Not Made for Me and You

Not Made for Me and You  
 

Did King Philip's Class Order Five Giant Spiders?
Taxonomy of Ursus americanus
https://www.pinterest.com/sarahrenee1067/science/

We have left the wells of wisdom.
We have thirsted long instead.
Let us quench the fires of madness—
be free of greed and dread.
 
******
  
There are places in the forests
where we humans haven't been,
who are caught in nets so tangled
or are spiders spinning webs.
  
There are places in the mountains
that have kept their beauty still—
where the mists caress the cedars
and the peaks are kissed by dawn.

There are places on the planet
that are not in Mammon's realm,
though he hungers to possess them—
so his serfs can till and reap.

There are places sans an “owner”
that are sacred to the few
who remember that this planet
wasn't made for me and you.

There are humans, in those places,
who are free of Mammon's yoke.
But their songs are near their endings—
as their bondage now is due.

******

Arise and hear their singing;
relearn the gentler dance.
Let us rid ourselves of Mammon—
be free of him—at last!

The grain he craves is silver—
its value gauged in sweat.
He kills the things of beauty
and steels our hearts to dread.

The beings of this planet
have made this wondrous world.
Together, we can make it
so beauty has a chance.

There's a beauty that's around us;
there's a beauty in the heart.
Let us turn towards that beauty—
let ugliness depart.

How much of woe and sorrow
has Mammon wrought on Earth,
with the “word of God” proclaiming
that this world was made for us?

******

There's a wisdom that's around us;
there's a wisdom in the heart.
Let us drink again of wisdom—
let greed and fear depart.

2017 January 24th, Tue.
Brooklyn, New York  
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Note: Two sets, of eight images each, follow below.

Stream in a tropical forest
http://assets.climatecentral.org/images/made/12_31_14_Bobby_TropicalForestStream_720_492_s_c1_c_c.jpg

Morning fog in dense tropical forest
http://www.loe.org/content/2013-10-25/25-bigstock-morning-fog-in-dense-tropical--27061052.jpg

Kanchenjuga at dawn, eastern Himalaya
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5010/5370734563_5c4069d4e2_b.jpg

Boreal forest, Alberta, Canada.
Source: http://hikingwithbarry.com
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140714113743-51802806-why-the-boreal-forest-peatlands-may-soon-be-earth-s-main-lungs

Named for Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind, the boreal forest is a critically important breeding ground for North American birds. The Albany River (shown here) divides the partially protected northern boreal from the imperiled south. Photo: Per Breiehagen
http://www.audubon.org/magazine/january-february-2009/paper-chase

San Bushman father hugging his children
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/06/san-bushmen-people-world-most-ancient.html

The Bushmen Tribe of Tsumkwe
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/06/san-bushmen-people-world-most-ancient.html

San woman holding her beautiful baby boy
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/06/san-bushmen-people-world-most-ancient.html

******

Halifax Mill Chimneys
https://diamondenv.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/halifaxmillchimneys.jpg

Factories, in what was once woods and farmland
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMXwd8Y6f3ubMQFu6dE-LI3ZjKIAza4Xx5qqbqMLE6YBgGNvJHkKf__bJzcS93g7NnFF_buiMgNHiI_RmD6pIKmN7xsfNl5dNX2jvHosUfxiuKXC8E4L6ok9iE83kPGwikwagO2LMvUHU/s1600/William+Blake+Jerusalem+Dark+Satanic+Mills+Poem.png

Horst Faas: Images of Vietnam War
http://justiceghana.com/blog/research/books/horrors-of-war-in-a-long-long-way/

A child clings to his bound father who was rounded up as suspected Viet Cong guerilla
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vietnamwarbyassociatedpressphotographers-150504154330-conversion-gate02/95/vietnam-war-by-associated-press-photographers-51-638.jpg?cb=1430772430

The Death of an Iraqi soldier, Highway of Death, 1991

In the 1991 Gulf War, American pilots bombed a retreating Iraqi convoy. Most US media declined to publish this photo, taken by Ken Jarecke.  His quote: “If I don’t photograph this, people like my mom will think war is what they see on TV.”

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/dont-photograph-people-like-mom-will-think-war-see-tv-gulf-war-1991/ 

ISIS Hanging & Burning Alive Four Iraqi Men
https://www.zerocensorship.com/uncensored/isis/hanging-burning-alive-four-iraqi-men-graphic-video-201668

Tibetan mother and child
https://www.pinterest.com/joyclown/i-ll-luv-u-4ever-i-ll-like-u-4-always/

Amerindian mother and child, 1905, Oregon
https://www.pinterest.com/joyclown/i-ll-luv-u-4ever-i-ll-like-u-4-always/

Mother and child, Namibia
https://www.pinterest.com/joyclown/i-ll-luv-u-4ever-i-ll-like-u-4-always/

The Songs We Sing

The Songs We Sing

The songs we sing are part of all
The songs that course through ages.
They carry laughter, sighs and tears –
And wisdom from the sages.

So when you hear the singing in
The forest, then you know
The song could be an ancient one
That’s still in sparkling flow.
 
And every song that we create
Or think we do has roots
In all the songs that came before –
With ours, the latest shoots…

And if, perchance, the songs we make
Have essences that last,
They’ll still be there, in some refrain,
When you and I are past.

2015 January 11th, Sun. 10:31 am
Brooklyn, New York

For a translation into Bengali, please see:

Je Gan Gai - যে গান গাই 
  
http://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2015/01/je-gan-gai.html
  

Cruelty is Zen

   
Cruelty is Zen
 
You can rail against the madness,
You can work yourself to death.
Until the workers wake up,
The lash is what you'll get.

Why butt your head in fervor,
Until you've brains no more?
The wall will never crumble
Until you're joined by more.

You can follow, quietly, conscience,
But beware that this is known.
When you're punished for your efforts,
You will find you're all alone.
 
There are those who value labor,
There are those who think it cheap.
There are those who value knowledge,
There are those who shun the deep.

When the conscience is extinguished,
When the wisdom has been lost,
Then what avails the worker,
Who's the one who pays the cost?

The mother does her nurture,
The father works his day.
And both of them are working
For the rent and bills they pay.

The teacher does her teaching.
But if, at this, she's caught,
She had better flee the system,
For her future, there, is fraught.
 
The banks have swelled with profits,
The hedge-funds daily soar.
And Bloomberg's gone, but Cuomo,  *
At us mice, can sit and roar. 

And now, he throws us morsels,
And we run to gather crumbs,
As our union-heads, say, "Listen!
Those who're voting no are dumbs."

Can a wolf become a rabbit?
Can their Andrew be our friend?
When his hand is further strengthened,
Will we ever see the end?

There's a culture of corruption
That is global in its scope.
And until we end that culture,
For a better, is there hope?

We can see the children troubled,
We can see the children spoiled.
But can we see the reason,
And why our labor's foiled?

The quick and easy answers
Are often not the truth.
The reasons may be simple,
But you've got to find the root.

For we adults, we are troubled,
And we adults, we are spoiled,
Though there's many, who may labor
And be saddened this is foiled.

The forces, strong, of commerce,
They have made, of virtue, vice –
And so, of vices, virtues.
So the city isn't nice.

Our values are degraded,
Our honesty is fled.
And lies – and those who're liars –
They're ruling us instead.

We are all in need of money,
But this surely can't be all.
For the simple act of nurture
Makes a culture rise or fall.

When we're racing for the money,
When we're harnessed, blinkered, then
The sanity is squandered
And the cruelty is "Zen".

I have labored and I've acted,
But the time is growing nigh,
With my strength and wisdom failing,
For retirement, with a sigh.

So I doff my hat to workers
Who have time to organize.
And I hope that they're successful,
And that some of them are wise.

Is there wisdom in acceptance?
Is there wisdom too in zeal?
It is heart and sight and conscience
That will tell you how I feel.

When the cheaters are the wise men,
When the zealots are in league,
When it's money that is speaking,
Does it matter, how we feel?

We are stranded in the shallows,
As the nonsense keeps us there.
Beware of what is peddled.
To challenge peddlers, dare.

We need wisdom, we need courage.
We must listen, we must speak.
We need action, where it matters,
As we steer towards the deep.
  
2014 June 15th, Sun.
Brooklyn, New York
  
* Michael Bloomberg, former three-term mayor of New York City, and Andrew Cuomo, current governor of New York State, moved strongly to curb whatever was left of union strength in New York, while maneuvering, fairly successfully, to keep compliant union leaders from coming out strongly against them. 
   
Bloomberg and Cuomo, along with the owned mainstream media, have worked to further the interests of the affluent and powerful elites of the financial institutions and other large corporations, with support from the federal (currently, Obama) government.  They also have the backing of the political right, the "center", and those who are on the left on "social" issues (such as gay rights) but not on issues that might lead to giving workers a voice.
   
Unfortunately, many workers have been brainwashed into divisions along ethnic, class and occupational lines.  Divisions have also been created between workers in the private and public sectors.  And so we have been conquered -- at least for now.