Virus
I wandered lonely through a crowd
Lost in thought not thinking aloud
When something worthy of mention
Suddenly got my attention
An elegant, stately man crossed my path
Gave me a nod and then a laugh
And continued on his way
Till the mills of chance came into play
And we met again in a cafe down Kings Cross way
I remembered his laugh and the smile in his eyes
So a conversation was no surprise
Concerning far more than the weather
As we nurtured a conference together
How was he dealing with the virus? I asked
What outcomes flow from being unmasked?
Where does mankind go from here?
And can wisdom survive current fear?
His answer rocked the awareness around me
And destroyed the barriers that often surround me
In ways unknown before
It changed my view of life what’s more
“Which virus?” he asked with a gleam in his eye
“A pandemic’s here that will not make you die.
“It fills our world with arrant deception
“In a quest for success without exception.
“So while I acknowledge that COVID exists,
“We must never forget that another bug persists.”
“An ugly danger that haunts our every hour
“It is man’s endless quest for power.”
Time brought an end to our meeting
With the chance for further talk fleeting
In the course of time we went our way
But still I have one more thing to say;
I may seem to belong to the vile bar sinister
But I think that man was our Prime Minister
Tomorrow
Once in a dream when wide awake
I started to think for humanity’s sake
What life would be like when I’m dead
So I pondered on what lies ahead
With many reasons for cheerlessness
As my life’s not marked by fearlessness
I soon felt quite depressed
It was clearly no time to jest
Weapons were a first thought that unfurled
There are so many in our troubled world
They would surely lead to war
But a voice within me denied it and closed that door
A golden age came next to mind
A boom in the market with profit defined
But something in my heart left a reverse impression
Sometime or other there’ll be a depression
Then I let my mind run another way
Here’s what my inner voices had to say
It was the sky; the sky was falling
And denial on climate was appalling
How could I stop despair from forming
When so many fools denied global warming?
Ah me!
But the day went on despite this fuss
As my thoughts backfired like a blunderbuss
Until I met a child, the kind with temperament mild,
Who spoke to me like a lost soul reconciled
“Sir,” he said, “you look so pale. Are you well?”
He was a pupil, after the go home bell
Suddenly I had found a friend
Who brought my pondering to an end
A new page in my book
Showed me the way if I dared to look:
Every tomorrow will need a sharing
Like an innocent child compassionately caring
Empathy
I am an actor and here’s my news
I’ve learnt to stand in other people’s shoes
I feel the pain deserved by no man
When I play the role of Willie Loman
There I must understand myself
What it feels like to be left on the shelf
At another time I could be Pozzo
When I find myself waiting intently for Godot
Here I’ll convey an empty existence
Where nothing happens despite my insistence
Or perhaps King Lear could demand my false rule
As there I must play an arrant fool
Folly I’d convey as a way of living
And nature portray as unforgiving
And so all my world is indeed a stage
I deal in emotions from desire to rage
Observing humanity without vanity
Walking somewhere between trust and insanity
Until reality finds its place
And reminds me I’m part of the human race
Suddenly I realise there is pain off stage
There are other entities I need to engage
Refugees for example treated as dirt
Give me a script and such grief I’ll avert
And what of the white supremacist sadness
Write me the words to destroy that madness
Then war victims I long to save
Peace is my offering to spare the brave
Do you see the unique place in life for me?
It’s the gift of loving with empathy
Recollections
I have been rarely perfect in my ways
Despite the multitude of my days
Now I am old and in from the cold
There are certain faux pas you need to be told
For of some things I am not very proud
Here are some of the sins I’ve allowed
I’m an entrepreneur with morality somewhat lax
Who made his pile and paid no income tax
Made insider deals until blue in the face
And became a disgrace to the human race
Then there was Whitlam who got the sack
I helped get him sacked alas alack!
Accepting the whims of autocracy
To sound the knell of democracy
Next I mention the Vietnam War
I supported a war people now deplore
I swallowed like a sheep allowed to meander
Robert McNamara’s propaganda
Disaster came and a nation cried
And many many humans died
Another thing now courts disgust
One politician got my trust
And a vote that crushed my soul
Amidst global warming he brandished coal
Now I add my support for privatisation
Profit not service to civilisation
Once we people owned so many things
Now they belong to cabbages and kings
So there you have it, some of my misdemeanours
I’ve taken dirty linen to the cleaners
Yet times change and before my life ends
I have just seized a chance to make amends
So now a flower’s growing in my dump
I’ve written a book to praise Donald Trump
Sport
Sport these days is just a commodity
And that to some is an ugly oddity
It IS just for the sake of a ribboned coat
That keeps the moneyed business afloat
Pay up pay up and play the game
Defeat is deadly and brings you shame
Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who forgets if we lose we’ll be in the red
The spirit of kindness doesn’t exist
You must fight the war and never desist
Private enterprise makes the rules
All the players are merely tools
For winning whatever the cost
As defeat means a profit is lost
So here’s to the heroes from each hall of fame
The ones that make money just from their name
Let the battle rage at the coming of age
Of teams that condone the rage
Watch the winner climb to the highest rung
And manage the minds of the fervent young
Who believe the tales of administrators
And the media get rich infiltrators
To form a crowd that shrieks aloud
In a cause obscured by a profit cloud
So the year progresses with many fixtures
The contests are really nothing but mixtures
Of pain and gain and legerdemain
Where you have to win or go insane
For health it is a blessed thing beloved from pole to pole
Though if you are not fit enough, you’ll be on the dole
The vast crowds attending resemble a Roman mob
Smoke and trumpets complete the job
As history cries out for tradition
But all that there is is stark transition
Where winners are grinners defeating the sinners
And losers don’t rhyme
News
No murder in the news today
No ghastly car crash on display
No man shot in a carpark
No rape in the after-dark
No children drowned in the ocean
No deadly party commotion
No kidnap and a missing child
No grave by louts defiled
How boring life is!
I shall just have to listen to music
royciebaby
Royce Levi Australian Teacher and Author 