an early morning's reflection

 

a few years now, i have been encumbered by sadness,

more so than prior years before. the days have seemingly

grown shorter in time only because i desire for the angst

and the anguish my heart feels, to cease, therefore i wish

for time to move beyond these moments. my spirit has

lessen its steps of dance in life’s music of verve yet i know

wishing time passing does not assuage the pain of

sadness and sorrow. for life is a mixture, a collage of

lament and joy, and it is this that i know about life, that

i must embrace all that arises, like the sunrise and sunset,

the moon and stars, the wind with its titillating cool breezes,

its refreshing petrichor of drizzling rain, so too, its storms.

 

i cherish these moments left in my life for i am more fortunate

than many for my longevity, for the gatherings of my joys,

and, still, the lucidity of my thoughts, my heart still beats and

loves, and yes, although my steps have become slower and

more careful than carefree, my spirit still is dancing…

a smile and tear

 

when the day becomes night

from the light to the noir

and the smile that once was

now turns to a trickle of tears

 

and the heart beats faster then

abruptly slows to a shallow pace,

it feels of something that no

one else knows

 

once, not too long before,

the spirit was full of life’s verve

and now it has waned to the

slight of tear drops falling

 

but i regret not, for once

not too long ago, a smile did

evince upon my face and for

that moment, i am grateful

Oh sweet August, night and day

 

t’is the time of year near the end of summer where

the cicadas, the crickets, the sleeping frogs, in sync,

exhale their nocturnal sleeping sounds telling the

flora and fauna know it is time to rest underneath

a brilliant full moon in the nights' noir after light of

day

 

if not for my nocturnal clock being displaced by the

days’ events with thoughts dancing about in my head

where my empathic spirit doth fret, mine eyes would

close letting my mind rest, along with my incarnate

shell, as my canine aged friend lies upon my chest

 

because of this my heart doth beat and my breath

ceases not, i am more fortunate than many, awaiting

for the sun to nudge the moon’s display and take its

place, awakening all who have the fortunes of sleep to

embrace a new day   

sever all tethers but love

 

we gather much in our lifetime, not just ‘things’

but with our eyes, our breath, our hands and

fingertips, our feet, our stomachs, our muscles,

our hearts, our spirit, and if we’re gifted with

longevity in our lives so that we can embrace,

appreciate and cherish all this then we are

fortunate.

 

yet of all these gatherings we must ready ourselves,

be prepared to sever from them when the time

comes to depart and enter onto our next sojourn.

 

of all these, the only one that i wish and hope

will come with me into my next journey, is Love

alone not lonely

 

Being alone does not necessarily mean being lonely

and being lonely doesn’t necessarily mean one is alone

one can be lonely when even amidst one’s family and

friends or even one’s life partner, either because of not

being attentive toward each other or there is some inner

metabolic imbalance

 

i choose to be alone, once in a while, cherishing my

solitude, for i can hear more clearly thus listen better,

mine eyes can see keener thus witness more clearly giving

me the feels of not being alone and not lonely

 

in recognizing this, one’s spirit becomes intermeshed,

once again, with the universal spirit which is the energy

of the ‘All’ in infinity   

 

givers versus takers

 

t’is my mind that can’t be quiet and still from

anguished thoughts as to how people have

chosen hate and war over Love and peace

 

my enthusiasm and hope is still present for i

have witnessed some young people who have

much promise, they are givers not just takers

 

mine eyes couldn’t close to rest from tears welling,

incessantly running down my cheeks for the lives

wantonly lost in Ukraine, at the hands of a monster

 

i choke of angst, trying to breathe while lying down,

trying to relax and rest my weary muscles and bones

so that my spirit has strength to rejuvenate

 

‘do not disdain portrayals of love or feign affection

but receive with open arms and heart life’s every

emanation, for loves they will falter and tend to fade

away and hearts will get scorned and cry from day

to day, do not fold within like a flower that sleeps

at the end of its season, be like a perennial, always

leave a little room to start again’

what mine eyes see

 

what mine eyes, heart and spirit have rendered from

the sunrise, at the beginnings of today, the cardinal

and robin awakens a joy within at play, is why i am

grateful for the universe’s smile, it is called ‘life’…

love's last dance

 i fear not death, but that the words i have spoken,

the songs i have sung, the poetry and prose i have

written will be no longer heard or be read, that my

smile will no longer be shared, mine eyes will no longer

witness the aesthetic of Nature’s canvas, my hands

and fingertips will no longer touch or feel

 

i fear not, that my body will no longer live life in

this mundane realm but i will regret that i will no

longer walk on riverbanks or through forests or at the 

base of a mountain’s scape, listen to the aviary songs,

smell the waft of daffodils, roses, daisies and sassafras,

juniper or lavender

 

i do fear, though, of when my heart will no longer

experience love and my spirit may no longer dance

for so many years

 

~for so many years, now, i have searched for love,

Love that is pure and innocent without conditions

and so I’ve traversed amidst a field of daisies looking

and wildflowers, rivers’ banks, beaches of ebb tides

 and osprey that caw at me, just say’n hello, and i

think i have finally been touched, i have been kissed

by the lips of love

 

she walks about me with that silent smile, she’s that

sunshine in the morning and that warm cheek that

presses against mine before she goes to sleep, and so

i close mine eyes with a sated heart and spirit, at ease

waiting with a shallow breath of sleep a joyful smile

on my face knowing that when i wake, she will be lying

next to me~

life of one more day

when mine eyes open to the sound of Nature’s voices

the songs of my feathered friends, the rustling about

of chirping terrestrials chasing each other up and down

the Oak and Maple, the purring neighbor’s cat waiting

to be let back in the house after its nights sojourn, i know

that i am fortunate and am grateful to have awaken

 

i shall smile at strangers, for they too have the fortunes

of one more hour or day of life to where they can kiss their

mother’s cheek or hold their child, whisper those sweet

words in their lover’s ears and where they can maybe,

also, smile at others, they will witness one more day of

sunshine or maybe grey clouds which are equally just as

worthy of their attention, for they have life, one more day

  

life's smile

 

a flower question’s not

why and seemingly without

pain when its petals fall

 

the tree’s leaves bristle

and dance seemingly with

joy, in the breeze

 

the sun rises giving delight

to the day for this i know

because birds sing

 

when the moon smiles at

night the oceans seem to rise

and clap, stars glitter in glee

 

when thy smile, upon my face

also appears, t’if i were but a  

mirror to thine soul 

i am witness

 

i have been witness to some extraordinary ‘things’ in my life

which may not compare to how the flower sees the sun, the

tree plays in the wind, the, a wolf howling amidst a forest of

 trees as an eagle soars wistfully, in the sky above

 

but i have seen the flower raising its petals to the sun, the tree

letting its leaves rustle in the breeze, have seen a dolphin jump

the ocean waves, heard the wolf’s joyful howl echoing in its abode,

but i am that eagle soaring above looking down observing at

all of this

 

yet the most extraordinary and pleasurable experiences that i

have witnessed are; the opening eyes and smile on a newborn,

a welcoming embrace of parents whose child has come home

safely from the ugly of war, holding hands of an elderly couple

strolling along a river’s bank

be kind to each other

 

i breathe in deep thinking of you and the pain in your heart,

the angst in your mind, the dwindling spirit within

 

we are all riding the rising waves and the ebbs of life, 

as we witness the hate of war and the blood on the hands

of those in our own back yard

 

mine eyes don’t close at night thinking of what you and i

are being witness to, at this present time

 

shedding my tears has become a diurnal event for those who

have lost their children, their mothers, fathers, sisters and

brothers from the barrel of a gun

 

whether it be from war or in our children’s schools, shopping

centers, it is all because of hate

 

let’s meet today on the streets, at the stores, at the front

steps of our children schools and look into each other’s eyes,

recognizing our shared anguish and pain

 

life’s natural travails are heavy and arduous enough without

the pangs of a disdain for one another

 

be kind to each other, we’re in this together~

 

is your heart like mine

 

is your heart dishearten with sorrow, like mine, when you

hear that children’s lives were stolen by the hand of one

with a gun, one who has also lost himself in this World that

has given way to no longer valuing ‘life’?

 

is your mind, like mine, disenchanted where the concept of

hope and wishes, that ‘man’ has not progressed beyond

thinking that killing and war, guns, are the means to

resolving one’s conflicts and eliminating the woes?

 

and if this be so, that you also are befuddled, then we are

in the same state of mind and heart, our spirits are mingled

in a common entanglement, sharing the similar angst and

anguish

 

being aware of this, we must hold each other’s hand and

walk slowly together to mitigate this burden alone, this

anguishing pain, and gather our resolve to make our lives

better, but more importantly, for our children and theirs…

 

'thank you'

 

i awaken, ‘thank you’, and my heart is not amiss of ache

my spirit wishes to dance but sometimes cannot and there

are tears that flow down my face, both from sadness and

from joy

 

mine eyes welcome the vision of the day and the

night, your eyes, the touch of your soft skin, the sounds of

songbirds and chirps of little terrestrials give pleasure to

my ears, the waft of the lilac and petrichor

 

and when mine eyes feel like resting when the noir of night

begins to flirt with the day, i once again, say ‘thank you’…

when i am gone

mine eyes rarely close in peaceful sleep, for i ponder

moment to moment~ as my years are fewer ahead

of me than those behind, i grapple with the notion in

losing my consciousness, in being me

i do not fear that i will die, but will be aggrieved when

i will no longer be able to smell the waft of Nature, its

petrichor, touching, feeling, loving those whom i

love and the earthly things of which i care

wherefore, to my absence here, where will i be, and

will the memories that someone has of me or me of

them, will they still be in the consciousness, that is me?

in that i sincerely believe that love is the essence of all

that exists, and having witnessed love, in its many forms,

will i remain in existence in love’s universal spiritual realm,

when i am gone?

there will be those within reach of these words, these

ponderings, who will be critical and say, ‘it’s a waste of

time to concern oneself with the mortality issue, as it

interrupts the time from ‘living’

i say to those that are critical of my mindset, that

throughout the history of time, many great minds have

pondered this, withstanding the criticism of it being a

waste of time when in fact it is not but fills the void

that is present to 'no thought'

for it is said in the in the unfulfilled prophecy that ' if one

does not ponder the questions that are about life and

death, it is the unexamined life that goes unfulfilled’

Happy Mother's Day/2022

today i celebrate one of the only designated days of the

Gregorian calendar that i appreciate its true worthiness,

‘Mother’s Day’

the human who is a conduit in this natural world of giving

birth, providing the cradle for life in lieu of the destructive

proclivities of ‘Man’

if given the choice, a ‘Mother’ allows her incarnate shell

to be the shelter for conceiving a life through an action

of selfless Love

this must be her choice and not made by those that wish to

‘rape’ them of this choice, yes, i stated ‘rape’ them of the

ownership of their body in lieu of self-serving agendas

on this day, let us celebrate the human whose role in this

world, not solely of course, but critical to the perpetuation

of life, thus Love, on Mother’s Day!

as life kisses me

 

sadness is a moment in time and

joy is also, they come when they do

and they disappear when they must,

yet they are present when they should

 

like the sun light grasping the waves as

the dolphin jumps o’re them and the moon

beams kiss the sea, while the osprey plays

on the face ot the moon in the noir of night

 

let all this be, as life kisses me…

 

absence grows fonder

 

when the sleeping sunflower arises in the wake of morn

to greet the rising sun and it looks to its side and notices

that its friend and partner, long by its side, does not

raise its head its petals to also greet the sun, it realizes

that its buddy has wilted into the state of lifelessness.

does it lament for the loss of its partner or does it think

that it is better for this because it does not have to share

the sun’s rays, the dew and drizzle of rain, the breeze, the

bees and the hummingbirds?

 

as the day goes on the sunflower witnesses that the sun’s

light is dimmed, the rain no longer titillates its cilia on its

stem, not so many bees and hummingbirds visit and the

breeze has become a bending wind. it then realizes that

all the pleasures of before are no longer present in the

absence of its partner that now lies down beside it, no

longer upright and sturdy, it now is ready to become feed

for tiny terrestrials and fodder for mother earth   

'seventy-first' day on this earth

 life is a treasure chest, within is a treasure-trove

called Love

some of us will find the chest, not by searching but

by opening one’s eyes and realizing the treasure

that is inside

i have been one of whom is very fortunate to

have found this treasure and have been witness

to Love

 

these past few years, we have all been witness to

suffering and pain, to loss of loved ones through the

vicissitudes of life

 

the pain does not subside, but we must bare witness

that if we loved and were loved but one moment in

time, this grace bestowed upon us is more than many

i am grateful for this, and if i can, would like to sprinkle

the spirit of my fortune to all who wish to embrace

and sparkle from this

mostly, i would like to kiss the heart of the love of my

life, my partner, my wife for she has loved me through

all the ups and downs, my family also, although distant

sometimes both in body and mind