Tongue in cheek


 
 By naming the Tower of Babel
 Wasted speech was given a label
 But then it was language,
 Designed to discourage
 The ambition of builders-too-able.
 

 Now comes the Power of Mad Screech
 Supposedly some kind of speech
 Where the new predilection
 To hustle one’s diction
 Puts understanding, quite beyond reach.
 

 Like announcements in DIY stores
 A confusion of noise and no more
 The objective should be 
 To improve clarity
 Not to drive me, full speed, for the door.
 

 As hearing falters, it’s less differential
 Making the clarity all more essential
 For my pleasure each day
 I silently pray
 For a word rate more clear and gentle.
 

 George Potter

Aren’t we ‘smashing’.

Wonders of the Universe, galactic combination

Require a depth of knowledge, beyond my comprehension

Black holes, time warps, expansion, ever faster so it seems

All started from a single Bang, is this the stuff of dreams?

Steven Hawking wrote the words, I strain to understand

And then outside my window, I see the beauty of our land

Billions of stars, huge galaxies, great telescopes display

But even those quite near, are all too far away_

To be of any relevance to our living here below,

Where we create more problems, despite ev’rything we know

We already smashed the atom, and made a nuclear bomb,

At Cern we found Higgs Boson, (but it doesn’t live that long),

We’ve smashed the Ozone layer, (so now we’ll heat up quicker)

Smash the shales, by fracking, so our future power won’t flicker.

In fact we are quite ‘smashing’, but it seems to me,

The errors we keep making, will last eternally.

George Potter

Broken China

(Thoughts after the breakdown of a marriage)

The Loving Cup is broken, its contents strewn around,

The once lovely wholeness, is split upon the ground

The jagged edges, razor sharp, enough to wound anew_

The caring children, who would love, to rejoin the two.

Though now the points are far too keen, for the whole to realign,

Don’t let unkindness trample on this still unique design

Each half now needs support, and may not stand alone

For family ties are fragile, like porcelain, not stone

It may be found that strain without, is more than strain within_

The family, and in good time rapprochement will begin.

Thoughts of happier times can’t be, forgotten and sealed up

Chips and cracks can coexist in many a well loved cup.

So this design, though broken, still has a unique glory

And hopefully we pray, for a good end to this story.

If Only…

When we say ‘if only’…, it leads on to a wish,

Be it, for a sunny summer, or to catch a bigger fish!

For honest politicians, for zero income tax,

A world without Al Queda, or more time to relax!

Usually, it is someone else, we think should make the change,

But if we turn the words around, our lives we rearrange.

For ‘Only if’, we do something, can we help to right the wrong,

Only if, we shout aloud, will we be heard above the throng.

Only if, we decide, can we change what might have been,

For ‘Only if’, means action, while ‘If Only’s  just a dream.

George Potter

Crossing the Channel

All around us, now exists, a state of great confusion,

No-one seems to know, which is the way to go,

From our Ministers, division, our leaders rudder-less

The charts have no indication, of the ground below.

In olden days the Captain, would, “Take a sounding!’”, shout,

The uncomplicated lead-line, into the depth was thrown,

It found the bottom, and straight forwardly

The important facts were known.

Now they use elastic thread to measure depths unknown

The line has inbuilt buoyancy, so the bottom’s never seen

The vague measurement presented, uncompromisingly

Is only a reflection, of where we just have been.

Clearly, we are still afloat, (none felt an awful shudder),

What we need is Vision, but on whom, now,  can we call?

Not the mutinous rebellion, of pirate boarding parties

Who claim great power, but actually, do nothing much at all.

So, clever Politicians, ‘all at sea’ or ashore,

Analyse with care, the dangers that abound

Think carefully about, where our boat is heading

Then make a sensible decision, before we run aground.

George Potter

Fellow Travellers

We are six thousand million on this earth today

We recognise a handful, but that is not to say

That those we do not know, and those we haven’t met

Are any less important on this earthly realm, and yet,

Some present Religion as the faultless guide

To those that we should fear, or gladly stand beside.

As no-one fears a new born child, whatever blood or creed

Whence derives the evil, that makes some feel the need?

To destroy what Gods and Prophets, universally declare

That equal right of each of us, to live and prosper here.

So my Fellow Traveller, I may not know you well,

But we should start by being friends. As far as I can tell

We have no fight between us, nor God that disallows

Our friendship, while we try to keep our charitable vows.

Live in peace and prosper, be as happy as you can

If we meet, we will embrace as man with fellow man

And if our meeting is delayed until the life hereafter

Let’s make sure, our actions now, deserve future love and laughter.

                                                            George Potter