Laid back or laziness

                                          A laid-back life is like a breeze that moves the willow tree, It keeps you calm and gives you room to breathe and just be free. But laziness is like a fog that keeps you in your bed, It takes away the open road and leaves a cloud instead. The peaceful mind enjoys the sun and watches clouds roll past, It knows just when to take a break and when to move at last. The lazy heart forgets to plant the seeds that make us grow, And misses out on all the joy that busy people know. One is a choice to slow things down and let your spirit rest, To look around at what you have and feel that you are blest. The other is a heavy heavy weight that holds your feet in place, And keeps you from the happy path and finishes the race. So rest your bones beneath the shade when all your work is through, But do not let the sleepy dust take over all...

The Toll of War


No bugles call the troops to charge.

No bayonets gleam in the morning's raw light.

The pilot, a cipher, sips lukewarm coffee.

Sees the world through a screen, in stark green and white.


With a joystick's soft, unthinking shift,

A wedding becomes a smudge of flame.

A drone's low hum, a disembodied gift,

Of death that carries no face, nor name.


In another room, a keyboard clicks,

A virus blooms in the digital dust.

The market falters on its nervous ticks;

A fortress crumbles from a stolen trust.


Meanwhile, in a country far from home,

The soldier patrols in a heat so deep,

That memory and nightmare start to roam,

And crawl beneath the skin while he sleeps.


He remembers the blast, the blinding white flash,

The dust in the mouth, the terror, the grief.

He touches a name, and time turns to ash;

There is no rest, no relief in sight.


The casualties are not just found on the wire.

They are the children who play in the crater.

The wife who waits by a muted fire.

The man who lives, but only feels later.


The leaders confer in their polished chairs,

And speak in words that sound precise and bland.

While lives are traded like software shares,

And silence reigns over a burning land.


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