I Came Home Today...

I came home today to find my dog had died,
We'd been together such a very long time.
I remembered when I first brought him home,
He was 2 months old, didn't like it alone.
He was full of life, my consummate friend,
He loved to play and take walks now and then.
No matter how often,
Where or when.
He was 12 years old the day he died.
I laid down and quietly cried.

I came home today to find my dad had died,
I had just been with him the previous night.
I remembered fondly the good times we'd had.
He was my mentor, a well thought of man,
He was always there, to chastise and commend,
My trusted advisor, my kindred Godsend,
It happened so fast,
His heart just gave in,
He was 63 the day he died.
I laid down and quietly cried.

I came home today to find my mom had died,
Her zest for life had just withered by,
I remembered how vibrant and beautiful she'd been,
The years posed a fight she just couldn't win.
My collective memories of her loving care,
I loved my mom, I wished I'd been there,
It all seemed surreal,
Unable to feel,
She was 68 the day she died.
I laid down and quietly cried.

I came home today and I realized,
How quickly the years had passed me by,
I remembered all my family and friends,
Who no longer graced this world I'm in.
Phantoms in dreams, cerebral ghosts,
My wife and children now matter most,
I treasured lost memories,
With a subliminal toast,
I'm 49, I subconsciously sighed,
I laid there a moment and quietly cried.


Copyright © August 2009
Kevin Mooney

kmm001
080109

An April Psalm

Another April is upon us.

Consider these events and what might be next...

History's inscribed with painful regrets,
Time-stamped reminders we'd just soon forget.
Life changing moments wrought with misery,
Sober atonement's to God's apathy.


Consider this sequence of mid-April dates,
A 2-week stretch worth scholarly debates,
A series of occurrences without common thread,
A collection of tragedies riddled with dead.


April 12, 1861


A war between brothers, a nation divided,
The question of Slavery, debate undecided,
A Fort's forced surrender, human dignity fought for,
The Anguished Overture to The American Civil War...


April 12, 1945


Our 32nd President, nationally adored,
Died in office, the free world mourned.
The most tenured Chief in U.S. history,
Distinction was Franklin's lasting legacy ...


On April 14, 1865


While our nation reeled to get back on it's feet,
Abe Lincoln was shot in his balcony seat,
"Sic Semper Tyrannis", his assailant cried,
"He belongs to the ages", a martyr had died.


April 14th, 1912


A ship's maiden voyage, an unsinkable fate,
A runaway iceberg too little, too late.
A Titantic virgin, high society's newest rave,
1500 passengers sent to icy hallowed graves.


April 15, 1986,


Middle Eastern tension and territorial defense,
A Berlin club bombed, a dire consequence,
Libya then shelled in retaliation,
60 lives felled, no warning or provocation.


On April 16th, 2007,


A serene college campus in a rural southern state,
32 died at the hands of a class-mate,
Virginia Tech ravaged by a rampaged massacre,
A Blacksburg savage shooting disaster.


April 17, 1961


At the Cold War's peak, a secret coup spoiled,
A surprise invasion to take Cuban soil.
Kennedy's embarrassing political low,
A Bay of Pigs and failed Castro overthrow.


April 18, 1906


A west coast quake, San Francisco torn,
San Andreas faltered in the early morn.
The city shook while most folks slept,
3000 died, scores left bereft.


April 19, 1775


Sovereignty sought, a declaration unfurled,
Red Coats and Minutemen, insults hurled,
A Lexington Common to settle the score,
A single shot heard, a Revolutionary War.


April 19, 1993


A poorly planned siege in a small Texas town,
An Adventist's forged stand on Koreshian ground.
Waco's Davidians, FBI, ATF,
82 perished, most burned to death.


April 19, 1995


Oklahoma, City, the last place you'd expect,
A rental truck blast, sheered lack of respect.
Alfred P. Murray's face blown to smithereens,
A day care center and heart-wrenching scenes.


April 20, 1999


Two young gunman arrived at their school late,
Their intent malicious, their motive pure hate.
A rapid fire stroll in armored disguise,
12 Columbine kids, a teacher victimized.


April 20, 2010


An oil spill disaster beyond compare,
A world engulfed in ecological despair.
Wildlife and lives scarred thereafter,
The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster.


April 27, 2011


A US, mid-west tornadic storm,
Millions of lives irrevocably torn.
God's epic wrath funneled from above,
Record tornadoes, lost homes and ones loved.



These world changing dates seem random at a glance,
But placed on a timeline they're suddenly enhanced.
I only named some, those most can relate,
There are many others that fall in these dates.
A coincidence, perhaps, they happened when they did,
But consider they're significance, the possibilities unsaid.


Do worldly events occur randomly?
Or are we all tokens of some sovereign monopoly?
Are our future's staged, fates foretold?
Or are we engaged in some Divine stranglehold?


Is the future controlled by events in the past?
Outcomes determined when calendar's cast?
Are questions answered before they are asked?
How long will God's mercy eventually last?


If there's no purpose to one's life at all,
Would there be a need for crystal balls?
Existence is tenuous, the future unclear,
Will God's beckon call be the last voice we hear?


History defines both time and existence,
Misery reminds just how fragile life is.
The future's traversed with blind trepidation,
Mysteries are cursed beyond Deprecation.


Church bells chime with tethered consistence,
While rivers wind forever persistent.
Mankind's time is measured and imminent,
Lives intertwined then gone in an instant.

  Copyright © July 2009Kevin Mooney

kmm059

070109

Tsunami (Pink Floyd Tribute III)

A third in a series of pieces dedicated to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Eclipse part two, rearranged.


My hands start to tremble,
My head starts to ache,
My thoughts reassemble,
Give and take.

My memories become jumbled,
My attention span breaks,
My words start to fumble,
Mental brake.

My room starts to tumble,
While baby's awake,
Inner walls crumble,
Windows wobble and shake.

My stomach starts to rumble,
The ground starts to quake,
Working men stumble,
To avoid being fake,
Big mistake.

Cerebral malfunction,
My mind is at stake,
Scattered disfunction,
Amid tremorous wakes,
Terminate.

Clouds fill my eyes,
Tides start to rise,
Subconscious riptides,
Surface then disappear.

Waves touch the skies,
A psychic reprise,
Visions subside then reappear.

Curtains disguise,
But cannot minimize,
The confusion and all of the fears.

Earthquakes create tsunamical breaks
that may require psychological care.
Waves of emotion ravage subliminal shores,
Oceans of thought culminate in confusion and stares.

Minds that break, vacillate,
between reality and what's not there.
Temporal contusions concentrate,
where the surface meets the air.



Copyright © September 2009
Kevin Mooney

kmm001
090809

The Paradox of Oz (Pink Floyd Tribute)

This poem is for all the Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon fans out there...


To the faithful few and young in heart,
Dedicated fans from the start.
Speak to me, in a delicate way.
Listen to what I have to say...

Hold your breath then breathe the air.
We all have our own crosses to bear.
Objectively observe the philosophy of time,
Metaphoric riddles and satirical rhyme.
Think of something more to say.
Tomorrow's just a day away.
Live to learn and learn to share,
Strive to go where other's dare.
Each year's shorter day by day,
Time keeps slowly ticking away.

Don't let troubles tear you apart,
It takes courage to have a heart,
No need to think to use your brain,
So lie in sunshine, watch the rain.
Wait for someone to show you the way,
Think there's something more to say?
Quietly desperate, in an offhand way,
Lose your balance, land in hay,
Pose for a statue while on the run,
Look for darkness under the sun.

Somewhere a rainbow arches the sky,
While cyclones appear and houses fly by.
Run Toto run, you're the chosen one,
Evil finds a weakness in everyone.
Sympathy's musical jestered throng,
A symphony-sweet angelic song.
A land exists in a lullaby,
Where troubles melt then liquify.
Wish upon stars and moons fully bright,
Where darkness lurks, and day is night.

A cinemascoped world of black and white.
An open door to any colour you like.
Where diminutive people seem larger than life.
While good and bad witches sport red-rubied strife.
Adventures seem easy when there's one road to choose.
It's us against them, there's no time to lose.
Follow your instincts down roads of yellow brick,
Be wary of diversions, walk cautiously quick.
The lost seek guidance, it's a circular cause.
A lesson learned blindly, it's the paradox of oz.

Look for new friends along life's way.
Race against time towards an early grave.
Remember it's not the peers you choose.
It's they who decide who'll win and who'll lose.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Lunatics laugh to fill empty space,
Listen for heartbeats of immortal men,
Tear-rusted soldiers made of tin.
Totem-treed faces cast apples adieu,
Fire-balled threats, "and your little dog, too".

And when the road taken seems full of despair,
Be weary of Lions, Tigers and Bears.
It's courage that divides the weak and the strong,
Fear that decides whose right and whose wrong.
The bite of a dog is worse than it's bark.
A friend's one to hold, not tear apart.
Virtue's eclipsed by the valor of men,
Their will to survive, their struggle to win.
God only knows what a man will choose,
Faced with a choice and nothing to lose.

If castles loom in the future ahead,
And it's there your mind's sole purpose is lead,
Don't fritter and waste hours that make a dull day.
Don't twitter with flowers that may cause delay.
Far, far ahead across poppy seed fields,
A Sorcerer's castle of emerald and teal.
Press on toward your goal, even when tired,
It'll be good to warm beside the fire.
And if on first try you're turned away,
Identify what brought you, don't dismay.

Once you've discovered your pot of gold,
Watch for evil's telltale hold.
Equine, kaleidoscopic hues,
Fearful citizens' optic views.
Gigs in the sky, words etched in the clouds,
Threatening scrolls of surrender abound.
A meeting of the mind, in the plural sense.
Opulant sorcery frugally spent.
An impossible task, one sure to lose,
Unmeasureable odds, no choice to choose.

Us and them, me and you,
Up and down, black and blue
A galiant quest for a tetrad crew,
A dubious trot, a trepid coup.
Up and down and round and round,
A conjectured plot from emerald town,
A jestered jaunt on jittery knees,
Where evil lurks among restless trees.
Believable spooks and winged monkeys loom,
So which is a witch and whom is whom?

Down and out, there's no place to go,
With or without, tossed to and fro.
It can't be stopped, this maniacle bout,
Who can deny what the fighting's about?
Rich is rich and poor is poor,
A lunatic lies behind a locked door.
A vessel of time, mourned solitude,
Visions sublime, sworn restitute.
Unlock the door, don't throw away the key,
There's someone in my head and it's not me.

Run Toto run, soar once again,
Seek the heroics of ordinary men.
Winkies march in cadenced unison,
Valiant efforts of courageous friends,
Circumvent afflictions with axe and sword,
Breakdown constrictions with dissonant accord.
Though toils and troubles may bolster your fear,
It takes heat and rain to make rainbows appear.
No matter how difficult life seems to get,
Witches are harmless as long as their wet.

Seek that which brought you to the edge of doom,
The sourse of your purpose, a magical broom.
Return and find refuge in false sorcery,
Chrystal ball visions of devine destiny.
All that you touch and all that you see,
Is that the essense of what you believe?
Seek what eludes you, don't blankly assume,
That everything under the sun is in tune.
Conspire to clip fate's binds that loom,
Sever faith bourn tetherred balloons.

When all else fails and there's no hope, it seems,
Recall life's learned lessons, played out in your dreams.
Look for reminders, the means to all ends,
That which defines you, your family and friends.
And if the band you're in plays a different tune,
Imagine you're safe in your own solitude.
When the sun is eclipsed, it's light all consumed,
I'll look for you on the dark side of the moon.
Take solace in knowing that a mind's helpless roam,
Is three heel taps away...there's no place like home.




Copyright © August 2009
Kevin Mooney

kmm027
080109