Poems from "Rigors"
by Gary
Beck
United We…
The pressure on Americans
continues to accelerate
undermining security
until we are so distracted
from the problems of the future
that we neglect the procedures
to ensure a safe tomorrow.
So many threats that affect us:
Covid, hurricanes, Monkey Pox,
wild fires, resurging polio.
The chaos of our politics
prevents agreement, compromise,
leaving voters in confusion
about the real issues we face,
instead demanding we take sides
with one of the disputing groups
rather than cooperating
to achieve vital solutions
to the impending disasters
that will devastate our nation
if we do not join together
and end the dangerous impasse
that will destroy the promised dream.
Efforts
We can’t go back and right the wrongs
once inflicted on others.
What was done in ignorance
can never be rectified
no matter how much we regret
the harm we know we have done.
All we can attempt to do
is try to become better
and continue to do our best
to improve life for everyone
as we atone for misdeeds past.
Who Will Guard
A sane society
wouldn’t let police officers
stand around helplessly
while children were being shot
in a school invasion
by a violent madman.
We cannot feel secure
for the safety of children
when they are in school
if we are not confident
in the dangerous event
of a lunatic intruder
entering the school,
opening fire on students,
while the police do not go in
to protect the children
who can’t defend themselves.
Victims
The hatred that pervades our land
festers like an infected wound,
angry red, ready to erupt
and corrupt our tainted system.
The people who infect us
with the disease of violence
do not care the harm we suffer.
When the collaborating tools
that pervert our democracy
are suddenly revealed to us
they always blame someone else
never the manipulators
who instigate our divisions,
no longer restrained by reason
in an emotional climate
that devours the security
of the American people
who only want a better life
promised by the Constitution,
whose efforts to labor for it
have been summarily betrayed
by the greedy Lords of Profit
who refused to tolerate
the accumulation of wealth
by the middle and working class
that interferes with the hunger
to accumulate more and more.
Dwindling
In summer I forget
how the change of seasons
affects me differently,
for now that I am old
I suffer from the cold,
my brittle bones ailing
from lower temperature,
my easily chilled body
wears many layers
when I go outdoors.
I cover my legs
with a comforter
when I sit on the couch.
I often day dream
of tropical climes
apprehensive of
the coming ice age.
