Life Topics

What Is Enough?

DSCN2995Does the breeze that brings you
comfort from the heat rouse you?
Is the cool air enough?

Do your calloused hands that work to
bring success fulfill you?
Is the requirement enough?

Does the dog barking in the night
spark your imagination?
Is his voice enough?

Does the gentle sound of the moving stream inspire your intentions?
Is it true enough?

Is the love you surround yourself with
full of happiness and joy?
Is it real enough?

Do you feel the deep devotion of
spirit in your life?
Are you present enough?

What is enough?

Life Topics

Waves

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The waves bring a song of

wind and salt

married to the sun on

your skin.

 

Drink  in the sound of gulls

and umbrellas whipping,

keeping beat with the water.

 

Close your eyes and listen to

the music of babies crying and

chairs folding.  Hungry children whine

and complain.

 

Sandy feet struggle to walk by you

leaving grains of heaven on your

Skin.

 

Swimmers bob up and down

calling out to each other.

Sunscreen creates a beaded

barrior between fantasy

and reality.

 

 

Worship the hot sand in your toes,

Surrounded by ageless broken white shells.

The coast’s muted colors take away the

noise that fills your life.

 

Time does not exist here, until you gather

your belongings, introducing your

feet to the concrete world again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Topics

Acceptance

Acceptance

Build your house with solid beam
and nails that respect the wood.
Welcome the walls that hold
up the roof.

Acceptance brings comfort
to all that surrounds you.
Don’t look with disdain at
dirty windows or aging
furniture.

Listen to the rain meet the
roof, acknowledging the drops
as faith pouring down.

Accept the price, accept the
rusty hinges that open your
doors to those in need.

Accept the house, and all
that fills it.  Heartbreak is
yours if you turn away
from the glow of the fire.

Life Topics

Friendship

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There is a fine line to friendship.
It is wanting to be there – or
are you just there?

Do you listen and feel the pain,
or do you just listen and
offer little?

Give of yourself, your whole self
and don’t make the exchange
a convenience of sorts.
Care to the point where their
happiness is your happiness.

Be inside the person, and don’t
feign empathy or half-hearted advice.

Friendship is an eternal commitment
that doesn’t track the passing of time
or the absence of self.

Truly feel the pulse of the person,
and only then can you call them
your friend.

Life Topics

Time and Treason

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Look in the mirror to
see the terms of your journey.
Time and treason have tried to
lead you to other conclusions.
Negative thought is the
predatory of joyful memory.

Try to recognize yourself in the
form that you’ve become.
Sagging and wrinkles are the
result of hope, fear, laughter,
heartbreak and joy.
Embrace yourself, and never
let go.

Don’t let gravity anchor the
spirit of who you once were.
Dance to a new song that was
written for you today.

A life well lived is the gift that
you wear openly.  A face does
not lie to please the vain.
The scale can’t stop my fancy.
My reflection is a map showing
each stop along the way.

I am beautiful.

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.