Signing
Dear sharer of meanings
Who brings effigies of sound into the silence
Endured by others
There is love in your energy
Gentle caring for the deprived
Your face is a mirror of everything
A link to understanding for the cloistered
Strangers who hear nothing
There is passion in your compassion
Such willingness to reach out
Such drive in your movements
As if you truly know the needs
Of your special audience
Understanding is a golden gift
What is life without shared meaning?
You give answers to such questions
And there is triumph in your mastery
So there you are
Unnoticed by the busy majority
Just a part of the furniture
Serviceable, functioning, trusted
To be of service
Yet there is something more:
The tenderness of your movements
The wonder of your signing
Make the world a better place
For everyone
I’m Headed For The Last Roundup
Well here I am on the edge of my own antiquity
People give me a seat on the train these days
I am in that category of need
Kind souls raise their voices too, and slow their speech
To deal with the flaws my age predicts…
On a pension too
No place for me in the workforce now
I was once a teacher
Had an active place in many lives
Learning with others
To participate in life with some decorum
Discovered the hard way what not to do
And felt needed from time to time…
Life now is so different
There’s not much comfort on the shelf
You are dusted off so frequently
And company is so scarce
As you pay the price for living so long
But why is it so?
Why am I now no use to anybody?
After all, I pioneered the use of TV and the net
Heard FDR respond to the Great Depression
Saw lots of spies come in from the cold
Observed Neil Armstrong make one giant leap for mankind
Watched the Berlin Wall come down
So much more I could share with you dear friend
And with the generalised others if they cared enough to listen
Not much luck with an audience so far
But not to worry
Time is a good tutor
More people will learn the truth as their own lives grow longer
And we all have the same destination don’t we?
There are lots of cattle at the last roundup
As I head there I think I have what I need: a final plan that empowers:
Don’t hurry, don’t worry and don’t forget to water the flowers
Yippee Yai-oh, Yippee Yai-ay,
That’s about all that’s left for me to say
The Man Who Doesn’t Exist
As I was going to Strawberry Fair
I met a man who wasn’t there
He was but a thought in the bright sunlight
Yet I knew something wasn’t quite right
When a voice loudly spoke to me
A whisper on my shoulder advised me to flee
But I stayed, although I was anxious and weak
Then in a daze I heard something speak
It said it had built a wondrous wall
And the cost would be not a penny at all
So I looked around me in my daze
Confused by what such a voice portrays
And then I heard it again
“I am the most powerful of men.”
I thought I should bow but didn’t know how
I still don’t know how even now
Then the voice pierced the air again
I knew not how but when
“I cure a disease that is not there,
“I have followers everywhere,
“I’m the richest man on earth.”
These words for me had an eerie mysterious worth
How strange it was on this sunny day
To hear such powerful words at play
With not a person in sight
I curled up my toes in fright
Then came a tirade that blew me away
It made me afraid; what more can I say?
It said an election was all but a fraud
And threatened to put all cheats to the sword
And bury them in a garden
Without a pardon
How I trembled with each fearsome word
Even though the meanings were quite absurd
I paused and raised my hand to shield my eyes
In the bright light I was struck by the same surprise
I looked so keenly and my eyes roamed everywhere
But still not a soul appeared; there was no one there
Time passes to restore the happiness of life
Memories fade and end all pain and strife
Now here’s a thought years later I cannot resist
I no longer fear the man who doesn’t exist
Where Have All The Tall Trees Gone?
Where have all the tall trees gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the tall trees gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the tall trees gone?
Gone as lumber every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where has all the lumber gone?
Long time passing
Where has all the lumber gone?
Long time ago
Where has all the lumber gone?
Dealers took it all away
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the dealers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the dealers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the dealers gone?
Into boardrooms every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the members gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the members gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the members gone?
Into parliament every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the statesmen gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the statesmen gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the statesmen gone?
To plant trees in deserts every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Weather Obituary
Dearly beloved
We are gathered here together
To mourn the demise of the weather
Yes there is a sense of loss
Derived from pain inflicted across
The days and nights of our time
Yet memory is a defender that relives the sublime
We remember when the wind was a gentle friend
Not a tyrant of force that brought lives to an end
We all recall still the gentle rain
That helped our pastures grow again
Not the recent agony that troubled flesh and blood
Derived from tempest and destructive flood
Coming to mind as well is the gentle cycle of life
Found through sun and rain without the strife
Of drought and the dreaded curse of fire
That tears apart ambition and desire
So here we are remembering
Conscious of the dismembering
Power of global warming
Dear friends of the earth
Let us come together united
To save a world benighted
By the follies of our fellow man
That careless indifference abroad since time began
We can change even as we mourn the loss of worldly beauty
Coming together with a sense of noble duty
To comfort nature with a loving embrace
And cool the world for the sake of the human race
I Don’t Know
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
I don’t know what hatches the plot
To destroy the fair air’s charm
I don’t know what causes the rot
And does the earth so much harm
I don’t know why there is dirt in the sky
Pollution to foul the air
I don’t know why man’s deeds go awry
With folly that leads to despair
I don’t know when the world will awaken
And stop making such a mess
I don’t know when they will all be forsaken
Those fools whose names you can guess
I don’t know how in the stark here and now
We can stop the world being tainted
I don’t know how the sacred cow
Is so blindly contaminated
I don’t know where the answer lies
To this universal disaster
I don’t know where I will find clean skies
It’s a problem no mortal can master
I don’t know who the culprit is
The source of this hullabaloo
I don’t know who’s the destructive whiz
But I hope it isn’t you
royciebaby
Royce Levi Australian Teacher and Author 