sweet, angelic,
reared religiously
attended church
every sunday
weekdays too.

lived by the golden rule
treating others like
she’d like to be treated.

unappreciated by bad boys
some of them
saw her as a prude.

stuck to her values
and religious beliefs
remained a virgin
until she was in college
and fell in love
with a wild boy
masquerading as
a religious one.

lost her virginity
and her young life
and died of AIDs
courtesy of
the wild boy
who died too.

her parents and
church friends
wondered how God
could have allowed
that to happen
to one of their own.

bob boyd

birds fly free,
why can’t we
controlled by governments
police, schools, and jobs
during our lives
some for awhile
like schools
like jobs
some if we drive
too fast or
stray from the law
some all our lives
like governments
but birds pay a price
for their seeming
freedom
predators
govern their
brief lives

bob boyd

three good kids and one bad
in their human litter,
how could three go right
and one go bad?
is it a twisted genetic thing
from a bad one in their
ancient family tree
that resurfaces sometimes
in successive generations?
is it a misfiring in some
mysterious gene?

whatever the cause
we have too many bad ones
in many of
the human litters
Hitler, Stalin, Bundy, et al.

bob boyd

pretty woman seemed
to have a wonderful life
filled with many admirers
who dreamed of being with her,
and all the loving looks
of many men who saw her.
and all the advantages good looks
can bring.

none knew what she’d been through,
men who wanted her just for her looks,
good men too afraid to approach her
for fear of her rejecting them.

the worsening fears of losing her looks
as aging began to rob her
of her lifelong signature beauty,
the costs of cosmetic surgeries
that didn’t save her waning looks,
the sobbing acceptance of
her lost forever looks.

bob boyd

what causes ghosts?
are they just rewinds
of images of people
who die accidental
or horrible deaths?

are they dead people
who for unknown
reasons can’t find
their way
to the Light?

and if they are real,
why do some people
become ghosts
and not others?

maybe as some claim
they’re just
imaginary effects
of electrical waves.

whatever the cause,
real or unreal,
no way I’d ever
spend an eerie
night in a
haunted house.

bob boyd

His wife’s mother’s ghost haunted their house.
It would have been okay
if he had gotten along with her,
but when she was alive she always
tried to break up him and his wife.

She never liked him for unknown reasons,
maybe she just didn’t like his looks,
even though he was a nice looking guy
and had a pleasant personality.

He always thought she felt he just
married her daughter for their money.
In the end, her mother’s spirit seemed to
possess his wife and turned her against him.
She became so disagreeable and hateful
that he could no longer be with her.

After he left his wife, she became her
sweet self once again, but no way
could he go back with her and face her
dead mother’s otherworldly spite.

Bob Boyd

you may be richer than
impoverished us
but you’re no better
in your fancy clothes
grandiose houses
exorbitant cars
high maintenance
privileged spouses
with all the glitter
with all the glitz

we’re all equal
when we die
and all the riches
or lack of them
no longer divides
you from us
and like the biblical
lions lying down with lambs
we all lie down together
separately but equally
under those
indifferent tombstones
under those
indiscriminate grounds

bob boyd

she’s considered part of the masses
by those who think of themselves
as the higher intelligentsia
she’s not lost in lofty thoughts
or delusional self importance
in a world that’s a blink
in the eyes of eternity
she lives a gentle, normal life
works in a factory days
takes care of her family nights
extends kindness to all
does her best to be
a good and decent person
living by the golden rule

bob boyd

reading passages of the Bible
reflecting on the words
becoming infused
with their sacred meanings
feeling Divinely inspired
when a certain sentence
or passage stands out
and remains in your mind

you close your eyes
and contemplate it
if you can connect
even a little
with the Absolute
if you can for a moment
really feel the
sacred images
the words reveal

you unlock
the peace
beyond understanding
the bliss
beyond imagination
and get a glimpse
of The Divine

Bob Boyd

She looked
so beautiful
when started work
at the jewelry store.

I lucked out
and
got a date
with her.

It went to hell
when she
got drunk
and wanted
sex on the
way home.

Sloppy drunk
women
have never
held any
appeal to me.

I declined
the drunken
offer that
for me
would have
been like
having sex
with a corpse.

But I really
didn’t want
to have
sex with her
because it
was so wrong
to use a
drunken woman
no matter
how hot.

Bob Boyd