Sex

For the ultimate
In delightful recreation,
Through sexual stimulation,
Designed for procreation,
To further human perpetuation,
Man uses the organs of elimination,
An ironic twist of nature's folly,
Quite contrary - yet, quite jolly....

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Crazy Gods

Oh, let this rotten world be torn apart,
Divined by crazy gods without a heart,
Where death is destined from the very start,
And men are born and die in pain,
Spending life's interval in vain,
And in the end - just turn to dust,
As all poor mortals must...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Brother

Today they buried my brother,
They shot him in the streets of Baghdad,
They murdered him in the suburbs of Tel Aviv,
His blood stained the deserts of Sudan,
They killed him in the villages of Rwanda,
He was mugged in the streets of New York,
But his eyes, his eyes burn vividly
Into the essence of my soul,
For I'm ashamed that I could not help him,
And feel diminished because I lost him.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Diana

She has a touch of class,
Seasoned with elegance and style,
Spiced with a racy disposition,
And an intellect worthwhile,
She cannot be neglected,
For her reactions maybe unexpected,
Another quality apparent and distinct,
Is constancy in her maternal instinct,
Lucky the chap who has her as a wife,
She'll provide him with an intriguing life.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Hero

Said the imam
To the suicide bomber,
'Blow up the infidel,
Don't wait any longer,
If, Allah forbid, you delay,
With the virgins in heaven,
You won't have your way,
And the Saudis won't pay
For your family's stay,
Just blow yourself up,
And amongst our heroes,
You'll be at the top'.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Through Ruby Eyes

Oh, let this tired, old world
Melt into oblivion,
For I have lived
Long and hard
And seen the world
Through ruby eyes,
Wars, conflagrations,
Six million of my brethren
Burned in camps,
And still no end to mayhem;
If there be gods,
They must be weeping.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Beware!

Beware of god-appointed leaders,
Pontificating on 'gods,
Values and Christianity',
With their redundant blathering,
They'll lead our country
Into a theocracy,
Where oil magnates
And robber barons
Rule the state,
And fascist overlords
Determine our fate,
Like Hitler once did,
Preaching war and hate.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Ode to Beauty

How deeply do I cherish
Young beauty - soon to perish,
So precious and divine
For only moments
In eternal time,
Ere ravages of age
Vanquishes beauty
Fom life's stage,
And only memories remain,
Where once great beauty
Held its reign.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

A Twisted Soul

A twisted soul,
Going through life
Without a goal,
Trying to find
Purpose and meaning
In this mortal clay,
Searching and searching,
He never found his way.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

If There Be Gods...

If there be gods,
I love them not,
They gave us Auschwitz,
Wars and other rot,
Gods must be good,
Or gods they're not...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Shades of Totalitarianism

Their twisted sophistry
Misrepresents their aim,
In actuality they plan
A different game,
Compassionate conservatism
Serves for public confusion,
But religious fundamentalism
Is the basis of their real solution,
In a regime where semi-fascism
Lingers just around the bend,
Democracy is at its end.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Hungerian Gypsies 1935-1945

At the village end,
On a flowery field,
The gypsy wagons stand,
And on quiet moonlit nights,
Music drifts down from their camp,
Haunting notes from their gypsy band,
Melodies from a people apart,
Plaintive, sweet and melancholy,
They do break my heart.

They were burnt in the ovens
At Auschwitz one day,
But on quiet, moonlit nights,
I still hear my gypsies play.....

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Hedi - Jerusalem 1974

Queen of the Golden City,
Bringing back memories,
Of happy days long ago,
Recalling childhood joys,
Growing up together,
Fighting and loving,
Then, meeting after many years,
Grown into a fine woman
With a fine mind,
Like a clear, clear lake,
Reflecting an exquisite soul,
And then, of her own choosing,
Selecting darkness and obscurity,
Ending her own life,
In a moment of despair,
Rejecting a world,
Full of possibilities,
For merciful oblivion,
No one really knew why,
Gone - but always lingering
On in my memory,
Like a precious moment,
Sweet with nostalgia and love,
Nobility in despair,
Diminishing me by losing her,
Yet, she lives on in my heart,
Till my darkness comes,
- and then blotted out -
Exept for the eternal mind,
Who has recorded her life,
As one of its better moments....

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Infinite Circle of Time and Space

When I leave my mortal clay,
Soul and mind cease their earthly stay,
Flesh and bones left in decay,
Yet, my eternal atoms never die,
Turn to clouds up in the sky,
Or an eagle flying high,
Perchance into a tiger's eye,
And within the infinite circle
Of curved time and space,
There 's renewal of the race,
Repeating the cycle evermore,
Of lives lived - excactly as before...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Ode to a Dead Poet

The poet 's gone,
But while he lived,
He gave us
Dreams and hopes
With his poetic gift,
Illuminated darkness
With his muse's light,
Made our lives
More insightful and bright,
He used his pen
With style and grace,
And left this world
A better place.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

My Grandfather's Fiddle

Well do I remember
My grandfather and his fiddle,
A Jewish soul set to music,
Happy, sometimes plaintive and sad,
Painting my chilodhood
With the vivid colors
Of a treasured memory,
The quickening shadows of the years
Have scattered us all over the globe,
Some of his little ones,
Dead in the camp at Auschwitz,
Or heavens knows where else,
But up there, he watches us,
The remnants of our family,
And in my dreams,
I still hold on to his coattails,
And in some empty, cold moments,
I close my eyes and hear his fiddle,
And then - all is well with the world...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

My Grandfather's Fiddle

Well do I remember
My grandfather and his fiddle,
A Jewish soul set to music,
Happy, sometimes plaintive and sad,
Painting my chilodhood
With the vivid colors
Of a treasured memory,
The quickening shadows of the years
Have scattered us all over the globe,
Some of his little ones,
Dead in the camp at Auschwitz,
Or heavens knows where else,
But up there, he watches us,
The remnants of our family,
And in my dreams,
I still hold on to his coattails,
And in some empty, cold moments,
I close my eyes and hear his fiddle,
And then - all is well with the world...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

I Knew Some Women

I knew some women,
Virginal and quite puritanical,
But behind their facade,
Ill-willed, satanical,
With a very proper outside shell,
Yet within - a cauldron from hell.

I knew some women,
Sex they'd gladly sell,
With golden hearts and souls
Within their inner shell,
Never selfish, cold or vain,
God, I'd wish to meet them again!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Modern Times

It's a gross impropriety,
To be normal in today's society,
For to fit into the scheme,
As the man in the scene,
One must be perverse
And neurotic,
In a world quite psychotic.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

His Faith

Frankly, he won't give a damn,
If a war is off or on,
Were his wife to run away,
Or his children turn out gay,
Should his business go astray,
And they outsource him away,
His affairs in disarray,
His friends calling it a day,
Frankly he won't give a damn,
If a moron runs Uncle Sam,
But the values he holds dear
Are his comics, ball games, beer,
And his faith in holy rollers
Makes him cheer.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

The Dead...

Did you see those
Silent legions march
Across the leaden sky,
And when you listen closely,
You can hear their plaintive cry,
'We are the dead from Auschwitz,
Why did you let us die?
Never forget us - never,
We'll haunt the skies forever,
In heavens high above,
You murdered us in hate,
Remember us with love...'

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

The Princess and the Slave

In the gardens of Grenada,
The princess takes her daily walk,
To her young slave Mohab,
Does she idle there to talk,
"Every day you do look paler,
When I see you in the park,
And your voice sounds ever fainter,
Like the song of the dying lark",
Said the slave who just adored her,
"I belong to the tribe of Mohove,
Those who die for unrequited love".

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Distant Light

In the unholy darkness
Of the stormy night,
I see a flickering, shining light,
A distant and fond memory,
What once was a democracy,
Till it went fraudulently
Into the very wrong hand,
Of a totally incompetent,
Who cares not
For his people or his soil,
But has his interests
In the profits from the oil.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Herta

I met her when
She was nineteen,
A stunning beauty,
A vision rarely seen,
Yet, in her eyes
A melancholy quality,
Some deep trauma,
Reflecting in her personality,
Discovered that the Holocaust
Had left its stamp,
When as a teen they forced her
To sex-service soldiers
In a German army camp.

The years have passed,
She's now my friend's wife,
A home, two children,
And a good life,
A happy pair,
But that melancholy look?
Yes, it's still there...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Beget and Begot

Beget and begot,
't is man's fated lot,
and as the old Bible says,
"Perpetuate the human race",
till starving humanity
runs out of living space,
remedying this condition,
by fighting wars of attrition,
for 'gods, crosses and stars',
to justify resulting wars,
recallng the old Bard's
poignant philosophy:
"What fools these mortals be."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Here Today - Gone Tomorrow

You're here today,
And gone tomorrow,
Just fading memories,
And not much sorrow,
Some joys, some tears,
A bit of love and lust,
An interval of life,
A trip from dust to dust,
From childhood to senility,
A tragic-comic play
About the nature of futility,
You're here today,
And gone tomorrow,
Just fading memories,
And passing sorrow...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz

Flighty Birds

Gone are the days,
When life was jolly,
The wonder years
Of youthful zest,
And love's sweet folly,
Those best of times,
Casting a magic spell,
Like flighty birds I knew,
And loved too well...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz