The Burden of Choice

I hope that next year brings changes

I hope next year you’re free of dangers

I hope next year you have only one burden

And that’s the burden of choice.

To choose to talk freely without fear of reprisals

To decide how to express yourself with no recrimination

To opt to travel by whatever means

To select your friends from the millions worldwide

To pick from a vast array of foods to feed your family

To have a desire that can be fulfilled

To want something small and be able to get it

To wish for peace and see the possibility

To favour freedom without facing hostility

To prefer to stay in your family home and not be in fear of eviction

To fancy all these choices as if they were a given

I make choices every day

I have that luxury

I elect to continue to be vocal

To determine outcomes I know to be right

I choose to do what I do

To have choices, you need freedom

That is my dream for you.

The Nature of Mother Nature

I have had some free time lately and I've been thinking about where I fit in the big scheme of things. No answers yet on that one....
A poem I wrote about what we are doing and bringing upon ourselves...it's not good news.

The Nature of Mother Nature
We were graced with this earth and given the tools
To develop and exist, to abide by her rules
How cruel we can be to others on this sphere
Whose differences cause panic through ignorance and fear.
She guided us gently with love in her heart
She’d send us a warning when we strayed from her path
But we heeded nothing and continued, now comes her wrath.
Her hope is fading, her patience gone.
She’s sighing, her exasperated breath forcing our homes to rubble
She’s crying, tears flooding rivers, oceans rising
She’s trembling with anger, her ire shaking the land
Her heart is breaking, torn apart by her children’s malevolence.
Greed is the scourge that’s destroying our planet.
Wanting more, taking yours making it mine.
Adjusting the rules and history so we succeed.
The faces change but the deeds are the same.
Some have tried to show us the truth.
But they were slain for their honesty.
What is our future? How will this end?
We are answering to her now
The most formidable foe we have faced.
We need to grow up from the delinquents we are
Get on with the task of getting along.
Appease her, calm her, show her we are worthy.

It's a bit dark, but so are these times. I hope we can mend.