CANADA'S NATIONAL ANTHEM

When our Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested changing a phrase in our national anthem six years ago, our national public broadcaster, the CBC,  typically asked for opinions and suggestions for replacing the offending "thy son's command". My thought at the time was if we are going to replace offending lines we need to rewrite the entire anthem for only the first line is not at least intellectually offensive. As the current national anthem is presented on a page, it is 10 lines long. The first line is acceptable because it just lets everyone know we are singing about Canada. The second is of questionable veracity. Unless we look back more than 10,000 years only first nations people can claim to be native to the land we now call Canada. The third line contains "thy sons command" which as noted many times is offensive to women. "Glowing hearts" in the fourth line could be an indication of cardio-vascular disease which most Canadians probably have but if it is meant to convey a sense of pride there are less ambiguous ways; and except for a few bumps separating British Columbia and Alberta we see Canada spread more than "rise".

I have no idea how "true" and "strong" the "north" can be but I know we are definitely not "free". Not counting the two billion spent this year on two special events, does anyone really know how many billions of dollars we spend in a year keeping 'free'? In line six we come from "far and wide" to in line seven, "stand on guard for thee". "Far and wide", literally "from a wide area" lacks even a shred of definition. To "stand on guard for thee" has potential but not with the current connotation which has us spending most of the aforementioned billions of dollars guarding our borders while the land within them is drying up and being wasted away. However, even with the change of connotation there is still enough to say that the line does not need to be repeated two more times. Now finally, sandwiched between repetitions of line seven is "God keep our land glorious and free". "Free" here is just as meaningless as the first time it was used; and it is completely thoughtless to ask God to "keep our land glorious and free." when God can't keep humanity from self-destructing. That said I don't even need to mention all those Canadians who are offended by the mere mention of "God".

With these objections in mind I present the old and offer the new. Leave at least a thumbs up or thumbs down as a comment. If you are a Canadian, please mention that fact. If I get enough Canadians who also believe what we sing should have meaning as well as be meaningful I will inform Prime Minister Trudeau.

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada,
Our home and precious land,
True protective love from all of us demand.

With glowing pride we all embrace
The great land that we view.

From sea to sea,
O Canada, we'll stand on guard for you.

We'll keep your land, green, clean and pure!
Oh Canada, we'll keep all life secure.

Oh Canada, we'll live so you'll endure.

COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE CRASH

The Copenhagen conference
Was valuable for us to see.
It failed yet it exposed the space
Where our intelligence should be.

A climate change is happening.
There cannot be a reasoned doubt.
How much of it is due to us
We should not disagree about.

If we think we should stop the change
We must consider what was said.
For if our politicians lead
It's certain we'll all end up dead.

"No country will get all they want."
Was in Barrack Obama's speech.
When saving our environment
How can there be divided reach?

Steve Harper's statement also shows
A blindness that should cause alarm.
"We'll do no thing to save the earth
If it Economy, will harm.

This thought comes from a stagnant mind.
How can he otherwise declare
That saving god Economy
Is more important than clean air?

Our 'leaders' do not stand alone
With isolated thoughts of cost.
Without a mass to follow them
Elected 'leaders' would be lost.

The space for our intelligence
Is filled with thinking by us all.
If we don't fill it with clear thoughts
We'll surely die beneath the pall.

We must 'kill' god Economy
For it is getting in our way.
Our 'Mother' doesn't stand a chance
While we believe we have to pay.

Instead we have to look at Her
And ask, what is it we can give
To bring our 'Mother' back to life
So that together we may live?

Green Shift 
Cancun:COP 16

SEX

Like booze and drugs, by taking sex
The void you will not fill.
As those before, you try this way
And self-destruct you will.

If only you destroyed yourself,
That wouldn’t be so bad.
It’s damage left behind that makes
The theft of sex so sad.

NATURE’S NUTRITIONAL IDEAL
Tiger's Tale
Alcohol, Drugs, Sex and other anesthetics
ABORTION

TIGER'S TALE

So Tiger has another tale
To go with all the rest
Of those who strive throughout their lives
To be the very best.

He's number one, a billion is
The pay he has received;
But more than that are all the fans
Who in a god believed.

They see a man who has it all,
Two kids, a lovely wife;
A Cadillac, secured estate,
A yacht. What's more to life?

Well Tiger found like those before
While getting it is tough.
In tries to fill the void within
"It all" is not enough.

Like Spitzer, Sansford tried more sex,
The Tiger followed suit.
Depite the warning signs, in skirts
He was in hot pursuit.

Now that he's had more than he needs
He's reached a sorry end.
He must still face the emptiness;
But now without a friend.

Olympic Orgy (December 10 2009)

Sex

AGE of ASININITY

By Nature’s God lives were inspired.
To follow rules they were required.
All lives had a creative past
Exclusively; ours didn’t last.
When given birth by, “Why am I?”
Our ‘parents’ feared not knowing why.
Unknowns they’d learned they should avoid
And so they tried to fill the void.
In doing so they broke the rule
Who answered “Why?” would be a fool.
Descendants tried throughout the years
To stem their ever mounting fears.
In doing so humanity
Defined the word “insanity”.
Results of tries remain unchanged
Despite how they are rearranged.
In vain attempts to fill the void
More of the past we’ll have destroyed.
Destroying life just has to be
The Age of Asininity.

We’re giving ‘Mother’ such abuse
It seems we think ‘She’ has no use.
To warn us all of our neglect
‘She’ cries alone with no effect.
In places ‘tears’ don’t reach the ground,
So there’s less water to be found.
And where rain does come down it teems
Creating rivers out of streams.
And now ‘her’ floods and droughts we learn 
Are caused by fossil fuels we burn.
The droughts dry trees which burn to death
Depriving Nature of her breath.
The heat adds yet another price.
It’s melting all of Nature’s ice.
The melting ice and falling rain
Fill oceans that ‘She’ can’t contain.
The rising oceans shrink ‘Her’ land
So there’s less space for us to stand.
Then too no matter how they try
‘Her’ ice dependent life will die.
What’s worse we often kill for fun
Her other offspring with a gun.

We cut down trees we need to breathe;
And toxins in ‘Her’ soil we leave.
Pollution we dump in the sea
Creates huge zones where life can't be.
Where life could be not much is seen;
With mining ships we strip it clean.
More offspring we give ‘Her’ to feed
Despite the fact ‘She’ can’t succeed.
Our poisons also fill the air
At rates that show we do not care.
Pretending that we are concerned
About ‘Her’ breakdown we have learned,
We just reveal insane intent
Protecting only 10%.

While risks of global warming rise
As CO2 clouds fill the skies
We put Economy ahead
Of forecasts that will leave us dead.
It's asinine for us to place
Life on this economic base
So life success and failure rides
On what Economy decides.
One billion of us fail life's test,
Seventy million pad a nest,
The rest of us "fight tooth and nail"
To get ahead so we'll prevail
Despite the fact that at our end
The cash we save we cannot spend.

Now think of all the ways we try
In vain to answer "Why am I?"
It matters not which ways we’ve picked,
With all the others they conflict.
They are a constant source of strife
Resulting in the loss of life.

Some try on paths that are well trod
To fill the void with given 'God',
While others say, "I live to prove
Belief in God we should remove."
To keep minds occupied we trust
Philosophies of men now dust.
We spend on stuff without a pause;
Seek information just because.
With jobs we try to give life ‘breath’.
We eat in ways that cause our death.
Take drugs to manage excess weight
We wouldn't gain with Nature’s ‘plate’.
For love and family we search;
Look for a peak on which to perch
Though finding it means we create
Inequity that we debate.
When drugs, booze, sex and games we play
Fear of the void cannot allay,
We travel into outer space
Or down to that Titanic place.

Then when we still find no relief
We fight, defending our belief.
This way creates so many fights
In our defence of human ‘rights’
That if I have to make the call,
Is the most asinine of all.
To think we actually believe
Demanding our own 'rights' won't leave
Humanity in such knots tied
Just leaves me very mystified.

Democracy gives us the choice
To speak with a divided voice.
Self-rightness is the only tool
By which the many parties rule.
Because “divided we will fall”
Our voting makes no sense at all.
Democracies that we maintain
Is leaving no doubt we’re insane.
And insane talk of unity
Just measures our insanity
Until we’re willing to give up
Belief systems that fill our ‘cup’
With similar divisiveness
We try to bridge without success.

Countries have armies to be sure
All "rights" and "values" are secure.
When under threat we go to war.
To be insane we can’t do more.
Although we don’t call war a crime,
For reasons that are without rhyme
We call each war activity
A crime against humanity.
But what is right in killing for
The make-believe that we adore?
We're nuts to think that we are right
To love all those who join our fight
And think as well that it's ok
To hate those who don't go our way.
While this corrupted thought remains
It will continue to cause stains
From bloody fights that will persist
Until we all cease to exist.

Indeed we're truly asinine
To think our way of life is fine;
That though there's lots to fight about,
If we sit tight life will work out.
We're in a race that time might win.
Who knows if losing is a sin?
There is no way that we can tell.
My guess is though it will be hell
Unless our thoughts we rearrange
To make this necessary change.
Each individual must thrive
To have Humanity survive.

Beliefs we have but just cause strife
We must cast from the void in life,
For tries to fill this emptiness
Are making our life meaningless.
The empty void is the ideal.
Its drag we will no longer feel.
We'll soar as if on "eagle's wings";
"Reach out..." to where our spirit 'sings'.
"Ideal life" is most challenging;
But if we all the same 'song' sing
With our unique capacity,
We'll be, in Nature's symphony.

I wonder, will we turn the page;
Or will this be our Final Age?

edited 04/30/24

common sense is common; extraordinary sense is extremely rare

OUR LIFE LINE (reasoned prose)
TRUMP ‘16, BIDEN ‘20, NATURE ‘24 (rhymed reason)
ABORTION (rhymed reason)
ANALYZING CONFLICT (rhymed reason)
NATURE’S NUTRITIONAL IDEAL (reasoned prose)
RACISM (rhymed reason)
COVID-19 vie er US (rhymed reason)
ARRESTING CLIMATE CHANGE (rhymed reason)
KNOWLEDGE and ESSENTIAL FACTS (rhymed reason)
DEMOCRACY: the death of us (rhymed reason)
LIFE: a reaction to the void (rhymed reason)
CLIMATE BREAKDOWN (rhymed reason)
ECONOMY (rhymed reason)
THE LAST WHY: the poem (rhymed reason)
DEMOCRACY: a debacle (rhymed reason)
OUR HISTORY and THE LAST WHY (reasoned prose)
AGE of ENTERTAINMENT (rhymed reason)
MY POETRY (rhymed reason)
TOGETHER (rhymed reason)
LAW of HUMAN NATURE (rhymed reason)
ALCOHOL, DRUGS, SEX and other anesthetics (rhymed reason)
RELIGION (rhymed reason)
SEX (rhymed reason)
AFTERLIFE (rhymed reason)
HAPPINESS (rhymed reason)
ALONE: an anthem for humanity (rhymed reason)
WAR on PEACE (rhymed reason)
SOLDIER’S LAMENT (rhymed reason)
LOVE (rhymed reason)
JESUS’ SONG (rhymed reason)