FARMER HERACLES
Today, my Lord, the moon hangs high above
And frost hoars the furrowed down
Where peels the farmer late with carefree love —
To ply his hand and scatter ground.
Lazy lord of flies, the scarecrow shirks,
Whistling wastes the wind and lifts aloft
Thorn-bush, thistles, leaves, and brushes soft
To straggle, strangle, struggle the farmer’s work.
Sickles, shovels, picks, bogwood scythes,
Lurk while blind snowdrifts drive,
But Spring brings a fight till night to free
Fallow fields fret-crossed with strangle-weed.
Fragments of dead soldiers churn’d and chopp’d
By blades of a plough a second Death,
Second Life to seed an autumn crop,
Ignored unseen harmless shibboleth.
Homeward plods the farmer a potted path,
Safely by the moon a friendly face
In pain, in rain, our hero remains
Apart from Life’s madding muddy race. [2018]
THE MEANING OF LIFE
Plato pursues the platitude of good
Aristotle urges we do what we should,
Cynics reject wealth, fame and power
Hedonists are a party-going shower,
Epicureans want a life pain free
Stoics are patient and sigh c’est la vie,
Enlightenment teaches natural rights
Liberal wimps practise politics light,
Bentham’s ‘greatest happiness principle’ —
Utilitarianism is the title,
Kant can’t abide the unprincipled fool
Nihilists think God is dead as a rule,
Pragmatists struggle through practical strife
Existentialists create their own Life,
Absurdists expect a disharmony
Secular humanists claim we are free,
Logical positivism doesn’t ask
For Postmodernists scrutiny’s the task,
Pantheists nurture the environment
Confucius is an ordinary gent,
Buddhists are hippies who seek Nirvana
Mohists give free love in their pyjamas,
Legalists hanker the kernel of knowledge
Christians on Sunday like to trim their hedge,
Catholics prefer love au natural
Mormons snatch a harem of gals,
Jewish God adores a good killing spree
Baha’i faith seeks human harmony,
Zoroastrians divide right from wrong
Quakers are silent, never sing a song,
Islamists worship Allahu Akbar
Hinduists seek Karma and Sansara,
Janists are veggies, never hurt a fly
Sikhs wear headscarves but never wear a tie,
Taoists maintain natural truth in tune
Shintoists watch Sumo from April to June.
Don’t let the bastards tell you what to do —
Ask a computer you’ll get 42.
Never be hoodwinked, never bend the knee —
And most important — $ never give money. [2016]