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Chaos Abounds

What thoughts are left unthought? What is profound?
Does any quest of value still remain?
So much that once was sacred, now profane,
Defines the soul still searching. Common ground
May not exist, but seldom is it sought.
Reflection rarely yields a different view.
Truth comes, it seems, in varied shade and hue,
And answers rarely mesh with what was taught.
Anarchy freely reigns; chaos abounds.
Conformity…coerced upon the few
By those expressing outrage, sure to sue
For feelings hurt on verbal battlegrounds.
So many taking action should refrain
From seeking pleasure in another’s pain.

first published by Westward Quarterly 

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Indoctrinating Evil

A student sits and stares at an exam,
Expected there to demonstrate their hate.
But, something in their heart does not relate–
A pause before the slaughter of the lamb.

Could such a spark of conscience buried deep
Take root and cease the cycle of despair?
Can persecution–prevalence of terror–
Be stopped while making wolves out of the sheep?

The children taught to hate the Falun Gong
Continue dark and twisted legacies,
Creating needless animosities,
Divorced from rhyme and reason, right and wrong.
Indoctrinating children is the crime
Perpetuating evil over time.

first published by Friends of the Falun Gong

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Randal A. Burd, Jr. is an educator, freelance editor, writer, and poet. His freelance writing includes assignments on the paid writing team for Ancestry.com and multiple online blogs, newsletters, and publications. Randal received his Master’s Degree in English Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Missouri. He currently works on the site of a residential treatment facility for juveniles in rural Missouri. He lives in southeast Missouri with his wife and two children.

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.

5 Responses

  1. Russel Winick

    Thanks for these thought-provoking sonnets. Sadly, it seems that few today would even recognize when they are “seeking pleasure in another’s pain.”

    Reply
  2. Cheryl Corey

    Regarding your second piece – you’re right. The ongoing cycle of hate continues with the indoctrination of children. It happened in Nazi Germany with Hitler youth, it’s what Hamas does to their children, and now we see it happening here with the current administration’s obsession to install critical race theory in our schools.

    Reply
  3. Sally Cook

    Excellent in both form and thought.
    When it comes to what is going on, you are right on the money. But what can be done? All the virus hullabaloo is an exercise in both misdirection and psychological experiment with an ultimate goal of control. You express this perfectly

    Reply
  4. James Sale

    Powerful and skilful poems, Randall – and I particularly like some of your rhymes. I can’t remember seeing the simply rhyme of exam/lamb before, but it works!

    Reply
  5. Andrew Benson Brown

    Nice to see you back on the site, Randal. Very apt poems for our times.

    Reply

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