What Bush’s physical didn’t reveal

He’ll run for re-election,
but Mr. Bush can’t jog.
It’s not that George is out of shape.
And no one spiked the nog.
A bad knee seems the culprit.
But there’s more than meets the eye.
His shoulders bear a nation’s weight.
With bent head he has cried.
His hands reach up to heaven.
His arms hug those who mourn.
He turns his back on critic’s barbs
to steer us through the storm.
I know why he is limping.
That pebble in his shoe
is nothing more than what it takes
to care for me and you.

O God, be near our leader.
Please brace him as he leads.
Relieve the pain he often feels
providing for our needs.

The irony of Saddam’s capture at Christmastime

The bearded man has now been shaved.
Not Santa Claus, but one depraved
whose evil bent and heartless greed
made Seuss’s Grinch look nice.

This one who lived in luxury
was humbled (as we all could see)
when he who lived it up as king
was found down in a hole.

Unlike our King who left his throne
to make our sinful world his home,
Iraqi’s ruler (now a slave)
did not lay down his rights.

The irony of Christmastime
is only lost on those quite blind
who cannot see the paradox
of wealth-to-poverty.

Within a farmhouse Christ was found
by common shepherds all around
who searched to find whom they believed
to be the Wanted One.

The search is over for the man
(the one called Jesus not Saddam)
who can alone bring peace to earth
and with it peace with God.

What should be our response to cursing candidates?

John Kerry wasn’t careful
when the F word slipped right out.
And now his-foot-in-mouth disease
is being talked about.
Should such a man continue
to campaign for President?
Or did the turkey cook his goose
by saying what he meant?
Should candidates have standards
that exceed how most folks live?
He’s not the first to curse that way.
Perhaps we’d best forgive.
Or maybe wash his mouth out
with a bar of mother’s soap,
then brand him with a scarlet F
and Ivory on a rope.

Questioning another’s motives reveals something about ours

Hardly anyone knew
when the President flew
to Iraq back on Thanksgiving Day.
Though his top-secret trip
gave our soldiers a lift,
his detractors insist he will pay.
Was his mission of joy
a political ploy
just to shore up his sagging appeal?
Or was it a case
of a man touched by grace
who imagined how lonely troops feel?
I’ll be first to confess
that it’s easy to guess
what his motive for serving might be.
For it’s when I’m not sure
that ones motives are pure,
it’s because I assume they’re like me.

Society’s fascination with Michael Jackson goes forensic

He gloved his hand. He masked his face.
He even grabbed his crotch.
The Jackson Five’s most famous one
would moonwalk as we watched.
But in Neverland what never should
apparently took place.
And if it did, then Michael J
has cause to hide his face.
The King of Pop will be dethroned,
if he indeed’s been bad.
And while it’s good to seek the truth,
this whole thing makes me sad.