Wisdom Senses
How long is a day in the darkness?
When compared with a lifetime of light
Why want for the love of another
If at first you cannot love yourself
What good is the sound of music?
If you cannot hear it in your heart
Why want for the aroma of peace
If its taste is too bitter, too digest
Why long for the sight of a mountain
If you are not prepared for the climb
Why try too touch the impossible
If your thoughts are negatively inclined
Anniversary
Hands across the table
Touching fingers reveal
Lingering sensitivity to
Memories distant others fresh of the moment
Cherished thoughts of her feminine graces
A love those forty-three years embraces
Effervescent pink the champagne bubbles
With tinted illusions
Dinner waits
She glistens with age well carried
He listens with aged wisdom
Both drink in the possibilities
Seasons
Droplets of melting snow give
Substance to the awakening spring
Corrugated roof sings of the season
Clouds frown with tempting threats
Colored leaves fall gratis
Hues of orange brown and gold
Autumn displays itself in gay abundance
Forming pictures framed in lattice
Dreary heat of summers dry
Shimmer’s on horizons distant
Thirsty blond fields want for moisture
Foliage weeps as if to die
Rain sets itself in winter cold
Frost on field happens
Rivers flood where water goes
Rendezvousing with other places being bold
The Fragrance of Life
When finally I saw the light
I found that all the things
I thought I needed
I did not need at all
That the joy and beauty of life
Was to be found most often in a quiet garden
Reclining in a chair with a book
Surrounded by the fragrance
And sounds of life itself
The Thinker
Doubt be not our fear
Truth be our desire
Critics don’t condone us
Our contradictory thought
Doubt makes us wise
To question not a sin
Doubt be our journey
Enlightenment within
Questions be inspired
Answers revelation
Integrity walk beside us
Truth will always win
Reason be our companion
Doubt our inner voice
Truth be the search
That doubt alone can bring
The Boat
The tranquil water illustrates
The passing of a storm
The boat tells its story
The journey life’s sojourn
The picture is of stillness
The ocean calm serene
The clouds look down upon
The sea that has no end
The boat is not perfect
The hull in need of work
The boat it seeks calm waters
The sand its final rest
The boat is at its journeys end
The boat has had its day
The boat seeks a place to lay
The boat no longer sways
The people who have rowed her
The journey has an end
The resting place is near the shore
The waves they come and end
The boat will lay in final rest
The people take a final breath
The horizon meets the sunset
The end of life has come
The Women In The Room
You are not just anyone
You are the must in the room of many
You are the one thought in many minds
And the light in many eyes
You are the blessing in others souls
You are the silence that dares to speak
You are the mystery of femininity
And the melter that the masculine dread
You are the serenity that invades the heart
You are the conqueror of inner fears
You are the tide that brings the tears
And the women of many nights
You are the mother of the child
You are the husbands strength
You are the underestimated gift
And the women I so much need
I Wonder When the Seed Is Planted
I look upon the child’s face and see
Innocence – unblemished purity
Translated in looks virtuous
How sweet how incorruptible
Then it happens with measured subtly
The distortion of youthful thought
Insinuated into free
And immature minds
I wonder when the seed is planted
When evil first takes hold
And intolerance evolves
To become scum on the pond of life
Who grants permission to damage the child?
Of its pristine purity
The wonderment of adventure
And unfiltered creativity
Is it the sin of the father?
That makes a child loathe
That makes them xenophobic
Racist just like him
When does it take root this hatred?
That enters the child’s mind
To be carried with them always
Fermenting as they grow
Are parents so imbued?
With experiences of the past
That forgiveness is impossible
Bad memories seem to last
So they pass it onto their children
And intolerance lingers on
Licking on the finger of hate
It seems to have no end
I can only ask that compassion
Might replace their putrid sin
And the cry that is inside each heart
Will – let understanding in
The Art of Quiet
Be very still… listen
Very still
Sit relaxed
And In the stillness you grow
The mind
Insightful thoughts
From silence
Answers arrive
Responses happen
When stillness prevails
Over who you are
Very still
You hear
The voice of calming reason
In the serenity of silence
Silence being
The art of quiet
Be still Be you
Be true to who you are
Meditate
Learn to love
The real you
Feel how still you are
Untroubled
Be still
Yet not alone
Others care
I care
Tomorrow
When you have exhausted this day
When you have extracted from it
Its endless potential
Everything it has to offer
Its provisions
Its answers
Reflection
As the years meander
Through the passing of
The passages of time
I am apt to reflect
On blessings
Simple and profound
Knowledge from
Prosperity of thought
The influence of grace
Understanding love
The need of it
And wanting it
The necessity of forgiveness
The call for truth
The desire of hope
Essential reason
Past experiences
Present opportunities
Future adventures
Defining moments
Thoughtful contemplation
Peace within
Being better
Being there
For others
A listening spirit
With willing heart
Accepting mystery
Let tomorrow come
Have faith
In the rising of the new day sun
Not for the love of nature
But the nature of love
Let tomorrow come
Simple Simple Needs
When the poet puts his pen to paper
And creates words in rhyme that transcends time
When the conductor raises his baton high
In anticipation of symphonic sound
Or the painters brush explores canvas white
In search of an image for the viewers delight
When the singer’s voice reaches notes on high
And the listener is excited by wonderful sound
When the sculptures hand moulds shapes discreet
When the composer invents notes that inspire song
When the potters hands forms milky clay
That lasts forever and a day
When the sportsman a record sets
And I feel part what a kick I get
When the writer’s language weaves fictitious stories
And the reader delights in all its glory
When the actor creates an illusion to see
When the hiker sits on mountain high
And looks down on fields green
When the gardener plants a flower to grow
When the sun rises on another new day
And my wife says I love you
And the kids say you’re a great dad
What a gift it is to enjoy these things
So I close my eyes and focus on
Just what in life it is I need
And I realize that all these things are all I need
I open my eyes and then I see
This precious gift that life has given me
And I realize that all these things are all I require
For all I have are simple simple needs
Private Thoughts
I live inside myself
In my private world
Where conscience fights my thoughts
In my inner sanctuary
Blinds are drawn
Curtains pulled
Uncensored thoughts abound
I fight for a better me
I debate the present and sordid past
Indifference and wrongdoing
I work things out
It is very private
I win
Hope lives
Love abides
The positives survive
Of the me I want to be
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
At sometime in our past
We have all walked down
The street of darkness
Down the boulevard
Of broken dreams
Where insidious shadows
Fall on memories past
Wondering drifting in
The street of darkness
Not wanting to
Turn the corner
Into the street of light
Where the glow of love shines
From lamps of hope
All lit up on the right side
We can all step out of the
Darkness and into the light
So don’t sing the song
Of life’s despair
Don’t go down the drain in the gutter
Of the street of darkness
Instead, sing the promise
Of what might me
When you see a positive glow
In the street of light
The Beauty of Silence
Take moment of your time?
In the stillness of the night
When things in your life
Are tranquil and quiet
To meditate and contemplate
In silence
Allow love in
Sit in comfort with mind at rest
Close your eyes, blue indigo replaces light
Tired worries of the day filter away
Like a soft breeze blowing in your face
On a warm summers day
Not sleep, just silence
Let love in
In this deep medication, own the silence
No concentration, no questions, no frustrations, no doubts
No intrusions that might interfere
With you being you
The only sound is silence
An expression of a tranquil self
Love listens
The Ordinary
Repudiate the fashion of ordinary
The commonplace of today
But seek you the excellence
A life extraordinaire
Be true to who you are
Be careful not to impersonate
For imitation is the tribute
That mediocrity pays
to ineptitude
Be true to who you are
The Hand
The hand is extended
To those who are but poor
The hand is outstretched
To those who have no more
The hand seeks the ill
Without the means to pay
It is its obligation
When society has a say
The hand is extended
To those unloved anymore
The hand reaches out
Prosperity belongs to all
The hand reaches out
To the hungry one and all
The hand it will feed them
In this we all should share
The hand is stretches out
So the homeless shall not fall
The hand offers a place of sleep
No matter what the cost
The hand is extended
To those who greave and mourn
The hand offers mercy
Loss it will not ignore
The hand is freely given
To the righteous falsely accused
The hand it offers more than hope
It offers labour too
The hand it should be taken
When through the net they fall
When society sees a need
That was not there fault at all
The hand is the government
For everyone to grasp
Not just for those who have
But for those who have nothing at all
The Inner You
It takes but a moment of your time?
In the stillness of being you
When things in your life
Are tranquil and quiet
To meditate and contemplate
In silent thought
In comfort sit with mind at rest
Close your eyes, blue indigo replaces light
The worries of the day filter away
Like a soft breeze blowing in your face
On a warm summers day
Not sleep, just contemplation
In this deep meditation
No concentration, no questions, no frustrations, no doubts
No intrusions that might interfere
The only sound is silence
The only feeling is the goodness
Of the inner you
The Cost of War
Love hides
Goodness vanishes
Truth a causality
Faith is lost
Hope survives
Reflection
As the years meander
Through the passing of
The passages of time
I am apt to reflect
On blessings
Simple and profound
Knowledge from
Prosperity of thought
The influence of grace
Understanding love
The need of it
And wanting it
The necessity of forgiveness
The call for truth
The desire of hope
Essential reason
Past experiences
Present opportunities
Future adventures
Defining moments
Thoughtful contemplation
Peace within
Being better
Being there
For others
A listening spirit
With willing heart
Accepting mystery
