the wood now stands like a ghost,
A red-brick snake-ghost, threatening to toast –
To drown dwellers in a sea of dreadful appall,
And wither them all by being a mending wall.
Oct. 14, 2020
Rithimus Divisa 10 Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Gregory R Barden
Original poem: A Wall in the Wood
Posted on Oct. 10, 2020 for the contest: A Wall in the Wood Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Silent One
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