Do We…

Do we too quickly
Forget those we sudden lost?
Do we count our love
Easily replaced by one
Who comes new into our lives?
Do we pray Heaven
Has sweet mercy on everyone?
Days are short, life brief,
Have we given in and up
Because change is difficult?
Are we listening
To the cares others admit?
Are souls important,
Do we point them to matters
Concerning eternity?
Do we pray the end
Of war, fear, pain, loss, hunger?
Maybe we should act –
We could become bodies
Ministering toward LIFE!

It came to me that the Coronavirus crisis has some parallels to the devastation we felt after September 11th. Not so many were lost on 911, but we came together, forgetting all our divisions. Globally we need to do the same to recover and make the world better than it was before this disaster.

Tonight, I put on the music that came out to raise money for victims of 911. If you have some of those discs or MP3s loaded somewhere, maybe you could give them a listen.

Remember, if we all work together, there is almost nothing the people of the world are unable to accomplish.

Tiny Tidy Bits

Sadness – written in
Shades of shadow, black and gray,
No way to escape

//////////

The music plays, songs
To lift weary hearts, giving
Hope enough to live.

//////////

Profuse the lilies
Blooms coloring everything
With smiles, happiness.

//////////

Borrow the chatter
Of the squirrels chasing round
A filled bird feeder,
You might find greater delight
Than sitting alone tonight.

//////////

Someone left the doors –
Wide-open to delight my heart,
Love, smooth, sauntered in.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

These are my brand of haiku and tanka. I always have fun with counted syllables. Sometimes, the truth will take a chunk out of you when you work with these because being constrained seems to give the mind some ease with content.

Prompt: If you feel inclined, write some haiku and tanka of your own.

Gratitude:
My appointment on Monday went exceptionally well.
I am reading some great books.
I went to Aldi and got some food.
Having my little piece of real estate on the internet.
I keep trying even when I am discouraged.

If you enjoy the content you find here, please give feedback by likes, comments, follows. I appreciate each one more than you know.

Have an excellent downhill slide to the weekend. God bless and keep you always.

Willing Walls

Every rock feels like a wall
Weighted on the edges fit
To gloss right over
Enjambment holding words, lines
Together sentenced inside
The poem, river stones
Smoothed yet separated like
Those who secrets keep
Under mounds stacked much
Higher than maybe any desire.

Constant, no buyer
For the passions readily
Acquired under siege
Of rolling onslaught, bolder
Than before romance tendered.

The song, melodious surrender,
Now love, revoke the walls built
On forgotten dreams
Turn to see what such fascination
Means as inspiration – flames –
Creativity, freedom inclination,
No mystery tearing down
Careful barriers
Constructed to prohibit feral
Growth as if nothing is enough.

Love is no stone though
One might throw, causing ripples
On the surface, it seems time
Is only these shared moments,
All other becomes deprivation extreme,
A heart can be open
Or remain as hard as a stone;
The bedrock alone
Challenged with an anomalous difference
Which may be given and shown,
Love is and becomes the soul’s true home.

Gifts We Cannot Buy

The quiet of home when we
Return from wrestling lions all day.
The satisfaction of writing letters,
Poems, songs for loved ones.
The taste of a meal carefully
Prepared with helpings of love.
A comfortable chair, bright light,
Books we are longing to read.
Songs we never realized existed
But for which we find a soul hunger.
A dog, cat, lizard, goat, cow, whoever
Comes snuggles up, revealing devotion.
Stolen hours when hearts, souls
Are permitted freedom to dance art.
Picking up a crying child, watching
As eyes go wide, kissed by a smile.
The sweet hug of those treasured
Who we raised despite everything.
Traveling to a far-off wonderland,
Returning to a space of belonging.
Knowing, growing with screen friends,
Finally, meeting with hugs, face to face.
Sunshine after a bleak succession
Of wickedly dark, sad stormy days.
The alabaster moon coming from behind
Clouds, in time for a sweetheart kiss.
Setting aside specific times to find those
Moments to sincerely pray to the Lord.
Laying down, fed, safe, warm, beneath
Covers, falling into deep refreshing sleep.
Awaking to a day full of opportunity,
Possibility, without doubt, we are loved.
Living in a blessed place where each one
Can achieve hopes, dreams, and success.

Befriending

Everyone needs loving
When the world turns icy gray
Those times that things go astray,
But also when all seems right –
And dancing lasts day to night.
All the glorious notes together
Can change the internal weather
Allowing the most joyful songs,
Every age can sing along
Faces brightening with delight.
The sun comes arising,
In eyes hopeful and surprised;
Time becomes a tender comfort
When strangers become fast friends.

Prompt: The weather is rather frightful in many places; pull up a stool at the bar, create something to ameliorate the awful conditions outside.

Gratitude:
I went into town and got groceries and miscellaneous after five weeks without doing so.
I have hope to feel better now that I have diet soda and food I like.
Music.
Getting my phone to sync with the Explorer.
My friend Reba is a lifesaver, literally.

You all know the drill. Comments, shares, suggestions, and likes are the icing on the cake of writing.