A Mind is Fading

 

I spoke with an old lover today.
Topics of conversation were:
Portuguese custard tarts,
crime in the big city,
a stranger bought him lunch in Kensington Market.

He spent quite a bit of time enumerating
the horrendous gun and knife attacks recently.
He bemoaned the fact that young people are evil
and out of control.
He said he's afraid to go out after dark.

He wanted me to send a link to a guy
who wants to lose weight with whey.
A link that he'd already sent to me.
He said that link doesn't work for him.
He said he didn't know how to send a link.

However, he'd sent it to me. 
I said I'd send it directly to the guy.
He said not to do that because the guy works there.
I said the guy had sent me email from there.
He carefully reiterated that the guy works there.

I have a saddening feeling that his mind is
wandering away
now.
He's very old.

Then, when I said that I had to go,
he wanted to talk about Jesus.
I didn't want to talk about Jesus.
He said he'd pray for me.
I wonder whether I'll ever hear from him again.

©Ellen Pepper 2025

image credit: https://www.freepik.com/

IMAGINE THAT

 

Imagine that he’s finally gone,
eradicated,
sent away,
locked up,
dead,
silenced.

Imagine that:
his fiats are rescinded,
his minions are defeated
put on trial,
locked up
but not with him.

Imagine all the ICE goons
being thrown on the mercy of their victims
and torn limb from limb
by them in retribution.

Imagine all the wealthy pedophiles
subject to the vengeance of those they
damaged and defiled.
Imagine them held naked in cages
while their victims determine their fate.

Now…

Imagine compassionate health care
brought in for all Americans
while medical debt is erased
and scientific research is once again respected.
Imagine cures for diseases being found;
and medication costs made truly affordable.

Imagine a government that respects the Law
and holds the Constitution as sacred.
Imagine lawmakers who are not on the take,
where bribery is punishable with prison.
Where insider trading is forbidden.
Where lobbying is made illegal.
Imagine an Ethics Committee with teeth.

Imagine honour and courage returning to the land
because people have learned to cherish it.
Imagine everyone finally happy to admit
that we are all humans
that we all bleed
that we all love and cry and hope and laugh
and want the best for the children
and all future generations.

Imagine that Love and Service to Others
become the true measure
of a country’s greatness.
Imagine that.


©Ellen Pepper 2025


image credit: animalia-life.club

All That Noise

 

Why are they so noisy?
A cacophony of calumnied concatenations creating consternation.
They cannot answer questions without acute accusations
against those who dare question them.
They shout down and shut off.  
They loudly obfuscate, 
and mendacity is let loose in the chamber.

The noise is non-stop. 
They never sleep. 
So many of them work through the night 
to spread more lies and deceit.
Dissonance. Disturbance. Defiance.
Stochasticity.
They crank the volume up to 11.

A vociferous interference with the serenity
needed to process their lies.
The plan being to drown out the critical thoughts
of their opponents.
They see it as a War of Words -
even against their own flesh.
More's the pity.

There can be no peace until...
fill in the blanks.
Maybe an even more destructive pandemic
wiping out billions
can reset the disaster of this relentless
commotion, clangor, clamor.
This babel of dissonance.

Only then would there be silence and 
quietude.
Only then would there be peace at last.

©Ellen Pepper 2025