Beauty

. Patient in a Nursing Home Such a frantic brilliance in the flagpole’s banging chain! I’m blind, __confined, ____but now I know: Winter’s here again. . . After the Funeral Her shoes capsized on the floor by the door, Abandoned clothes make a trail through the place. The cat, her...

. Phoebus I saw the sun catch in your hair, Your silhouette against the glare. I heard your laughter rise and fall And shatter in the frozen air. The sun sank down behind the trees Yet brighter suns burned in your eyes. You set the darkened woods agleam With secret...

. An Invitation While treading my locality's __New-slathered pavement grass, There came a flying, loud "hello" __From sprightly Mr. Das. "Black skies. It seems a squall will lash __Our town," he said to me. "Come, get inside. We'll treat ourselves __To gingered pu'er tea." The first "no" is for etiquette....

. Across a Strong Bridge upon the marriage of two friends In a weary world that's grown quite old, Where men grow weak, and thought grows cold, Two hearts can make one serious dent For virtue strong. As cool as mint--- Transforming ice, into this force: Connecting love---a Cross, of course....

. Hope Hope feels so strange these days, at times a bit Like something old that now no longer fits; It’s stretched beyond repair and somewhat scratchy And moths have made of it such daily bread That even its most solid parts feel patchy, Its former comforts weak and thinly...

. Mud Our clip-on angel wings are cast from shards of glass, The sorry hymns we sing are drowned in blaring brass. It’s not that we are crazed as we rub our magic rings, but our spirit has been caged by a lifetime’s mud that clings. Though we grandly theorise...

. The Web of Sustenance __Voraciously the lion feeds, But leaves the scraps for jackals and hyenas— __To each according to its needs, In Nature’s sprawling tawny-grass arenas. __The residue will nourish seeds Selected to renew the vast savanna. __By sundry means at different speeds: To every living tribe its...

. The Leper “When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.' Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' he said. 'Be...

. Lucifer’s Lament They’ve gone too far. They’ve set the bar So high that I’m no longer star Of My own show. Their hellish plot Has hurled Me from the hottest spot. Their claims of care are thin as air. They castrate all the boys who dare To think in...

. Lunatic Paused at a churchyard when it’s eventide I see flit by a bright blue butterfly. Magnolia fragrance wafts through the twilight. Somewhere I hear a distant whip-poor-will. Although the air is warm, I sense a chill. As I glance up, something is not quite right. I feel a...

. Holding Dad's Hands . Friday May 3, 2019 I’m driving fast (at least it’s fast to me,) The nurse’s call gives reason for my haste. She says that dad has fever and it seems His time remaining is in hours or days. The sky is sunny and the road...

. The Wise Farmer ---based on a Zen parable attributed to Alan Watts A farmer in China was left by his horse. He took up his plow and continued his course, And right after sunset, he finished his labors. When he told it in passing to some of his neighbors,...

. Moon Glow The calm of the twilight should bring him some peace. He sees yellow remnants of sun get deceased. A tropical fragrance now floats through the air. This beauty is breathless; no words can compare. The lights of cabanas expose the dark piers, The rush of the ocean...

. Paperbark Maples The leaves grow bright with dew; the trunks grow dark. A contrapuntal autumn morning stirs. The smoothest trees are wrapped with crumpled bark and up above, the play of breezes spurs a brimming sparkle in the air. A dash of pepper accents smells of fresh-cut grass. Bouquets...

. Winter’s Bed Ere the sun should spread its beams We sleep and pray for candied dreams. An angel to the bedpost flits As hours pass beneath our lids. Should baby cry, then mother’s kindness Gracefully restores the silence Whilst we wait for half past eight And day to come...

. Dublin Swans “Wholly serene and sure, with regal composure, allows himself to glide.” ---Rainer Maria Rilke, “The Swan” I stop to watch the swans swim by, __Through lily pads they pass. Mounds of rubbish clog the water __That winds through clumps of grass. The birds float by so leisurely,...

. Prodigious Dreams Let not these Autumn notes lead you amiss. Autumn, indeed, is come (the signs are all around). This aging empire wanes, its fall accelerates: decay effects abyss. Our Winter now approaches, precipice we didn’t foresee. Our legacy? A squall that confiscates our children’s wherewithal! Still, as we...

. But Who Am I? “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’” ---Exodus 3: 11 God, did I hear you right?  Did you tell me (But who am I?) to lead...

. Sicilian Samurai circa 1700 He made a startling, militant request To journey to Japan—strange land long closed To foreign influence. The Pope’s behest Asked that authorities be unopposed— But how to know, if not to make the test? Giovanni Battista Sidotti, thirty-five, Saw Africa and India in a year,...

. The Outdoor Concert ---Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Wilton House, 2004 The long thick winding snake must stretch two hundred paces, Of early birds in haste to grab the nicest places, Buy programmes, chat. Their eager smiles creased wide on faces, With open gates, they rush to bag their favoured...

. Beltane Dream Did I pass that way in dreams or waking? For truthfully, it seems to me a dream: Fields of yellow through the green hills breaking, The Hawthorn blowing incandescent steam Through the greenwood, ghostly in the hedges. Across the glassy river running green, Willows reach from muddy...

. Chasing Time  "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not...

. The Loons of Colby Lake a true story As thawing white gave way to budding green, two loons upon the lake would mark the Spring, and they would build their nest, then teach their young how life was lived and how a song was sung. The male was velvet...

. The Faltering In time the sharpest mind begrimes with rust and memories are flaked from softened steel. Beliefs once clutched and voiced in utter trust now falter and befog in weakened zeal. The brilliance once displayed now cracks like crust and any efforts to reheal unseal. The process always...

. Like Him "But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." ---2 Corinthians 3.18 ___The soul yearns forSo many things which are so...

. The Lighthouse In honor of the Thridrangar Lighthouse and the intrepid men who built it. Alone it stands, perched high atop a rock That rises from a tossing, troubled sea. It crowns that lofty tower which, round the clock, Is thrashed by crashing waves relentlessly. Resisting wind and rain...

. Ephemeral Our lives are like a summer’s day So swift, so swift, it flies away. A butterfly that’s newly born The brief blush of an early dawn. That’s all it is and all ‘twill be A mere blink in eternity. And yet we try so hard to leave An...

. Beauty Flowers are the faded stars that fall from silver skies, Raindrops are the sacred tears that leak from angel eyes. The wind is but a melody the gods bestow to earth, The sunrise is an ember that has dropped from heaven’s hearth. Beauty has a language; if you...

. In the Shade There Meekly Grows a Plant urushiol (yoo-roo-shee-awl) is the name of the compound in poison ivy that causes allergic reactions. In the shade there meekly grows a plant With roots that hold on gently to loose soil. In spring it rises up because it can’t Contain...

. When I Have Penned My Final Thoughts _When Ihave penned my final thoughts and left to meet_the sky,don't organize my table; let the sheet,the thumbtacks, and the cartridge pen lie there;let them assume I've gone to get some air. _Don't switchthe desk lamp off. Its glow will reach me...

. Cracks in the Ground Today the mourning parish bells have pealed. Men broke the dirt with family gathered round, And sang the songs of Heaven while we kneeled. __Now we make these cracks in the ground. I stand atop that hill of graven stones. Before me sits the aging...

. Centaury The clear night sky spreads wide a tapestry of beauty in the stars that shimmer all throughout the cosmic exhibition hall. In every age mankind has looked to see and wonder at the might  and mystery to be discovered there. Wrapped in the thrall of such majestic beauty,...

. Cat Contentment The cat begins his yawn by curling out His pinkest tongue tip as his lips begin To part.  His faith in comfort is devout. Disturbing his furred sleepiness is sin. At least that seems to be the message of His silent tongue which furls up towards God....

. Evensong “It’s your Church, Lord, I’m going to bed.” ---Evening Prayer of Pope St. John XXIII I know you’re there, so don’t pretend You’re off somewhere, removed, remote, Preoccupied with greater needs And folks who’ve done far greater deeds Than I might ever hope to float Your way as...

. . If You Want to Get Someone’s Attention If you want to get someone's attention, then whisperor commit a mistake that continues the momentfor a little bit longer---a smudge on the glisteris the proof that the moment was golden; you know,__if you want to get someone's attention... be resourceful,...

. Questions of Legacy First the things we remember—Grandma’s laugh shaking a tablecloth, fixing blue eyes __on children next to steaming pies, or Grandpa’s smothering hug, his rumbling cough before a solemn speech, his ripsaw snore; or lengthening hall light flooding the bedspread as a door widened, a stooped shadow’s...

. A Heroic Crown of Sonnets in Honor of the Ever Virgin . ---1st Mystery: The Prophecy of Isaiah . The Timeless Song The timeless song of her virginity, Intoned by holy angels, signifies The consecration to the Trinity Of her who godly grandeur glorifies. As font of Christian being...

. Festal Flourish ---on a country festival, by Roman poet Tibullus (55-19 BC), translated by Margaret Coats All here may help to cleanse these fruits and fields! The rite transmits our wise grandparents’ lore. Sweet Bacchus, dangle grapes from horns and hills; Dear Ceres, gird your brows and plains with...

. Men Sail Out The waves they come--- A timeless thing, The earth their home--- Adventures bring. Men sail out On wooden ships, Embolden hearts, Prayers on their lips. They do it for Their daily bread. They do it then To get ahead. They do it for Their families true....

. Summertime The summer solstice, when it finally comes, Begins the ebbing of the sunlit hours, Which daily add up to decreasing sums As passing days dim fair Apollo’s powers Yet even so, the season’s temperatures (as read in Celsius or Fahrenheit) go up, which as my garden crop matures...