April 26: Do Not Be Afraid

 

 Do Not Be Afraid
      by Tom King

One clings to life like a Texan at the Alamo
   Knowing death is coming for certain.
Knowing that the end is inevitable.
  Not knowing what's beyond death's curtain.

Another knows for sure there's nothing
   Because there is no order to his universe.
Death is little more that sinking back to dust.
   No meaning, nothing better nothing worse.

Beside him stands another knowing naught
   But that rest lies beyond the catacomb
A Lazarus sleep, a dreamless waiting
   For Him who will call us one day home.

In the end we all get what we want.
   Eternal  nothing, pain and flame,
Or eternal life if that's what you accept.
   God gives us if we want it all the same.

The universe does not need a place to torture
   Sinners forever as if God's love's restrained.
Like some vindictive celestial Hitler.
   Who cannot live without a place of pain.. 

When the fires finally burn themselves out
   Darkness gone all that's left will be light.
No more suffering no envy, evil, death
   All heaven scrubbed, eternally, clean and bright

© 2022 by Tom King

Greater poets than I have tried to figure out about heaven and hell and whether there even is such a thing. I come down on the side that believes evil does not have to exist to "balance" good, God does not need the Devil. Happiness does not need sadness to be happiness. The devil would like you to believe he is essential to the universe. He is not. The whole point of Earth is to get us to a perfect universe. Unless Hell burns itself out, it would always be a blot on a perfect universe.  - Tom

 

April 25: Like a Song in the Night

 

Like a Song in the Night
          by Tom King

Something sings in the dark
In the wee hours before us.
Sings me off to sleep in peace
And night birds join the chorus.

Something about the early dark,
Night full of the moon and stars
Drifting overhead with the planets
Making music Venus, Jupiter and Mars.

The night in its silence makes song,
You can hear it if you're still and quiet
And in the distance galaxies play music
And stars and nebulae run riot.


© 2022 by Tom King

April 24: World's End

 

At World's End
by Tom King

The Universe is watching, the peoples of the stars
Sometimes, I suspect, in bewilderment
At what we have done to ourselves here,
In seven thousand years of blood and terror.

I suspect they wonder why - all of them - that He
Would let it go on so long; long past proved
That the rebellion isn't working out so well,
Not the way the devils advertised.

I think I understand for in all of history there are
More now alive than have ever lived and died.
And technology has given us the means to speak
To each of them at once the truth.

He is a jealous God, not wanting even one
That can be gathered to be lost.
When His sons and daughters stand at the ready,
Like lightning He will come to take us home.

The Thunder whispers far off in the distance,
A portent at just the edge of hearing.
We feel it. Smell it on the wind. See eternity rolling in,
A black cloud like a fist rising in the East.

© 2022 by Tom King

April 23: Pathfinder Blood

Pathfinder Blood
by Tom King

 Lanape Chief Nemacolin was a pathfinder
And a direct ancestor of mine.
A guide and blazer of trails for colonial troops
Through woods of  birch, and larch and pine
Highways trace his trails across the Cumberlands
Down the Ohio and Great Lakes
He knew Washington and others of my kin,
Marked forests, valleys, plains and cedar breaks.

Our ancestors once cut trails into the wild untrammeled West,
Built railroads, highways, villages and towns
Through wilderness uncharted, not yet traveled,
Our grandpas plotted farms and hunting grounds.
Today Door Dash descendants of these pioneer folk,
If on the GPS my home's not showed,
They cannot find me on a map and in frustration.
Toss my groceries out along some random road.

(insert face palm)

© 2022 by Tom King

 

 

 

April 22: What? Me Worry?

 

What? Me Worry?
        By Tom King

I once worried about the state of the nation;
Asteroids, earthquakes, conflagrations.
Tornadoes, typhoons
And nukes on the moon.
But for now I'll give my worries a vacation.

© 2022 by Tom King

 

April 21: Can I Get an Aspirin?

 

 Can I Get an Aspirin?
           by Tom King

Now I've got a headache; it's been coming awhile.
Add to that my galloping arthritis,
I inherited it from Mama's side.
Along with allergies and dermatitis.

Oh, I've got ailments aplenty to talk over with friends,
Relatives, or loved ones who answer their phoneses.
As I age, I collect more aches and more pains.
Helps me keep up with the elderly Joneses. 

I hate talking about medical conditions,
But when we chat with folks our same ages
It takes 20 minutes to cover our surgeries,
And describe our failing kidney's last stages.

I miss the days when I used to discuss,
Hobbies, sports, next summer's vacations.
Instead, we obsess about anesthesia.
And the side effects of our medications.

Right now, I'd like to talk about boats,
Fishing, carburetors, movie ratings.
Anything but the last thing my doctor told me,
Or that I'm steadily deteriorating.

© 2022 by Tom King

April 20: Twitter - A Limerick

Twitter - A Limerick
          by Tom King

A social media site let's call Twitter
Saw it's numbers go into the shitter.
Till Elon acquired shares
Said, "Now let's make things fair."
Now their board has gone all a twitter!

© 2022