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Shahriar Shahriari |
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Poems - Critique of Society - Group 3
Lessons of History
I was watching fireworks afar
A rocket went up, a shooting star
Instantly exploded in a flash
A pebble into a pond splash;
It formed a thousand points of light
Brought a smile, delightful sight;
In a moment they were all gone
Its short life its course had run.
And then I heard a distant boom
Loudly proclaiming its doom;
Though pointless it may have seemed
Brilliantly for a moment gleamed.And so it is with heavenly stars
Though longer time, distant, sparse
They glow and shine but for a while
Then they go out without guile
All that remains, light years away
Traces of light, of their life say
They glowed and shone with brilliance
Constantly giving of their radiance
They lived their lives with full flare
For the short time that they were there;
And when they are there no more
To distant times their light will soar.Historical figures with might
Glowed for a while, then took flight
DaVinci, Einstein and Shakespeare
Are living though dead may appear.
All that remains, their distant boom
Bodies buried inside their tomb
But their names, far from doom
Pages of history groom.© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
July 26, 1997
We hail JFK
Whose bold display
Inspired a nation
To take her station
Put man on the moon
And achieve it so soon.He asked with a tone sincere and true
"Ask not what your country can do for you,
Ask what you can do for your country!"
And led the way with an air of gallantry.This arises a question in my mind
Isn't this how we should treat humankind?
Isn't our god also to be treated thus?
Should we pray to ask what god can do for us?
Or pray to see what we can do for our god
And move ahead, spirited, brave, and proud.© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
June 14, 1997
J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI
For the longest time held a position most high
Presidents came and went during his reign
But Hoover, the constant rock, would remain.
Ruthless, powerful, trickster in his way
Nobody dared against him one thing say.
Still as the head, he died some years back
Gradually things come out, revealing his track;
His lust for control, his drive for power
Ruling from his ivory tower in his hour,
But now he is dead, his dust and earth the same
Though many monuments erected in his name.Now the question is was his life worthwhile?
In the name of security putting so many on trial?
Surveillance, beating, murder, assassination
Done in the name of defending the nation;
Making deals with the Mob, and the devil
In expunging lives he did revel.
Using so much power, cunning and guile
Destroying love, eradicating smile,
And then he went through the final portal
That is traversed by every mortal.
His power and fame is now but fiction
What is real is so much affliction
And pain, mistrust and fear in hearts of men
Though he is no longer head of the pit bull pen;
Just mentioning the Bureau creates such a sense
Of putting up guards, going on defence.
In spite of all this fear, the ultimate mover
Finally will take us to where is now Hoover;
To a place where our flesh and bones
Will become one with clay and stones,
And a place where our immortal soul
Is united with our divine whole.Yet in the name of justice, avoiding wrong we must,
Else our heads are hung in shame with the unjust;
An eye for an eye makes the world go blind
A life for a life the whole earth barren find;
For if we are truly children of one God
Even upon J. Edgar Hoover, God will nod,
Everyone who beholds a rose simply knows
Beside the flower the thorn naturally grows.
Though it is easy to fight with, go to war
We must try to love even one such as J. Edgar.© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
July 2, 1997
Rudolf Hess once to the crowd
Proclaimed this maxim aloud
"You won't know Hitler with your mind
The Fuhrer with you heart you'll find.
Turn off your mind and your brain
From all thinking then, refrain;
Use your heart as the only tool,
This is an important Nazi rule."The New Age says, "get out of your mind
Only to your heart yourself bind,
Cause of our troubles, a heartless head;
It is the head we should solely dread."A heartless head is just as bad
As a headless heart may be mad;
Big Brother, a heartless machine
Or put Hitler on the scene.
One will serve its own need
Based on self-serving greed,
Other pain and fear will breed
Its endless appetite to feed.We were born with a head and heart
Why should we keep them apart?
Virtue is not in killing either,
But in making each, other's feeder.© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
July 13, 1997
Mother nature's features
The world of creatures;
The cursing preachers
Modern false teachers
Will fervently destroy
With nature they'll toy
Domination they'll try
Progress their battle cry.
Power in the name of God
Destroyed, shed much blood,
Power of progress
Like Midas will caress
With a touch that curses
The object it nurses.
Church of technology
Dogmatic theology,
Modernist insanity
Drowning in vanity,
Short in morality
This is reality.© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
April 8, 1997
© , 1997-2005. Vancouver Canada, & Los Angeles, CA
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