Zug Island and Zug Island Revisited

Zug Island

Take me there, please, where men cough and wheeze,
Where emissions and smoke swirl and dance on a breeze,
Where girders and stacks and pipes are the trees;
An oasis of these is Zug Island.

Spellbound, I gaze ‘cross the strait where I stand,
To a factory island — no beaches, no sand;
Instead a fine film of rust soot coats the land.
Life would be grand on Zug Island.

The warm orange glow of a flame paints the sky,
Cargo ships laden with steel pass me by,
A blast furnace calls; I can hear its faint cry.
My fantasies lie on Zug Island.

Gas, stench, and steam are its gifts to the air.
The River Rouge issues a toxic flow there.
As to the land; there's still some to spare.
Everything's fair on Zug Island.



Zug Island Revisited

No beauty I see in these nightmarish scenes,
Of smoke-blackened buildings and monstrous machines;
Hills of scrap metal, and rusty ravines.
No ends, only means on Zug Island.

I now shed a tear when I think of the cost;
The resources, trees, and land we exhaust,
The water and air, polluted and lost.
What bridge have we crossed to Zug Island?

On a Scotch Pine

Hanging there is a dangling cat
With a knitted scarf and a matching hat,

Silent bells, and a pewter boat,
A ceramic girl in a red felt coat.

Someone sits on a frosty sleigh
Above tiny wreaths and a small bouquet.

Angels fly near a rocking horse
And on top there sits a bright star, of course.

Furthermore many branches hold
Pretty twinkling lights and a garland gold.

All these baubles and trinkets bloom
On a tall Scotch Pine in my living room.

Ah, Seasons!

Ah, Spring! — hearts sweetened by flowers;
chill ousted by warmth
and more daylight hours.

Ah, Summer! — the weekend of seasons;
vacation with sun
and fun without reasons.

Ah, Autumn! — comes harvest and crisp air;
landscapes of color,
and ducks in the mist there.

Ah, Winter! — where snow brightens dark skies.
A new year of life
will spring from what now dies.

Where Duality Flies

Seeker of Truth — Enlightenment Sleuth;
to what ultimate goal do you climb?

Is it not here on this Earthly sphere?
Is it not in this instant of time?

Concepts and thought spin dreams and we’re caught
in the merry-go-round of the mind.

Try as we may, we can’t find a way
to leave image and ego behind.

Where do we look — through words in a book?
Oh, the answer seems so well concealed.

Secret it’s not — we simply forgot:
in this moment the answer's revealed.

Left on its own, the silent Unknown
brings to light what it once seemed to hide.

Where duality flies — so say the wise —
goes the myself and True Self divide.