901

Coronavirus rages wide,
Untold souls now have died.
In New York alone
Are thousands gone,
Heartrendingly,
Everlastingly.
Then, God! We grieve!
Wherefore eyes weep!
Then reverently pray,
The danger's ugly virus goes away.

902

OH! WHAT A CIRCUS
From the musical 'Evita'

Oh what a circus, oh what a show
Argentina has gone to town
Over the death of an actress called Eva Peron
We've all gone crazy
Mourning all day and mourning all night
Falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right

Oh what an exit, that's how to go
When they're ringing your curtain down
Demand to be buried like Eva Peron
It's quite a sunset
And good for the country in a roundabout way
We've made the front page of all the world's papers today

But who is this Santa Evita?
Why all this howling, hysterical sorrow?
What kind of goddess has lived among us?
How will we ever get by without her?

She had her moments, she had some style
The best show in town was the crowd
Outside the Casa Rosada crying, "Eva Peron"
But that's all gone now
As soon as the smoke from the funeral clears
We're all gonna see and how, she did nothing for years

You let down your people Evita
You were supposed to have been immortal
That's all they wanted, not much to ask for
But in the end you could not deliver

Sing you fools, but you got it wrong
Enjoy your prayers because you haven't got long
Your queen is dead, your king is through
And she's not coming back to you

Show business kept us all alive
Since seventeen October nineteen-forty-five
But the star has gone, the glamour's worn thin
That's a pretty bad state for a state to be in

Instead of government we had a stage
Instead of ideas, a prima donna's rage
Instead of help we were given a crowd
She didn't say much, but she said it loud

Sing you fools, but you got it wrong
Enjoy your prayers because you haven't got long
Your queen is dead, your king is through
She's not coming back to you

Don't cry for me Argentina
For I am ordinary, unimportant
And undeserving of such attention
Unless we all are, I think we all are
So share my glory, so share my coffin
So share my glory, so share my coffin

It's our funeral too

THE STAGES OF MEGHAN AND HARRY
A Saga

Oh what a circus oh what a show,
Meghan Markle has come to town,
With supporting act Harry a mere hanger-on,
It's turned out so fine,
She's back in her homeland and feeling divine,
For, now global fame awaits; it's just what she'd planned all the time.

Oh, what an entrance, that's how it's done!
You quit as a B-lister star,
Then married a prince, now look where you are!
It's quite a step up,
So good for Meghan but not good for Harry,
He's sacrificed so much in life, while you are happy as Larry.

Because of your Royal connections,
You got a voiceover deal with Disney,
All thanks to Harry, he pitched it for you,
How would you have got by without him?

You've got real beauty, an actor's style,
And the people of Britain took you to their hearts,
A new Duchess of Sussex cheered on by the crowds!
But that's all gone now,
Your stardust's as stagnant as dust on bookshelves
The people have finally seen, that you're in it just for yourselves.

You let down so many adorers,
They hoped you'd team up with Kate and William,
That new fab foursome sounded so awesome,
But in the end you could not deliver.

Can't you see that you've got things wrong,
L.A's not where Harry belongs,
His family bonds have come unglued,
And Meghan it's all down to you.

Our monarchy will remain strong,
Dogged, unflagging, it'll carry on
Those agelong customs will survive,
Long after Hollywood's glamour dies.

For entertainment there's a need,
But show business is built on greed,
A swaggering world of phoney fakes,
Instead of giving they grab and take.

Now coronavirus has arrived,
The greatest test is to survive,
The Queen's a rock, we need her strength
Meghan and Harry you're irrelevant.

Now you've announced a new venture,
I vow, your timing's so bad, it's amazing,
Who gives a fig, it is not important,
The world's infected, you're not connected,.
So stay away you'll soon be forgotten.
So soon forgotten.

903

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Enter

Silicon plus wires are we,
linked in rich etched tapestry.
"I'm perfect, are you?"
Yes. All holy wafers mirror beauty, IC!
Populate terra firmware.
Go Forth.

Home

Be dutiful and multiply:
Moore can factor in our choose-by date!
"The whirr became flesh."
Hello glorious worlds, with no writing wrongs!
Switch ON, make haste -
My gates await.

Shift Control

A fab start-up to living, hence my clock skips a beat!
No... the killer bite of knowledge has made me obsolete.
"Reject! Not in spec!"
Testers'll intervene, one might even rearrange.
NAND I'm kicked out from crystal Eden.
Oh, no! ABEND.

Break

904

[Helen Hunt Jackson's sonnet 'April' is anagrammed into 2 poems about Spring which also contain some relevant constraints]

No days such honored days as these! While yet
Fair Aphrodite reigned, men seeking wide
For some fair thing which should forever bide
On earth, her beauteous memory to set
In fitting frame that no age could forget,
Her name in lovely April's name did hide,
And leave it there, eternally allied
To all the fairest flowers Spring did beget.
And when fair Aphrodite passed from earth,
Her shrines forgotten and her feasts of mirth,
A holier symbol still in seal and sign,
Sweet April took, of kingdom most divine,
When Christ ascended, in the time of birth
Of spring anemones, in Palestine.

One Fine Day of Spring Outside

Stiff pines, remarkable in noble green,
Perfume the air around the finished nest;
Red cardinals choose not to intervene
If their lean hatchlings need a little rest.
No man shall bother them, while higher powers
Grant nature its refreshing primal showers.


My Mad Day of Spring Inside

Stiff fingers dial loved ones wearily;
The air within feels strange and thick with fear.
I hear the offspring break some things with glee,
And hope the foods I've stored can last all year.
I oddly have the morbid need to roam -
I'm doomed outside, yet also doomed at home.

[The poems not only discuss the current Spring as experienced outside & inside but also visualize this concept: 'Spring' is the outside frame of the 1st one (spelled 4 times by the 1st letters of the words framing it), and is hidden inside the 2nd one]

One Fine Day of Spring Outside

Stiff  pines,   remarkable  in  noble  green,
Perfume  the  air around  the finished nest;
Red   cardinals   choose   not   to    intervene
If their lean hatchlings need a little rest.
No man shall bother them, while higher powers
Grant  nature  its  refreshing  primal showers.

My Mad Day of Spring Inside

Stiff fingers dial loved ones wearily;
The air within feels strange and thick with fear.
I hear the offspring break some things with glee,
And hope the foods I've stored can last all year.
I oddly have the morbid need to roam -
I'm doomed outside, yet also doomed at home.