562. How Many Will Be Here Tomorrow?

As the world decays beneath us,

I wonder sorrowfully,

How many will be here tomorrow?

And will one of them be me?

The ground has opened wide,

Threatening to swallow us all,

As devil’s in humans’ clothes,

Neighborly push, to help us fall.

I have not prayed for many years,

And it may just be absurd,

But I find myself wanting to,

Even if it won’t be heard.

I fear that the demons are real,

And all the good angels have gone.

Now all we have is one another,

And little ground to stand upon.

For I am but a mortal child,

Yet, I wonder anyway,

How many will be here tomorrow?

…I better write this today.

K. Aldaya, 9/13/21

Picture 1: By Fakurian Design on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/1r0TPtmhEZA

Picture 2: By National Cancer Institute on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/701-FJcjLAQ

Picture 3: From ABC News: Michael Franchi; https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-09/mining-camp-designers-plan-covid-19-quarantine-hub-in-wa/100119364

Picture 4: From CNN (VCG via Getty Images); https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/covid-china-quarantine-camp-hebei-b1790210.html

Picture 5: Posted by Jim Davidson on Twitter; https://twitter.com/planetaryjim/status/1298645415831777280

559. Two By Two

Two by two, with hands of blue,

The Covid Nazis are after you.

They will not stop. They do not care.

They monitor you everywhere.

They tell you what to think and do.

They harm, and say it’s all for you.

They want us all to stay inside,

‘Til prison’s where’er we reside.

They want you to be so confused,

You can not see you’re being used.

Two by two, with hands of blue,

The Covid Nazis are after you.

So, stay inside. Sleep away,

Until you wake again someday,

To find you can not recognize,

Any truth in all the lies;

And find it is too late to stop,

The corruption from the very top.

What will you do when two by two,

They turn and then come after you?

It will be too late for you to say,

“I wish I hadn’t given it away,…

My freedoms and my personal choice,

For now I do not have a voice.

And now when they come two by two,

And grab me with their hands of blue,

I’ll be one of those people too,

Who cry, “Dear God, what should I do?

Why did I hand my humanity away?

Now I’m a slave, and merely prey!””

One day they will come after you.

Believe me, for they always do.

Do not make men lords of you,

Or they’ll come with their hands of blue…

Two by two by two by two,…

By two by two by two.

K. Aldaya, 8/16/21

GIF #1: From Firefly (TV Series); https://tenor.com/view/river-tam-hands-of-blue-firefly-serenity-summer-gif-11224084

GIF #2: From Firefly (TV Series); https://outintheblack.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/wedding-planners-interlude-one/

Picture: By Mika Baumeister on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/8Qi6Yn6qDyA

558. You Can Not Guarantee Tomorrow

You can not guarantee tomorrow,

So why must you steal away our today?

Let us live, and love, and laugh so,…

We don’t waste our lives away,

In fear of the inevitable.

You can not guarantee our safety.

You can not even guarantee your own.

Life and time pass us by swiftly.

So, why spend our time alone,

When today could be our final one?

You can not guarantee life at all.

It only guarantees you’re a liar,

For we all live and someday fall.

Life is hard, and often dire,…

Though a vast journey from start to end.

Do not guarantee us tomorrow,

And do not plan, and scheme, and try to steal,…

From the stories you’ll never know.

Life is like a spinning wheel,

Which moves ever onward steadily.

So, do not guarantee tomorrow.

I am more than content with my today.

Let me live, and love, and laugh so,…

When it’s my time I can say,

“I did not miss tomorrow, because I lived today”.

K. Aldaya, 8/15/21

GIF: From the music video “Summer Wine” by Lana Del Rey; https://weheartit.com/entry/317798351

551. I’m Not Sure Anymore

I remember when I was a child,

They used to go to schools and tell us.

That drugs are bad, and not to do them;

And now they push them upon us,

Like bullies on the playground.

I can remember when we were told,

“Don’t give in to social peer pressure”.

That you shouldn’t do something by force,

Unless you were completely sure,

It was your best choice to make.

I remember when Smokey the Bear,

Told us to prevent fires and care;

Now people on the media scream,

“Burn down the system everywhere!”,

As buildings burn on our screens.

I remember when celebrities,

Said bullies and suicide were bad,

And were meant to be fought out against.

Now locking people up’s the fad;

And silence lets it happen.

I remember when there were standards,

Of how to treat your fellow humans.

Now everyone believes that their fears,

Excuse them from basic demands,

Of their own humanity.

I remember when I was a child,

Even though I was not treated right,

I believed in human potential,…

For us to do what’s good and right…

Yet, now I’m not sure anymore.

Are you?

K. Aldaya, 7/26/21

Picture: By Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/IEVa-W0kojU

542. Collective Torment

Have you not yet heard?

There are no more exceptions.

There is only the rule.

A world of false expectations,

Where the discerning are labeled: ‘fool’,

And inquiry…Absurd!

Have you really not seen?

There are no individuals.

There are only collectives…

Born of social, hierarchical rules,

Where all allegedly ‘real’ victim-hood lives,

Above the law,…blood-soaked, yet clean…

…As individual victims mount.

K. Aldaya, 5/23/21

Picture: Photo of August Landmesser, 1936; https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/resistance-responses-collaboration/non-conformity/refusal-to-salute/