Spring

When flowers bloom again

Someday beyond all knowing

I'll come to you, and then

We'll watch the flowers growing.

When sunshine comes to stay

And creases all the clouds

We'll sit the livelong day

To watch the strolling crowds.

When warmth and sun unite

To make the world seem new

I'll bask in fresh sunlight

And watch, my love, for you

So we can be together

Throughout the better weather.

March

I dread the coming of the longed for spring

Because the danger of the winter lingers;

I know the hope and joy April can bring

Grasping the world in warm and gentle fingers,

But February lays its future traps:

It cannot help but threaten in the heat

To melt the snow, and dump into our laps

The endless waters of the snow's retreat.

And so I fear what I have said I wanted;

I worry even as I get my way.

I can't pretend to live my life undaunted

Since even my own wants have gone astray.

But if I fear the spring, I still know this:

Your love I want, and it is only bliss.

Inequality of Expectations

The expectation seems to always be

That we will be the better, bigger people;

No matter how they act (despicably)

As sure as churches raise a cross on steeple

We will be told we ought to work for good.

It isn't that I mind; I much prefer

To help where help is needed, and I would

Imagine I would do that if it were

Not so required. But it grinds my gears

That no one ever seems to think that they

Should change; should at last after all these years

Adapt, and meet us somewhere like halfway.

Why should we always have to turn the other cheek

Because we all know they will slap the meek?

Excelsior

The world, delighted by the dancing flame

Will burn itself to keep the flame alight;

So I by chasing after fickle fame

Consume the very source of my delight.

In seeking ever to become my best

I lose sight of the good I was already;

And in the striving I forget to rest

Imperiling the sense that made me steady.

I should, in conscience, sit and look around

Observing how my life is warm and sweet

Instead, I gaze at mountains that surround

Imagining myself down at their feet.

But in the valleys lie the riverbeds

Not at the mountains flame-erupting heads.

Reading 5x5

The case is pure simplicity:

You only need to use your eyes

And answer truly what you see

Without the cataracts of lies.

Or if you choose to shut them tight

You need but listen with your ears

For sound can substitute for sight

And what is heard for what appears.

Or if you will not listen, too,

Then you need but inhale, for that

Will serve to sniff out what is true

Assuming you can smell a rat.

Indeed, if you have any sense

You can determine this offense.

Seriously, Folks?

The Constitution says you can impeach
The Senate rules say, once impeached, you're tried;

I'm not sure what the logic is you teach,

But where I'm from, that's fairly cut-and-dried.

The Constitution gives a penalty

Of being banned from holding office more;

There is no earthly reason I can see

That shouldn't work once you are out the door.

In fact, if logic is as I was taught,

That only works if it works once you're gone.

Since once convicted, you would then be not

The President, and yet the vote goes on.

So to conclude: once you impeach and try

The former president still goes "bye-bye."

After Lope de Vega (II)

When you commanded the entire world

And forced the head of Mithridates down;

When in your hand the ball and scepter curled,

And three great triumphs echoed your renown,

Who'd tell you, might Pompey,  that the sailors

Would throw your rotting body in the Nile,

Your once-bright robes now packaged for wholesalers

Your head retained in hope of Caesar's smile?

And happy Caesar, who at Pharsalus

Used steel to take the laurel you wore prettily,

Thinking your enemies were silenced thus,

Who'd tell you, busy ruling Italy,

Your own bad end? Except for one who knew

Your destiny is fixed in spite of you.

After Lope de Vega

Troy fell, because it was its fate to fall.

It burned; we all know how the story goes.

But since that story is now known to all,

Greece, which once burned it, ever grows

More jealous of the city that it burned.

So I, who have been burnt at heart

Become more famous for the way I yearned

Than I had been when not yet torn apart.

This is the way life compensates us fools;

Our fates are fatal, but our recompense

Heats us with fame even as fortune cools:

Mischance brings notoriety immense.

So those of us who cannot have good luck

Become more famous for the way things suck.

Negotiating In Bad Faith

I fear that we have seen this play before:

That every plot and twist has been previewed

And that, to make a blunt point and be rude,

It was a flop. I will not close the door

On every hope of what could be in store,

But I remember how it was reviewed,

How it began, and also what ensued,

And find I have no wish for an encore.

Oh, let the Democrats cease to pursue

The votes Republicans will not provide

And seek instead the country's good alone!

Forget the script they'd have you come back to

Remember all the prior times they lied

And do your best, although you work alone!