The Punch Line

Literary / Arts

The Punch Line

David Burke

Volume 31  Issue 1, 2 & 3 | Posted: March 24, 2017

The Punch Line
Dedicated to 
Jim Jamieson
By David Burke
For us there is an end of time,
No ever and forever,
No lasting light, no easy clime
Of limitless endeavor.
A little walk, the race is on,
The howling pack a step behind,
This flesh so soon is carrion,
this heart of man unkind.
The facts are there but time will tell,
On you in heaven and me in hell,
Or so we're told by churchmen old;
Christian or Jew, Survivors few,
who gives a damn, it's all a sham,
So play the game, deaf, blind or lame,
For what it's worth, our life on Earth.
And if, of if, it's not enough,
This dirt within an old man's cuff,

The Punch Line
Dedicated to 
Jim Jamieson
By David Burke
For us there is an end of time,
No ever and forever,
No lasting light, no easy clime
Of limitless endeavor.
A little walk, the race is on,
The howling pack a step behind,
This flesh so soon is carrion,
this heart of man unkind.
The facts are there but time will tell,
On you in heaven and me in hell,
Or so we're told by churchmen old;
Christian or Jew, Survivors few,
who gives a damn, it's all a sham,
So play the game, deaf, blind or lame,
For what it's worth, our life on Earth.
And if, of if, it's not enough,
This dirt within an old man's cuff,
This endless, hapless, feckless bluff,
This bloody pile of useless stuff,
This wretched stream of rhyming guff,
Go on, believe there's life to come,
Listen to your hunch or sign,
A better joke God tells than some,
But don't look for a punch-line!

   

David Burke