Threat of Rain
We speak of the threat of rain
as if its intent was to cause pain.
We should be rather faithfully inclined
to the promise of gentle rain un-maligned.
As we would, if we understood and knew
as the deer does run and flowers grew.
That this is life, a life of hope and surprise
where rain and sun, and wind we surmise
are seconds in our lead stories, so grand.
But instead, we are seconds to a life-giving land.
Our Reflection
Lost in the chaos of our own making,
avoiding reflections in the mirrors
of our soul, an unholy undertaking.
Resilient we pride ourselves to be,
despite the climate we made,
before the judgement of the Sea.
Of all the science we hold dear,
It cannot stop the death
always coming, always near.
We are blessed with a life raft
of miracles we can employ,
but ignore because we are daft.
Daft from the moment we hear
the deniers of science,
power-seekers, purveyors of fear.
A life made easy by avoiding mirrors,
showing us our true Dorian Gray,
humanities’ distortion, and all those tears.
If you knew the future,
what would amaze you?
Reading Old Poets
Before the words are spoken,
before a wheel has broken,
beyond the horizon of time
and in the far reaches of a mind
the story has been constructed and told
then reconstructed, so it never gets old
for the imprint of love on life is known
beyond anything the heaven’s have shown
to be the unchanged fortunes of a poet’s fate
no matter long-ago written or just-of-late
it becomes who we are and what we will read
beyond the horizon of a life we will lead
The Optimist’s Shadow
Eighty percent chance of rain,
but it might not.
Seventy percent chance of pain,
but it might not.
Sixty percent chance of division,
but it cannot.
Fifty percent chance of revision,
but it will not.
Forty percent chance of caring
but does it matter.
Thirty percent chance of waring,
and this will matter.
Twenty percent chance of sunshine,
and this will make it clearer;
the optimist’s shadow is hard to find,
and a winter of discontent is ever nearer.
Picture by: Lori Smith
Bubble by: Mikayla Pham
“Patriotism or national pride is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to a homeland or the country and alliance with other citizens who share the same sentiment to create a feeling of oneness among the people.” Wikipedia.
Independence from oppression of a monarch an ocean away, brought many varied colonies together to create the United States of America. The external threat, the desire to find oneness and safety on this continent and grow the greatest country in the world with the experiment of government by the people, for the people, through democracy and reason and compromise, rather that rule of power, rule of authoritarianism and the rot of nepotism. Our Founders created our form of government with the explicit intent to overcome oppressive forms of government and to build something the world had never seen before.
So, on this Independence celebration I pray we might again find that we can overcome the oppression of conspiratorial thought, the threats of autocratic rule, the incitement of divisions and hate in our country. Declaring that these states shall not fail, and insisting in locking arms together with all citizens sharing the sentiment of love, devotion and attachment to this country for the purpose of “oneness among the people” … and acknowledging we are all Patriots!
Potential
The gap between capability
and dreams.
The gravitational energy of
massive demand.
The measured charge of every ion
of your being.
To be overcome with
just a nudge, a spark.
In the right direction
toward the future.
Toward your dreams.
Today is a Day
It is not tomorrow
it is not yesterday
unique to itself
it may seem routine
and familiar
but it is entirely different,
here only once.
The wind forms the sail
and the waves are pushed
by forces of wind and moon.
Each wave, lives in this moment
and is gone when it’s gone.
We are formed by this wind
and pushed too by wind and moon
as we live in this moment;
and when it is gone, it is gone.
But for now it is today.
Listen for Wisdom
Your beliefs are everything
and your wisdom unassailable
You can be told of nothing,
the door to your mind unpassable.
I ask you to suspend
such hard fought disbelief
and open the door to another.
Who is willing to bring some relief
to the suffering of a confused brother.
For the more narrow our sources of thought,
then the more radical beliefs emerge.
And we become one fraught
with fears, which brings us to surge
into darkness, where wisdom no longer shines.
And we see a world divisive and of pain.
Allowing us to be dragged further into the mines,
in search of something lost, and something to gain.
All because you let others with evil intent
control your mind, closing the door with words
of hate, and keeping you in their circus tent,
while they sharpen their weapons and swords.
Before they putting you to their evil use.
Please my friend, open your mind one more time
to ideas that you continue to disabuse.
And let wisdom shine in all corners of your mind.
…. before it is too late!
Soul Wish
Let me bring the world texture
Let me be a brilliant color mixture
Or maybe, I’d be the base of a sculpture
Full of life, and activity it would capture
Or the base-color of a painting, green
I think, for it must be of beauty and serene
This color is for everywhere, as in spring
And the stems of the flowers I would bring
Or because, I have nothing more than rhymes
Of a poet in my capacity, and in these times
I’ll bring you, as I can, if I might, just a tiny smile
As you read this, and think of me for just a while