Thoughts sound good
They’re nicely cast
PRELUDE
Words,
words, I love all words.
They
open for me whole new worlds.
Words
can sound or just be silent,
Make
us vicious, and even violent.
They
can shock, and be daring,
They
can soothe, and be inspiring.
They can be lofty, they can be lovely,
They
can be uttered clearly and coolly.
Spoken
with anger, stated as rules
By
people wise, and even fools.
They
can be rich and be readable
They
can be powerful, and be punnable,
Words
are interesting, informative,
Imaginative,
instigative.
Words
can be crude or be colorful,
They
can be big and be beautiful,
Long
and separable,
Short
or laughable.
Lots
of fun from words I reap.
They're
really, really, really cheap.
For
dollars few one can hook
Thousands
of words in a big fat book.
I
while away lots of time
Constructing
lines that simply rhyme.
In
the pages to follow, see what I've done,
Read
them, recite them, you may have fun!
I.
BELIEF SYSTEMS
1.
FAITH
1. Faith is an
anchor: it keeps you on shore;
Doubt is a sail: it helps you explore.
2.Those who swear
that faith is true
Have their own faith in view.
3.If a person's heart
you wish to break
Try that person's faith to shake.
4.Wreck not a faith
that is deep,
If you can't offer ought else to keep.
5.They’re targets
oft of peoples' hate
Who a people’s faith do desecrate.
6.When pain and
sorrow afflict the mind
In faith can one solace find.
7.Faith can't cure
all physical ills;
But other needs it amply fills.
8.Gods above can't
subsist
If faith below doesn’t exist.
9.Faith isn’t
belief with no proof for it;
It’s belief with proof for the opposite.
10.Faith accepts
without asking for reason,
As one eats one's meal without thought of poison.
2. MYTHS
1.Not facts, but
values are what one finds
In the myths and tales of ancient minds.
2.Science's proofs
and obscure theories
Aren't as soothing as age-old stories.
3.Devils and spirits
are called by us
Bacteria, germs and viruses.
4.Myths and spooks of
ancient folks
Perhaps were their dreams and jokes.
5.Myths were stories
serious
To explain the world that's around us.
6.Who take
mythologies as really true,
Can get wild and combative too.
7.Myths are often
tales delightful:
Deep-felt visions, oft insightful.
8.The most ancient
gods in human history
Are filled with magic, myth and mystery.
9.We accept the God
of our kin and kith;
What others worship,
we call a myth.
10.Myths see the
world in terms too stark:
As good and bad, as light and dark.
3.
GOD CONCEPTS
1.Whether God is or
not a hypothesis,
God is joy and love and source of bliss.
2.The world has but a
single Boss
Who sets our life and gain and loss.
3.
God is not a spy in the sky,
Watching thoughts and deeds from up on high.
4.Music is one, but
tunes are countless.
Icons are many, but God is formless.
5.Fear not the God Who is above:
For God is only mercy and love.
6.Rain and thunder,
sun and sky
May be the only gods on high.
7.If a God there be,
He must embrace
Saints and sinners of every race.
8.God said, "Let
a Big Bang Blast!"
That's how the world, it came at last.
9.God thought, “Let
there be sound!”
Then said, “Let e.m. waves be all around.”
10.Is God a He or is
God a She?
Some think they know, but don’t ask me!
I.
BELIEF SYSTEMS
1.
FAITH
1.Faith
is an anchor: it keeps you on shore;
Doubt
is a sail: it helps you explore.
2.Those
who swear that faith is true
Have
their own faith in view.
3.If
a person's heart you wish to break
Try
that person's faith to shake.
4.Wreck
not a faith that is deep,
If
you can't offer ought else to keep.
5.They’re
targets oft of peoples' hate
Who
a people’s faith do desecrate.
6.When
pain and sorrow afflict the mind
In
faith can one solace find.
7.Faith
can't cure all physical ills;
But
other needs it amply fills.
8.Gods
above can't subsist
If
faith below doesn’t exist.
9.Faith
isn’t belief with no proof for it;
It’s
belief with proof for the opposite.
10.Faith
accepts without asking for reason,
As
one eats one's food without checking for poison.
2.
MYTHS
1.Not
facts, but values are what one finds
In
the myths and tales of ancient minds.
2.Science's
proofs and obscure theories
Aren't
as soothing as age-old stories.
3.Devils
and spirits are called by us
Bacteria,
germs and viruses.
4.Myths
and spooks of ancient folks
Perhaps
were their dreams and jokes.
5.Myths
were stories serious
To
explain the world that's around us.
6.Who
take mythologies as really true,
Can
get crazy and combative too.
7.Myths
are often tales delightful:
Deep-felt
visions, oft insightful.
8.The
most ancient gods in human history
Are
filled with magic, myth and mystery.
9.True
God belongs to our kin and kith;
What others pray to, we call a myth.
10.Myths
see the world in terms too stark:
As
good and bad, as light and dark.
3.
GOD CONCEPTS
1.Whether
God is or not a hypothesis,
God
is joy and love and source of bliss.
2.The
world has but a single Boss
Who
sets our life and gain and loss.
3.God is not a spy in the sky,
Watching
thoughts and deeds from up on high.
4.Music
is one, but tunes are countless.
Icons
are many, but God is formless.
5.Fear not the God Who is above:
For
God is only mercy and love.
6.Rain
and thunder, sun and sky
May
be the only gods on high.
7.If
a God there be, He must embrace
Saints
and sinners of every race.
8.God
said, "Let a Big Bang Blast!"
That's
how the world, it came at last.
9.God
said, “Let the world shine in many ways
With
matter, energy in time and space!,”
10.God
said, "E.M. waves, let there be,
Of
which a part humans can see!"
II.
RELIGION
1.
HISTORICAL
1.
Religions talk of heaven and hell
As where in future we all will dwell.
2.
No prophet's words are widely read
That warm admirers haven't spread.
3.
Religions begin to degenerate
When all they do is God venerate.
4.
Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses
Ate and slept like the rest of us.
5.
When they hunted and lived in caves
They had no priests or rites, or even graves.
6.
Pure truth in religion, if you wish to find
Keep all history out of
mind.
7.
Of gods and scriptures we find no trace
'Mong the early hunters of the human race.
8.
Reject not religions of the past.
Change and expand to make them last.
9.
Who authored
sacred scriptures’ pages
Were scientific theorists of bygone ages.
10.
There’s not a single faith indeed
That fought not with another sacred creed.
2.
NARROW
1.
Fanatics can be dangerous
If power they secure over
us.
2.
Religious groups are good, you'll find;
When not close to others of a different kind.
3.
For the true believer, this is the test:
He is sure his belief is the best.
4.
If some religious folks have power indeed,
They’ll dictate what one must and must not read.
5.
"God is great!" some loud exclaim;
Then fight and kill and also maim.
6.
Self-righteous fervor is a force indeed
That provokes wars as much as greed.
7.
Religious bigots are arrogant
And of history they're ignorant.
8.
Of modern science, they know not aught,
Who cling for ever to ancient thought.
9.
Religions have a role to play,
But on everything, should they have a say?
10.
Religion is narrow if it doesn't care
For the poor and the hungry who're out there.
3.
PRAYER
1.
How can asses that can only
bray
Know the joys of those who pray?
2.
Scriptures must only be read.
Dissect them, and they will be dead.
3.
Prayer in truth is an effort to find
A cosmic link for soul and mind.
4.
The joys and thrills of God's embrace
Are beyond those who have no grace.
5.
Prayer isn't to solve problems fast,
But to merge oneself with the cosmos vast.
6.
When all is well, and there's nothing to fear,
Not many pray for God to be near.
7.
When it's hard for one with life to cope,
Who prays to God gets some hope.
8.
When we’re alone with danger around,
Then can the value of prayer be found.
9.
Prayer to God needn't always be
A meek, beseeching, helpless plea.
10.
Prayer is a one-way mode to converse
With the substratum of the universe.
4.
MYSTICISM
1.
From molecules came life and love:
This, wondrous more than Heaven above!
2.
Knowledge of a star’s essence
Robs us not of a mystic sense.
3.
Ecstasy is
the orgasmic joy
That mystics get with the cosmic toy.
4.
Reason
brings to mind some light,
Mystic merger brings delight.
5.
Not all mystics are just fakes,
Though muddled minds may make mistakes.
6.
Science’s
truths can all be bared;
Mystic's joy can't be shared.
7.
Mystics do some truths proclaim;
But not all mystics say the same.
8.
Science without a mystic feeling
Is like medicine without too much healing.
9.
Mystic
feeling is like passing greeting:
Deep-felt, but it's all too fleeting.
10.
Mystic joy without God or creed
Is like morality without laws, indeed.
5.
SPECIFIC RELIGIONS
1.Hindus
say there's many a way
To
search for God, and to pray.
2.The
Judaic faith has this to say:
They're
true to God who His laws obey!
3.The
message of Christ is short indeed:
Be
kind and helpful to those in need.
4.They
call themselves devout Jains
Whose
religion feels for creatures’ pains.
5.The
Buddha's wisdom may be seen
In
his simple rule of the Golden Mean.
6.God
is great, Islam has said;
His
sole messenger: Prophet Mohammed.
7.The
Sikhs say inner peace to find
We
must follow the Master, keep God in mind.
8.Respect
land and trees, rain and dew:
This
is religion enough in Amerindian's view.
9.Chinese
wisdom, it would seem
Is
to be with Nature, follow the stream.
10.Be
good and kind, take rational ways:
This
is all that matters, the humanist says.
III.
CULTURE
1.
ART
1.
Art is statement of a deep-felt truth,
That also happens to please and soothe.
2.
It's humans who make and evaluate
A work of art as bad or great.
3.
Music isn't just note and beat;
But sound that's soothing and also sweet.
4.
Stories that are widely read
Are harmless lies, all nicely said.
5.
A beautiful face is a thing of joy:
Of man or woman, of girl or boy.
6.
People enjoy plays cause they partake
Of dialogues they can't themselves make.
7.
The power of words is what is seen
In a poet's painting of a scene.
8.
No art, no science, no dance, no song,
If one hasn't has food for way too long.
9.
By oneself one makes a work of art
A scientist's work, of the whole is part.
10.
Meaning behind truth by art is shown;
Truth behind facts by science is known.
2.
BOOKS
1.
Speech and actions fade away;
But written words for long will stay.
2.
Books that gather dust in dark
May also light a sudden spark.
3.
Books and logic, we do not need.
The poor and hungry to clothe and feed.
4.
A stranger is like a book unread.
Dull or lively, it can't be said.
5.
Humans are the only creatures
That write and read literatures.
6.
Deeds of saints through
books and sounds
Grow in time by leaps and bounds.
7.
Repeating just what books have said
Is like paying homage to people dead.
8.
Some books belong to every nation:
They’ve changed the face of civilization.
9.
Humans are more than atoms the way
A book is more than words, I'll say.
10.
To know the thoughts of a brilliant mind,
Read
a book it wrote, if you can find.
3.
MORALITY
1.
Moral codes aren't meant to find
Knowledge to light up the mind.
2.
Comfort, control, come from wealth.
But wealth unshared is but stealth.
3.
One can’t with logic justify
How love and kindness sanctify.
4.
Ought in excess, even of laughter
Brings pain or gloom not long after.
5.
An extremist stand, on whatever cause,
Will likely cause some pain or loss.
6.
Conscious hurting of another life
Is an evil sharp as any knife.
7.
Sex and love are not the same;
With love goes never blame or shame.
8.
Pleasures are for only you;
Joys, for sharing with others too.
9.
Those who deal in deadly drugs
Are viler than the vilest thugs.
10.
The simplest moral rule is one:
Willful harm must ever be done.
5.
WORDS AND LANGUAGE
1.
Play on sounds, if you can afford;
The pun is mightier than the word.
2.
The Chinese tongue is hard for you?
Yet millions speak it,
and children too.
3.
Another language beyond your own
Opens the mind to
worlds unknown.
4.
People holding different views,
Don’t mean the same
by the words they use.
5.
What to Romans it was simply sex,
To the Greeks the same was in fact hex.
6.
The fiery word can arouse a mob
To peace or war, to
save or rob.
7.
Though to the bard we’re much beholden,
Yes speech is silver, eloquence golden.
8.
Vibrations in air, when ought we say,
Thoughts and meanings do convey.
9.
Sounds from
the mouth have of course
Could even change history’s course.
10.
Like beauty from the sculptor's stone
The poet makes beauty from words alone.
IV.
GROUPS
1.
CRIME AND PUNSHMENT
1.
Pity the man who once had fame;
Which, having lost, now lives in shame.
2.
Punishment follows not the crime;
Save when one is
caught in time.
3.
Some say it’s murder weird and wild
When a woman wants to abort her child.
4.
Lawyers’ wits are what decide
The outcome when a case is tried.
5.
Equal justice for must be done:
Not penalty same for everyone.
6.
If no one steals and no one
robs,
Police and lawyers will be out of jobs.
7.
Crimes are caused no doubt by roots,
As much as roots lead to rotten fruits.
8.
The lawyer who can better argue
Shows the Truth, in a jury’s view.