To Any Who Would Have Ambitions:

When all is done

The day is won,

And every body buried.

When small children play

Where a price was once paid

For the foolishness bigger men carried...

The "Fanfare for the Common Man"

Runs through my heart's ears again,

And memories, like Arthur's corpse,

From this desolate shore are ferried.

God bless all who are seen as small,

Though hearts within stand straight and tall.

God save them from ambitious men,

Who tear and destroy or patronizingly mend.

These who rise before the sun,

And return long after it's set:

By these are all the battles won

From these, do rulers their power get.

Do not count them as cogs in the works,

Nor a monkey wrench thrown in your plans,

For whatever strength one alone may not have,

Solitary, is not, the common man.

Lack of ambition

Shows not lack of mind.

Beware calling them simple

Or mocking their "kind."

For, remember, great men,

Small men, under pressure,

Do often explode,

And make great men their lesser.

Another that I wrote almost 30 years ago in high school. I hate to try to rework it, though it is very, very rough, because it's a photograph of sorts, serving as a snapshot of a different time in my life. Anyway, came to mind recently, and it does smooth out a bit at the end.