Insane

 

 

Five senses there were

Six, there are now,

Somewhere along the line

To this, the rest bowed.

 

Seeing is believing

That’s what I’ve been told,

Hearing brings doubt

Especially, if you are old.

 

Taste is acquired

I have proven that,

Smell doesn’t discriminate

That’s a proven fact.

 

Touching is exciting

But can be dangerous too,

If you are out of touch

Your senses are skewed.

 

It means you’re not seeing

Or hearing well,

Taste and smell are off

It’s not difficult to tell.

 

Extra-sensory perception

Or, E.S.P. for short

Doesn’t trust the others,

It’s an intuition of sorts.

 

It goes beyond the five

It’s a sixth sense we say,

And it’s increasingly becoming

The acceptable way.

 

 

It incorporates the others

Then throws them out,

Having little regard for facts

And feeds on doubt.

 

Its best practitioners

Were mainly women

But men are getting there too,

That’s the huge problem.

 

Extra-sensory perception

Once a woman’s condition

Is now, I’m afraid,

A man’s predilection.

 

It doesn’t make sense

But who really cares?

It is less stressful you see

When sorting our affairs.

 

It is off the grid

And this we know

But it seems to be working,

It is E.S.P. on show.

 

 

How else can you explain

A world that is gone mad?

A world that has lost its senses

And this is truly sad.

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020

 

A Weird Feeling

 

 

It was a weird feeling…

My computer just shut down,

I was actually working in it-

Man, I felt like a clown.

 

Like how people die,

Just shut down and gone!

My computer did just that

It finally passed on.

 

I press this and that

Hoping that it would reboot

But like certain politicians,

It didn’t give a hoot.

 

What a weird feeling

That I was feeling right then!

All I could do was wish and hope

It was not a major problem.

 

My computer, if you please,

Is like my second wife,

I think I hear you suck your teeth

With a “Boy get a life!”

 

“Like a fish out of water”

That is exactly how I felt

Unable to write or post my poems

Thus, a huge blow it dealt.

 

 

It was Tuesday, the 4^th

When my computer expired,

It lasted more than twelve years

And long could have retired.

 

I will definitely remember

That weird feeling I had had

For it was on the same very day

Something else made me sad.

 

 

It was a friend’s funeral

And I had planned to attend

Whereupon my computer decided

That was also its end.

 

In the picture above

Arnott is at the fore-front,

No longer will he stroll with us-

Death can be so blunt.

 

 

The end of my dear friend

And the end of my computer,

Faithful friends they both were

And after, both expired.

 

Now I have a new computer

But Arnott cannot be replaced,

Death brings a weird, weird feeling

And leaves an empty space.

What a hugely weird feeling

When one that you love is gone!

Enjoy to the fullest your love one

Before he or she moves on.

 

Stewart Russell © January 11, 2024

 

Not As You Thought

 

 

It had flown in earlier

A brightly painted plane,

The landing gear was different

It definitely appeared strange.

 

“How will it land?” I wondered,

After all it had to land

But I guess in such situations

The pilot has a plan.

 

A considerable time after

I saw the plane again,

This time it was flying so low

I thought that this was insane.

 

“It is flying too low,” I shouted,

“It is going to crash!”

So out of the bedroom I went

And up the passage in a flash.

 

It canted on a side

And headed to the ground,

A school was in its way

And that is where it came down.

 

I live quite near the airport

Just outside the flight path,

And when I realized it was dream

I could only laugh.

 

I was sitting by the side door

At my wife’s family home,

It was night I remembered

And I was there alone.

 

 

Suddenly I heard a car

And a lady from it alighted,

When I saw who the person was

I was absolutely delighted.

 

She looked and me and smiled

Amused by my surprise

For surely I had thought

It was someone in disguise.

  

But then I heard another voice

A very familiar chuckle,

“How could it be?” I asked myself,

By now I was really puzzled.

 

  

I knew I couldn’t be dreaming

It was much too real for that,

I was absolutely convinced in mind

That what I saw was fact.

 

However, I guess I must tell you

It was really just a dream

The chuckle I heard was Michael

And my sister-in-law, Pearline.

 

“A night of dreams,” I hear,

“Just dreaming his night away.”

But all this happened, I must say

At the earliest light of day.

 

The chiming clock went crazy

And chimed at a quarter past two

So I got up from the bed

And did what I had to do.

 

I got me a new battery

And installed it in the clock

And then fixed the faulty chimes

That chimed when they should not.

 

Rather than going back to bed

I did what I like doing,

That is, as you may have figured,

I sat and wrote a poem.

 

Not the one I am writing now

That would not make sense,

If that’s what you actually thought

You must be really dense.

 

When I went back to the bed

It was already light

So that the dreams I dreamt

Didn’t happen during the night.

 

With the first one I was happy

That it was only just a dream

But not so with the second one

Involving Michael and Pearline.

 

 

But things are just as they are

And we must live with that,

Some things we cannot change

And a dream is not a fact.

 

Stewart Russell © April 23, 2019

 

Spare a Thought

I watched him steadily

Yet I was out of his view

I could see him but he saw me not

Perhaps he would do otherwise if he knew

I was watching curiously

To see what he would do next

As the people passed him by

 You could see they were vex

He approached everyone

I could not hear him speak

But from their reaction

He was forced to retreat

He appeared to be begging

I guess for something to eat

But nobody trusted him

Not even the slightest treat

Progressively I grew sad

At what I was seeing

As it dawned the more on me

That he was a human being

Just like you and I are

And all of these passers-by

Yes, he was a human being

Just like and I

There go you and I

But for the grace of God

This youth was in the clutches

Of the despicable fraud

Yes I refer to the devil

Lucifer, a.k.a. Satan

The one who was out to destroy

From the time the world began

Here was this youth

Entirely bamboozled by him

And so very unaware

That his problem was really sin

I watched yet another passer-by

As he deftly sidestepped

As though he was accustomed

And thus adequately prepped

Everyone refused him

But not once did he stop

He was more than determined

As from one to another he hopped

O yes he was limping

But this was no deterrent

The fact that he used it cleverly

To me was quite apparent

This was not the first time

I had actually sat and observed

For I had daily reason

To be right here on this curb

Actually I was there to watch

People and their behavior

And to come up with a strategy

To tell them about the Saviour

But they were so terribly busy

I wondered if I could achieve

Just a little bit of their attention

To show them how to believe

And while there observing

My eyes were glued to this youngster

Who in every respect

These passers-by treated as a monster

There-in lies the peril

That confronts our very society

Like that youth many are lost

And to be lost for eternity

Like him the Saviour pleads

For us to come to know him

But like these many passers-by

We make light of our awful sin

Like that beggarly youth

We are despicable and in need

But unaware of the Saviour’s love

Who cares about us indeed

Here was this youthful beggar

With matted hair and unkempt

Maybe asking for a little money

To buy the drugs on which he was bent

But more importantly

It then occurred to me

That here was a damned soul

For whom Christ went to Calvary

It was for the unwell he died

Yes the wretched and the sick

The drug addict and the murderer

The con man that is so slick

These are not the only ones

Commuting on their way to hell

But also some who go to church

Every time they hear a church bell

Sitting in the church pew

Feeling all smug and warm

Just like them we mentioned earlier

They too should be warned

That the bottom line really is

The Saviour’s blood applied

For without it there is no salvation

However hard they have tried

Acknowledging our sin is the start

And repenting of the same

Asking God’s pardon for our wrong

And believing in Jesus’ name

Thanking God for such salvation

And stepping out in righteousness

Eyes ever set on the eternal prize

And bearing fruit unto godliness

No difference between the tramp and me

If neither God’s salvation knows

Having not the seal of God

On the way to hell each goes

Stewart Russell © October 2017