Spartacus
Kirk Douglas tried like hell to save us all
From the tyrannical Olivier.
The chances, though, were always really small.
Kirk Douglas tried like hell to save us all—
But now he’s gone, and almost past recall.
Oh, what a hurtful and demeaning day!
Kirk Douglas tried like hell to save us all
From the tyrannical Olivier.
–Tom Riley
Fellow Man
Inner peace? My occasions are few.
It is something I rarely renew
In my heart. Oh, of late,
I am in a tense state!
And I owe it to people like you.
–Tom Riley
Everyone in the Graveyard Is Somebody’s Baby
Here patient maternal
powers have inflicted the time-out
that never ends.
–Tom Riley
Six Days Is Five Days Too Many
“Get it done!” cried God’s fans. “Get it done!
Here a moon, there a fierce, burning sun.
Add some dirt and an ocean.
Set the whole mess in motion!
There’s no time for you, Lord, to have fun!”
–Tom Riley
Late
It was late. It was later than late—
And unconsciousness loomed, big like fate,
As I hopelessly stared
At a world unrepaired.
When I dreamt, my hopes didn’t inflate.
–Tom Riley
Nothing to Do
“We have all of us something to do!”
They protested when he gave the cue
For expanding negation
And aggressive cessation.
But he answered: “It’s not up to you.”
–Tom Riley
Idiot Instruction
The idiots instruct us every day.
The problem is that someday we may learn
The foolish lesson they put on display.
The idiots instruct us – every day
That we can stand. If we show wild dismay,
They just repeat their idiot concern.
The idiots instruct us every day.
The problem is that someday we might learn.
–Tom Riley
Guarantee
“We guarantee you everything today.”
But can I trust in such a guarantee?
“That’s what distrustful creatures always say!
We guarantee you everything today—
And our great seal is not a vain display,
As very soon you’ll readily agree.
We guarantee you everything today!”
But can I trust in such a guarantee?
–Tom Riley
Happy the Man
“Aren’t we sick of the way we must be?
Does our anguish not sting endlessly?
Does it not drive us ape?
Don’t we long to escape?”
And the happy man answered: “Not me!”
–Tom Riley
Boggle
“Shall I boggle,” he asked her, “your mind?”
“How is boggle,” she answered, “defined?”
“Oh, I’ll turn it around
and dismay and astound….”
“Then I must say I’m much disinclined.”
–Tom Riley
Flammeus Gladius 