The Poet

John was an old bachelor
Who worked as a clerk
For little money
And no perk,
But every evening
Till late at night
In his furnished room
Poetry he'd write.
"I'll soon be dead",
He one day said,
"But my poetry
Will be famous
And widely read",
Only his landlady
Gave his creation
To the Department
Of Sanitation,
Soon to be seen
As a reprocessed
Paper ream;
So, if you can read
Between the lines,
You'll find John's poetry
In the New York Times.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Survival

Walking down a country lane,
Flowers blooming, framed by green,
Dreaming under canopies of stars
Peaceful, quiet and serene,
Happy that the raging wars
Have as yet here not been seen,
But the killers of the infidel
Soon may come to our shore
As they did five years before
When our Towers - dearly cherished
In fiery glows suddenly perished;
So, if we want to go on living,
Let's bomb those fanatics
Into eternal oblivion,
As we most certainly can,
Same as we finished
The war in Japan!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Defend Freedom

Rise up, my people of the West,
When those vagrant desert rats
Who want to kill the 'infidel'
Put our free lands to the test.
We won't accept suicidal ravages
From those fanatic savages.
Let's cure this spreading human cancer
With an all-consuming radioactive blast
If we want our freedoms and democracy
To survive this century and last!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

WAR

FIRST WORLD WAR
Grandfather in battle of Verdun,
Six hundred thousand - dead,
Trenches stacked with bodies,
Poppies grow in blood-soaked fields.
SECOND WORLD WAR
Father on Omaha Beach, Normandy,
Bodies floating in the surf,
Colored with blood and oil,
Thousands buried in Normandy's soil,
Burned wrecks on the beach till today.
KOREAN WAR
Son fought on the icy slopes of Korea,
Killed - one amongst thousands
While taking a long forgotten hill.
IRAQI WAR
His son lost both legs near Baghdad,
Rest of his crew turned into ashes
When their tank hit a mine.

The next generations waiting for
Their turn in the perpetual slaughter,
Who through the ages suffer and die
And never know the reason WHY?

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Power of the People

Render not unto the Caesars
Of this world, religious fanatics
Politicians, idle dreamers
And perverted idealists
The power of the people,
Those simple folks
Who with their blood
Sweat and honest labor
Build our cities,
Work our farms,
Man our factories
And sevice our needs,
Let not those honest, decent
Men and women be perverted
And ruined by preachers
Spouting religious nonsense
Or fall prey to
Warmongers and politicians,
Those power elite predators
Who with their phony platitudes
Create the decadence, poverty
And world wide warfare
Which destroys
The very fabric of our society.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Bird of Paradise

Caught sight of
The bird of paradise
One lucky day,
Tried to catch the bird
But it just flew away,
Never to be mine - to stay,
For the prophets say:
Only once in life
There'll be a day
When the bird of paradise
May come your way.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

If you want dreams
To turn into reality,
If the not to be
Is to be the probably,
Anchor your believes
In a self-fulfilling prophecy,
Where will, thought and hope
Create reality...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Eulogy for Jesse

A friend indeed,
Always ready
To help in need,
A strong proclivity
For sensitivity,
He purged his soul
With poetry,
In decency and character
He passed the highest test,
In every way,
Our Jesse was the best,
He'll be sadly missed
Now, that he's laid to rest.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Think of you...

In a small cafe
Down old Vienna way
To music on a gramophone
We danced the night away
Till the very last waltz
At the break of day,
Though a lifetime passed
And I'm old and gray,
I still think of you
In that small cafe
Down old Vienna way...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Hawking

Ensconed within a fragile shell,
A shadow of a man who cannot talk,
He neither moves nor can he walk,
Dormant, he silently sits in his chair,
Caught in his wretched body's snare,
A prisoner of his affliction,
Progressive paralysis is his prediction,
And yet, within that broken bit of flesh,
There lives a mind - powerful, fresh,
The greatest intellect of our generation
Who comprehends
The universe and its creation,
Man's progress furthered
Through his contemplation,
If there be gods above who care,
I'd say to them: Life is not fair...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Romantic Dreams

Dreamt of romantic places
I have never seen,
Looked for a world
Where I have never been,
Yearned for success,
A happy marriage,
Greatest of wealth,
The perfect life,
But after all my struggles
And my strife,
I'm now on Welfare
In a Beirut slum,
Together with my
Seventh wife...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Love and Sex

Love without sex
Is an empty lair,
Sex without love
Makes not a pair,
Were you to wed,
Love needs a friend
In and out of bed...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Would you?

Would you help me
When I'm old and gray,
Be at my side
When I've lost my way,
If I'm abandoned
Would you stay,
Still be my light
When darkness
Touches me
One day?

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Return to Vienna

Survivors gathered
After sixty years,
Recalling memories,
Forgotten tears,
Nightmares revisited
And horrid fears,
The many dead
Still haunt this place
Where Nazis once
Killed a whole race,
But life goes on
The good old way,
'Gemuetlichkeit'
Each pleasant day,
But when you
Look them in the eye,
They look away,
'We never did a thing'
They say...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Shattered Expectations

Big macho John
Pounded his hairy chest,
Shouting: Dynamite, Dynamite!
In curvy, little Daisy Lou
This lit an instant light,
Shacked up with John
And spent the night,
But by the break
Of dawn's early light
For John she had bad news:
'I have no use
For all this dynamite
With such a little fuse.'

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

In flagrante

Exquisite moments of rapture
Were mine to capture
On a passionate night,
Moonbeams playing on the surf
With a silvery light,
Two hearts - fancy free
In uninhibited delight.
Suddenly, her husband appeared
And I shivered with fright,
So scared - I almost died,
But calmly she told him:
'He pays all our bills',
'Cover him well', said he,
'Don't let him get chills,
I'll be back when he's had his fill'.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

The Scheme of Things

If there be gods, they'd rip apart
This sorry scheme of life on earth,
When man, created in god's image,
Destroys his own blue planet and himself
With his perverse intelligence
Causing decadence, wars and pollution,
Posing a danger to the delicate balance
Of the micro and macrocosm
Which rules this universe.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Life is a Chess Game

The power elite
Has control, glory and fame
While the pawns do the labor,
Pay the taxes and carry the blame,
Fight the king's wars
In God's and flag's name
And the elite war profits gain,
Then, confidentially,
The king tells his queen:
Lucky for us, but how foolish
Those peasants seem.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Joys of Sex

Ah - the joys of sex,
This most delightful habit,
Practiced by men and beasts
And most efficiently by rabbits,
Man's primary, happy occupation,
Rampant in every blessed nation,
To further health and recreation.
Sex - this shining symbol
For successful reproduction,
Yet, lovers have to be beware
By having sex with utmost care,
Preventing the catastrophes
Of those unwanted pregnancies,
But overall - better by far
Than having fun in making war.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Advertising

Sell the sizzle
Not the steak,
Withhold reality,
Sell the fake,
If you have an evil smell,
Use itchy deodorants
To romance well,
Sell the sugared flake,
The sweet candies
And packaged cake
To the parent and the kid
With superman's flick
As a selling hit,
Ignoring the chancy
Diabetes bit,
Sell a credit card
To the poor chap
With a high interest trap,
Sell a huge monster car
Where the gas
Won't take you far.
Advertise and sell, sell, sell,
The cosumer will be broke
But the adman will do well!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Desert Games

You were but nomads
In a desert land,
Savages needing
A helping hand,
When we returned
To our rightful land,
We came to you
As a helpful friend,
But you just fought
And tried to kill us
To the very end,
But all the patience
We have known
Is now forgotten
- gone,
Now, it's either us or you,
In order to survive,
This we must do:
There'll be a holy blast
Vaporizing your people,
Turning your cities
Into radioactive glass...

Alfred Charasz
Coptright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Jews

May heaven help and bless
My persecuted Jews
Who with their contributions
More than paid their dues,
A humane, caring people
Who gave the world
The Bible, Jesus, Einstein,
Freud and monotheism,
Now faced with
Genocide, antisemitism
Threatening their life,
But faith does help them
To survive,
Always imbued
With an unflinching
Reverence for life.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Creative Fire

With intellect, passion
And an inner fire
Mixed with
Creative genius and desire,
Artists and scientists
Create the works
Which we admire.

Let our nation be beware,
To achieve progress,
Nourish those creators
- few and rare,
With tender, loving care.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Circular Infinity and Eternity

If you are haunted
With terror, fear and sorrow
By specters of inevitable death
On some unexpected morrow
And have no faith in any divinity,
An afterlife or holy trinity,
Consider circular infinity,
When in the curvature
Of time and space,
A perfect repetition
Of your present life,
Eons from now,
Would take place
And replication of events,
In circular infinity,
Will be the consequence.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Mermaids

On a moonlit night,
A lonely, young sailor,
Sailing the China Sea,
Saw a luscious mermaid
Beckoning him
With a haunting melody:
'Sailor, young sailor,
Come to me,
Join me in my palace
'neath the China Sea',
And the sailor's heart
Took a sudden spin,
Looked at the mermaid
And jumped right in,
But started to cry and wail,
For his beauty on top,
Below had a tail,
Though his luck turned a lot
When her sister he got,
A beauty below,
But a fish on the top,
And if you sail the China Sea,
On some moonlit night,
A happy sailor
With two mermaids you'd see.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Don't Blame...

Don't blame the gods,
Parents, fate, chance
Or charitable institution
For any of your failures
As their contribution,
Look for the flaws
Within your own sweet soul
If your life turns into a total loss
Without a purpose or a goal.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

I have a Dream

I have a dream
Where Abraham's children,
Cousins - Arabs and Jews,
To peace and friendship
Pay their dues
Instead of adding
Fighting and killing
Into the daily news.

I have a dream
Of a Middle East,
So rich in oil,
To better lives
For people on their soil,
Make their future sweet
As milk and honey,
Make their lives sunny
With fair wages,
Decent money,
And give them
Democracy, equality,
Freedom and liberty.

I have a dream
That each single
Glory seeking
Warmonger
And Agitator
Blows himself up,
Sooner than later,
In empty deserts
Near the equator.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Foreign Accent

"What a lovely, foreign accent",
Almost every day
To me people 'd say,
And then ask:
"Where 'd you come from?"
"Don't know 'bout my Dad,
But I'm sure 'bout my Mom",
I'd reply - with a sigh.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

To my Wife - Felice

My best friend in life
Is my partner - my wife,
Through thick
And through thin,
Together we've been,
And I know very well,
If there'd be
A heaven or hell,
Forever and ever,
Together
We'd dwell...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Beyond the Atom - String Theory

Our reality is fraudulent bliss,
In a world which seems
But never, ever is,
For our image world
Is only sense pretension
Of the real world
In an other dimension,
A world, one can never see,
Composed of tiny, invisible
Strings of throbbing energy.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Content

I don't want
To set the world afire,
For great riches
I have no desire,
A little sunshine,
A little love,
For me,
That is enough.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

A Mother's Lament

'All quiet in Iraq today',
The bulletin just read,
One soldier blown up, dead,
His body shredded by a mine,
Only one soldier, only one,
But he was mine - all mine...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Arabia

Long, long ago,
When Egypt was still
A British Colony,
A chap wrote a trilogy
About some Christian Copts,
Then, the intellectual elite
Of the Arab World,
Lamenting Arabia's fate.

"Once, our Arab Nation
Had a great, free culture,
A shining symbol to the world,
Dominating Spain and
The entire Mediterranean area,
And now we live like desert rats
Under the yoke of a colonial power.
What are we to do?"

Replied Doctor N.:

"Let's urge the British
To bring the cockpit of Europe,
Some of their intellectual elite,
To Palestine, into the Jerusalem area,
Where the great Jew, Jesus, our
Son of God, once gave his message,
And let his people,
Our cousins, the Jews,
Have a small area as a homeland.
This, will stir our Arabs up,
Rip them out of their lethargy,
And, perchance, return them
To a new glorious, enlightened future
Like the splendor - lost so long ago."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Oracle

While in Delphi one fine day,
Heard the Prophetess Sibyl say:
From religions shy away,
Avoid preachers and politicians,
They are the world's
Most crooked magicians,
Running this planet
Without inhibitions,
From making territorial
And religious war decisions,
To using suicide bombers,
Threats and Inquisitions,
From the fights against abortions
To fanatic Moslems' distortions,
Men dying in battles
For ideas and soil
Or for the profits from the oil,
The imam yelling -
Kill the Infidel
To the Western cry -
Fight for the Oil Cartel.
Yes, for politics and religion,
People die -
Never know the reason why.

Then, to wind up
Prophetess Sibyl said:
Chances are God is dead
Or if he is still here,
We never, ever met.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

New World 2006

Mother, God and apple pie
Have gone down the drain,
Gone, the quiet, peaceful walks
On a country lane,
Villages which sleep all day,
Lazy in the sun,
All the silent happiness
Suddenly is gone,
Noise, pollution are the game,
Big computers counting you
And a number is your name,
Cattle cars take you to work,
Big Brother is watching you,
Non-conformists have a quirk,
Quickly disassemble them
And remodel them again
Into robots which say"Yes",
Gads, is this a holy mess!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Mad World

Gads, let this mad,
Mad world be torn apart
Which turned war, genocide
And killing into an art,
With chauvinistic nations
And religious fanatics
In suicidal relations,
Fighting to pervert minds
And capture soil
Or for the benefits
Of some polluting oil.

If there be gods,
They would exert their toll
And suck this planet earth
Into the swirl of a black hole.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Gus

"My boy, it's very hard
To work your way up,
Keep on plugging,
Never stop,
Use brain and brawn
To reach the top,
Came to America
As a poor refugee,
And now,
Just look at me!"

"I know him well,
This air bag, Gus,
He's always been
A total loss,
No brains, no brawn,
Chap, rather gross,
Married the daughter
Of our boss."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Farmer's Daughter

Traveling down Georgia way,
Met this sweet, young Daisy Mae,
Farmer's daughter, on my stay,
Had a great roll in the hay,
Both of us quite young and green,
Much of the world we'd not seen,
Loved her, did not want to tarry,
Promised, I will stay and marry,
But left the farm in a big hurry
When I heard that she makes merry
With young Tom, big Dick and Harry.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Love Song

No one loves you
Like I do,
My heart, my soul
Yearn just for you,
No one else
I ever knew
Captured my heart
Like you, like you,
I love your eyes,
Your lips, your hair,
All of you - ever so fair,
Only for you,
My love, I care,
If, heavens forbid,
You'd find someone new,
Forever I'd be blue,
I simply can't be
Without you.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

Man's Destiny

An infinite sadness
Touches my heart,
When I think
Of mens' lives
Destined for death
From the very start.
They're born in pain
And live in vain,
Then die without gain,
Turning to dust
As all men must,
Just a fleeting dream
In a senseless scene,
Some heartless
God's scheme.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz

The Ancient Hebrews

Sumerians, Greeks
And Romans,
Great civilizations,
Once admired, cherished,
Have turned to dust
And perished,
But the ancient Hebrews,
Those wanderers,
Now known as Jews,
Are still around
To make the news,
Still contribute,
Throughout the ages,
To religion, science,
Literature and art,
With Jesus, Einstein,
Freud, Chagall and
Bernstein for a start;
In human history,
They play their part.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz