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 dark 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,

And you may find verdant land, but it's rare.

No worry or care 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.

A sample of air shows traces of lead,
Forecasting storm clouds of danger ahead;
Left to continue unchecked it may spread.
My heart beats with dread for Zug Island.

Then there are strange haunting noises therefrom,
Described as an eerie rumbling and hum;
A monotone drone, in scorn named by some,
The Devil's Steel Drum on Zug Island.

Weigh the effects and consider the cost;

The resources, trees, and land we exhaust,

The water and air, polluted and lost.

What bridge have we crossed to Zug Island?

Once I saw a UFO

 Once I saw a UFO,
It flew from sky to sky.
I could not say to where it went,
It simply left my eye.

Late that night, while sound asleep,
I felt a presence near;
It probed my brain, it scanned my form,
From back to feet to ear.

Suddenly, there came a thought:
Sleep paralysis was this.
It was a dream and nothing more;
I drifted back to bliss.

UFOs yes, space creatures no;
A fact needs proof to be.
From countless stars and galaxies,
No aliens we see.

From Bach To Bieber

I don’t understand how some fans can rave,
for the pop star they call Justin Bieber.

J.S. Bach himself must roll in his grave
and in disbelief cry, “Ach, du lieber!”