Life Topics

Your 80th Birthday

haiku2
In the eightieth year so much has been said
a son, husband, Dad, Pappa  and many
fond memories of this life that you’ve led.

Mortality is not to think about today
eat cake and toast your life without care
We’re all here to make merriment and cheer.

Do you feel different at 80 I wonder?  Tired perhaps?
Does your memory sometimes experience a lapse?
Do you feel God’s blessings surround you each day?
We can hear it in your heart that you feel this way.

Let’s look back with honesty and grace
We’re lucky to hold you Dad in this important space.

A Wife! Oh, what a wife you picked!
She could diaper, clean and pay
the bills with pinache,
Jesus Mary and Joseph,
she could even save a little bit of cash.

Up to three jobs you’d take to keep us in shoes
while we slept in our beds, unaware of your dues.
Trips to Websters, tramping up those stairs.
I remember Converse sneakers, and so many pairs.

We were a crazy bunch of six, I don’t need to tell you that
you and Mom worked so hard, to make a home that would last.
So hard to image, that it’s now so far in the past.
A fond memory I have of stopping at Frosty’s on our way home,
a towering vanilla was always my cone.

Fishing was always a seasonal delight
You’d line us all up, and keep us in sight.
Lines mangled and tangled and me with the worms,
bare chested Tilly, always on my terms.

Girls don’t fish you said, I must digress
I remember a certain Catfish
you know the rest.

Borrowing the car, you’d hand me the keys
I’d take it to parties in the woods
beating it up as I pleased.
It’s the only car I have, you’d say with faith
thinking that I’d treat it with respect and honor
When Becky left the roach in it, I was in total horror.

Children are now grown with children of their own,
while you make room on visits, or save a room to call home.
The door is always open for when I need your help,
I remember crying at the table, thinking I might melt.

You’d keep harm away, while letting me earn my mistakes,
How many times I wish, for goodness sakes,
I’d make good decisions,
but I realize our combined journey needs no revisions.

You are honest and caring and
enough has been said,
consider this poem my honor to you,
for a life well lead.

Thanks for being there for me
and leaving me not in need.
Take today for yourself
You deserve it indeed!

Life Topics

Regret

grunge_backgroundLargeThe crime fits the punishment.
My bad behavior stabbed the
one I love.
It hurts my soul that I took so
little thought.

I may say I’ll change, while
pretending it didn’t happen.
Mistakes are a cry for help.
I have cried many times.

Fear of loss makes me wretch
with pain.
Don’t slam the door or the hinges
will break.
Open the door to hear
my voice of regret.

Show mercy because you
love me.
I don’t want to be a
prisoner.

Life Topics

The Wind

Tree

Tree tops bend to welcome
the wind.
Howls of laughter fill
the waving branches,
leaves jumping.

How stoic the trunk remains,
standing straight with
defiance.
How dare the branches
play with the intruder ?
The sun fulfills most of its
needs.

Take water from the earth,
mix with light to grow.
The wind serves no purpose.
“We are Amused” cried the limbs,
for the trunk offers nothing
but buried root.

Look to the wind, and feel its
renewal.  The bark is grateful
to be cooled.
A storm may quench the thirst,
but the air will bring a bluster
of pleasure.

Life Topics

Take Enjoyment Away from the Wicked

FlowersandBees

Walk with an attitude aflame,
bringing heat to the topic of
passionate survival.

Wish upon a crooked star,
for the mind is a state of
organized derangement.

Make merry the amusement
afoot.  Take enjoyment
away from the wicked.

You can see for miles,
with a sense of disgrace.
Empty your feelings of
soulless detours.

Gulp from the cup of sacrifice.
Fill your belly with love and grievance.
Swallow it whole, and dance to the
tune of martyrdom.