Excursions into the Unknown

Within my fragile body
Lives the smithy of my soul,
In its unique song and verse
It ranges far and wide
Throughout the universe
And every local place,
Integral part of the common
Consciousness of our race,
My mind does all the heavens,
Stars and worlds embrace,
I am but part of the big cosmos
Cell of all creation,
Each man, each mind, each cell
Exists in correlation,
Within the infinite circle
Of time and space we move,
Each man in that big disk
Just one little groove,
Combined we make the
Glorious music of the spheres,
This universal song of life
Which every being hears,
And in the same circle
The record turns round and round,
Through all eternity we listen
To its haunting sound,
While all things in the curve
Of time and space
Repeat themselves, always
Returning to the same old place,
For all in this universe moves
To the same rhythm and tune
In unison, be it the earth,
The stars, the sun, the moon,
Today the atoms may form
A man of flesh and bone,
Eons from now, they maybe part
Of stardust or of stone,
But as eternal time makes
The circle of events complete,
All which exists or has ever been
Will then repeat......

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The War

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 only Iraq
Which is here at stake,
Aggression tolerated will
Bring the war to our lawn
And foreign armies
Will then slice us like a cake.

3)
It really is an East-West
Religious conflict shaping up,
The West's prerogative
Has drained its cup,
This freedom-democratic
Drag is just a foil,
Racists and the Taliban
Germinated in a common soil,
Islamic powers now
New superiorities pretend,
It's sad that word 'equality'
Is difficult for all to comprehend.

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 stated contemptuously
What fools these mortals be.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Marriage?

The Proposal

I love you more
Than you will ever know,
Your voice, your eyes,
Your very self entrance me so,
Your presence sets my heart aglow,
Without you, I just cannot be,
My darling, will you marry me?

After One Year of Marriage

If I see this neurotic woman
One more day,
I'll just pack up and run away.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Morality?

We pay lip service
To morality
In a world of sins
And carnality
With honesty
Its ultimate fatality.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The New Rulers

Where are those stalwart men
Who once ruled our land,
Has time replaced them
With a robber baron band,
Those predatory rulers
Who are getting out of hand?

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Idealism

My spirit and my soul
Are incarcerated by reality
With its daily grind
Of kitsch and banality
With idealistic dreams discarded
And crass materialism rewarded.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

On Life...

The life we cherish
Too soon will perish,
A little laughter,
A little sorrow,
We're here today,
We're gone tomorrow,
We never own,
We only borrow...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The Towers - Lest we Forget

The gleaming Towers,
Reflecting sunlight,
Are no more,
It's not the same world
As it was before,
The enemy is here,
He's passed our door,
The savage anarchist
Of a darker past
Has come to our shore,
At last,
Let us not go
Into eternal night,
If we are not to perish,
Let us fight,
We wont accept such ravages
From those fanatic savages,
We have the weapons
And the force
To heap destruction
On those devils
At their source,
The sleeping giant of the West
Is now awake,
Those Arab terrorists
Made a mistake.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Which Religion?

A priest, a rabbi and an imam
Explained their religions to the queen.
"Of all the religions you have seen,
Which one do you prefer",
The king asked the queen.
She answered without hesitation:
"To me, they all seem obscene."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

In flagrante

He found his wife
With her lover in bed,
He raised his gun
To shoot them dead,
But she said:
"He pays all the bills."
Replied the husband:
"Cover him up,
So he won't get the chills."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Daisy Mae

Sexy, little Daisy Mae
Let the farm boys have their way,
Gave them all a real good play
With a hot roll in the hay,
Till she found herself with child,
Drove those seven fellows wild,
Said they never had their way
With little, saintly Daisy Mae,
Claimed upon serious reflection,
Daisy's was a miraculous
Immaculate conception.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Americans Vote?

In a healthy democracy
People must vote
To secure their liberty,
But it should be noted
That in past elections
A majority has not voted,
Thus, unfit crooks were elected
Leaving their office neglected,
Making only quite sure
Of their own sinecure,
While the elected president
Seems like a former
Asylum resident.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Blue

I'm so blue,
Thinking of you,
Since you're gone,
I don't know what to do,
Never found anyone new
I could love as much
As you..., as you...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Prejudice

In Nazi Germany
They used to say,
Their world will end
If Jews were allowed to stay,
It's often the way of the majority
To blame it all on a minority,
Thus, giving them a swipe
With a stereotype,
But many years have gone by,
It's time for a change,
Give it a try!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Behind the Wheel

With his boss
He's always meek,
With his wife
He acts quite weak
But when he gets
Into his car,
He is a devil,
Acts like a czar,
Aggressive and tough,
Cuts everybody off,
Hits them with a zinger
By giving them the finger,
Yes, on the road
He gets people's goat,
This cowboy,
Playing
With his deadly toy.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Why Marry?

"My dear friend Harry,
Soon you'll be past your prime,
Why don't you marry?"

"Just for the little milk I need,
I don't have to buy a cow
To keep and feed."

"My dear girl Mary,
You're a bit overripe,
Why don't you marry?"

"Just for the little sausage I need,
I don't have to buy a filthy pig
To keep and feed."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

My Sweet, Little Bird

My sweet, little bird,
Have age and time
Left you hurt,
Have your feathers
Lost their shine,
Your body and spirit
Gone into decline,
Yet, your sweet song
Has kept its harmony,
So dear to me,
And I still love you
Oh - so much,
No matter - how you'd be...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Marine's Return from Iraq

When he was young
He dreamt of paths of glory,
Rewards, medals, fame,
A great hero's story,
But he found war's reality
To be a cruel nightmare,
Horrid, bloody, gory,
Came back without his legs,
No job and no rewards,
He's now a veteran who begs...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Respect

It's an outrage and disgrace
To have a leader in place
Who makes our nation lose face,
A chap, incompetent and crude,
Can't we get a substitute,
Way more astute,
Someone with style and a brain
So we can gain respect again?

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

American Decline

'A Great Society'
Which has neither food
Nor room for its artists,
Whose poets, painters
And musicians
Dwell in the Village
On the borderline
Of the nether world,
Neither living nor starving,
A society steeped in a glut of
Externalisms supported by
Empty-headed bureaucrats,
Led by a swarm
Of legally authenticated
Shysters or petty tyrants
Whose gods are ostentation
And crass materialism,
A society which waters down
Its silver and its soul
Where morality and hope
Rot in shambles,
Where the bitter bread
Of Welfare
And the circuses
Of commercialism
Are provided for the multitudes
While crime stalks the streets,
Such a society reminds me
Very much of Rome
Being swallowed up
By the Dark Ages
In its final decline.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The Frozen Lakes of my Eyes

The frozen lakes of my eyes
Turn the reality of this world
Into an oblique phantasy
Whose edges are blurred
And indefinite
But whose images
Are of an exquisite beauty,
Dazzling and frightening
At the same time,
Yet, always uncertain,
Telling me that the world
As I see it - never was,
Never will be...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Truth, Beauty and Reality

The prison of my soul
Is barred by fears
Of unknown things
And through the
Opening of the bars
The rays of sun and light
Play delicately
Upon my sensibilities
Conveying truth and beauty
To the inner man
Incarcerated by reality...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Anne Frank

She spoke for all the millions
Who had perished
With the simple voice of a child,
A voice - now stilled,
Yet, never to be muted
Throughout the ages of man,
The soul of eternal innocence
In a world of brutality,
The plaintive voice of my people,
Steeped in misery and suffering,
Yet, always, always
With their eyes turned to the sky...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Child in Auschwitz

The fear, the fear,
It touches me
Like a bottomless pit,
An unending well,
In its waters I see
A reflection of myself,
And if I let go
Of this thin tread
Which holds me,
My self, my ego, my reality,
I will tumble into the deep,
Towards my own reflection
Into that heaven or hell
Which is my oblivion...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Not so young Prostitute

Flesh for sale, young man,
Maybe not the freshest cut,
But I'll give you all I've got,
It was a slow day,
You'll buy it cheap,
Please take me, my friend,
Quickly - before I weep...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Lost Values

In a world
Which cherishes utility,
Much common sense
And sensibility,
Material values, money,
Social mobility,
I am a modern
Don Quixote,
A lost soul
From another time,
I value beauty,
A noble spirit
And gentility.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

My Devils

If my devils were
To leave me,
My angels would
Take flight as well,
Let me ring
The bells of heaven
Or at times,
Just roast in hell.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Slums

The slums and the ghetto
Have turned my
Fresh, bright soul
Into a crooked thing
Which slinks through dark
And twisted alleys,
Forgetting miseries
In dope and drink,
I loved the clear and
Beautiful once too,
When I was young
And full of hope,
- like you, like you...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Last Flower

When winter's iron fist
Touches the last
Flower's vivid bloom,
Condemns it to oblivion
With its icy touch
And wilted fall its petals
To the freezing ground
Till naught is left,
The sky, the gentle
Whispering breeze
And God, himself,
Will still remember
This so sacred spot
Where once a part
Of beauty lived...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Jenny

She's my love,
She's my honey,
She gives me sex
And takes my money,
My sweet, dear Jenny,
Worth every penny.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The Burning Bush

There is a burning bush
Which lights a fire,
Creating a worldwide pyre,
Cremating kids in old Iraq,
Poor chaps come back
In a body sack,
The same bush is blazing on
In the bombed-out
Land of Afghanistan,
Let's hope this
Burning bush is gone
Before it burns
Our house and home.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

On Death and Religion

When confronted
With the 'cease to be',
Fear and despair
Haunt you and me,
So, with the help of preachers,
Who act as our teachers,
We invent an afterlife
Including gods, heaven and hell
To lessen anxiety and strife
Giving us hopeful illusions
Which suit us all too well
Although realistic conclusions
Would probably confirm
That all religions are delusions.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Gigolo

I'm just a gigolo,
I delight the ladies
Everywhere I go.
They call me a good sort
And use me for their sport
But as I grow older
I do grow less bolder
And there'll come a day
When ladies will turn away
And they'll nostalgically say:
"You should have seen him
In his youth - long, long ago
When he was a fine gigolo."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Old

The years have left
Their mark on me,
Now, that I'm old and sick
Living in abject misery,
The only comfort left
Is youth's golden memory.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Dreams of Heaven

Oh, let this tired flesh
Melt into oblivion
And let my spirits soar
Into this promised world
Of heavenly delights
Which preachers painted
For some living fools
To keep their sinecure,
Perchance, they had a vision
Of some distant truths
Which we, poor mortals,
Never chanced to know,
Far, far beyond our present ken,
Where gods reside
And mortals share their revenue
In some hoped for bliss
In a dimension
Which seems but never is...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Pale Flower

My sweet pale flower,
So young and vibrant
In the spring,
Your scent and colors
Did delight my very soul,
Why have you wilted early,
Long before the fall,
And all my loving care
Has been for naught,
Wish I could give
My life and breath to you
To see you in full bloom again
For beauty wilted early on
Does break my heart...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Vanity

"Vanity, all is vanity",
The preacher said,
"Keeping up with the Jones's
Is a form of insanity
Leading to a
Credit crunch calamity".

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Life...

From the trauma of birth
Till the despair of senility
Life is an exercise in futility
With certain death as its destiny,
The purpose of this irony
Seems to be a mystery...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Gypsy

I'm just a gypsy
Without a home,
Of earthly treasures
I have none,
But on my fiddle
I play my sweet rhyme
And with my music
I touch the divine...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Norm?

If one deviates from the norm,
It evokes surprise and scorn,
Yet, the norm in today's society
Is of an abnormal variety.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

A Noble Soul

His infirmity was love,
His handicap - gentility,
For in this predatory world
Of iron fist in silken glove,
True worth is disability.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Warning

Sheer beauty is her outer shell
Hiding a mental inner hell,
Conflicted is her soul and mind
With a pathology
Of a disturbing kind,
Don't ever share
With her your home,
You're better off to be alone...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Kennedy Brothers

People kill the ones
They love,
Look at Robert and John
As proof enough.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2oo7 Alfred Charasz

Propaganda

If you consistently
Tell the same lie,
People will believe it,
Won't even ask why.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Predators Survive

I sold my soul
To the devil one day,
He took my heart
And my conscience away,
But then I found out
This is nature's way,
The fittest predators survive,
Stay in Washington,
Collect graft and thrive,
While the moral,
God-fearing soldier
Is sent to Iraq
And pays with his life.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Ice Maiden

She's a beauty of renown,
A goddess in a classic gown,
Her charisma leads you on
But warmth and passions -
She has none,
A bed of ice would be your fate
Were you to take her as your mate.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Samson and Delilah

God, let not Delilah's love entice me
To let my passions run amok,
Let my faith in you and my people
Remain as steady as a rock,
Yet, my spirit is willing
But my flesh is weak,
For God's love and Delilah's
Both I seek...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Doctor L.

A white-clad butcher
With a negligent hand
Used his scalpel on patients
Putting their health to a bitter end,
With uncaring risk
He took out the wrong spinal disk,
Causing the poor devil's decline
And for a big fee he ruined his spine,
Operated on someone's wrong knee
And left him in crippled misery,
Thus, opened the gates
For phenomenal insurance rates,
While health professionals stood by
And never raised a protest cry.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Hope

May the flame of hope
Burn bright
In the darkness
Of the night,
Though in reality
It may just be
A flickering light...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Dead in a Waterbed

After a night of loving,
They found him dead,
Poor chap drowned
In his busted waterbed.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Immortality - 3000 AD

Some day they'll clone your body
And transfer the contents of your mind
Into your brain with a computer chip
And when the two combine,
An endless life cycle will be thine.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Nuclear Threat

A ship with a Panamanian flag
Pulls into New York's port
With a hydrogen bomb aboard,
Before harbor inspectors
Board and check it out
New York is turned
Into a mushroom cloud,
The deed is done,
New York is gone,
While Iranians
And Koreans shout:
"This ship and this bomb
We know nothing about!"

Thus, we cannot retaliate
Against some unknown State.
So, what do we do
And against whom do we go?
Nobody seems to know.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Fiscal Policy 2007

They spend our money
As if there's no tomorrow,
Ruin our currency,
Leave us broke and in sorrow,
Print more and more dollars
Worth less and less,
Leave us in a galloping,
Inflationary mess,
Soon it will be so bad
That one hundred dollars
Will barely buy a loaf of bread.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Guidelines for the MBA

Marketing

You sell the sizzle,
Not the steak,
Forget reality,
Market the fake,
To give too much value
Is a mistake.

Accounting

Accounting is not a science
But really an art,
Manipulate the income,
Dress up your balance chart.

Management

Manage employment
Not for enjoyment
But maximum profits
With time-motion deployment,
Downsize your labor force
With a much cheaper
Foreign production source.

Bankruptcy

If into bankruptcy you go,
Get golden parachutes
For managers and the CEO,
You will be clear and free
While creditors pay the fee.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Come play with me...

Come, play with me
At the game of love,
For one sweet night
We'll be hand in glove,
But in the morn
I'll return to my wife
And with your husband
You'll resume your life,
Yet, dear memories
Will linger on
Of all the delights
Which we have known...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Sign of the Cross

The cross, an instrument
Of torture and of misery
On which Jesus and thousands
Died in painful agony
Is now used as a holy symbol
Of God, religion and the heavenly
Which is an amoral effrontery,
If this good, righteous Jew, Jesus,
Would find the cross used in his name,
He would consider it a cruel shame,
Were he to hear the sad tales
Of the Crusades and Inquisition
And other horrid acts of perdition
Or the killing of his people - the Jews,
He would call it terrible news
And ask God and the world:
"For this I paid my dues?"

Yes, Jesus, brilliant,
Honest, decent, brave,
Would in utter despair
Turn in his grave.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

All Possible Worlds

The question if or why
This is the best or worst
Of all possible worlds
Lies in the beholder's eye.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

In the Still of the Night...

In the still of the night,
I dream of you yet,
By the dawn's early light
I think of you yet,
Though years have passed
Since I saw you last,
I often wonder,
Wherever you'd be,
If there are times
When you still think of me...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Lullaby

Sit by me - child,
I'll tell you a tale
Of Jonah and the whale,
Of the fiery dragon
With the silvery tale
Till into dreamland you sail...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Refugee

A Holocaust escapee,
I fled to America as a refugee,
No Indians, cowboys, gangsters
Or gold in the streets did I see
And the 'English' was tough for me,
But the people were as nice as can be
And the country was amazingly free,
A true liberal democracy,
A real home and a haven for me.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz