8/1/11

Children in a toy box,

Building what they can,

With wooden blocks and piled rocks,

And mounds of shifting sand.

An elephant, pretends the one,

The other plays a mule,

But neither one sees any fun,

Unless they set the rules.

And so they start to bicker,

The arguments begin,

The wood and stones start getting thrown,

In hopes that one will win.

And thus it ends, this playtime,

Benath dark, stormy skies,

Two babes who cry, blame, and deny,

With sand cast in their eyes.

7/31/11

We tend the gardens in the yard,

And hone our efforts to reclaim,

The weeks where we let down our guard,

From rampant weeds, fed fat by rain.

We gradually take back our land,

We tend and trim. Sweat stings and stains.

We dig and toil and make our stand.

The vagrant vegetation wanes.

And in the end we shall achieve,

A temporary victory,

In time the vines and clustered leaves,

Will cover up the earth we freed.

This battle shall rage on each year,

And long outlive us when we die.

We won't prevail, this much is clear.

Yet we'll be damned if we don't try.

7/30/11

Our little kitten snuck outside,

The basement door was left ajar.

Escaping to the dark of night,

He wandered off and journeyed far.

But soon became confused and lost,

As darkness claimed him for it's own,

His wanderlust brought bitter cost,

And fearful trauma far from home.

The world was larger than he'd thought,

From his safe, sleepy window gaze.

He bravely searched, but all for naught,

His path strayed, aimless and afraid,

Until at last his plight did end,

Fate shined its light and he was saved,

By searching owners and their friends,

And though he'd badly misbehaved,

They cheered and brought him home again,

To where he lounges, plays and feeds,

And dark strange sights don't startle him.

Perhaps a lesson all should heed,

Although there may be pretty views,

And vistas through the window glass,

Consider all there is to lose,

Like simple joys, and little cats.

7/29/11

Sitting at an outdoor meal,

As weather starts to slowly change,

The subtle, little drips we feel,

Announce the showers, then it rains,

And yet we stay, despite the storm,

To chat and laugh, as drops descend,

Our souls kept safe and dry and warm,

By shelter of our dearest friends.

7/28/11

You would not let a gambler hold your purse,

For he will use its contents as his own,

He'll risk it all on folly, and what's worse,

All profit shall be kept by him alone.

You would not trust a gambler with your life,

For this too would be squandered and misspent.

You'd never give your soul to greed and vice,

And yet, each day we trust the government.

7/27/11

Weeding in the yard again,

In vain attempts to extricate,

Green creeping tangles which offend,

And yet, why do they irritate?

Why do some plants give happiness,

While others cultivate distaste,

Some blooms and shoots shall blossom bliss,

With those adjacent seen as waste.

Do they have not the right to grow,

As those we favor and protect?

They share no care nor love bestowed,

Yet thrive despite our cruel neglect.

Alone, for this tenacious skill,

Should they not somehow be adored?

Alas, the heart loves what it will,

With all else it beholds abhorred.

7/26/11

We stay up later than advised,

And risk exhaustion come the day,

To claim back hours from our lives,

Which work and duty steal away.

This strange rebellion launched against,

Responsibility and time,

Shall yield ironic recompense.

As early morning hours chime,

We celebrate our victory,

In repossessing leisure's prize,

Then pay our dues repeatedly,

The whole next day with bloodshot eyes.

7/25/11

Crickets chirp and peepers cheep,

Among the buzzing katydids,

To pierce the stagnant summer heat,

With brash, chaotic choruses.

An insect song once taught to me,

So long ago when I was young,

The same chaotic melody,

As when, at first, I heard it sung.

This random chatter comforts me,

To know despite how much will change,

Such blissful clicking symphony,
Across the years, sounds just the same.

7/24/11

A time that we enjoy away from home,

So far apart from habit and routine,

The unfamiliar, foreign, and unknown,

Brings pleasant, jelaous, times in which to glean,

The happy lives that others seem to lead,

Which cast a fleeting glimpse of greener glades.

Like browsing a broshure of destinies,

To question every choice we've ever made.

7/23/11

Perhaps all ghosts and spirits we might see,

Are not lost or unsettled as surmized,

But living out their fondest memories,

And happiest of moments from their lives.

It may be that the heaven they have earned,

Is to relive their favorite days again,

If this is true, I surely must return,

And have this day forever, without end.

7/22/11

Some days are beautiful,

Some full of pain,

Others both rueful and joyful the same.

It seems no happiness,

Can be complete,

Without a smattering of bittersweet.

7/21/11

I've never been a vengeful man,

And yet I must confess,

The justice that you scheme and plan,

Is often times the best.

And once you've authored your revenge,

To maximize your plot,

Make certain that you're present when,

The bomb is finally dropped.

7/20/11

We fly, suspended in the air

So many miles above the ground,

In transit, neither here nor there,

Lives missing, neither lost nor found.

Our thoughts aloft, our souls adrift,

So distant from the life we know,

Our consciousness and spirits lift,

From woes kept to the earth below.

As souls loosed from the mortal flesh,

And left unteathered, roaming free,

The weary float and find their rest,

Between days past and destiny.

7/19/11

To hear us argue, one might think we were not lifelong friends,

But love knows no immunity from conflict, clash, or strife.

Instead, the strength to mend our quarrels time and time again,

Shall save and heal, sustain and steel the bonds of man and wife.

7/18/11

Upon this warm, fair, summer night,

We group together for repast,

By gentle glow of lantern light,

A ship's lamp off a schooner's mast.

Quite fitting for this gentle scene,

This calm diversion from the norm,

Brief moments placid and serene,

Which form a port between the storms.

7/17/11

All that exists, and all that’s been,

Is only molded paraffin,

Which time and light dissolve despite,

All thoughts we may preserve them in.

Familiar shapes will melt away,

For nothing brightly burns and stays,

But shall transform and be reborn,

To different dreams for other days.

7/16/11

Two estates sit side by side

One still lives, the other dies.

One in ruin, one survives.

Between the two, a narrow line.

Separating what has been,

From that which has but to begin,

And here I stand and watch and mourn,

With hope as history is born.

7/15/11

There are some days when we must break the rules which have been set for us

A time and place where we must take back selfishly and know and trust

The lives we live in time forgive our small transgressions and neglect,

Lest languor rids all promises we've made, forsaken and unkept.

7/14/11

Because we wish a thing will work, does not mean that it will,

Nor each attempted mechanism leave our hearts fulfilled,

Success and satisfaction seldom shine on dreary days,

And yet despite this unfair fight, we press on unafraid.

7/13/11

Purgatory truly must be what we choose to make ourselves.

Once a certain point is reached, you'll never be somebody else.

7/12/11

At work again,

At work again,

Not home 'till aftter 10 PM,

And what rewards my efforts then,

No time for family faith or friends?

Perhaps in life this sacrifice,

Shall be redeemed, not once but twice.

Fool's recompense. No effort ends,

With earnings matching what we spend.

7/11/11

Plaster walls and wooden floors,

Porcelain knobs on creaking doors,

Dusty sunlight gently streams,

Past eyes, awake yet lost in dreams,

As afternoon to evening falls,

And cradles us till morning calls,

Within the shelter of this home,

Where comforts rest yet spirits roam.

7/10/11

There is a house of loveliness and happy memories.

Some speak of ghosts who roam it but I tend to disagree,

For anyone who's stayed there will have surely come to learn,

'Tis us who shall be haunted 'till the day we may return.

7/9/11

While looking through displayed antiques,
Assembled and put up for sale,
Each item I encounter speaks,
Describes its life, and tells the tale,
Of who adored it in years past,
And, for their time, did have and hold.   
Someday, I'll too be known at last,
By my possessions tagged and sold.  

7/8/11

How often times I might confess,
For matters in which I'm employed
I secretly could not care less,
If plans succeed or are destroyed.
Despite how haggard I am made,
By crossing t's and dotting i's,  
This role is just a part i play,
In theaters to which I'm obliged.

7/7/11

The clocks keep stopping on my shelves,
Despite my fawning diligence,
To keep them wound and running well,
In clean, unhindered temperance.
And yet their ticking slows and wanes.
I find them stalled, the hours missed.
Is lack of balance to be blamed,
Perhaps some need of  maintenance?
Or else is this some subtle sign,
The frozen moments show to me,
A caution not to press my time,
But venture forward patiently.
Far better to have moments lost,
Than count each one obsessively,
Lest seconds measure bitter cost,
Of hours which have known no peace.

7/6/11

In troubled times we longingly,
Think fondly of the everyday,
And crave plain mundane, normalcy,
The times between our disarray.
But as such climates come to be,
And our recoveries assumed,
We may crave kindly sympathies,
For well concealed, yet tender wounds.
Alas, the humdrum casts it's spell,
And through it's chatter we must know,
That those who know us wish us well,
And thus tend to forget our woes.

7/5/11

The day was independence day
And yet the time, ironically,
Was spent to straighten and array,
My objects of dependency.
The day intends to celebrate,
Life, happiness, and liberty,
But in persuit of these three states,
Are any of us truly free?

7/4/11

Sinking slowly under, grasping light and gasping air,
Drifting through the sorted shadows left from days gone by,
caught along the current's edge 'twixt comfort and despair,
Singing sorrow's symphony of laughter, screams, and sighs.
When will I emerge from these dark brooding depths i've found?
Can one swim to shore, once so far stranded and estranged?
Or perhaps, not fight the tide nor fear that i may drown,
But let the water fill my lungs and know that I am changed.

7/3/11

An uncoiled, loosened, lifeless spring,
A damaged object of my care,
Oh how I mourned this broken thing,
Which you might fix if you were there.
But then so much to my surprise,
A patient calmness came to me.
As though viewed through your watchful eyes,
Your deftness and your clarity.
I carried out the quick repairs,
And wondered as I worked the parts,
Remembrance conquers all despair,
And mends the clockwork of the heart.

7/2/11

At 1 AM a light went on,
And that which smoldered was put out.
At last a hollow want was gone,
A worried mind made free from doubt.
A broken thing made whole at last,
A fissure finally set to heal,
What once had haunted in the past,
From ghostly visage was made real.
Where all was lost, and swept beyond,
A simple hopeful glimmer shines.
At 1AM a light went on,
And with it darkness from my mind.