The Hanging of Saddam Hussein

They hung Saddam Hussein this week
for a few of the thousand evils he had done.
The newspaper here in town
ran a headline two inches high about it
and I imagine that there are many who
feel that something has been done,
some wrong has been righted.

I saw a link to a video of his hanging
but decided instead to write these words
because, though I know he was a bad man
I can't help feeling some connection to someone
surrounded by men in black ski masks
with a rope around his neck.
I can't help feeling connected to that murder

and to the lingering guilt we all share
for the evils done in our world large and small.

Weathering / Aging - Haiku

the bench in the yard
is weathered grey and grown soft
the leaves have all turned

my dad cut his hand
with a table saw last year
branches pop and break

three and five years have
passed since my children were born
saplings rise quickly

while the bench grows old
the winter seeping in deep
a freeze that won't thaw

On the Monorail Leaving The Magic Kingdom

At eight minutes past midnight
the children all sleep
in their parents' arms and laps
while the old folks
stare at their feet
which used to carry them so much farther.

The sun set long ago but no moon has risen
and the train glides
through a soft midnight
away from a place of dreams
toward a paved lot
from which we will drive to who knows where.

On this train
moving through
this moonless night
the children sleep,
the old folks stare,
while I search the darkness
and the distance.