USA

Song 

Blistering cold and morbid
arctic reaches down
my center
and I know
each bone by name.

On yet another hand
the sultry syrup
of tropics rages
in the blood

of unsuspecting
rascals such
is love

The Legacy

Call out peasants and
dispatch  them
with orders
nomads
preaching death

Corral the
fleet of foot
that all
be privied at
once a single time.

A brawny method
actor takes
a step directly to
his place.

Two generals
jab each other
for winning
so many wars.

While here sit I
and ponder
the grist mills of
my God.

Black and eager pines
line the mossy crest
of her hill.

Tiny feet marching
to a feast so glorious
most grand.

That is it, he cried.
That surely it!

To Learn 

When young no
thoughts came so clear
Yet still I wonder
when I hear
something new
unknown to me

So old men save
their insanity

Youth 

Silliness a value
Once it was the power

Capricious as a downy chick
Who knows not what comes

Spent People 

How tired tired are the weary
catacombed in their stalwart lives
Each a bandied lonely traveler
not unlike the drones in hives.

Merrily only lunches fill them
meek and dreary each one feeds
Not a shabby second passes that
they do not serve Lord Greed

When will Robespierre return?
The principles of hate - revenge
those turned out for they are poor
the guillotine - a sharper edge

Society 

Lash out make the
clowns sit down

Pray the demons
don’t come round

Festooned was
with rose marmalade

Is not belief
a door to fraud?

Fancy dresses
crowd the street

Elegant cronies
line the hall

Beware the jackals
my impoverished sons

Pray
a reckoning never comes

Disabled

One crippled woman
begs for mercy

The ruling class
claps and jeers

So when the
Mighty Worm
at lust turns

The rich will die
the poor cheer.

The King 

In tunics
came the nurses
in turbans
came the Kings
wearing skirts
of goose down

a primrose pirate
sings

Alas the
kingdom is
disputed
the serfs taken
rule

On that very day
The King begged
up more gruel

Dead Kings

From cornrow graves of alabaster
eyes of dead kings stare in vain
Quizzical grins adorn their faces
only pitted bones remain

All their riches won or stolen
dirt is all their bodies earn
near you know is potters field
hatred there forever burns

Grey Chalk Sky

Chalk grey the sky once near dusk.
Craning my neck westward to see
Bird flying, distinctly high, alone at
Cold close one late winter day 

Alone on the canopy of flat grey
So small was bird on colorless wind.
Wings flapped him ever east
Fast, faster than I could ever run 

My old head followed bird
Silhouette tracked overhead
Such precision and such grace
Relentlessly pressing on and east

Closer to the horizon
Bird Merged with the rangy bare
Branches of distant trees then
Bird was gone, leaving, me.

The Gist 

In space of days
Men as redwoods strong
Erode leaving pink dust
To mark a place in time 

Hideous painted faces
Parade the Sunday streets
Masquerading as gods
Blind messengers in thrall 

Questions questions
Will wonder never cease?
In spite of face, heart and
That too must change 

A bloated morsel
Two canters of a Mule
Why bother, why toil
Tis a fool invents a rule

Geezer

Wretched peaks of doggerel mavens
Climbers stretch and fail to match
All shades of languor so detached

Sarah Goodkind raised her hand
Ten soldiers stood along sheer cliffs
Tubas belched and crabs scurried o'er sand

How randy were the boys that day
Insensitive figurines of clay
Insisting they alone knew why

You say, I babble, well. What do you know?
If age is worth a copper coin, eagle spread
And butter on crusty brown bread

Is not enough, not barely enough
His toes are dry, peeling and tough
The words he mouths ever so rough

Who sings in the tower on that hill?
She thrills the birds as if the clouds
Could tilt their head, kiss their bill

Two phantoms came in sheer black shroud
Intent their walk in rhythmic strides
To anoint old geezer sagacity endowed

Raging

We rage at the door of hell
once open for all
We have risen to the ranks of
slaves to the golden scepter

In many ways God has abandoned us
In many ways the Devil too
All we have is our madness
and all we value is gold.

Life remains the vacuum of time
Ill spent in pursuit of pride
Death is the vassal of eternity
he grave the event of all time.

When all is lost nothing is left
When all is found it is gone.
None will remain all will die
Eternity is all that survives.

Forsaken

I, forsaken as a leaf in fall
Cresting life white foamed and hoary
a wreck with sails still yet full
on a rocky coast pimpled with moss

Yea for the time of all things
is measured and brief as a drop
from the faucet fallen
full of life is broken by a wheeze

Tell all this is grand and try to believe
for in belief is strength and in strength
is courage and bravery is the only thing
the future recalls and reveres.

Mr. Schiff is a Life Member of The Art Students League of New York

© All Copyright, 2007, Richard Schiff.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.