We are the little people...

We are the little people...
Our kids go off to war and die
Seldom know the reason why,
But our House members do know,
For oil and profits they must go,
But their sons get to stay home,
They never have to fight,
While our boys are gone,
Perchance, to lie under a stone.

We are the little people...
Our food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid,
All entitlements
Are cut by our government,
While to the rich man's tax
They benevolently take the ax,
While downsizing our labor forces
Through a system which out-sources.

We are the little people...
But we are the majority,
Let's vote those robber barons out,
For they are the minority!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Truth and Beauty

Truth and beauty
Are closely related,
Joys to behold
And celebrated,
In a world
Where the false,
The vile
Are currently
In style.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Brave New World

From the erection
To the resurrection,
Big Brother will be watching you,
Give you a number, take your DNA,
Record all you do or say,
Put a chip into your head,
Control your life,
Till you are dead.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

'Mein Kampf' - Reborn

In 'Mein Kampf' Hitler wrote:
People are dumb, tell them a lie,
Repeat it often enough,
They'll believe - won't ask why...

Seems they've adopted his style,
Read 'Mein Kampf',
Found his policy worthwhile.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Religion

'Religion is the opiate of the people',
Karl Marx wrote long ago,
A simplistic explanation
Of a world I do not know,
To keep the masses quiet,
Allay their fear of death,
Thus, make religions grow,
And millions to their death were sent
In religious wars
Which never seem to end.
In all this I easily do find
Manipulators
Using hypnosis of the mind,
Reaching the rather sad conclusion
That all religions are delusions,
For this strange universe
I sense and see
Is far more complex
Than man's religious philosophy.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Methadone Center Counselor

Here stand the lost souls
Of this world,
Addiction squashed
Unbearable reality for them,
In silent lines they stand
And wait their turn
To drink the brew which keeps
Their lives on even keel,
And then they come to him
To tell him of their woes,
Of their despair,
Their shattered dreams,
They talk of things
Which might have been,
Of beauty they had known and lost,
Of ravished lives and chances gone,
While with compassion
He attempts to mend
Their broken souls,
And lifts them back
Into that sphere of life
Where darkness ends
And the first rays of light
Play dreamily
Upon the strings of hope...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Stalingrad

In icy morn's gray,
To rhythmic drums' play,
Black-clad SS
March in formation
To drive scared Soviets away,
But Russian machine guns
Blow them away
Like stalks
In a field of hay,
And ten thousand die
'neath Stalingrad's
Leaden sky.

In Stalingrad,
On some cloudy day,
Some travelers say,
They see ghostly
Black squadrons
In the icy morn's gray,
Flying by, flying by
'cross the City's
Leaden sky...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Life...

It is a shabby life,
Encumbered by problems,
Anxiety and strife,
A constant struggle
To survive,
While knowing
Just around the bend
There lurks oblivion
At its end...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Eternal Atoms and Circular Infinity

The body and the soul I cherish
Will after my limited lifetime
With certainty soon perish,
But the atoms in my body will go on
For eons till the universe is gone,
They may be part of a cloud in the sky,
Turn up in wings of a bird flying high,
Perchance, within a man passing by,
And if the Theory of
Circular Infinity holds true,
Those atoms may recombine in time
To make an other me or you...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Imagination

Fearing death's final bell,
Man imagines gods, heavens or hell,
Believing in some afterlife,
Which stays their fears and suits them well,
But the reality of it all no one can tell,
For life's secret schemes
Are way beyond our poor dreams.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Republicans

To the rich they grant tax honey,
From the poor they withhold money,
Cut their food stamps, Welfare, Medicare,
For our people - they don't care,
Steeped in corruption
Through lobbyists' seduction,
Led by a White House resident,
Who's totally incompetent,
Never cared about our soil,
Only for the profits from the oil,
Led us to a field, afar,
Into an unnecessary war,
Where our young men die,
Never knowing the reason why?
Yes, they made their power connection
Through gerrymandering
And a Supreme Court selection,
Facilitating a corrupt election.
Let us get together - shout:
Next election - throw them out!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Illusions and String Theory

I've come to the rather sad conclusions,
That our realities are only sense illusions,
For all we sense, touch or see
Are only vibrating strings of energy,
In a world which always seems,
But never, ever is,
While we go on and on
In some delusive bliss...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Nature's Scheme

When a dominant specie,
The race of men,
Reaches the point
Where they upset
The very scheme of things,
Then nature finds a way
To curb their hubris
Through wars, decay
And natural disasters,
Perchance, to spell
The end of man.
These are the cruel facts,
The rest is commentary.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

A Mix

In the sunny corner of her mind,
A radiance and a love of life I find,
But in the darker reaches of her soul
Lurk fear and hidden monsters,
Dark as night and black as coal,
Which taken altogether,
Turns her overall impression gray,
A mix of colors most humans display.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

To be or not to be

Life is precious beyond words,
Yet, when this mortal clay
Declines beyond the pale,
And agonies do overwhelm
The joy de vivre,
Then the 'to be'
Turns into a nightmare
Of pain and suffering,
Till 'not to be' is the solution.
Term it not death, but a return
To the same stage ere one was born,
A painless nothingness.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Invitation

Come, play with me
At the game of love,
Be it tender,
Be it rough,
Passions not wild
Are never enough,
Come, play with me
At the game of love!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Retired in Florida

We yak and gossip at the pool,
Stay in the water to keep cool,
Visit our doctors every day,
For we're insured,
Don't have to pay,
And our doctors like it too,
Without the seniors they can't do,
We never drive our cars at night,
For our old eyes need more light,
And at our clubhouse we play rummy,
Or other card games not so crummy,
At five we go for the early bird dinner,
Where every senior is a winner,
For the prices are a bit thinner,
Though we don't get any slimmer,
And evenigs, at our theater we see a show,
Put on by ancient stars,
Who had retired long ago,
And nights we flirt with all the ladies,
Who're past the stage to worry about babies,
Ah yes, the senior life in Florida is great,
Whether you're married or looking for a date.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Gas Chamber

Naked we stood in the 'shower room',
Men, women, children tightly packed,
Waiting for the shower or doom,
Neither windows nor light,
All shivering with fright,
In the darkness of night.
Suddenly an acrid,
Bitter almond smell,
Are they killing us
In this veritable hell?
Gradually increasing
The chocking, the screaming,
Is this nightmare real
Or am I dreaming,
The old rabbi shouts:
Shemah Israel,
Then his voice descends
Into a desperate wail,
Then slowly subsides the crying
And turns into chocking and dying,
A naked woman holds on to me,
And I, in turn, could not let her be,
An embrace which would last
Till death's shadow is cast,
And my last thought was:
God, why oh why
Are we, The Chosen, to die...

The capos cleaned up the following day,
Found a couple embraced in an intimate way,
Said one to the other:
It was their last hurrah in death's final play...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

A Valid View

"What do you think of
Stevenson for president",
Some curious soul
Asked Frank Lloyd Wright,
"Too good a man for the job",
The great architect replied.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

The Lodger

My husband is my lodger,
Used to be great,
But he's now an old codger,
Often a pain,
All my efforts in vain,
His sex is gone,
He's deaf as a stone,
There's little flesh,
Mostly skin and bone,
Just an old codger,
Who pays his rent,
Like any lodger.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Mozart and Bush

A short life, contributing
Genius, style and grace,
Is a great asset
To the human race,
While a longer life,
Causing conflict,
Damage and disgrace,
Will leave this world
A lesser place.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Transformation

Ah yes, Martha,
I know her quite well,
Her outer shell - heaven,
Her soul - a bit of hell,
Pretty and charming,
Her psyche - alarming,
A rich old codger
She married,
Died mysteriously,
Was quietly buried.

She now flourishes
In the Palms,
A high society lady,
Noted for wealth,
Charity, charms...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

On a Golden Carpet

On a golden carpet I float
Across an azure sky,
Where gods reside
And angels fly,
With peace
And contentment
Reigning my heart,
While way below,
The world comes apart,
When wars'
Inflamed passions
Make killing an art.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Her Beauty Never Fades

To me, she is
A beauty of renown,
A stunning figure
In her wedding gown,
And though some claim
That age has been
Her beauty's bane,
To me, she'll always be
Her glorious same.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Ladies Beware!

Beware of the Adonis
With the fabulous sell,
Beneath the blankets
He may not do so well,
For he's long in snout,
But short in tail,
He charms all the ladies,
But in sex he'd fail,
He promised a boa,
But supplied a snail,
Thus, love as an ointment
Becomes disappointment.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Selective Perception

Nature and nurture selection
Conditions selective perception,
Thus, one man rejects,
What another selects,
With tastes and desires
Rarely the same
In life and all facets
Of this human game.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Damaged People

Damaged people
Do regress,
Often turning dangerous,
For a psyche in distress
Creates for society
A risky mess,
With functions impaired,
Psychosis grows,
Unless repaired
By counselors
Who cared...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Life is Tenuous

Life is a tenuous affair,
Easily damaged,
Without tender care,
And any moment,
Just 'round the bend,
It may suddenly end,
So, enjoy the present
With careful intent,
Live fully today,
For a happy tomorrow
May not come your way.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

He Got Even

To love and honor and obey,
She promised, when they wed,
Yet neither love nor honor,
But dismay
Was in the life they led,
Though he got even with her
In their marriage bed,
Fed up with women,
Causing his dismay,
He changed his orientation
And turned gay.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

The War in Iraq

1
It's economic necessity of the gravest kind,
The military-industrial complex must be fed,
For else, prosperity will fall into a fatal bind,
Overproduction will ensue, and business will be dead.
2
The spheres of influence must now be closely drawn,
It's not just Iraq that here really is at stake,
Aggression tolerated will bring the war to our lawn,
And foreign armies will then slice us like a cake.
3
Is a religious conflict shaping up,
Or is this only a foil,
Could it, perchance, be
That this war is just fought for the oil?

Epilogue

Which face is true?
Maybe all three,
I do not know, do you?
But one thing I can surely see,
The Bard, he held the key,
When he did state contemptuously:
'What fools these mortals be!'

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Manhattan's Faceless Crowd

A faceless crowd
With nameless fears
Drifts through the canyons
Every day,
They don't know why,
They don't know where,
Directionless is their brief stay,
And in the turmoil,
Like little ants,
They run their circular way,
They are an absurdity
In an absurd world,
Where their roles they play,
But oblivion lurks
At beginning and end,
While the interval is gray.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

everyone?

everyone running -
not knowing whereto...
everyone talking -
not knowing what...
everyone hoping -
not knowing whatfor...
everyone living -
not knowing why...
everyone dying -
not knowing when...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

New York - Vienna

Queen city on the Danube,
Place of my perished youthful dreams,
For more years than I care to remember
Has my imagination painted vivid pictures
Of my old home, quietly longed for,
Upstream, like the salmon,
Have I returned to you,
To find my illusions shattered,
To see an old, empty city,
Lacking vitality and life,
Sans color, meaningless, superficial,
Living only in past glory,
And after I returned home,
In the quiet of my garden,
Fragrant with flowers,
Listening to the delicious sounds
Of the cicadas,
After spending my day
In that magnificent Athens
Of our time - New York,
I stealthily looked around,
So that no one should see me,
And I touched the precious ground
With burning, grateful lips.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Chassidic Wedding

Two orthodox souls united,
With dance, wine and song all excited,
Klezmer playing throughout the night,
All energies spent by dawn's early light,
They'll keep their vows with honor and grace,
Have their ten children, increasing their race.
Beget and begot in the Bible it's writ,
Commanding the Chosen to do their bit.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz