To AJ from his Grandfather

My sunny boy with golden hair,
A sparkling personality - so rare,
My ray of sunshine in a somber world,
Warm image, loving and courageous - fair,
Flesh of my own flesh,
For you, with all my heart I care,
You'll be my heritage - my clone,
A part of me left to live on,
Long after I am dead and gone.

May luck always shine
Upon your face
And may you make
This world a better place.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

To AJ on his Bar Mitzvah

There comes a day
When childhood's wraps
Are cast aside
And old religious norms
Proclaim and give you
Manhood's rights;
But take it gently, son,
It's never borne too light,
Your new-found strength
Will certainly appeal,
But burdens you never knew
Will soon become quite real,
Yet, you must cope with them
And do the best you can
To squarely face the world,
My son,
Today - you are a man.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

To my Grandson AJ

I wish you all the best
On this auspicious day,
Good fortune all your life
When manhood comes your way,
You're part of my heritage - my clone,
A Holocaust survivor's gift
When I am gone,
I know, you'll always do
The best you can,
Congratulations, AJ,
Today, you are a man.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Elections 2008

Give a cheer,
Give a cheer,
The new grafters are here,
With nepotism selected
And with fraud elected
They were well connected
To replace the old crew,
Who were on the take,
With crooks - fresh and new.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Changes

The rich grab more and more,
The poor make less and less,
Progressive is this score,
Creating a gulf of
Increasing separation
Throughout the world
And almost every nation,
The middle classes join
The proletariat,
The workers lose
Their union card,
Unemployment and inflation
Are rampant in every nation.
This bodes not well
If people reach the stage
Of desperation.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

The Past

I dream of long gone times,
Of now forgotten places,
Of all the family and friends
Who passed away
But I still see their faces,
I dream of a happy past
Which in my memory
Will always last...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Once...

Once he was rich,
Sought after by all,
With many a friend,
But when the market crashed
And he went on the dole,
Friendships came to an end.
I saw him in the Bowery
The other day,
Shabby, old man, embarrassed,
Although he saw me
He quickly walked away...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Bombay now Mumbay

In the city of Bombay
Slumdog children
Once roamed the streets
And went astray
But with its upswing
And industrialization
They'll soon be on par
With a Western nation.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Terrorists

Israel, as any other land,
Must act in self-defense,
They cannot accept
To be rocketed
With a murderous hand
By a terrorist Hamas gang,
If all else fails, Gaza
Will, like Hiroshima,
Come to its end...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Semitic Arabs and Jews

Why Semitic folks
Like Arabs and Jews
Can't get together
Is very bad news.

Father Abraham
Was their dad
And for cousins
To fight is sad.

With Arab oil
And Jewish intellect,
Talent and money,
Arab-Jewish life
Could really be sunny.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Darwin in Prose

Despite our moral pretensions,
we are still animals in the zoo
of life where the fittest predators
survive while the weak perish
or are subservient.

Hence our manipulating industrial
and political elite have all the benefits
of the predators while the weak, little
people struggle or perish.

This is the Darwinian law of nature
and will never change in a world
where the strong subdue or eat the weak.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Frigid

She looks sexy
and charming,
her personality
is disarming,
her eyes are
deep pools of desire,
she sets men afire,
but once she's wedded
and properly bedded
she should act as expected,
the husband is neglected,
she just lacks one digit,
the poor gal is frigid,
he's full of feeling,
but she only comments,
"we need paint on the ceiling".

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

...my beloved...

...two shimmering
pools of passion
are the eyes
of my beloved,
i fall into her arms,
the world sinks away,
and i'm in the seventh
heaven of love...

alfred charasz
copyright 2008 alfred charasz

Communism, Nazism and Fascism

Communism, Nazism and Fascism
Started with an economic recession
Turning into devastating depression
Creating a revolutionary obsession
When the people couldn't take it anymore
And rose in protest to even the score.

If the economy turns sour in the USA
Desperate people will find a way
To put a new philosophy into play,
But such a revolution
Would be a horrid solution,
54 million died in the last conflagration,
Let's be reasonable and save our nation.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Generations

New generations come and go,
There's a continuous flow,
Today they are here,
Tomorrow they're not,
They disappear,
This is their lot,
They start with a passion well
Putting a sperm into a cell,
Go through their lives
With children and wives,
Work, finagle or sell,
Think when they die
They'll go to heaven or hell,
But they just turn to dust
As all mortals must,
Their reason to be
Does puzzle me...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Vienna 1938

In Vienna they had something new,
Brushing the sidewalk with a toothbrush
Is a bearded,orthodox Jew,
They all laugh at this joke,
Watching the old man in his cloak,
Once he is finished,
They kick him around,
Such joys are hardly ever found,
My Father was once part of such a scene,
Forced the sidewalk, on his knees, to clean,
But in my heart of hearts I knew,
He was still proud to be a Jew,
'Some day', he said, 'the Nazis will go down
But Jews will still be in this town'.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Pit

I should have known
That once you're down,
You'll be abandoned
By friends, family and town,
For if you are not fit,
They put you in a pit...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Fickle

I loved her
In the summer time
The very best I knew,
But came the fall
I lusted for
Somebody new,
For once, they're
Used and old,
I need a change,
They leave me cold,
I'm just a fickle chap,
Always in need
Of a new lap.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

1938 - 1945

Often I think
Of my old school friends
Killed by the Nazis
In the concentration camps,
The old Latin teacher of mine,
Professor Doctor Oppenheim,
Murdered in the Terezin camp
Who worked with SigmundFreud,
Long ago, hand in hand,
And the six million others,
Gassed or executed,
How much to our world
They could have contributed...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

To Allen

He was young,
Happy and gay,
Nature made him
That way,
As an MSW
He was the best,
Did his work
With love and zest,
Helped many
A troubled, lost soul
To snap back
And reach their goal,
AIDS killed him
In the end,
A fine man,
A loyal friend...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

There is a time...

There is a time
To hope and dream,
A time
To reflect and scheme,
A time
To doubt and worry,
A time
To be sad or sorry,
A time
To forget the future and past,
A time
To live in the present - at last...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Equalization

Most of the world
Lives in poverty,
Starvation and misery
But with the ongoing
Industrializations
Of Third World nations,
The cost of output by rich
Countries will be too steep
Compared to newcomers
Whose wages are cheap,
Thus, the West will go down
And the East will go up
Till standards of living
Come to an equal stop.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Bipolar

Between depression
And heavenly mania
She drifts along,
With fury and tears
Or on top of the world
With a song,
One day she's up
Next day she's down,
Either depressed
Or happy as a clown,
A time to smile,
A time to frown,
She's feeling low
Or feeling high
And no one
Can figure out why,
People around her
Weather the storm,
Living with her
Has no norm...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

700 Billion

Nothing matters,
No one to care
How the little people fare
By the predators who dare,
Lying crooks and politicians,
Corrupt lobby interests
And finance magicians
Flying in their private jets,
Selling short and making bets,
Dazzle the public and
Act like charmers,
Deposit their loot in the Bahamas,
Plant their destructive seeds
While the taxpayer bleeds...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Mrs. P

Once she was wealthy,
Her fortunes were great,
She saved her children,
But Siberia's Gulag
Was her fate,
She finally came
To the good, old USA,
But her children,
Raised in America,
Just kept away,
They were 'high society'
But their old lady
Was shabby, old and gray,
Nothing to gain,
Since her presence
Was just a shame,
Only Uncle Sam did care,
Housed her in a facility
And put her on Welfare.
What finally happened to her,
I do not know.
The last time I saw her,
Her spirits were low,
I wish her the best
Wherever she'd go...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Pagliacci

The world is a circus,
A tragic-comic affair,
The curtain goes up,
The curtain comes down,
You played Pagliacci,
The tragic clown,
An actor on the stage
To cry and to smile
For a living wage,
But your heart is broken,
Your mind in a rage,
You're a prisoner of life,
Enclosed in a cage,
The one you loved
Has betrayed you,
The world you know
Has dismayed you,
You smile and you bow,
The curtain falls,
Closed is the show.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Moderation

A prudent nation
Must live in moderation
Not have the spleen
To live above its mean,
On credit cards to lean,
To live a merry day
And never pay
For when one borrows
It invites sorrows,
Foreclosure and dispossession,
Inflation and depression,
This is more or less,
Why we're in the present mess.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Secrets of the Universe

The scheme which
Rules the universe
Well categorized,
And highly organized,
Is far beyond
Our comprehension,
Perchance, created
By some intellect
We can't detect,
Science, one day,
May solve the puzzle
In some unexpected way,
But now, it's best
To neither be believer
Nor atheist,
Only a bit caustic
As an agnostic,
For, god forbid,
There is some god,
Hell maybe our lot...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Looking up...

No matter what,
No matter where,
One must have hope,
Someone to care,
Believe that all
Is not in vain
And you will soon
Be well again,
Think positive,
You'll have
The world to gain...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Best

Of all in life
I ever knew,
The very best
Is to be
With you...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Opposites

There is a strange similarity
Between genius and insanity,
Self-praise and vanity
Hiding self-doubt and insecurity,
The nature of the macrocosm
And the microcosm,
The sensations of hot and cold,
The behaviour of the very young
And the senile old,
Between opposing religions
Which all have the same theme,
Fear of death and hope of an
Afterlife is the common scheme,
The good and the bad qualities
Are found in the same personalities,
It is also a fact,
That opposites
Each other attract,
And if this is not enough,
Love easily turns to hate
And hate, at times, to love.
Yes - indeed,
Opposites meet.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Quote: 1958

Wars, economic depression,
Unemployment and the
Increasing complexity
Of modern life causes
The growing neurosis
And even psychopathy
Of our deteriorating society.

There is a quote in Aldous
Huxley' 1958 book:
'Brave New World Revisited'
Giving an interesting clue:
'If you are considered normal
In today's society,
There is something wrong with you'.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Morality

Everyone looks for gain,
Always staking more
Than their claim,
Fighting for constant advances,
Taking all possible chances,
For this is nature's way,
The fittest succeed,
The weak fall away,
For when big fish
Eat little fish,
Morality is just
An idle wish.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Toy

In my youth I've seen
The dazzling, blue sky
And the valley green,
I listened to the 'Ode of Joy'
And thought all life
Was a great toy,
I still love the greenery
And the country scenery,
Still feel the joy,
But now, I am older
And know life is no toy.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Abraham

When Abraham
Came to Egypt land,
He put his wife
Into Pharaoh's hand,
It gave him much profit
But no one talks of it.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Turkey

Let me dance
And let me jive,
Move with the
Happy rhythm of life,
Let them say I'm perky,
Let them think I'm jerky,
They'll eat me anyhow
For I am their holiday turkey.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Frank

Once Frank was
A healthy millionaire,
Led a good life
Without a care,
But now he is
An old, sick bloke
And no one wants
To know him
Since he is broke,
For when one goes
Around the bend,
Friendships are
At an end.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Wheel

The wheel of life
Goes 'round and 'round,
One day you're wealthy,
Tomorrow you're
Poverty bound,
There are times to lend
Or times to borrow,
Periods of joy or sorrow,
Fate turns the wheel
And with its cycles
One must deal...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Complexity

Life is getting more complex
While minds turn more dull
In our limited skull,
Demands of our new society
Need creativity and variety,
Our minds and social mores
Cannot follow computer
Induced technological advances,
Thus, we limit our chances,
Some day we'll find
Bio-chips will rule our mind.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Try...

The only way to cope
Is to act on your hope,
To follow your dream,
To plan and to scheme,
Even a flickering light
May show you the way
Through the night
And even if nothing
Comes of it,
At least - you tried.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Cheap Labor Competition

In this new world
Where we cannot compete
For our labor is too expensive
And our imports are too cheap,
In this global economy
We can only weep...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Nothing matters

Nothing matters,
No one cares
How the public fares,
As long as politicians
Have their sinecure
And nepotism...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Said Philosopher Hume:

There 'll never be
Any certainty,
Even on the morrow,
No sun you may see...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Welfare Mother

Dry your tears,
Allay your fears,
Your man is gone,
You're left alone,
But soon it 'll be spring,
There 'll be an other,
For they all like to sponge
On a Welfare mother...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

His Ex

"Tonight, at half past nine,
I'll be at your door
And we'll be lovers again
As we were before."

"Don't you dare
Come to my door",
Said his ex-spouse.

He asked:
"But dearest, why?"
She replied:
"Sorry, but I've got a new guy."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

He thinks...

"Doctor, I feel very sick",
Complained old man Dick,
"Doc said, "I find
It's all in your mind".

At Dick's funeral
Doc asked his son Ned:
"What happened?"
Answered Ned:
"Dad thinks he's dead."

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Caviar

"Comes the revolution,
You'll eat caviar."
"Don't like caviar one bit."
"You'll eat it and like it!"

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Advertising

Use our brand deodorant
And you'll be loved by all,
Wear our make of shoes
And you will never fall,
Thus, one easily finds
Successful advertising
Must appeal
To twelve year old minds.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

He Dreams...

He dreams of sunny isles
In winter storms,
Of bathing suits
And shapely forms,
While outside
There's ice and snow,
He's home bound,
Nowhere to go,
Waiting to get well
To soon escape
North's winter hell...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Children...

Children are like arrows,
You try your very best
To aim them well
But where they land
No one can tell,
If they have a good heart,
Successfully,
You did your best,
Aside from the rest,
All else is commentary...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

WARNING!

When people cannot take it anymore,
They'll rise to even the score,
Middle class, unemployed intellectuals
Look desperately for a solution,
Form a philosophy
Inciting the proletariat
To start a revolution
Which should never be
For it results in a bloody catastrophe,
Remember the horrid scene
Of Marx, Stalin, Hitler and Lenin!

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Stripper in Alaska

She strips down naked
Under a stage light
In the bar every night,
The miners encourage her
With shouts of delight,
A rough and tumble crowd,
Drunk to the gills,
To warm up in the
Arctic's winter chills,
She's getting older
And feeling colder
But wants to keep her job
By getting bolder.

At home, she dresses
Warm to sleep
In order
To conserve the heat
And wonders with
Increasing sorrow
About her doubtful morrow...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Enjoy !

Enjoy the present,
The future is distant,
Forget the past,
Grab every day,
It maybe your last...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

The Clouds Will Lift...

The clouds will lift
From the leaden sky,
Turning blue by and by,
The air will be fresh
And the sun will rise high,
And we'll find new ways
To have better days...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Revolution?

Galloping inflation,
Depression, unemployment,
Crooked financial operations
Wrecking the nation,
Outsourcing, wars,
Oil speculations and pollution,
No health care solution,
Special interests using
Lobby seduction
For government corruption,
People will not take it anymore
And rise to even the score,
But to have a bloody revolution
Would be a terribly sad solution.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Man

In each man's mind
Resides the whole universe,
A world apart from all others
And every special one
Of the six billion humans
Is different in his own way
In nature, nurture and individuality,
And yet, all humanity is interconnected
Into one big united organism of
Universal consciousness,
Just as each person is made up of
Trillions of cells working together
As a single structure called 'man'.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Maturity

To keep an even temper
Under stress and strain,
To have an optimistic outlook
When facing adversity,
Yet, be realistic in
Judging the situation,
To have the will and
Courage to carry through
A project or a plan,
But know when
Consistency turns useless,
Are the marks of maturity.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Dreamer

He was just a dreamer
All his useless life,
No serious jobs,
Accomplishments,
No family, no wife,
He drifted along
His merry way,
Built all his castles
In his imagination
Which had with
Real life no relation.

They buried him
The other day,
A pauper's grave
Was his last stay...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Shoes

We gave our blood
And hard earned money
To liberate Iraq and make
Their lives more sunny
And now they set a precedent
By throwing shoes
At our President,
It was a great mistake
To go to their aid,
Let's leave them rot
They are an undeserving lot.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

To T.

A loving, caring soul,
Attendant in a nursing home,
A woman with a heart,
In our predatory society,
A soul apart,
A bit of sunshine
On a cloudy day,
Wish, all mankind
Could be that way...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

I knew him...

I knew him
When he was rich and well,
Poor chap, I saw him yesterday,
He looks like hell,
'Had some reverses', said he,
'Could be worse', I said,
But meant - could have been me.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Musing...

Lately I wonder what happened
To the good, old USA,
A once rich society
In its inimitable way,
No one can pay the bill
And our way of life
Is going downhill,
Banks foreclose, go broke
And the future gives me a chill,
Soon, people won't take it anymore
And try to even the score
But those horrid revolutions,
Like the Soviets and Nazis,
Are certainly no solutions,
I hope it's not too late
To change our impending fate,
Never, ever do I want to be
Again - a refugee,
That trail is cold
For I'm too old...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Nursing Homes

Here lie the wasted bodies
Of the ageing and infirm
As long as Uncle Sam
Or their own money
Pays for their 'prison term',
Putting the owners in good cheer,
For each warehoused inmate
Brings them $150.000 each year,
Using overworked, underpaid
And poorly trained personnel,
Till Mister Bones rings the final bell
To release those poor patients
From their vegetative hell...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz

Pleasure - Pain

We love what gives us pleasure,
We hate all causing pain,
Thus, even the greatest love,
If given just in vain,
Will turn into disdain...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz