White Smoke Aftermath!

Let’s mix our metaphors again

Cardinals shuffle in fast lane

Black smoke from Sistine chapel rises …

Ballot votes can bring surprises.

 

All under eighty, 1-3-3

Scarlet-robed play wait-and-see

But in a mere two days ‘tis done

Robert Prevost is the one!

 

Post Francis no one had a clue

The winner spent time in Peru

Appointed to this sacred rank

We have common sense to thank.

 

In Chicago born and bred

Well-travelled, Augustinian-led

As Leo XIV he will reign

Bearing a reforming name!

(c) Poet in the woods 2025

Tightening Up!

Freedom comes at a great cost
No good bemoaning what is lost
We cannot do just what we please
Our selfish lives are put on freeze.

We have to queue, we cannot go
Without a smart mask, 'comme il faut'
In weekly markets, city streets
And outside cafés where one eats ...

The stats a sorry tale now tell
For 16 million, a death knell
Brazil, U.S. and now Peru
Have escalating figures too.

Airlines despair with quarantine
Imposed on July Brits who've been
Enjoying holidays in Spain;
A wealth of cancellations rain ...

But should we harp back to the past?
How could our excesses last?
The Virus our whole world has shaken
Hence drastic measures must be taken!

(c) Poet in the woods 2020