*charon Chorus Current Version* Poem by Jonathan ROBIN

Ghost of Christmas present, past or future perfect spun or spurned,
shepherd, wolf in pastor's pasture,  mess is earned, world less concerned.
Aeons long or echo fleeting,  naught completing, mocking glass,
mirage little else repeating besides 'I thought I thought I passed! '

Whether old one passes over, young unsung, berth premature,
guilt gilt gifted four leaf clover, or homeless, wan, naught can endure.
Shirk's blood, pain, sorrow, find dread reaper works stalks death-wards, talks stacked cards,
slight consolation for bed weeper a-wake in sombre sable shards.

Innocence caged, fee'd, freed guilty, Janus Justice jest ice frieze
feeding outrage, greed systemic, blind, short-sighted policies,
seizes reins of power, transports few true principles, disease
waves with surges, rampant purges, havoc wreaks with cough and wheeze.
Hope in lockdown, up in air pleas, weakens trust. Economies shiver as, supply lines stretched,
they stutter guttered, splutter, sneeze.
Costly healthcare's slings and arrows menace poor, minorities.
Politicians fiddle, homes burn, fever splitting families.
Food bank inter'st spikes, pandemic viral spreads. Societies' short term vision, indecision, compromise humanity's
social progress, paralyse with muddled herd mentalities.

Euphoria to dark depression marks time's cyclic causal skein,
joys displaced by disappointments, contrasts stark vain tears retain
in scheme of things that brings impression life's arcs end in grief and pain,
no relief for 'true believers'' fake creed hoax as curse of Cain
leaving Earth bereaved and sterile, plastic oceans, lifeless plain
exacerbated by supply chain, electronic gadgets gain.
Memories remain short. Nature, patient, as Earth's plates' refrain
sets in motion underwater earthquakes engulfing mankind vain.
Roman walls and Easter Island monoliths to dust must fall
space age skyscrapers, printed papers, stars and stripes can't last withal.

Weary world is, teary, whirled at warp speed while attention spans
like telomeres truncated daily, stretched till, frailly, hamstring snaps,
leaving information theory faced with bankruptcy that bans
self-delusion's wishful thinking from life's game as handicaps
come into focus, leave folk leery of embracing long term plans,
facts contradict perspectives cheery, hijack 'experts' cracker-jack.
Odds are stacked against solutions as ice cover's record fall
spurs sea levels ever higher, storm strengths raised from breeze to squall.

Summer sunshine, winter snowfall, just, unfair, as boom and bust
feel real as film unreels revealing script spiel some dismay, some trust,
depending on ideas that vary ultra v to infra red,
range that changes with the seasons or emotions' watershed.
Nothing's stable on the table, behind, ahead, hot lust, cold crust,
silver, sable, witless, able, sot and sage see iron rust.
Crown anointed, priest appointed, politicians who appal,
hoax disjointed, facts pinpointed matter little if at all.

Polished pebble tide toned, rounded, priceless gem, physique homespun,
each as sand ends, bright dreams grounded in oblivion undone.
Win or lose, love shared, ignored or left to shrivel by the way,
two sides of one coin, ring Mordor or for Frodo, naught may stay.

Had Mount doom not gobbled Gollum could eye Rove omnipotent?
would there have been some 5th column on fresh liberation pent?
Quantum physics, 'Stargate' series, states 'n' states can co-exist,
what's truth? gilgul, golem, dybbuk? - infinite parallels persist.

Whether bright illusion shatters, big head shed when will walks small,
ermine, mink, stink patchwork tatters, matters little if at all.
Mad as hatters, silver platters, wrinkled crone prone, belle of ball,
prey greed batters, prayerbead chatters, matters little if at all.

Clasping straws proves vain delusion 'sink not swim! ' Time's siren calls,
S.O.S., self-help, confusion sows, curtain falls as engine stalls.
Archimedes' fulcrum fable, 'firm spot' held fast, all recall,
rock of ages shown unstable, all erodes - howe'er it galls.

Alternative event horizons fact or fiction find the same,
ferry floats with Charon's eyes on boating souls without a name.
Mozart  notes communal buried welcomed heedless - magic flute
could not spare from journey ferried through the 'haunts of hern and coot'

Laments unheeded, red rims beaded with emotions on the fly,
strangers never know they needed, nor regrets, nor passing sigh.
What waste motives honed for getting, ever chasing unchaste aim,
last laugh's left with time, forgetting fame's flame, game's name, wild or tame.

Hermit's tower, houri's bower for brief hour flower, fail,
fatter thinner, loser winner, placed sole on soul's scale bewail
breath deleted, uncompleted or fulfilled in narrow scope
are forgotten gains ill-gotten, un-begotten seem, steam hope.

Whether mortal masses money, syphons honey from the hive,
whether disposition sunny, funny bunny, sad, all strive,
fall is fleeting, call competing, opt-out, know in turn sobs' sighs,  
cut-throat cheating, spouse deceiting, one by one feel throbs' demise.

Day night follows, night day hollows each urned, teach Time won't play ball,
if Apollo, Pluto, swallows, matters little if at all.
Climate change, Trump's Bannon banner, Breitbart Right or Huffpost Left,
coarse, uncouth or gentle manner, all of relevance bereft.

All ends equal, clock recording second thoughts docked, time-lock knocked,
self-centredness proves vain, affording little leeway when boat's rocked.
Palm tree dates' anticipation appetites encourage though
few know what matters, grief, elation sound the same when fast moves slow.
Atomic half-life cannot counter snowball earth, lost wherewithal,
comet, asteroid encounter, matters little if at all.

Namby-pamby, merchant magnate, patriot or terrorist,
evangelical, apostate, queue on stream, doomed, dreams dismissed.
Watch all line up rough unready, pay for final fy ride,
hale and hearty, frail unsteady, time will bury. Charon, guide,
steers un-veering out of hearing she who cried and he who'd stall,
dearth of cheering, rebirth clearing, none answer summons for recall.

Time and place trace unimportant, social standing, gypsy van,
knock-kneed yellow liver, giver, false forgiver, pale or tan,
open hearted, closed-shop smart id, ancient genealogy,
orphan cast-off, Leo, Libra, Virgo, Pisces, culled from tree.

Wishy-washy, busy-body, helter-skelter grave conveyed,
Luxury or gift-shop shoddy, loans unmet and those repaid,
Shilly shally, daring, dally, slave in galley, from parade
fade as Lily of the Valley's beauty wanes, by Death betrayed.
Taste embody, glitter gaudy, 'cease upon the midnight' pall.
quantum quark or antibody matters little if at all.

Ruthless raptors rampant running through Cretaceous countryside
packs aren't facts, film fiction stunning, few skeletal claws abide.
Park Jurassic may seem classic only amber flies remain,
cage thoracic, plankton plastic, seabed solid can't complain.

Friendly fire or hostile missile, error prone drone, terror wrist,
margin call when market tumbles, earthquake rumbles farewell kiss.
Strife life haunted, illness gaunted, Death undaunted rides afield,
Time cares nor jot nor tittle, wit will lot meet, plots defeat, soul yield.

Whether lapping wave band foam bath, thunder clap, tsunami tall,
weather warm, storm, glacier calf, matters little if at all.
Rebels routed, tyrants clouted, sidereal void's photonic sprawl,
lost species sprouted, dogmas doubted, matters little if at all.

Forty years of desert sojourn, dungeon dank or thankless task
end alike for saint and sinner, rake fake, winner, takes to task.
Health un-doctored, wealth untaxed or kiss as kismet thanks luck's stars,
equal tie when ties are sundered, fickle Fate appeal deal bars.

He who dumbstruck sprawls in gutters, she bread butters - penthouse sweet -
she who stage-struck feels heart flutters, sole curse mutters, all deadbeat,
one run down, whose engine stutters, one, prim posy, as pin neat,
sleep 'neath sods, none opens shutters, pops up seeking run repeat.

Template telomeres with aging evolution's leaps ensures,
one mutation disengaging from another: naught endures.
Sickles sharp harp strings soon sunder, angels fall from grace and light,
meek or cheeky share down under lost to memories once bright.

High and mighty host unpleasant, guest of unguessed worth, to earth
soon consigned, resigned, peer, peasant give redemption widest girth.
Promise kept, unwept oblivion, dreams, delusions commonplace,
high priorities proved rotten soon debunked, synch sunk untraced.

Here today and gone tomorrow: foregone conclusion from day won,
save or borrow, laughter sorrow, no weight pull in fear or fun.
Last Trump POTUS fact and fiction merging, toadies playing ball,
blows his cover's contradiction, little matters if at all.

Wedding banned rings bells at altar, hands wring sooner, later, washed
away by doomsday naught may alter, nipped in bud, ambitions squashed.
Story told, tale unrecorded, archive access, desert bloom,
each reflects each, dust rewarded, leach teaches blood's recycling doom.

Sapiens on cusp Aquarian out of kilter falters, flails
as regimes totalitarian totter when fail-safe wickets, bales,
fly asunder, stumped go under, soon submerged by fly-by ball,
Everest beneath earth's ocean was seabead once, now fossils call
the tune five thousand feet cloud covered, turned turtle by tectonic plates.
What falls, what rises to surprises, equal prove scaled by Ma'at's weights.

Human Rights' bright lantern calling generations to reform,
one step forwards, two back falling, face recurrent 'perfect storm'.
Brave New World shall self extinguish, exploitation seems apt term,
politicians won't relinquish oversight of stem cell, sperm.

End result: most good intentions role reversed by fear or greed
pave Hell's road, dispel dissensions, souls dispersed can scarce succeed.
Information access doubles each decade but budget cuts
undermine fair freedoms, stubbles, weeds, what once seemed well ploughed ruts.

No explanation offers simple panacea for man's ills
Wimpled dimple, puss and pimple, can't steer clear of bitter pills
Few learn truth from joys, grief, yearn cloys, second thoughts soon damn Man's years
in despond's vale clever ploys fall on unreceptive ears.

From enjoyment and employment ant and giant trapped within
time-trap gin from first sigh last cry seek to understand life's spin:
quest request for why and wherefore hovers moth-like facing fame,
stymied questions sink, and therefore few call for/to true go[o]d name.

At weathered monumental engravings Time jeers, grime sneers, climb hastes fall,
joyless jaded, constant cravings, lust's treat dust meets, swallows all.
Seldom sense in destination is revealed, within the Way
purpose lies peregrination in, of, through itself holds sway.

Feelings, double-dealing spieling, weighed against fate's feather, fail,
healing, trouble, celestial ceilings can't resist change whirlwind gale.
Fauna, flora, extant for a wink fuss, fall extinct, beyond Time's pale,
impassive Charon's sexton chorus keeps an even keel, mocks grail.
Gnomes anonymous departed concomitant foes withal
lost in limbo lie uncharted, matters little if at all.

In a blinking thinking inking from life's calendar is torn,
one falls, thousands rush, Fate, winking, re-intones rites trite, well-worn.
Hive cells, hexagon alignment, queens from workers separate,
all from solit'ry confinement soon released must lie in state.

Phantom pantomime enacted through dimensions none can count
in black hole consumed, compacted, to molehill melts the highest mount.
Here today and gone tomorrow foregone conclusion for grief, glad,
leave leaf laughter, shore leave sorrow, income. Outcome? naught to add.

Whether generations flourished, shared, bore brunt of grunt or gall,
prospered hale, failed, wailed ill-nourished, fate trumps all who'd last date stall.
High and might blown to Blighty, staid parade, flight culled on call,
second thoughts or wishful thinking, matters little if at all.

Second chance, time travel star gate wormhole soul revival wheel,
spins hearsay saga compensate for lights soon blighted lies conceal.
Survival is mental delusion, rival theses sefer sealed,
intellectual illusions,  Lethe's sentence un-repealed.

Spy inherent contradictions in between ways gleaned means stretched,
double binds recycle ball-games till dread reaper soul has fetched.
Sleepy head abed, bird early, worms will feed with curtain call
bowed out, cowed dread, hair straight, curly crowd shunned coffins cover shawl.

Tears, cheers mingle hearse horse jingle on last journey six feet deep,
token shingle intermingles with worm disturbing sacred sleep.
Yet sleep Earth must as groups galactic meet supernova destiny
fire or ice, earthquake climactic, flood submerging scrutiny.

Singularity's advances, urge surge merge acceleration,
compromise prized dogmas, chances purged from sojourn's holding station.
Generation gaps, expanding, sap self-confidence, disband
sacred ties, long-standing links, are coldly severed out of hand.

Top of pops or relegation, winning streak, weak gamble lost,
fresh life quest request negation meets sans suite, whate'er the cost.
What of passion? What of pain vain unrecorded, unconceived?
shadow-shapes we wander, chain train shatters soon with what achieved?

Old souls flock from time-lock fleeing, putting up resistance fierce,
Young well-hung, the waif wraith being, Charon's mystery none pierce.
Coin praise each pays forlorn. Dis preying displays beneath scythed daisies shorn
tithed remains of phrases, baying tunes to moons from faiths stillborn.

Threadbare pauper lacking stitch or rich endowed with silver spoon
share communal grave, can't pitch for more days for play's over soon.
Stanzas cease, release pure, grimy, tocsin tolls for star's eclipse,
who heeds deeds when fungus slimy peerless rose's petals strips.

From confusion into fusion tracks once concrete turn to slime,
ends, means, merge, can't draw conclusion coherent through unnumbered time.
Through apparent convolution evolution's 'upwards climb'
boomerangs, causal revolution cancels out all 'worth a dime'.
Whether generations flourished, shared, bore brunt of grunt or gall,
prospered hale, failed, wailed ill-nourished, matters little if at all.

Ignorance or understanding tapping history on call,
lightning, thunder, truth or blunder matters little if at all.
Charon's charges chant in chorus 'auld lang syne' before corpse fall,
where lie Quetzalcoatl, Horus? Little matters, tall lies small.

stanza added 20 December 2020...Innocence caged

3 stanzas added 4 September 2020... Euphoria to dark depression

added 30 April 2021
Mumbo-jumbo, rule of thumb, dumb dice, or bottle clockwise spun
know neither how to frame quest's questions, nor to put to rest guest's fears,
seldom point to valid answers when life's fleeting foam has run
straight and narrow course, or tide tacked, action packed or empty tears.
Life's successive senseless stumbles, head heels tumbles, lost or won,
fair, foul weather, weighed with feather, wanting found, Fate's taunting jeers,
mock gains ill gotten, pot luck rotten, lie forgotten, skein undone
gridlocked sleepwalkers, suave smooth talkers, billionaire, dun in arrears.