Nuclear Missile

A fiery red-streaked
Messenger of death
Sears thundering
Across the skies
And with the brightness
Of a thousand suns
Explodes above the city
Where in an instant millions,
Their souls and bodies,
Turned into flaming gas,
Evaporate into
A nothingness of terror,
And countless more are burned,
Condemned to die
A horrid, agonizing death,
While others stare
With empty sockets,
Blindly, at their evaporated eyes,
And an inferno,
Worse than Dante's
Wildest dream of hell,
Turns our town and our lives
Into a glassy sea of lifeless slag.

These, my young friends,
Are the rewards
Which our elders,
Those wise establishments
Of our world,
Promise to our young
And eager hopes.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Refugee's Thanksgiving

My body is not burned
in the ovens of Auschwitz
for I am one of the
lucky ten percent
who escaped the terror
and every morning
when I open my eyes
to a new sunrise,
I thank the provident fate
which has given me
another day to breathe,
to be so fully alive and free,
to savor this grand world
with every fiber of my being,
to touch it as if it were
my last moment,
not to miss the smallest
particle of existence
and be eternally grateful
for my granted life,
but in some quiet moments
I weep for my six million
brothers and sisters
who never made it.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

It came to nothing...

It came to nothing, anyhow,
My world, my hopes, my dreams
Turned into empty schemes,
Thus, I came to the conclusion
To live with hopes is an illusion,
Yet, empty dreams keep you on the go,
Setting your heart and mind aglow.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

I loved her...

I loved her with a passion
For in my book
She was in fashion,
But it only lasted for a while
Till her type went out of style.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Rhapsody in Blue

When I hear that rhapsody in blue,
Invariably, I think of you,
Though years have passed
And you're with someone new,
This tune brings back sweet memories
Of our long past reveries.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Be your own Boss

There is little enjoyment
In slave employment,
For to work for a boss
Is freedom's loss,
It's far better, if you dare,
To work independently
As an entrepreneur,
You can manipulate your tax
And take to it the ax,
Play at leisure with your
Computer and fax,
Have no supervision
And can easily relax,
And as your own boss
Declare some profits
As a legitimate loss
And if you're not hired
You can't be fired.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

White Goddess

Born into slums,
Poverty and despair,
Without anyone ever
To help or to care,
Learning that life
Is cruel and unfair,
I could not face
The horrid, bleak reality
Of an existence
Without hope or quality,
And just when suicide
Seemed the only way,
I found the white goddess
To brighten my day,
She gave me a world
Of unbelievable splendor,
Through her heavenly powder,
Bought from a vendor,
She made me her slave,
At her altar I pray,
She turned a horrid night
Into a splendid day,
I'll kill, steal and rob
To stay in her favor,
She gave my life ecstasy,
Illusions and flavor,
She rules me completely
With her magic wand,
I'm addicted forever
To follow her command,
I don't care for children,
A home or a wife,
For me, my white goddess,
My heroin is my life,
I know, in this cruel world
She'll shorten my stay,
But my dreams will be happy
Each blessed given day,
Oh goddess, white goddess,
You ruler of my sky,
In your heavenly garden
I'll live and I'll die........

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Hot and Cold

You like it hot anf fast
When you are young and bold,
But things get slow and cold
When you are getting old...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Writer

In the innermost
Recesses of my mind
Where wonder, joy
And melancholy dwell,
Where all the turmoil
Of my soul I find,
There lives my heaven
And my hell,
Yet, I need an even
Balance in my life,
I cannot live with
Restlessness and strife,
I purge my soul
And set things right,
To ease my mind
And stop my daily fight,
I sit at my computer,
Bare my heart and write,
Putting on paper
All my thoughts, confessions
To come to terms with
Lost dreams and obsessions,
Even if no one ever reads
My prose, my poetry,
It matters not,
For self-expression sets me free,
And when I leave this world
Into the 'not to be',
Perchance, my poetry and dreams
Will tell you - this was me........

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Linger

Linger awhile,
My friend, and dream
Of all you might
Have done or been,
The great adventures
You could have had
What happy, joyful life
You may have led,
Of all those golden
Chances lost or gone
If what you know now,
Then had known,
But, alas, life is short,
We learn too late,
Life's brevity gives us
No time, it's our fate.

In quiet desperation
Most men pass their life,
Spent mostly in pursuit
Of livelihood and strife,
There are moments,though,
Exquisite and sublime,
Which give us great pleasure
And a memorable time,
Whose recollections
One must treasure.

Some lives are spent
As a hard, tough working day,
With poverty, struggle
And battle all the way,
Others travel free from care
Throughout their stay,
Their world is happy,
Without drudgery, a holiday,
It's luck and fate and the ability
To grasp the given chance
Which between qualities of lives
Is the dividing fence...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Lake Como

Azure skies,
Fragrant flowers,
A gentle breeze,
Mountains and the lake,
Beautiful and oh so perfect,
A dream come through
In that little cafe
By the water,
A glass of wine
And nothing to bother me,
A moment of absolute happiness,
A picture and a feeling
Engraved in my mind,
A remembrance to take back
To those cold and rainy days
When life is bleak
And hopes diminish...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Divorce

She claimed:
"I'm expecting your child."
The thought of her pregnancy
Just drove me wild,
But it was only a trick
To marry me quick.

Now, she's my ex-spouse,
I got the car,
She's got the house.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Hong Kong

Where Western freedom
And technology
Meets Eastern wisdom
And philosophy
In a city of luxury and poverty
With the Rolls Royce elite
And the poor boat people's misery,
Where communism mixes
With democracy
In this most charming
City by the sea,
An international kaleidoscope
Of a cosmopolitan society
Living with progress and hope.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Facts of Life

Republicans have joyfully repeated
They'd love to have Obama
As opposing candidate
For he could easily be defeated,
Since no candidate with a Moslem past
Who by the caucus is selected
Can after 9/11 be elected.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfrred Charasz

Literature versus Kitsch

These days there's
Little serious literature,
For modern writers'
Kitsch is quite obscure,
Money oriented
And immature,
Since there are no rewards
For traditional classics
And the arts.

Detective, romance novels
Are the current craze
Which feed the literary waste.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Game of Love

Come, play with me
At the game of love,
Let us mingle
Till we had enough,
Then, we'll both wonder
What pleasures lie yonder...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

GWB - Mind in Limbo

Although in limbo is his mind,
He's still the stubborn,
Argumentative kind,
A worse combination
Is hard to find
And with his poor politics,
Using cheap tricks,
He puts our nation in a bind
Which due to his incompetence
Has more and more declined.

Alfred Charasz
Copytright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Abraham's Children

Arabs and Jews are brothers,
Spawned by the same
Father and soil,
Both do in their desert toil,
Though one is into technology,
The other into oil,
If instead of fighting,
They could just live
In peace and harmony,
Extending mutual sympathy,
And have their fortunes combine,
The Middle East would turn
Into a paradise - sublime.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Chanukah

It was Chanukah night
With the festive table
Covered in white
And candles flickering
Spreading warm light,
Children's faces
Shining and bright,
Jews praying to Jehovah
In good holiday cheer
To be in Jerusalem
The following year.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The Fig Leaf

Ah, the fig leaf makes us tame,
Helps us men hide our shame,
But for girls it's unfair game,
For they always guess and wonder
What lies yonder, what lies yonder,
Fooled them all with great pretensions
About rather small extensions,
Here you find the blushing bride
Falling for a man, handsome and wide,
Filled with grandeur and with pride,
But once the fig leaf does come down,
The sweet young thing begins to frown,
For when it comes to push and shove,
For making love - it's not enough,
So, ladies disregard the short or tall,
Before you try - the fig leaf must fall...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Simple Life

Just give me back
The simple life,
No house, no car,
No kids, no wife,
Days lazy in the sun,
Nights in a cave,
I do not work,
I do not slave,
I never wash
And never dress,
I am a real
Delightful mess,
I'm just a happy
Hermit on a hill,
Of civilized life
I had my fill...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Art and Passion

Man is a mixture
Of the good and bad,
Life blends
The happy and the sad,
But art expresses the sublime,
Combined with passion
It can be divine...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The Artist

Out of the turmoil
Of his searching soul,
The sudden insight
Flashes of the mind,
Seeking mysterious shores
Beyond the known,
Where he new frontiers
Suddenly may find,
The artist combines
Dreams, genius and passion
To show us a new way,
Originality and fashion,
To see the world in
Different and novel ways,
To give us better lives
And better days...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

King Lear's Daughters

Sharper than a serpent's tooth
Hurts an ungrateful child,
Brought up with loving care,
Yet, evil, indifferent, wild,
Sad is the parents' fate
Who try their very best,
Yet, spawn an ingrate,
For a child is like an arrow,
Well aimed -
But once it leaves the bow
No one can tell
Where it may go...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Married a Widow

He married his widow
Two agonizing years ago,
But to her first husband's grave
He did frequently go
And there he'd cry and cry:
"Why oh why did you die!"

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Baghdad

With dread he woke
Each cursed morn
To face a day of woe,
Perchance, his body torn,
His family left
To cry and mourn
For their soldier who died
Because a president lied.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Marilyn Monroe

She was a lost soul
In a complicated world,
Even so, it seems absurd
Her halting, sexy voice
Forever will be heard,
Her smashing looks
Still cover screens and books,
Her charm evokes desire, lust,
Although long, long ago
Her shapely form
Has turned to dust...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Advice to Dad

You worked for me
And brought me up,
Gave me a chance
To reach the top,
Now, work for yourself
My dear old pop...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Bow and Arrow

Children are arrows
Aimed from a bow,
But once on the go,
The target they'll hit
We cannot predict...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

It is but Man

It is but man
Whom I do most admire,
For in his soul
Burns a celestial fire...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

There'll Come a Time

There'll come a time
When life will be no more
And memories of man
Will fade behind a closing door,
The world barren
And empty - as before,
Yet, through infinite space
Will linger on an ancient lore,
The music of the spheres
Will sound its score
That in this great galactic space
On one small planet - earth
Once lived and loved a noble race,
Endowed with intellect and grace...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Beyond the Grave

Beyond the grave
There is but dust
And fading memories
Of the one lost,
Nothing below,
Nothing above,
Lost life and dreams,
Forgotten love...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

When Dawn Breaks

When dawn breaks
And golden rays
Lighten the sky
And swallows sing
Their morning song
In trees up high,
When flowers glisten
In the morning dew,
I think of you...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Great Neck

Fancy homes
With huge dimensions,
Showy gardens
To add pretensions,
Low class taste,
That is the glitch
In the castles
Of the nouveau rich,
Lots of money,
Lots of kitsch...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Lost Children of Auschwitz 1943

Mark the pale children,
They cry not,
Neither do they talk,
Silently, they walk
Towards the gas chambers,
Their naked bodies
Shriveled and emaciated,
All human dignity gone,
Only their innocence left,
Resigned to whatever may come,
A brutal outrage to decency
And the holy flame of life,
While Yehovah and the world
Look on in silence
And do nothing...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Live it up

Man, always live it up
Till your very last stop...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Old Maid

In her little Alice-blue-gown,
She was the hottest babe in town
But she was too damn choosy
And now she is a single old floozy.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Bachelors

Aging bachelors
Love to tarry,
They play around
But never marry,
Frankly, I tell you why:
It's cheaper to rent
Than to buy.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

The Senator was Indiscreet

The senator just quit his post
To join his son as a lobby host,
Selling his soul
To the influence store
And use his connections
For profits - galore.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Sun

In five billion years
The hydrogen fuel in the sun
Will be used up
And the sun will explode
Into a red giant
Burning up the entire solar system
But new suns will arise
And even the universe
Will contract and explode again
In a constant renewal
Just as ancient Israel is re-arising
Like the legendary phoenix
Out of the ashes of the
Arab intruders' desert waste land...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Manhattan Serenade

The pulse of a great metropolis
Is reverberating through
The canyons of Manhattan
In a thousand subtle shades,
Rustling, bustling
With the rhythm of the city,
Passing through
The delicious interlude
Between birth and death, called life,
Orbits circumscribed
In that historical realm
Where O. Henry once wrote
And Cyrus Field spun dreams
To shrink the world
And bring people
Closer to each other
Or old man Baruch
Had his alma mater
Named after him,
Where lovers hold hands
In Gramercy Park
And a million dreams are born
And die - every day...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Good or Bad

There is some good
Or bad in everyone,
It all depends
Who turns it on.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Empty Suit

People suspect
He has a lack of intellect,
Little curiosity
But redundant verbosity,
For special interests
A figurehead,
A president who's really bad.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

In the Palms

Lounging on golden beaches
In luxury, comfort and style
Makes life more than worthwhile,
A place where the elite
For recreation meet
And life is simply sublime
For the leisure class
In the wintertime.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Vienna

Of my hometown I dreamt last night,
Vienna, waltzes and candlelight,
Drinking mocha in a small cafe
And dreaming the day away
Where Strauss wrote music long ago
And Freud got the human soul to know,
In this old city along the Danube's flow,
Gleaming golden in the evening's glow
Where life moves joyfully along
In a relaxed and easy flow
And first I got the world to know
So many, many years ago.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

My Love...

She's my life's very light,
The bit of sunshine
After a dreary night,
She keeps me busy as a bee,
Without her I just cannot be,
She's my love, my star, my tutor,
There's nothing more adorable,
Sensational or cuter
Than my beloved, dear computer.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Ecstasy

Hold back the dawn
And let us stay
For one delicious moment
Beneath the sacred canopy
Of a starry night,
Those burning points
From distant space
Still touching us
With dreams of unreality
Of other worlds
And other times,
Fragrance of unseen flowers
Enchanting us,
And we alone in our love,
Fully and wholly
With our souls and bodies
Welded in unison,
Touching eternity
And reaching heights
Of unimaginable splendor...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Politician's Dilemma

Let me make it perfectly clear,
Public exposure I fear,
For if they catch me with the loot,
They're bound to give me the boot,
This is why a politician
Must be a magician,
So, never look like a fake
If you're on the take.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Waving the Flag

For mother, god and apple pie
Kids are sent to Iraq,
Perchance, to die,
But mostly minorities
And the poor,
Rarely, sons of the rich
Or politicos on sinecure.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Prediction

The Jews are in Israel to stay,
They've lasted for 5000 years
And they won't go away,
They can't be banned
From their ancient homeland
Where with intellect and faith
They built a modern state.

Jews won't be chased
By those desert rats
Supported by their fat oil cats
For soon no one will need their oil
And those desert rats will starve
On their dry, sandy soil.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Roll in the Hay

In the merry month of May
The farming folk
Carouse and play,
They dance, they sing,
Have a roll in the hay,
Put all their inhibitions away
And when the nine months are up
They always harvest a new baby crop.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Beyond our Philosophy

Far stranger
Than we dare to dream
Is our universe's scheme,
Only a fraction of all
Dimensions do we see
Of this unknown force
Which makes existence be,
It is a mystery
Far, far beyond
Our poor philosophy...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Credit Card Sharks

They take out
The consumer's heart
Using the racket
Of the credit card,
Usurious interst rates
Are heaven bent
With 20 to 30 percent
Taken by those gents
Of the robber baron banks,
Blessed by an administration
Ruining the people of our nation.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Light a Candle

Don't curse the dark
But light a candle - friend,
The candle might flicker
But the darkness may end.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz

Middle East

The Palestinians look
With jaundiced eye
At Israel's success
While they are
Barely getting by,
Can't understand
The reason why.
No wonder - this,
The simple answer is:
The Palestinians are
A backward population
While modern Israel is
An advanced civilization.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2007 Alfred Charasz