On the Freeway

Roses, lilacs,
And hydrocarbon gasses.
Beauty wages war,
On rolling masses.

Nitrous, Sulphurous,
Eucalyptus, Willow.
Blossoms bloom,
As smog banks billow.

Sixty thousand miles,
Of hope filled dreams,
Many more miles,
Of polluted brooks and streams.

The flowers choke and cry,
Then weep at our genius.
All the while praying for,
Airborne miracles to clean us.

Car pool, train, boat or bus ride,
Or an even more electric scheme.
Celebrating life as we gently glide,
Over land, air and stream so clean.

If sparkling-air is the fashion,
We’ll make it our way.
For the sake of tomorrow,
Think roses today.

© 2012, R. L. Lyons,
all rights reserved.

A Path to World Peace

My searching quest honors all Mankinde,
A questing heart seeks the peaceful mind.

Apollo’s heavens, clear and bright,
Lead us out of our chthonian night.

Reveal the grace of our humanity,
And release us to peaceful serenity.

The Tao tells us of our human race.
Smiling Kούrουs unveils Buddha’s face,

Adventure

Poseidon commands the sea at dawn,
And bids us sail with lines tight drawn.

Our sturdy craft is named Liberty,
Questing for freedom and immortality.

On our masthead: a heroic countenance,
Lifts our hearts to the world’s expanse.

Thoughts and unseen in Abraham’s light,
Suspends ego and makes us blazing bright.

A beckoning church’s white washed steeple:
Bids us: share righteousness with all people.

Sacred towers reaching for the Heavens,
Revealing the strength of mind it leavens.

The Earth, the sky rocks and rills,
Gaia lives, astounds and thrills.

Questions

How far can we go, what can we be?
Can our quest reach infinity.

Autonomy’s oneness teaches tolerance,
Rational thought and quiet forbearance.

The individual is emancipated in his sovereignty,
Until he acquiesces, assigning it to external polity.

But one by one we can evolve to freedom’s call,
Free to recognize knowledge’s wherewithal.

Can each of us silently refuse to destroy,
That which our neighbor’s efforts employ.

Yet be ready to honorably defend,
His right to sovereignty to our end.

Can we communicate face to face,
In a forum’s hall or electronic space.

Shall we use a self-governing assembly,
To be more than social, and our rational destiny.

Our future asks: will we achieve a civil mind?
The elusive goal echoes back:
Humankind, humankind, humankind.


© 2023 and beyond, R. L. Lyons,
all rights reserved.

A Poet’s Quest

O’ Thought: the priceless treasure of a man,
Conjuring bold images beyond the day.
Lead us to a more open time and plan,
And show us a new and better way.

A haunting question:

What shall be a poet’s place,
Amidst mannered hearts and sighs.
Or on a blood-stained battle space,
Where the body, not Honor dies.

Writing a poem in a bowery stall,
Cocktail set, or Rampart's mission,
Which will give a picture of us all,
And tell best of our true condition.

Perhaps in a rough and tumble social scene,
Taking life from each and more,
Immersed in society's all consuming scheme.
Then smashing pretensions to the floor.

Or shall he rest in calm stillness then,
And reside in poetic word’s delight.
To muse, and rhyme, in a quiet den,
Within the silent cloak of night.

Where shall he find his destiny,
His paramount poetic abode.
What concept should he strive to see,
To build a celebrated Ode...

Looking for answers in the sky,
For how many tears were shed.
When the false prophet's lie,
Fomented death wherever it led.

And then against his lies and harms,
Good men swore to stop this abomination.
Then with force of honest arms,
Gave life back life to each honest nation.

Can poetry show us the heart and soul of Man,
Born of freedom’s thirst and godly might.
Can it hold the breach against tyranny’s plan,
And show us the triumph of the right.

How far to quest for poetic light,
That dims even the living Sun.
Where to search for a prophet's sight,
To discover the universal One.

And what of good, his dreams of youth,
As he faces each challenging test.
Can he build his search for truth,
And discover therein, his very best.

© 2023, R. L. Lyons, all rights reserved.


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