1914-2014 WWIII?

O, wither thou world?

Like a ship, un-helmed
Led by the wicked
Or the overwhelmed

Armies are fighting

Of all shapes and sizes
And they’re not impressed
By those Nobel prizes

Every dreary day now

Defeats the last
With each red line crossed
And each deadline passed

Talks have been extended

For an extra inning
Anything to keep
Those centrifuges spinning

All the while planning

For some greater glory
High atop a rocket
--End of story

China caught a cold

Vietnam is sneezing
Tensions in Korea
Sure are easing

I haven't seen the planet
Quite this hot
Since a century ago
When the Duke got shot

I’m a very happy poet

And I like to smile
But I haven’t done it much
For quite a while

It’s hard not to develop

An intense foreboding
In a week with churches
And planes exploding

I wouldn’t trust a truce

As far as I could throw it
We’re in World War III
And we just don’t it

Cleveland Really Rocks Tonight

A brand new day has dawned

Another era has begun
We welcome the return
Of Cleveland’s second-favorite son

No more will those Ohioans

Complain and moan and grumble
No more will they disdain the drive;
Obsess about the fumble

There’s something on the news today

I’ve not seen for a while
The sun came up this morning
And I saw a city smile

The science ISN’T settled

Fortune CAN be brooked by men
Thomas Wolfe was wrong
Because you can go home again

I read the words the athlete wrote

I read the words and cried
If any man says that he didn’t
I say that man just lied

How rare and wonderful a thing

Dear sisters and dear brothers
That someone pondering their path
Should think so much of others

And how amid your triumphs

Find the courage that it takes
To stand before the world
And to acknowledge your mistakes

Now I’m ecstatic too

Because as everybody knows
Our nation’s outlook turns
The way the Cuyahoga flows

The Cleveland streets are joyous now

But soon we may all learn
How happier “C-Town” can be…
Should “Johnny Radio” return

Happy Birthday, America

Each birthday sees another year
We put into our past
And we remark, as they approach,
“This year’s gone by so fast”

We gain a little wisdom

And we lose a little hair
And vow we’ll do more exercise
And eschew he éclair

We’ll learn to speak a language

Or to play the bass guitar
But birthday resolutions
Just don’t get us very far

Our nation has a birthday

And we mark it every year
With spectacles and speeches
Both the raucous and austere

With cannonades and concerts

Folks at PBS are staging
While failing to appreciate
Our country, too, is aging

We’re one more year removed

From when our founders filled the hall
To sign a piece of parchment
And together risk it all
 
They had, if you look carefully
But little chance of winning
And hardly a conception
Of the battle just beginning

The way is long and dangerous
And struggles seldom cease
In the fight to nurture liberty
And insure domestic peace

No year will go by quietly

And each tomorrow brings
A testament of tyrants
And a cast of would-be kings

Those who want the power

But ignore both law and letter
Who defend such usurpations
By asserting they know better.

They say they love the nation

But have funny ways to show it
And one by one like birthdays
Freedom’s gone before you know it.

So resolve to serve your country

And the threats now placed upon her
By pledging your...attention
And, of course, your sacred honor