Ease and Squeeze

 

Give and take

Is like ease and squeeze,

Our PM knows when to press gas

And when to freeze.

 

She needs to freeze

Cause she’s been on the gas

And the little we’ve accumulated

Is slipping away quite fast.

 

We need an ease

Cause we getting squeeze,

Cost of living continues to rise

Prices need to freeze.

 

Give and take isn’t working

At least, it is not for me,

I’m not numbered among the rich

And surely, I’m not wealthy.

 

 

 

Prices need to ease

For example, on gasoline

Plus, the quality of the gas we get

Is enough to make one scream.

 

Put in less than $60

And it’s gone the next day,

At present, driving on gasoline fumes,

Seems to be the Bajan way.

 

Do we pay VAT on petrol?

I would like to know,

Cause VAT and Tax at the fuel pump

Is definitely a “no-no”

 

Some roads are atrocious

In spite of the tax at the pump,

We have many slow-down potholes

Instead of the usual hump.

 

And worst when it rains

We’d better learn to swim

For given the depth of some potholes

There might be a drowning.

 

We need an ease

From these expensive potholes

For the way my money is going

My pocket must have holes.

 

 

Supermarkets are a trip

And once was a weekly squeeze

But now the money can’t stretch;

We definitely want an ease.

 

I was there day before

And I went back today,

Ordinarily it would have been a week

But this is no longer the way.

 

I am not “hand-to-mouth’

So, you can understand

What a challenge it is for others

With a lesser budgeted plan.

 

If they ever stop junk food

Some people will not eat

For the acquisition of a balanced diet

Is an inaccessible feat.

 

Well not for the well-off

Like the higher echelons,

But for the poor and vulnerable,

This hope is long gone.

 

Less ease, more squeeze

More give, less take,

The better off is given more

Less is the poor man’s stake.

 

So many poor among us

Not enough to go around,

Just enough for a few more pearls

To add to the rich man’s crown.

 

 

 

A huge gulf between

The rich and the very poor

And that gulf is widened by Government

Even more and more.

 

We need an ease

I have to reiterate,

Please, those who have been elected,

Improve the poor man’ state.

 

Stewart Russell © November 19, 2024

 

Decreeing and Declaring

 

 

Decreeing and Declaring:

Whose roles are these two?

To best answer this question

We must get a biblical view.

 

49 times in the KJV 

You will find the word decree

And this word in all its usage

Speaks to authority.

 

95 times in the KJV

You’ll find the word declare:

77 times in the Old Testament;

In the New it 18 times appear.

 

It can mean to propagate

Or even to explain

And though subtly different,

These basically mean the same.

 

 

Decree on the other hand

You’ll find in the NT one time,

Caesar Augustus unwittingly fell in line

With what was in God’s mind.

 

He sent out the decree

That all the world be taxed

And thus, the need for a census

To be guided by the facts.

 

Before this God had decreed

That the Messiah would come

And it coincided with Caesar’s census

Within the Roman kingdom.

 

Kings by law decree

What must be in their domain,

Such decrees are for a time

And only while they reign.

 

God’s decrees are eternal

And not subjected to change,

Declaring the end at the beginning;

God has infinite range.  

There is much that we declare

That does not come to pass

And even when it does

It will not eternally last.

 

But when we declare God’s Word

We declare God’s decree,

Sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ

For the whole world to see.

 

Suspended on a rugged cross

At Mount Calvary,

In him alone is man’s salvation:

That’s the heavenly decree.

 

Declare the Gospel of salvation

Propagate this royal decree!

That whosoever believes in Christ

Shall be saved eternally.

 

Stewart Russell © August 20, 2021

 

“CTLV”

I am a household name

Known the country wide,

Whenever I am mentioned

It is woe betide.

Very few people like me

Soon you’ll see why

I’m seen as a necessary evil

That most will defy.

I have been around

For thousands of years,

You could wish all you want

I won’t soon disappear.

As long as there is life

This terrestrial side of heaven

I will be criticized and despised

I will never be forgiven.

I come in different forms

And I have many names

But whichever one you call

People will still complain.

Sometimes I can be direct

But mostly I am indirect,

It doesn’t matter the approach I take

People will still fret.

I’m unmoved by their complaints

For I have a job to do,

I am not looking for friends

And I don’t care about their view.

Of course I am filthy rich

And filthy is the operative term

Not because of my enormous wealth

But how I make people squirm.

Whenever they hear my name

They become quite unsettled

And if they were coming forward fast

They suddenly back pedal.

  

I am worse than my bark

I am more known for my bite,

In many a big man’s heart

I will often caused him fright. 

I have a faithful group of friends

Oh, just a comparative few

They make decisions concerning me

But on their behalf too.

I would have mentioned before

I am known by many names

But never mind which one is used

It brings a constant drain.

I know I have you guessing

And you thought that I was Sin

But the chance of escaping me

In this life is pretty slim.

I am a household name

They talk about me all day

And I would be executed tomorrow

If some people had their way.

The most that they could do

Is to attempt to reduce my effect

But this day in which we live

That they certainly reject.

And so I get richer and richer

As I take from everyone,

The more you make the more I take

Sort me out before the money is gone.

Are you getting brighter now?

No, it’s not the Government,

Sorry if I misled you

That was not my intent.

One of my names begins with “C”

My surname commences with “T”

Another starts with the letter “L”

And even one with the initial “V”

That may have put you right on track

Or perhaps it set you back

But the list makes known the fact

Of names I have no lack.

Time to wind this poem down

I never intended it to be long,

Perhaps on this the twentieth verse

You would say that I was wrong.

You will find me in the Bible

Under a name beginning with “T”

There a group was very grateful 

For the benefits they derived from me.

The fact of the matter really is

I am greatly needed; that’s the truth,

Look around you at all I give

And therein you’ll find the proof.

By now you should have guessed

The name by which I am known,

Short or long you’ll know it’s me

Wherever you may roam.

I’m like a plague that some avoid

But all find me hard to shun,

They call me Tax for my shorter name

But I am really TAXATION.

Stewart Russell © November 2017