No Advice

It is not another’s to tell us
How to live our lives
The things we should do,
But facts attest that love
Is a gift which makes
Everything easier to survive.
When there is a hand
To hold in stormy weather
We stand more resolute,
Stronger than when walking
Through troubled days alone.
Maybe no one can carry
All the burdens we bear,
But conversation sometimes
Helps explore facets of reality
We need to more clearly see.
Love supports us every second
Transports our hopes, prayers;
Friends, family, those who know us
Best, help us nurture our dreams
Reach for the achievements
Which bring us to the places
Where we accomplish those
Wonders accepted with amazing
Gratitude because we recognize
Without those standing near
We could never get anywhere.
The great love we receive
Our hearts on our lonesome
Cannot begin to feel or reveal,
So should LOVE come a fresh-faced
Hello, though it is a smile riddled
By surrounding lines of years,
Or smooth as a freshly painted layer,
Remember the bodily wrappings
Are a matter much less than
The tender gift of a heart
Timely in approach and giving.

2020.05.24 Flowers from Sams edited

Poems, Life, Being

What use have we of
Poems
Which can only describe,
But cannot bring life
To any desolate space
Within
Or without our hearts.
Is it the beauty
Found
In our language, the word,
Which compels writing
Or is it more
Genetic
How creation fulfills us?
None of us is wed
To syllable expression,
Lines
Formed in meter,
Words cast in settings of rhyme,
Still, poets reach for the
Sublime.
We root among those
Sentiments, some
Leftover
From bygone times when
We were loved, happy, and
Free
To be the selves we wanted.
Often we glory
In what wonders discovered
Or actions achieved
Become
A lyric of love,
However we may find it.
The poem is not
Necessary but neither
Perhaps are such as we.

2020.05.23 Paradise Plant

Reading Grammars of Creation by George Steiner has set me thinking. Such brilliance in print. Do you have a favorite book at this time? Would you share it?

I went out into the world today. So much change in how we as people relate to one another. Such discomfort wearing a mask. I felt like I had entered a science fiction horror tale. One of my long time close acquaintances gave me a hug. He said he just had a birthday. I asked how old he said 36; I said oh, I am 56, 20 years older. The sweetheart said, no, you can only be 40. Made my day, even if it was only flattery.

I hope life is treating you well. Please create something. With all the world running amok, what you make could be a lifeline for you or someone else. Remember, in whatever you do that kindness is a salve for those who are hurting, Love, Love, Love!

Swim

When we dive into
The water, it helps if we
Have learned how to swim,
Cause waves may wash us under
And we will rise up again.
Drowning is unpleasant
It can steal our lives away
We have too much to accomplish
To give up so carelessly.
So if our lifeboat seems
Unstable or will not take us far
The water may invite us
To trust our buoyant strength.
Swimming we are captains
Of all, we may foresee
We are wholly able to reach out
Grasping our eternal liberty.
No one can take us into the depths
Or bring us to safe shores,
We must brave all the ocean
To finally master our goals.
When we have all completed
It suddenly becomes clear
Every stroke we made
Each breath within our lungs
We never were alone
We were fully supported;
The Savior led us home.

This particular poem is composed as a song. If I had the skill I would write the music.

What May Be Proposed

I write certainly,
As if I have figured out
This relationship,
But the reality is
I just hope; I do not know.
Writing is a test
Of who I am or become
Each given minute
Pieces fill up splices where
They fit into arrangement.
What you see is not
Always exactly my thought
The words which I sought,
A page proves elemental
Blanked screen a crude genie.
No matter how long
I live, step into the place
There is no guarantee,
Anytime, I harness what
Phrases I must communicate.
The reader’s hungry
Heart, like a hoarding dragon
May desire richer
Fare than here I can provide,
I hope as I seek insight
The pen I wield owns magic
Its toil may aptly prevail
As I wish myself a wordsmith
All written words do never fail.

Lark

The evident need
Such necessary want can
Shake all the senses
From ordinary moments
Toward a new ecstasy.
Where is paradise
But in love’s vibrant gaze?
The one who never
Blinks or looks away when words
Forbidden aloud we say.
If the body, soul,
Bared to curiosity
Is soon accepted
With tender assurance, touch,
Affection grows inasmuch.
Hearts render themselves
Willing to join, ignoring
Pain’s possibility
In order to gifts obtain
Of love’s dearest devotion.
The risk seems a price
Worth spending in completion
If it may secure
The love of another who
Delights life with happiness,
Need, want, become one apace
Welcoming beloved embrace.

Every house, a home,
Each animal beloved,
All persons cherished,
The bellies kept fed and full,
No one left alone in dread.