Bohemia Village Voice

From Bohemian Bouquet, published 1980 by The Bohemians.

 

Values

Some people get their priorities wrong,

They don’t look around them as life rushes on,

Their days are spent in a mad, endless rush,

Jostling each other as they fight through the crush.

Hooting and fumes from cars in long rows,

Will bring on a headache, as anyone knows.

Some people possess a remarkable brain,

And climb up the ladder of fortune and fame.

Their greatest objective is piling up money,

They don’t even notice if it’s cloudy or sunny.

Weekends in front of the telly they spend,

A wood and glass idol on which they depend.

Occasionally rising to pour out a drink

Until they are staggering round on the brink.

A sherry, a brandy, or sometimes a whisky,

Till everything goes, and they start to feel frisky.

They suddenly realize that life’s passed them by.

“It’s time I retired” is their usual cry.

They come down to earth with a bump – they are old.

Life hangs on a thread – and it’s worth more than gold.

The best things in this life are things that are free.

You don’t pay a penny but just look and see

A beautiful sunset spread out in the sky

Its breathtaking beauty could just make you cry.

Its reflection in water, so silent and still

When its last rays are touching a far distant hill.

A pinewood in winter, its trees tipped with snow,

The sun through the branches, making them glow.

A walk by the shore, with the wind in the waves,

The song of the sea, upon rocks and in caves.

The twitter of swallows as they dart through the air,

Dipping and diving, with never a care.

A buttercup meadow’s a wonderful sight,

And the moon and the stars on a clear frosty night.

The love of a dear one, the kiss of a child,

Clouds in a storm when they’re wind-tossed and wild.

Theses are the values which I would put first,

Other people can drink and dine till they burst.

They can keep all their diamonds and all their posh cars.

They can charter a space-ship and take off to Mars.

Their mansions, their riches, mean nothing to me,

For God has provided the things which are free.

 

Irene Mitchell