Keep On

Blood coated boots leave smeared
prints in the mud
Tears fall from the sky
Did they think I would break so easily
Not I, no not I

It feels years since I was warm
and dry and home
Tears fall from the sky
I will keep on, we all will keep on
Til it's won
Til we've won

Quiet

I don't want silence
It's quiet I crave
With all its inherent sounds

Rain outside my window
The creaking of the house
The ticking of the clock
The beating of my heart
The whisper of my breath
The mending of my life

I don't want silence
It's quiet I crave
With all its healing sounds

The Game of Laughter*

Of all the things I've learned in life
With deeper truths come after
The best of them, first on the list
Is the game of laughter

It's not something you buy in stores
Then put up on a shelf
It's played all day at your expense
When laughing at yourself

It takes no special cards or dice
There is no secret word
It's played while living every day
Tuned in to the absurd

There are no rules, no way to cheat
No points that you are after
Just tell the stupid things you've done
And then join in the laughter

I learned to play this wondrous game
This game it is my mothers
She's played the game most every day
And bested all the others

Once you play the laughing game
You'll play it ever after
You'll find it quite addicting
The awesome game of laughter

The Seasons*

Spring flits
In soft new greens
Gentle rains
Sweet birdsong

Summer stutters
In sultry days
New mown grass
Cicada nights

Autumn hurtles
In brilliant shades
Rustling leaves
Gusty winds

Winter lumbers
With snowy feet
Frosty glass
Cozy nights

Spring softens things
And stirs our hearts
Summer slows us down
With lazy wonder

Autumn shakes us up
And hurries us along
Winter wraps us up
To dream and slumber

Spring flits
Summer stutters
Autumn hurtles
Winter lumbers

Yesterdays Dream*

I dreamt of faraway places
Not so very long ago
Of places exotic and distant
Where I yearned someday to go

I imagined the sights that I would see
The people I would know
The sounds of these distant places
Where I yearned someday to go

I thought I would be a traveler
An explorer who wandered so
Who'd return from distant places
Places I yearned someday to go

I am older now, if not wiser
And I no longer yearn to know
Of distant exotic places
Of places I'll never go

But now and then my mind drifts
To places still unseen
The far off exotic places
The places of yesterdays dream

The Rain

I close my eyes and listen to
The repetition of the rain
Its steady drumming on the eaves
The tapping dripping on the leaves
The mesmerizing hypnotizing
Steady rhythm of the rain

It takes me places sweet and languid
Longing that is almost pain
Deep inside the steady pounding
Pattern of the falling rain
The ever restful soothing clatter
Calming patter of the rain

I know that life will catch me dozing
Dreaming listening to the rain
I shall revive well rested, bested
By the soothing healing rain
I'll stretch and stand
Sweet dreams receding
Fleeting as a summer rain

Unselfish

You were so strong
Though life wore on
With burdens great
And sorrows deep
You mustered on
Our fates to keep

You faced it all
Though life was cruel
You carried on
Through shattered dreams
To better days
Or so it seemed

You held us up
When we would fall
But who held you
Through it all
When was your time
Who stopped your fall

And so it went
Your life a maze
of joy and pain
You took it all
And held our hearts
And gave us strength

And now time slows
You without dreams
No wasted life
Though it may seem
Because of you
We have our dreams