Under Tyranny
 
translated  from the Greek of Solon
 
If you are undergoing a bad time because of your own idiocy
    don’t attribute the problem to the Gods.
It is you that made these men powerful and provided them with guards.
   And through that mistake you have made yourselves slaves.
Each one of you walks with the paw prints of a fox
    and each of you has a totally empty head.
You look to the man’s words as he speaks so glibly,
    but you never glance at what he has done.
 
 
 Words in the Middle of the Night at Seventy-Six
 
 You are a prisoner of time, but only  
    for twenty, or five, or ten years more.  
After that you will be freed  
    into the great glow  
of a known and not known star  
    and be at rest.
 
Fred Beake
 
If you have any thoughts about these poems,   Fred Beake  would like to hear them