'Reasons are not excuses'

'Reasons are not excuses'                  timothy r gates, 1/9/2015

 Cain murdered Abel,
and so goes the war.
David kills Goliath,
and his brothers,
both claiming geography rights -
so goes that Gaza property.
Rape of Nanking,
nationalists still claim,
"Our nation didn't rape that many women,"
no doubt this brought applause
when the Bomb was dropped on them.
Note: Nazis only wanted
Hitler's economic stability continued.
African businessmen,
contracted Africans
for American plantations.
Yet,
implosion is the first reaction,
burning and looting,
but not of their protagonists.
Some, still, claim,
WWII Holocaust camps,
and the millions gassed in them,
"These are gross exaggerations."
Everyone has a reason,
using them for excuses,
pointing the Garden's finger,
"The serpent tricked us."
And, so goes war.
Note: Be careful,
what you write, paint, draw, sing
could be used as an excuse,
claimed reason for murdering our children.
Be honest,
some folks just love to do war.
It is good for one thing --
the elimination of those you disagree.         

'George Jones croon'

'George Jones croon'              timothy r gates, 1/12/2015


Tom Waits lyrics.
Dylan, poetry,
both of them.
Iris Dement,
Appalachian harmony,
slides anticipated.
Jane Siberry,
haunting sublime refrains.
Janis, felt to the bone.
Ray, also, heart and soul.
Four Lads,
and the Mills' Brothers,
have always brought a smile.
Elvis and Hank,
weaned an empty page,
opened a pen's flow.
Sitting with my well spent Martin,
song after song,
from these years,
I sing their songs,
each with a story,
theirs, and mine.
Before I place my six-string into its
hard shell case,
a George Jones croon
falls from our eyes -
and we hang the wreath upon the
door.