I am Benjamin the Donkey
And I remember when
There was peace among the peasants
And men were truly men.
I remember when women were very wholesome
And the black man had honor too.
There was malaise and violence somewhere
But it touched so very few.
I remember when the Church was mighty
Like our Public Schools that day---
Now all our institutions have been given to decay.
I am Benjamin the Donkey
But I say it was really nice;
Now all our citizens are frozen in a block of hatred's ice.

I am a goober
How 'bout you?
A goober is a fool.
I ain't no wise man, 
Ain't it true?
I am a goober,
How 'bout you?

I may have had a thing to say
But mighty fine, I'll make you gay
If you listen and learn and hey
I don't have much, just a pen, this lay.

I am a goober,
How 'bout you?
I am a goober, and a fool.
I ain't no wise man
How 'bout you?
We all just goobers
Through and through.

The wisest among us ain't worth dirt
He's just a fool with some fancy words.
We are all just in a hurt
To find some genius, and with it flirt.

I am a goober
How 'bout you?
I am a goober, such a fool.
I ain't a wise man
And you ain't, too.
We're all such goobers
Loop-de-loo.

I sing the last verse of this song
If I'm lucid and pretty strong
It comes from God not cholesterol
It comes from He, and not my wrong.

I am a goober
How 'bout you?
How do we know a thing is true?
I am a goober, 
How 'bout you?
I ain't a wise man
But listen good.

Trinitite is found in your ancient pottery,
And your sister city is found no more.
Surely, a nuclear blast destroyed you
Or something just like it.
The heat wave expanded over the entire Dead Sea
And burnt down the southern villages
Of Baba Dra, Numera, Fifa, and Conazeer
Are destroyed, and the remains of the Sulfur
Are there, across the entire Dead Sea.
Yet, Safi miraculously survived.

A poet's poet, Byron's bane,
Discusses math, metaphysics and seeks out fame.
None know what to say
For a poet's poet is here named.
Harold Prufrock, you speak so gay
Of chemistry and Christ and Translations lame.
All his identity, is the pen
And his brilliant verse which none do wend.
A little brilliant but so malapropos, 
He speaks about things which he does not know.
He does his art, and chases the kite
The thunder strikes it, oh what a silly wight.
What fool, what scoundrel, what antichrist
He steals his sermons, he steals his wife.

Me? I know nature and love and not much else.
My themes are what please me, and are heartily felt.
Muses come, muses go... the women come talking of Michelangelo.
Be a baneful dullard lot...
If I win some fame, will I rot?
A small penury from my quill
Will jaunt me, haunt me, be my thrill.
For to eat a little, this is all I can say...
Not to bore you with my songs all day.
A pedant be what a pedant be...
Let me, peacefully, enter into history.
Not with war or gun or germ
Just as a man, whose pension earned.
My homilies are on fortune, ill and good
On heavenly treasures and heavenly food.
No comprehensive philosophy do I here spare,
Just my prying eyes, which I do wear.
Great is the people's unhappy lot
Which ill fortune seems to be their cause.
No love, no place, no fortune, no fame
The peoples only wish to play their games.
They wish to have an end to law...
They wish all were selfish, glib and raw.
A sociopath the peoples wish to be
They wish to cum and boon with glee.
They care not about love or peace
Only that their clit and glans have sting.

So I do say, the world I shun...
I shall let them have it, and they have won.
Just leave me to my solemn task
To write what's true, what's first what's last.

The New Atheists wants my religion
But not my God.
They want the assumption of Humanism
Without the power to uphold it.

I say, that's the worst form of Christianity
Is one circumcised from faith
But perfunctorily doing its rituals of communion and baptism,
Preaching its platitudes and politics
And worried more about worldly problems
Than a man's soul.
I know, because that's the kind of church I grew up in.

11am

Clouds are rolling in.
A bright haze of sun
Bathed the town
In a murky, but bright light,
But it's being darkened now
By thick clouds coming in from the west.

11:30pm

Yesterday was a picture perfect
Sunny Spring day... Years ago
I prayed for a sunny day today.
But, yesterday, I saw the gulls
Inland at the lake, so knew.
However, the question remains
Will I know there is an eclipse?
Ask that question with me
Because that's all that matters.

The sky has opened up; it's brightened a little;
Blue streaks are across the murky grey
Clouds. A little brightness...
Will I see it? I don't know.
In 2017, I saw the whole thing in such glorious array
Staring into the dark, burnt amber sun;
I do not recommend this, though.

11:45am

The sun is brilliantly shining.
My hopes are not swelling nor receding.
Let God provide the answer;
For it is my delusion, that I am a horrible human being
And that I have a horrible disease.
And, by not seeing the eclipse today,
I will feel like a Judas Iscariot.
For the whole country frets to see
What I fret not to see. For this eclipse tells me
It is this day, and the very hour.
So now, the sun goes behind the clouds once more.

12pm

Angst in me grows, as the drama of today 
Unfolds; an event I've waited for for 7 long  years.
Will I see the thing my soul longs for
Or will I have to have simple faith
That it did? Will I see the great American Eclipse?
Prayer is such a murky thing...
I pray for years ahead of time,
Yet still the dark shadows, they creep
Over my head, and the omens are whispered
From long ago, my hopes dashed.
It does not mean God does not exist;
As sure as there will be an eclipse today
It is, regardless of whether I perceive it.
And that is what faith is.
And perhaps, that is the message today.
Or, perhaps, I will see it, and the message
Will be a different one? I do not know.
Only time will tell what theme my poem arrives
And at 3:16 I will know.
At 2 the sun will begin to darken
And at 3:16 the eclipse will be nigh her full glory.
Will I perceive it then, though?

12:15pm

Time they say is a western concept,
Yet the ancients in all continents used
To track days, by watching the sun.
Aztecs as well as Africans could know
An eclipse would happen on this day--
They had knowledge like so back then
Miraculously enough.
Provided they lived in the region;
But the mages told time through the Sun
The Moon and the Stars...
As the Bible says it is so
Which a man sees the advanced nature
Of my faith, that it doesn't give mystical
Signs to the stars or heavens
But rather sees it like an astronomical clock.

But, what is fulfillment and a great miracle
Are the rivers which appeared in the deserts
Recently--God so cleaved the rock,
And brought the desert people's water.
Thus, their land will flourish like mine
Soon, and it is a happy thing.

The sun is also shining bright right now.
Very bright, as bursts of blue dawn the heaven's raiment
And the thick clouds are a frame around the blue.
And yet again, it recedes.

12:30pm

The Hyacinth and Bluebells have such a sweet smell
So, it is certainly early April, as the redbuds have yet to show.
In their full vigor, both the Hyacinth and Bluebells
In their brilliant Pinks and Blue-Mauve,---
David and Goliath fight their war in the Western Horizon.
Late at night, there is the peaceful time, when all constellations
Are at rest, the Bear and Virgin are seen.
Earlier, around 11:50, Robins made such an impressive
Descent to my lawn, framed by my kitchen window.
I remember seeing the moon and sun, at sunset a month ago
Were nigh one another's path. So, the signs are sure...
The stars do not lie. Even if I do not see them,
It is not the token of a liar that I speak.
For that is faith... I do not wish to be evil
So I do not have to be.

12:45pm

Aggie the Angelfish chases Orange the Tetra;
Nutters the rainbow shark emerges, swimming upside down
To eat a hanging string of algae from the weeds.
Special the plecostomus is hiding,
Barb and Bee, the Green and Red tiger Barbs
Are there, swimming slanted, finding shelter
In the weeds and heater.
Thing One and Two, the tiny albino Catfish
Are there, making their quick trips to the top
Of the tank. Blue, the other tetra
Is swimming somewhere, probably sparring
With Orange for the left side of the tank.
Unaware that such a thing is happening...
It is probably human dread and our very powers of reason
That lead us to such panic over a thing...
For, as many have said, the animals are undisturbed,
And as it happens, they will think nothing of it.
Maybe a cloud passed over the sun,
Maybe something else... they will be there,
Doing what they do, what they always do.
That is the beautiful of a Human Imagination,
That we, through reason, can predict the course of the moon and sun
And through imagination, conjure up hidden omens by them.
The good and the bad of the human mind---
And then there is this poem, which is all the good
Of creative glory, and hopefully none of the bad.

1pm

The cloud cover grows.
Gospel hymns play Blue Grass melodies.
Will there be any stars in my crown?
Surely, blessed assurance,
That because I do not wish to be,
The stars will never lie.
Day by day, I must look upon the cross
And there my serpent hangs;
Like Moses had lifted in the sands
The Law crucified my savior
And subdued Death for my sake.

1:30pm

Last March, the planets paraded,
Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Mars and the moon
And I saw them there, so magnificent 
And they hovered there long,
For months I could see the reminiscent planets in their Orbits.
Showing perfectly the majestic timepiece 
That nature is. And in 2021, Brood X
Appeared, in large and noisy numbers
And there, my poems were written to the date.
Today, in one hour, the sun will start to be darkened
And I will see, for the second time in my life
A solar eclipse. Yet, will the clouds block my view?
This I do not know. I only know, there will be an eclipse...
And perhaps I may perceive it...
We will see when I make my trip to Pinchot
And walk the trail, what will be, will be;
So the future's not mine to see.
Similarly to 2023, 2004-5 had a planetary alignment too;
And on June 6th, 2006, the world was to end,
But never did. But today, there are rivers in the desert
Feeding God's solitary flock---so I know by that what days we live in
And not the heavenly bodies, nor the cicada broods,
For I am not an astrologer, but an astronomer.
I am not a soothsayer, but a sage.

The sun also is shining brightly;
So perhaps I shall see what my heart longs to see.

2pm

The clouds are dimming the sun.
I think of the Super Moon on 2016,
How I drove down the country highway
And saw it there... in 2014 I learned about them
But could not see them, as there were super moons then,
Too, a rather rare event, as they'd be closer to the Earth
Than at any other time in our lifetimes.
There were to be super moons on those days.
I can see now, the light shining through
A skylight, making a perfect beam upon the white carpet.
Soon, the eclipse will start.
The rain has abated thus far, so will I see what my heart longs for?
The knowledge that I am not what I fear?

The sky does look brighter to the West,
Despite the ominous forecasts of the weathermen.
Blue is showing through...
But we shall see.
Why is a cloud harder to predict than the moon and sun?
Is it because gravity is a constant, whereas
The rain being evaporated from the soil,
In its steams you'd see on a sunny day,
Rising from the soil in haze and fog, that it produces something
Which science cannot tell?
Are there too many variables for the clouds?
It darkens outside...
But the blue is more visible than it once was.

2:15pm

Give me the old time religion,
The one good enough for our fathers and mothers,
Our grandfathers and grandmothers,
For it brought them to heaven...
It's good enough for me.

Joshua went to battle at Jericho,
And Rahab was spared---
War is bloody and evil.
If God cannot lie,
He must say war is utmost evil.
But, sometimes Jericho needs to fall.
The sun begins to darken at this very moment.
Though the sun shines in its full strength
It seems like there is an overcast.
It is a golden color, not like the white blare
Of usual sunlight, but a darker gold.
Like I remembered from last time.
For two hours this eclipse will last.

The overcast of clouds hang over me,
And it is strangely dark.
Ominously, like last time,
It is like the sun is overcast,
But the clouds aren't thick
But the sun is dimmed, though it shines.
The sun isn't very bright, like I'd expect it to be bright, shining in its full strength---
Not like yesterday, where it was clear and white.
Today, it is like a dim flashlight,
Though it shines in its full lumens.

I go outside to check to see if it's cloud cover 
That's dimming the sun, or if the sun has truly darkened.
It has, and my eyes are strained by the dimming rays
As I look out upon the fields.

It is a strange light, the sun fully shines, but it feels like there's an overcast.
And walking outside in the darkness, hurts my eyes;
Just like it did last time, though the sunlight is dimmed.

2:30

Now I shall go to Pinchot, and witness its full glory.

3:45

So, I arrived at Pinchot, soon
And began my walk.
The light shifted from golden, to amber
But the clouds seemed like they would block the eclipse.
Disheartened, but not discouraged, I prayed.
And, soon, the cloud cover began to recede
Right as the eclipse was beginning to darken.

The sky, it soon grew dark, and the patches of blue
Looked like storm clouds, as the sun shined
But it cast a dark glow on everything.
Brighter, but not much, than fire's light.
The amber glow, it began to dim
As I knelt and sniffed the bluebells
Only tasting a hint of their honey scent.
And I stood, and began walking, and soon, 
The sky looked overcast, but the sun hung in peak visibility
Yet it grew darker as I walked toward the paths.
I thanked Jesus in earshot of some fishermen
For fulfilling my petition from seven years ago;
And dramatically, a hazy and cloudy day
Broke into a darkened blue vault just in time for the Eclipse,
And only the eclipse, as it shone in brilliant
Amber and cool light, dimming, dimming, dimming
Until the sky was bluish grey, and I passed a man
Telling him the Sun was God's timepiece.
The old man seemed confused, but knew the sun was darkening at that moment
So people all over the park observed it through their spectacles.
They had the lesser portion though,
As I quaffed all the scenery, and the shifting shades of darkened light I'd only see on that day, and that day alone.
And the shadows which boldly stood
Out in the dimming light,
It was like an overcast, but there was sunlight
Enough to cast bold shadows, as I walked through the woods
And the trees bent in such bold visibility
Like they were outlined with charcoal pencil lines.

Then, I saw a Bluebird fly onto a tree branch, and then a Purple finch did the same
And soon after, as I was walking through the main, gravel park path
The diamond ring shone out--it was a partial eclipse, but there was still 
A moment where the sun was at peak eclipse, and a light 
Cast over my shoulder, like a brilliant stream,
But the dark sky hazed into its darkest yet, evening blue-grey; like thunder clouds, but it was clearest of sky.
A squirrel made its hallelujah, 
As he excitedly ran through the grass, collecting his spring nuts he buried last winter.
It was like walking through a world which was cast through a photography filter,
The golden light which cast its hue over everything,
Or like walking during the evening hour, though it was only 3:21.

Then, the light began to brighten, and it was over,
And I knew I had to come home soon,
And write while fresh in my mind.
On the drive home, I watched the sky lighten up from grey to its darker blue
Like it was at 2:30, and the light went from golden amber to a more yellow-white
And I walked through the door of my house.

So God showed me I have no reason to fret: I am in His golden hour,
On the time, to the very minute, nothing lacking or added.
The stars, they do not lie.
Therefore, I am indeed nothing like a Judas;
For the stars, they did not lie.
And also more-so, the overcast withdrew in that very moment, so I could see and know with certainty
I am my LORD's. And no one can strip me from Him.
And as soon as the eclipse ended, the cloud covering returned, so mysteriously.
For the eclipse, to the day, the hour, the minute, passed before my very eyes.
I am not the monster I fear, for the stars, they do not lie.