Lazy Day

The water was
dark and brown,
two turtles rested on a nearby log
soaking in the sun.

A large grey heron swooped lazily down
landing effortlessly
while looking around for a tasty morsel treat.

Overhead a squawking jay served as sentinel
to warn of my intrusion into its domain.

All I wanted was to sit and dip a line
into the cool brown pool.

Perhaps an unsuspecting fish would seek
the dangling worm on the end of my line.

Even if there were no takers
I wouldn't mind.

It just was a chance to visit
the calm and quiet of that dark and cool
pool as it just drifted by.

Thoughts of nothingness clouded an
otherwise empty mind.

It was just a lazy day,
warm and friendly sitting by that
dark and brown pool
with a drifting line.

Cares drifted away
like the white fluffy clouds high above.

So why spoil a beautiful day.

The Slave

From a far away land he was brought in chains
In a dark hole of a black ship he was sold for gains.
His life belonged to another,
And to the highest bidder he was sold to his keeper’s brother.
He worked from first light to past the setting sun
And then did more until the work was done.
Six days a week, with rest on one
He toiled at hard labor under the scorch of the sun.
The crack of a whip
Brought no words from his lips
He just looked down
And worked without a sound.
For his labors he received not a cent,
He did and went where he was sent.
A crude shelter he called his home
Worn clothes were all that covered his bones.
Of family he was not allowed any
And friends, truly there were not very many.
When his life was ended in a rude bed he was laid,
And his worn body then placed in an unmarked grave.

We Will Not Be Quiet!

Note: Written in response to the assertion by the elected officials in Washington that the citizens calling themselves Tea Partiers were a bunch of political radicals and crackpots.

They want the people to go away
To keep quiet
shhhh…. don’t say a word.
But…we’re not!
We the people elected them!
Why should we stay quiet?
This is our country!
We are the people!
We are the voters!
We own this country…not the elected officials!
So..why should we be quiet?
Why should we go away!
Who in the hell are those elected officials anyway!
Get out! Get out of my government! I don’t want you anymore!
“….when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” [Declaration of Independence]

Fading Memory

Things can come, things can go
With a mind that has become so slow,
I cannot keep a thought for long
As I continue to go along.

This river of time I find myself in
Just keeps on going and I can't remember when.
My thoughts stay jumbled and finally lost,
Will I not be able to have a mind on the mend?

Age and memory aren't much fun,
When that river of time keeps going and you have none.
A fading mind is like a day that is ending
All that's left is a thought that needs mending.

.....?? Nuts!!

Misty Rain

Misty rain is all I see
Misty rain all around me.
Lost in the storms of life somewhere
It's almost more than a soul can bear.

Time is an ever rolling thing,
Losing friends in a never ending game.
Lost forever in a world not the same,
Darken skies shedding its rain.

A veil of time like a sentinel stands
Waiting for the summons to enter its land.
Many a friend is lost to its call,
All will enter this misty wall.

Misty rain is all I see
Misty rain all around me.
Tell this story to all around
Friends depart and are not to be found.

Walk in a world dark and grey
Without old friends to light the way.
Misty rain is all I see
Misty rain all around me.

When in time a summons I hear
To my earthly cradle I go without fear.
There my old friends, with arms open wide,
Will lead me to the other side.

From that misty veil one cannot hide
All must enter to get to the other side.
A time of joy follows a day of tears
As friends are waiting to remove all our fears.

In the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Winter Blues

Brown and grey and sometimes green,
A smattering of color is seldom seen.
Dark and threatening is the day
But through it all shines forth an occasional ray.

Cold as ice, the wind blows strong
Cutting through coats and hats pulled down long.
The long days’ blues never seem to end
As I wait for the spring to begin.

Once in a while it seems to let up
But again comes the blast I never can get past.
A happier time I thought I had seen
Only to be forgotten with the loss of a little green.

The snow piles higher, the wind blows colder
And still the long days’ blues grow older.
Spring it seems will never arrive
No, not as long as the cold continues to thrive.

Brown and grey and sometimes green,
A smattering of color is seldom seen.
Dark and threatening is the day
But through it all shines forth an occasional ray.

Out on the lawn in the midst of it all
I looked to see what was searching for a nest.
A creature even lonelier than the sun,
It was a stranger with a red-breast.

Life and time do not stand still
There comes a change in all around
The days’ grow longer, the wind dies down
And with the warmth of the sun
Another season is done.