Poems by Theme

education-knowledge

Jacobs, Alan

Peak Of Wisdom

Munificent and magnanimous one,
Lofty, aspiring like a high green hill,
Beyond the reach of mind for good or ill,
Above the thrall of getting duties done,
Blazing blood-orange, ruddy as the Sun.
Peak of wisdom, compassionate, you fill
Me dear with holy joy and bliss until
Chanting songs of praise for you is done.

You're a blue sea of mercy, grey sky of space,
Pacific as Neptune, benevolent, benign,
Bestower of grace by gaze through sight divine.
My ardour flows to your beckoning face,
I dive into my heart obeying your sign,
Melting as a salt doll in your sea of grace.

Clerk Maxwell, James

Molecular Evolution

At quite uncertain times and places,
The atoms left their heavenly path,
And by fortuitous embraces,
Engendered all that being hath.
And though they seem to cling together,
And form “associations” here,
Yet, soon or late, they burst their tether,
And through the depths of space career.

So we who sat, oppressed with science,
As British asses, wise and grave,
Are now transformed to wild Red Lions,
As round our prey we ramp and rave.
Thus, by a swift metamorphosis,
Wisdom turns wit, and science joke,
Nonsense is incense to our noses,
For when Red Lions speak, they smoke.

Hail, Nonsense! dry nurse of Red Lions,
From thee the wise their wisdom learn,
From thee they cull those truths of science,
Which into thee again they turn.
What combinations of ideas,
Nonsense alone can wisely form!
What sage has half the power that she has,
To take the towers of Truth by storm?

Yield, then, ye rules of rigid reason!
Dissolve, thou too, too solid sense!
Melt into nonsense for a season,
Then in some nobler form condense.
Soon, all too soon, the chilly morning,
This flow of soul will crystallize,
Then those who Nonsense now are scorning,
May learn, too late, where wisdom lies.

Winters, Yvor

The Moralists

You would extend the mind beyond the act,
Furious, bending, suffering in thin
And unpoetic dicta; you have been
Forced by hypothesis to fiercer fact.
As metal singing hard, with firmness racked,
You formulate our passion; and behind
In some harsh moment nowise of the mind
Lie the old meanings your advance has packed.

No man can hold existence in the head.
I, too, have known the anguish of the right
Amid this net of mathematic dearth,
And the brain throbbing like a ship at night:
Have faced with old unmitigated dread
The hard familiar wrinkles of the earth.

Shapiro, Alan

Natural Selection

proceeds by chance
and necessity
? becomes nonrandom
through randomness
? builds complexity
from simplicity
? nurtures consciousness
unconsciously
? evolves purposelessly
creatures who demand
? purpose
and discover
? natural selection

Conan Doyle, Arthur

A Parable

The cheese-mites asked how the cheese got there,
And warmly debated the matter;
The Orthodox said that it came from the air,
And the Heretics said from the platter.
They argued it long and they argued it strong,
And I hear they are arguing now;
But of all the choice spirits who lived in the cheese,
Not one of them thought of a cow.

Oldfield, Brenda M

Mothers Sad

Hail to all mothers, full of disgrace
The devil of sadness, may be with thee
Shameless thou may be, amongst children
Or the fruits of thy womb, may be so cursed

Not to your Children! Oh, no never!

Holy Mother, could not be, thy name
Nor a true mother, to your children
Look no further, than to Mother Nature
At the hour of each birth, but you look back

Now and forever, you may be a sad
Woe man!

Oldfield, Brenda M

Mothers Glad

Hail to all Mothers, full of true grace
The Spirit of Nature, is always with thee
Blessed art thou, amongst all children
And cherished, are the fruits of thy womb

Yes to all Children! Here, there and everywhere!

Holy Mother, mother of child, truly be thy name,
Caring, and loving to her child, or anyone’s child
As you embrace and share, with all mothers
At the hour of each birth, to be forward looking

Now and forever, you are always
Human!

Oldfield, Brenda M

Fathers

Our Fathers who art, on this earthly heaven
Hallowed be thy name, for this is thy kingdom
Of all youngsters, who you will dearly hail!
The power and the glory, and to prevail

With dreams, which will be done, here on earth!
And always as it is, in their own sweet mirth!

And as you protect their future
You give them, their daily bread
Helping them, to help themselves
Guiding them, but not to self-destruction

But delivering them, from your evil, selfishness
For to nurture your child, is yours to have and hold
With an almighty love, reflecting, their grand selflessness!
Each child’s love! Valued! Grounded in many caring ways!

Forever and ever, Oh, Loving Fathers!

Oldfield, Brenda M

Mother Natures Creed

I believe in Nature, the Mother Almighty,
Creator of Space and Earth
Through time
The Spirit of Gravity

Born of Mother Nature
Suffered under nothing
Recycled and reborn
Descended into nothing

Re-energised, re-emerging
Into Existence
Ascended and ascending
Into this Space and Time
Seated on All sides

Of Nature, the Mother Almighty
From thence She shall
Value and predict
The Pattern of rebirth

I believe in Nature's Spirit
The prayer house of 'Time'
The Communion of Existence
Shape, Colour, and Light

Always Nature's Motion
O Nature