Sheer Church Steeples

Sheer Church Steeples 

Sheer church steeples spire to prick the sky,
Breach through which archangels may fly
Down, gathering in souls, their earthly try
To populate Heaven for their Lord on high.

Celestial maypoles heaved up by man
Anchored earth mud mired to the land.
Escaped the cave, down from the tree,
This two legged being in want of just be.

Just be, quite difficult alone by the sea,
Span of the Universe,"Immortality" asks he.
By chance or was Homo-Sapiens planned?
Heinous horrors logged under his command.

Pinioned in amber, preserved through time,
Cenozoic bee found perfect pre-pre-mankind.
Pollen's magi while lowly sperm still slime
Never dreamt God imaged in man's own kind.

Eternally fanning frenzied on swift wings
Pungent waif of sweet bloom nectar brings
Worker collectors with their death they atone
Their universe, Queen Bee, almighty on the throne.

From your garden gently lift an open rose
Bring it within the scent stream of your nose,
Petal vapor ? Bee scripture ? This I suppose.
Not crucifixion nor armageddon myths they chose.

               Ronald C. Downie.     
  

American Patriots

American Patriots 

Summer thermals upward spiral gulls so high,
To see them we must pierce the grey ashen sky
Aloft, one eyed squinting through man made haze,
An act made necessary to see, not just to gaze.

Crafty politicians knowingly look straight at you :
Two eyes forward looking, through and through.
They will not ask your mind to squint or pierce,
Sound bites of promises are enough for you or worse.

Truths and lies are mixed and then matched 
In mental cauldrons where schemes are hatched,
Then fed to you as rare inspired dreams.
Your vote through ignorance, it only seems

Their plan's to catch you unprepared. No !
Denounce their logic and set your mind to :
Question, then broaden, be informed, and then -
You are "American Patriots" you women and men.

    Ronald C .Downie  

Rebirth Of Pottstown

   Rebirth Of Pottstown

John, John Potts, what was it like,
When first to this place you came?
You conceived a form, a town was born,
That forevermore carries your name .

You pledged your trust to a westward bluff,
Meandering east a lovely creek ran clean   
To a river so pure that it had in store
The demand for that black rock's glean .

The Schuylkill tamed, from Holland named,
She's a marriage of creeks and many a stream.
But the scourge of time the discharge of slime
Was in ignorance of man's best drempt dream.

So, John, again we'll look to her use,
To draw life for your town worn down .
Will the river forgive past utter abuse
And revive the rebirth of our Pottstown ?

   Ronald C . Downie   

Haiku 49

Haiku 49

Bunions, bladder, bowels -
The B's of an aged country -
Olds' pleasure, their care.

Mind, memory, muse -
The casting couch for good life,
Lifts Man above beasts.

Grant me a clear mind,
Lungs accepting air, sleep, rest -
A partner who cares.

Medicine through pills,
Dispensed by the clock, tick tock -
Small but so potent.

Colors come alive -
Fall's cooler, draws flowers burst
Forth in vivid hues. 

The wee Humming Bird
Darts, flits among bright flowers -
Her wings feverish.

Ronald C. Downie

Firist Blizzard Of The Season

First Blizzard Of The Season

Relish the first blizzard of the season
Watch for swirls of yellow and brown ;
Autumn early seems the real reason 
All the lawns are covered in the town.

     It is a time when :

Damp mist steams up from the river,
Foot steps leave their prints in the dew. 
Morning sun gets red and redder,
Vast flocks fly all birds but a few.

Thin herringbone clouds stripe the sky,
Heading south geese V in a flock,
Crows land and depart with a cry.
Farmers watch weather like a clock.

Goldenrods garnish the meadows
Stately corn tans tall on the stalk,
In home gardens wilt the tomatoes,
Deep breaths smoke great puffs as we walk.

Pumpkin orange rough petal's fashion,
Straight up, smoke stretches chimneys tall.
Witch and goblin excite a child's passion.
Snowing down - leaves announce - Fall !

        Ronald C . Downie  
  

The Village Within

   The Village Within

With all the flowers 
Across from
Golf Course Road,
A couple of cars,
A Cape Cod with a garage,
South of the railroad tracks,
Old Reading Pike.
You'll see, color everywhere.

A house in a village
Stands out
By its tendered colorful care
Displayed by those bedded flowers
That engage the eye
And capture an emotion
To just visit.

But,
It is the village 
Within these walls
That makes this place stand out.
It is the extreme love exhibited
Awaiting the passing
Of a mate's life
Which mirrors Nature's Law :

A season of germination,
Birth and unfolding, 
Then pressing into a burst
Of colorful flowers, 
Setting the stage again 
For fertile seeds,
Before a sleep.

With a smile and a nod
We pass the flowered abode
Happy to have seen the color display
We feel a tug within the chest
A twang from
"The Village Within."

Ronald C. Downie

For Sherri and family-
Remembering Steve Kurtz : husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, and friend to all.

Ageless as A Village

    Ageless As The Village

From a place, beyond a place, beyond;
In a time, a forgotten time, not now;
A pitted fire flames hot from coals
Of aged wood crackling sparks aloft.

Villagers gather to watch their kill, roast,
This sacred prize of a morning's hunt.
A meal in a village along a good stream
Strengthens family, allows them to dream.

Today is the day to remember your past.
Not that very long ago, a blink, a nod.
A marriage while each still quite young;
Willing to join together, two, as if, one.

Extending life beyond one's own self
Joining another in the union of birth,
Ageless as the village, and, as the fire
Ignites all dreams, it also ignites desire.

Right here, right now, today, at this place.

Ronald C. Downie

In memory of a wedding anniversary.

A Gift Given Us

A Gift Given Us

Between cream of split pea soup
And savory brown mushroom gravy
Hair, as dull as damp hay, droop,
Straightens broom like, turns wavy.

Cocktails do take effect after all
When they begin to vision what's seen.
The average in height, turns quite tall,
Those rather rotund, rollie-pollie, lean.

"To see ourselves as others see us,
A gift", Burns wrote, "He gives us."

Who gives insight so darn powerful
That it forgoes our arrogance of ego ?
However rocky, each life is meaningful
Routed by events played out long ago.

Implied within the rubble of real hope
Is a mythical, dreaming novel of one's life
Impassioned by a full broadening in scope
Complementing the real no matter its strife.

Ronald C. Downie

Haiku 48

Haiku 48

Who's Grover Norquist ?
Did Gerlach sign his dumb pledge ?
If so, Goodby ! Jim !

Do we educate ?
Do we just inventory kids ?
Which do you want done ?

Investment - knowledge -
The future pays for mistakes 
Made by stupid men.

School taxes higher,
A yearly anger wake-up.
Where's promised reform ?

Game of chicken played
By elected officials -
Kill the middle class.

Why produce products,
When no one can afford them ?
Down the spiral goes.

Ronald C. Downie

A Gay's Perspective

       A Gay's Perspective 

Black , the cloths of this grey morning 
Stood covering Larry, the messenger,
Whose task: inform every passenger
Of Mother Earth an omen . A warning ?

" I don't ask you to like me."

Forces empirical pressed his breast
To exhale a plea embodied in each 
Homager under heal, in simple speech,
"Just allow us to live as free as the least."

" I do not ask you to accept me."

A job , a home , freedom to social life ;
Most of all, in a measured , bleating
Monotone," Please allow our meeting
The reaper in loving dignity- not legal strife."

"I only ask that you tolerate me ."

Not outstretched arms of warm embrace,
Nor cold palms on stiff arms so very cool;
Just white knuckles ,teeth clenched ,taunt jaw , stone face.
AHIMSA  in want of a better word or tool .

Is there to be found in the reborn beat ,
" Don't stop thinking about tomorrow,"
Unity when all hands come together ? Repeat,
" Yesterday's gone," with it - much sorrow .

            Ronald C. Downie

AHIMSA is a Sanskrit word meaning to do no harm and that all forms of life are sacred .      

Haiku 47

Haiku 47

Are you prepared for :
Tent cities, food lines, "the poor"?
Will you ignore them ?

Deny them their job,
If they don't tax rich dudes more -
Vote out incumbents.

"Oldsters live too long",
My doctor said. What's to do -
Smoke, drink, eat, drop dead ?

Carry the lit torch,
Lighting the path to justice -
Dishonor loves dark.

Reality stings,
We're "to hell in hand basket" -
Rich/poor gap widens.

"Out of sight, out of ..." ,
Needs gated communities -
How high can walls rise ?

Ronald C. Downie

Winnowing Wild

Winnowing Wild

Winnowing wild western winds work
Their will among the towering pines
Thrashed to and fro, savvy to storms.

As is a spider's web spun flexible and
Strong yet flapping wildly anchored 
On limbs to catch their wayward pray.

Politicians spread falsehoods around too
Easily so, small minded people declare them 
Truths, but the learned few know differently.

Should we be caught up in savage winds that
Bend the towering pines close to breaking ?
Better we settle in the calm of soft breezes.

Better yet, the learned must make a difference 
By pressing truths onto the prevailing breezes
Which nurtures understanding and firm action.

These learned are wise to the ways of spiders
Who lay out their webs silently though strong.
They work their will through both storm or calm.

Ronald C. Downie

Haiku 46

Haiku 46
  
Abandonment woes,
Corporations are people -
Do they feel or love ?

With impunity,
An inept Congress stagnates -
Our Country's in peril.

How can "no" prevail ?
Long term, short term - need is now -
Demand congress act !

Flags, bullets, guns, drums,
Drones, missiles, bombs, fire fights -
Carnage continues.

Why polish old wood ?
To keep its antique value.
Why repair bridges ?

Why we weed gardens ?
To promote desired plants.
Why must grass be cut ?

Ronald C. Downie

The Carousel - PTC#9 -

    The Carousel - PTC #9 -

Round and round, up and down,
Horse and lion, giraffe and hound,
Children laughing, smiling, asking,
Please, please ! Again, again !
Another ride ! Please, again !

Nostalgia, dreams, oh memory,
Young and old, all, everybody,
Climb abroad ! The organ plays 
Familiar tunes of bygone days .

1905 at the birth of Century Twenty
Wood carving artisans hew a plenty
Standards and jumpers to stencil then paints
Murals of landscapes, portraits of Saints .

The ring, the ring, get the brass ring,
Coveted is such a small round thing .
Heart jumping, anticipation high
Circling round and around for another try .

One hundred years soon gone by
Hark, listen to echoes of a joyous cry
Melded within these ancient pieces
For boys and girls, nephews and nieces .

In tribute to you fine workers all :
Helpers, investors, you believers tall,
We will honor his memory forevermore
For the living : those happy, healthy, and well
The Derek Scott Saylor Memorial Carousel .

   Ronald C . Downie 

We Must Escape

   We Must Escape  

Genesis 1 . . . We must escape
The bondage slog of daily gyre
To free Wisdom's intrepid wings
From Hades' fire . . . Revelations 22 .

Three hundred long dark years went by :
Assemble, vote," u'ah, we got scripture !"
Talk about miracles, then they manipulate
The Gospels in praise of Heaven' s rapture .

Those monkish scribes of walled in thoughts
Lay to the demands of their zealot priests,
Archangels fly," Come in ", calls out Noah,
Christ walks on water, holds Passover Feasts .

Two thousand years pass, the plot thickens :
Priests, monks, pastors, cathedrals, spires,
Holliday choirs, candles, especially crosses,
Madrigals, Holly Hymns, all feed Man's desires .

"Why are we here ?" and "Who are we ?"
Unanswered still . Please intercede 
On our behalf before the Lord, for
We are unfit to plead our own need .

We wish our waters pure, our air clean to breathe,
Sufficient sustenance for all, a good strong society .
We must seek beauty everywhere, do no one harm,
Make Our World better, for us, and for all of thee .

   Ronald C . Downie  

Footsteps Of A Thousand Generations

Footsteps Of A Thousand Generations 

Foot steps of a thousand generations
Formed my path's early morning walk
Along the flowing river, among the foul,
Between leafing flora, seeking sight of 
Critters , different not that much from
Those seen by our late ancestors, who
Walking in their own good time communed 
With our very own Schuylkill River Mother.

Today's steps, increasingly halting and measured,
Drew me, while I very slowly shuffled along,
To observe a newly formed large family of geese
Soldering in a group their goslings while skirting
Both strong swift waters and dark hidden shoals,
Those acts, teaching their family potential dangers .

Nature repeats, repeats, repeats, always repeating, Which forms the strong waves of the living tide .

Ronald C. Downie 

Voiceless Is Useless

   Voiceless Is Useless
 
Give up, never !  Retreat, hell no !
I've staked my corners, surveyed my lines,
My mind's made up, my resentments grow.
Join me who feel, "These are the times
That try men's souls." as Thomas Paine
Did, a long two hundred years ago.
Many years back, but still the same,
Anguish bleeds hurt from veins that flow
Patriotism and family and duty to country.

Voiceless is useless in times as these.
Inadequate, no, you don't need mastery
Of pen or voice to cry out " Freeze ":
The killing fields of weapons production,
The American dependance on fossil fuel,
The politicians underhanded seduction,
The government using you as a tool, "a fool."

   Ronald C. Downie 

The Village Within

   The Village Within

   With all the flowers 
       Across from
    Golf Course Road,
     A couple of cars,
 A Cape Cod with a garage,
South of the railroad tracks,
     Old Reading Pike.
You'll see, color everywhere.

     A house in a village
          Stands out
  By its tendered colorful care
Displayed by those bedded flowers
      That engage the eye
     And capture an emotion
          To just visit.

              But,
        It is the village 
       Within these walls
That makes this place stand out.
It is the extreme love exhibited,
       Awaiting the passing
         Of a mate's life,
    Which mirrors Nature's Law :

      A season of germination,
         Birth and unfolding, 
     Then pressing into a burst
         Of colorful flowers, 
       Setting the stage again 
           For fertile seeds,
             Before a sleep.

       With a smile and a nod
    We pass the flowered abode
Happy to have seen the color display
   We feel a tug within the chest
             A twang from
          "The Village Within."

            Ronald C. Downie

For my daughter, Sherri and family-
Remembering Steve Kurtz : husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, and friend to all.

Haiku 45

 Haiku 45 -

What government does best.

When we need help from :
Wild fires, Hurricanes, droughts,
Tornadoes, floods, quakes.

When we need to build :
Interstate highways, bridges,
Dams, levies, air ports.

When our health's concerned :
Plague, epidemic, germ war,
Radiation deaths.

Man still killing Man,
Do we only remember ?
When will killing stop ?

Country or party,
Thinking big or thinking small -
Constitution's big.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs !
Politicians must get it !
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs !

Ronald C. Downie

9 / 11

                   9-11                                      
          September 11, 2001
-Another Date Which Will Live In Infamy-

The twin tower's three thousand dead
- Never, ever, shall they be forgotten -
Every eye a tear, each heart bleeds red,
Homage paid to ground zero, Manhattan.

On polished brass plaques, every name
Etched true to last time immemorial.
Hero rescuers ignite their own fame
And join in their special ceremonial.

The dead laid to rest now mute and silent.
Their epitaphs cut by hammer and chisel
Onto headstones of grey hardened granite.
Each word tears through rain, snow, drizzle.

Unlike these three thousand today so honored
Are dead from past wars and gross genocides,
Who are known by count only. Acts abhorred !
Man killing man while the whole world sighs.

Iraq,  Afghanistan,  Sudan,
Rowanda,  Croatia,  Vietnam,
Dachau,  Auschwitz,  Treblinka, 
Omaha,  Normandy,  Iwo Jima,
Bataan,  Pearl Harbor,  Korea,
Hiroshima,  Nagasaki,  Libya.

Man killing man.  When ? Oh when, will it end ?

            Ronald C. Downie.      

Read 9/11/2010 at a ceremony held at The Smith Family Plaza, Pottstown Borough honoring those killed on this date due to the horrid deeds of foreign terrorists.
Resubmitted for the tenth anniversary, 9/11/2011.

The Schuylkill Will Flood

This is a repost of my essay on the Schuylkill River and its inevitability to flood.
The Schuylkill Will Flood
 
No one should be opposed to better walk ways and bike ways connecting the river and the community college with downtown Pottstown and across the river connecting Norco by means of an enhanced Hanover Street bridge walkway . Reconnections has been a major goal of the Schuylkill River Greenway Association for many years  and accomplished quite successfully at other locations up and down river .

But, the Schuylkill River poses some greater challenges . Thankfully high water flooding has not happened in the near past but it will in the future , bet on it! Pottstown : south of High St. and up along the Manatawny Creek ; North Coventry: north of the 422 bypass , properties in both of these areas will experience the damage caused by flood waters sometime in the future . We can, as we have done in the past, ignore this reality by doing nothing or we can accept flooding as a fact and plan to do something about it . 

The most obvious reaction is dredge the river . Easily said but almost impossible to get permitted . Twice in the past ten years the Corp of Engineers , a US Gov. Agency , has come to Pottstown through the invitation of Congressman Gerlach to meet with local officials and our state representatives . Their response to dredging- best forget it - in today's world of regulations eternity may be a short time.

Even so, I believe something can and should be done. Water backs up when it's flow is impeded by an obstruction . Islands in the river are obstructions ,but, the trees and other vegetative growths are more of an obstruction to waters as they rise up during flood time . I suggest we get permission from the River Keeper to grub off all tree and heavy vegetation from the islands east of the Hanover Street Bridge down to the 422 Bypass Bridge . Allow the islands to become islands of grass only which would lie down and not impede the rising waters during flood periods .

I suggest further , certainly removing islands and dredging the river would be preferable . The costs to remove islands and dredge are enormous compared to the costs of cutting down trees and heavy vegetations . It is the cost / benefit ratio that stands out . Reducing the high water mark by one foot is substantial , to reduce it by double or more would really make a radical difference in flood prone areas . A two or three foot drop would not be out of the question . 

I challenge our leaders to look at the Schuylkill not only for it's recreational benefit but also it's financial drain on our local economy due to flooding . Please, don't be like the old guy who didn't see a need to fix his leaky roof because it wasn't raining then. Doing something simple sometimes has huge paybacks .

        Ronald C . Downie        

The Past Is Knowledge; The Future, Wisdom

The Past Is Knowledge ; The Future, Wisdom

Water, like thought, calms when slowed
Into deep pools at cool quiet depths
Where mud and murk bottom settles
To clear the liquid for it's final trip .

Thought, if not allowed to calm
And settle out busy nonessential 
Clutter that keeps the mental stream
Clean, finds no clear ideas will surface .

As water makes it's long journey 
To the sea, it encounters swiftly
Moving rapids and falls that roar
Before it again pools and calms .

So too, the mind's mental travel path
Must shoot the turbulences of doubt,
Navigate trouble, and evil, and fear,
Each cascading down until calm calms.

Ever since the early dawning of time
When water appeared on the earth,
It adapted to Earth's Natural Laws :
Repeat, repeat, over and over, repeat.

In his time, upright man found a force
Far beyond his physical prowess, when
The vast utter strength of his mental
Ability raised him above common beasts.

The sun, the moon, stars, earth, water,
The air, the eagle, fire, wind, and rain - 
Man would experience and then worship.
But, as with water, strong storms disturb,

Alters flows, and interrupts water's calm;
Quite common with Nature's Earthly way.
But thinking man dreams about the future
Thus he soon becomes uncertainty's victim.

The past is knowledge, the future, wisdom.
And through time knowledge accumulates,
But wisdom is fickle, and the needed spark
Not timely, so wisdom has to be nurtured.

Water flows everywhere to the very
Same Laws Of Gravity, while thought,
Not contained within our physical world,
Flows in a stream we all seek to posses.

Ronald C . Downie 

Haiku 44

Haiku 44

Unlock life's horrors :
Run out of health, money, time -
Left with pain and death.

Labor is a job's 
Own reward bettering self -
Idleness stagnates.

"A job worth doing, 
Is a job worth doing well."
Gran'Pa Downie said.

We rise together,
Or, bickering apart, fall -
Up, the way ahead.

The best fruit's up top,
Tall ladders need wide, strong feet -
Climb high, choose sweetest.

When life's a bummer,
Smile watching birds, flowers, bees -
Same place all headed.

Ronald C. Downie

Haiku 43

Haiku 43

Republican Plan :
Stop Obama's second term -
Country goes to Hell.

Wild winds wreck havoc,
Torrid rains ply floods higher -
Nature's way unique. 

Labor Day a farce,
We all should speak in Chinese -
Good jobs would flock here.

Strangle youth learning,
Cut investments, give tax breaks -
Rush to the bottom.

Keep stiff upper lip,
British Empire fell due to :
Ego's arrogance.

Think ! Too big to fail
Is a prescription for that
Sneaking up on us.

Ronald C. Downie

Oh! That Circus Air

Oh! That Circus Air

The air, heavy of circus, hangs this morning in the clouds of an overcast day. Far too many years have gone by since this atmosphere last caught my attention. It has been some two and a half generations, fifty years, since I took the family to this annual event. The kids became older and on their own or Connie took them because I was always working to make a living for me and my crew.

We went yearly, sometimes twice a year, when the circus was really an event not to miss. The special pageantry of anticipation, the trumpets announcing death defying high ring performers, the clowns, the elephants and horses, three rings of excitement, the smells and sounds unique to a circus all remain with me today as it were only yesterday. 

We went yearly even though each year I promised myself not to go if I was bamboozled by ticket hawkers who could cheat anyone out of their change when purchasing tickets. Yes, each year I got taken like the last, but no matter how careful I was, I, like most, was taken. The hawkers would take your twenty and holler out "next" and, "keep the line moving" grabbing at more money rather than handing you your change while all the while your kids tugged at your pants or pulled at your hand to get to their seats inside the Big Tent. By the time you realized you didn't get you change, the hawker and his stand were no where in sight.

Funny I'm thinking of the circus these days, but I can understand the reasoning behind it, since the National News portrays a circus like atmosphere in Washington, D.C. just about every day. I do watch the news daily and feel how we, the public, are always being bamboozled by our leaders. I thought what a circus while daily watching the farce surrounding raising the national debt ceiling. Elected officials take an oath to uphold our constitution upon taking office which, in my mind, implies they accept the charge of formulating rules, regulations, and laws to move our country forward in good times as well as bad for the better good of all our citizens.

Not unlike the Bible message, that of worshiping graven images as being bad, is the present day worshiping by elected officials of some pledge to not raise taxes postulated by an unelected guy of deep political persuasion. Unfounded in our constitution are these type pledges. Those who swear to abide by these pledges are the same ones who profess to go by, not only the letter but also by the true intent, of our constitution. Hypocrisy seems to describe these officials. They could certainly make good clowns and ticket sellers as they show off their slight of hand antics and after watching them crow to their constituents about how our country is stronger with them in office; they reek of hypocrisy.

Most circuses are a thing of the past, and I suggest these hypocritical members of congress should be retired at the end of their first term and also become a thing of the past.

Ronald C. Downie

The Messenger Ancestor

The Messenger Ancestor

Dog-eared thoughts crease corners of my cerebral pages
Ancestrally bound by hardened covers of earlier ages.
Universal questions chapter this book that engages 
Me to write at this point in time . Please listen , my reply .

I have lived well beyond my half-life years .
Warm thoughts furrow happy acres, but, tears
Embedded deeply erode forgotten ancient fears
Wondering :" Why am I here?" and "Who am I ?"

Uranium encased rods are organized to squeeze heat
Into electric current, when spent, active life's complete .
But, until sealed to sleep decades of ten thousand years, feat
Required of our heirs , no stirring allowed nor restless cry .

Do atoms compressed into stiff rods differ that greatly
From DNA atoms strung like a pearl neckless neatly
To imprint fibers of the human body still physically
Evolving ? Atoms from the same early primal stew ply

Their way for eons until there present purpose found : one ,
Heat to electric , two , human imprint , a mental sun ,
Brain waves at the center of a thought universe which run 
Not only backward but forward toward a cosmic try

To create a Supreme Being in our own image . Earth rendered
Subservient . Desired omnipotent, God was engendered 
Male by decree . With impunity, oppressors remembered
As cruel and debasing , unjust and inhumane , which flies

In the face of humanity . I'm here only by chance ,
To do no harm so offspring of my DNA may dance
To the natural rhythms of Mother Earth . They will remember
Me , The Messenger Ancestor , not forced into sleep am I .

         Ronald C. Downie
  

Haiku 42

Haiku 42

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,
Politicians don't get it -
Play Washington games.

Lest they do return,
Can a leopard loose its spots -
No ! Congress says, No ! 

"God's will", Bachman, shouts,
Hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes -
"Help self", Eric, says.

No job creation,
Triggers no job retention -
Vote "Out Of Office".

"Damn the torpedoes,
Full speed ahead !" Someone said -
"The ship's going down !"

History repeats,
Dynasties crumbled before -
Press your congressman.

Ronald C. Downie