Defying the Sun, Osama Bin Laden & Like a Beggar

Defying the sun

Today I did defy the sun.
It was 98 degrees and air was
So polluted that it can
make lungs feel like you’re
just huffed exhaust fumes
from the tail pipe of a Hummer

I soaked my jersey and cycling cap
in water before the ride
I rode slowly on shady back streets
That had little traffic.

The sun was setting and I pedaled from
shady spot to shady spot
until my cycling was done

I came home to all those
wonderful rewards,
a cool drink of water
a shower that rinses away
both care and sweat
and then I laid naked on clean sheets
While the cool air of the fan
evaporated the remaining moisture from my body.
I closed my eyes and rested

I have traveled the world
And drunk deep
searching for release
from lonliness, pain and regret.
All my efforts to find oblivion only
manufactured more pain and misery.
During all those sad times,
I never--not never

imagined such sweet pleasures
as a cool drink, a quick shower.
a nap beside a whispering fan.

Much is wrong with me
but cycling
even in the heat of a smoggy summer day
cures some of that

Osama Bin Laden

He spends his days
A hunted man
In a safe house in Pakistan
Drinking tea, surfing the internet
Raising his children
Fondling his wives

Some day he’ll die
Though I doubt that
No American missile
Will kill him

But on that day
In the slums of Cairo
And the streets of Karachi,
He will be celebrated
As the first great Military genius
Of the 21^st Century.

With just 4 jet liners
And 20 men,
He set in motion the
Chain of events
Which has brought America,
the greatest
Nation of the 20^st Century
To the brink of destruction

Of course he was lucky
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and
Donald Rumsfeld were his enemies

Like a Beggar

Why do I bother with you?
Like a beggar pretending to be deaf
Or a deaf man pretending to be a beggar
I just stand here waving my hands
As if the waving had meaning.

But in the end all there is
Is my need.
And who really needs that?

You reply with a shake of your head
I'd have to be blind not to know
What that means.

Capitano Tedeschi

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Defying the Sun, Osama Bin Laden & Like a Beggar copyright Sept. 12, 2009 by Jamie Jacks