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NOTES FROM ANOTHER LIFE

COME WHAT MAY

BIRTHDAY

WHAT COMES MY WAY

PREPARED

I CANNOT WIN

MEETING PLACE

BOTTOM LINE

TOO MUCH

QUIET AGONY

AT THE AIRPORT

SEATMATE

OLD SONG STILL TRUE

IF I MAY

MOVING

 

 

NOTES FROM ANOTHER LIFE

 

Moving time, sorting things

          Dusty remnants see

Some do bring a knowing smile

          Most lost in time to me

 

Reading words unfamiliar

          Yet I cannot stop

Cataclysm, recognition

          Erupting to the top

 

Words I’m reading, have been written

          Many years ago

My own hand, author extant

          Past meets future so

 

Time does cease, evaporate

          Now is past, again

Anxious moments, old dilemmas

          Reborn relived from then

 

New perspective by reliving

          With Clarity of time

All the answers clearly set down

          By my hand I find

 

I am looking at a black time

When nearly I did cease

A firestorm of agony

          A struggle for release

 

Out from deep within my soul

          The words have brought me back

One instant takes me to the edge

          When marriage failed from lack

 

My world exploded I recalled

          No dignity survived

The essence of the me of then

          Dissolved, though hard I strived

 

I could not see what now looms large

          Obey what I had written

Survival meant abandoning

          The one, who’d my heart, smitten

 

As first shock passes I’m struck anew

          With all the pain forgotten

Perspective gives me better view

          How much I was downtrodden

 

I see myself before the me

          I’ve lately come to know

And thank the lord for freeing me

          To learn and then to grow

 

Unprepared I was to meet

          My old self and my strife

A needed message I have read

          Notes from, another life

         

 

 

COME WHAT MAY

 

Youth believes eternity

          Their time on earth will be

Give not thought or study to

          Their own mortality

 

A young girl overnight becomes

          A parent and a mother

Contemplates her growing child

          “Eternity” does smother

 

Time becomes the enemy

          Ego fades away

The truths of life are evident

          Philosophy holds sway

 

Life begun, has a way

          The end, to bring us closer

Changes our perspective, is

          The brutal question poser

 

Children grow and then they go

          Leave parents to their time

Who born again are youths anew

          Enjoying life sublime

 

Until an older person passes

          Frailly through their view

Reality comes crashing in

          Years left, they see are few

 

Each of us in our own time

          Comes to terms with this

And understands come what may

          We go, though not our wish

 

That time is not refillable

          We cannot use it twice

Every moment counts supreme,

What’s given, must suffice

 

 

 

BIRTHDAY

 

Today is special, has much worth

          Celebrates my day of birth

Each of us is born unique

          Fulfillment of our dreams we seek

 

Passing years do educate

          Teaches, to the world relate

What is good and what is bad

          That joy, if wanted, can be had

 

Brings us to each yearly day

          Sings of life and praises say

Light the candles make a wish

          Cut the cake upon the dish

 

Share it all with those we love

          Fit together like a glove

In truth, we hail, not our birth

          But with each other, natural worth

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT COMES MY WAY

 

Perched upon this sunlit slope

          The house and I awaken

Dawn’s soft light illuminates

          As night from us is taken

 

Windows let the world inside

          Dispel shadows, all misshapen

Imagination fades with light

          Based on shapes mistaken

 

Try we might to stem the flood

          Return to night’s sweet slumber

Once the day has brought its joys

          Too much, undo their number

 

In the sounds of river running

          And birds upon the wing

Are heard the songs of life arising

          Fill my heart with thoughts that sing

 

They beckon me to move ahead

          Seek the pleasures of the day

Find adventure in the light

          Enjoy what comes my way

         

         

         

PREPARED

 

The old is winding down

The new is still unknown

I pause to recollect

See what I have sown

 

The past is the beginning

Of my future coming quick

Prepared am I for changes

What’s next I cannot pick

 

 

 

I CANNOT WIN

 

Imploring eyes pierce my soul

          Begging alms, or for heat, coal

My heart is sick, relief my goal

          Others suffer and I’m not whole

 

What can I do to alleviate

          Hunger, sickness, others fate

All is urgent, time won’t wait

          If I am mute, guilt relates

 

If I partake and thus give in

Though some are real and some are sin

What e’re I do I cannot win

          Either fool, or guilt ridden

 

So pick I must a few to try

          Implore myself not to cry

Evaluate best that I

          Can find deserving, let it fly

 

I’ll never know who benefits

          Or who has simply bought my list

But we are family God has kissed

          And opportunity should not be missed

         

         

 

MEETING PLACE

 

One by one they enter in

          Searching for their her or him

Rehearsal done for practiced talk

          Now it’s time to “walk the walk”

 

Smile and nod, greet and shake

          Of idle chatter now partake

Think the things you cannot ask

          Gently try to peel their masks

 

Back and forth the words do flow

          As each attempts to let you know

That you have found your future mate

          But mostly they just obfuscate

 

 

 

BOTTOM LINE

 

I sit atop this living thing

          Wondering how I got here

A life spent doing many things

          Removed from me the blind fear

 

More than half a century

          Doing this and doing that

Prepared me for the challenge

          Of wearing this new hat

 

Somewhat like the sailing

          Of a ship in strange new waters

One learns to read the charts

          Depend on internal orders

 

Experience helps adjustment

          To similar situations

But new is new and quite dissimilar

          Demanding new relations

 

Cross-pollination is the term

          For ideas of different discipline

Growing new solutions in

          A mental womb to birth a win

 

One and one is three

          Two and two are nine

Think of things as never before

          Aim for mountains high to climb

 

Backwards to the front

          Bottom to the left

Brainstorm is the common word

          When solutions seem bereft

 

Turn your thinking inside out

          Your thoughts must reassemble

In ways that logic will not rule

          Left and right brain sure will tremble

 

Forward stop, about begin

          Confusion possibly reigns

Sorting out the wheat from chaff

          Find the answers, quantum gains

 

 

There are no rules beyond the general

          Every battle fought alone

Inside your head you play the game

          Guessing at the little known

 

There’s never facts many enough

          To satisfy the need

Judgements made on the fly, for

          Completion of the deed

 

Symbiotic outputs

from vastly different brains

Trained to be cooperative

          Common goal instilled remains

 

Bottom line what is needed

          Not genius print or media

A person that charisma hosts

          The mystery we call leader

         

 

 

 

TOO MUCH

 

There is a line twixt health and ill

          Difficult to define

Across that line I occasionally step

          When I’ve had too much of wine

 

My legs refuse to carry me

          Swell beyond belief

The cure is not definitive

          I’m desperate for relief

 

Suddenly my view of life

          Is tempered by the pain

Next time a glass of wine is offered

          Perhaps I will refrain

 

But then again it’s not for sure

          The wine, my health will rout

Perhaps I’ll risk another glass

          And pray I won’t get gout

 

 

 

QUIET AGONY

 

God I’m not but still I must

          Decide the fate of man

Deprive the children of a father

          Though vile this head of clan

 

Rupture days for families

          Though less then perfect now

Destroy the fabric of their lives

          Pay for past somehow

 

I agonize to tear asunder

          So many dependencies

The fall of one will hurt so many

          Succumbed to lies, false prophecies

 

I take not lightly this hammer strong

          I am about to swing

The damage will irrevocable be

          No joy to me will bring

 

But right is right and many have

          Been cheated and abused

Their cause must be attended to

          Future safety introduced

 

I must not fear to do the deed

          So many count on me

To end the evil reign of him

          Who laughs at decency

 

To beat the man at his own game

          To get inside his head

To understand where weakness is

          I play at being led

 

Ego is his greatest strength

          And also weakness too

It blinds him from what he should know

          Helps me give him what is due

 

I do not have to sneak up

          Or hide my clear intention

He is so sure it will not happen

          My words draw no attention

 

 

He measures me by his own stick

          But I live differently

I give no sign the end has come

          To patience, quietly

 

He deems me weak cause I won’t do

          The things if places switched

That he invokes that I will not

          Or to him I will be hitched

 

But once I move it will be swift

          No quarter will I give

I’ll fight this battle only once

          And grieve but not forgive

 

 

 

AT THE AIRPORT

 

I saw a man with family

          He was alone, yet he had three

He paced the floor, they sat still

          There was a space, warmth didn’t fill

 

His eyes told me he wasn’t there

          But deep within himself somewhere

Troubled by a thought profound

          An answer sought but not yet found

 

I’ve been that place, he is in

          Where lust for life is wearing thin

Decision certain he must make

          The path to choose he dreads to take

 

He must exercise his will

Or surely life will make him ill

And leave a void he’ll never fill…

         

 

 

 

SEATMATE

 

Delicate, and poised

Yet shy in her approach

Her quiet beauty radiates

She’s careful,…wont encroach

 

Eyes that smile in baby blue

          A voice that captivates

Innocence pervades her face

          Understanding, she relates

 

There is a warmth unspoken here

          That puts me quite as ease

My tension with most strangers

          She quickly has released

 

She is a joy to be around

          Her presence brings a smile

This trip I am quite fortunate

          Know an angel for a while

 

 

 

OLD SONG STILL TRUE

 

“Sunday morning coming down”

          A song sung in the past

Creates a picture, lonely feelings

          Isolation holds you fast

 

A stranger on a Sunday, not

          Part of any plan

As lost as any soul can be

          Leaves hollow any man

 

Quiet streets, empty byways

          A world behind closed doors

From the outside, longing inward

          Want a taste,… used up your stores

 

It’s not as if you hear their laughter

          Or gasp from loves caress

It’s hearing, seeing, knowing nothing

          That makes your heart a mess

 

You know the world still breathes as always

          But now its breath it holds

Hoping you will go away

So life can be more bold

 

You imagine many things behind

The shutters that are closed

Substance does concern you not

          Be included you’re disposed

 

Need you have, to fill your self

          As empty as you are

No one’s listening to your plea

          Get yet,… another scar

         

 

 

IF I MAY

 

My life is nearly perfect now

          I have all I seem to need

Perhaps a little more is mine

          Relief from it I plead

 

A life lived long and caring was

          Devoted to the many

But now the time has come to say

          My time, I have not any

 

I wouldn’t change the past if could

          It needed to be done

The seed of life within my breast

          Now needs its freedom won

 

A time for me to feel the sun

          Whether cloud or rain is here

To loose my mind, let it fly free

          No obligations mine to fear

 

A time to be, just who I might

          Or not if is my liking

To be un-tethered for a time

          Follow whatever is exciting

 

To make my way where I left off

          So many years ago

I’m all I was plus much much more

          To my potential I must go

 

So hear me “Lord”, I’m not ungrateful

          For all I have today

But let me stand alone, for a moment

          Let me shine, as me, if I may.

 

 

 

MOVING

 

Moving time is near, but where, I have no clue

          Unless I find a home real soon

I’ll need a tent for two

 

What we have is better, than what is seen, we cry

          It’s in a place no longer right

For us to even try

 

So off we go, try again, find a place to suit

          In and out of dirt and splendor

Fail?, the question’s moot

 

Day by day we come and go, the deadline’s getting closer

          It all seems futile, time is running

And the houses are getting grosser

 

Not to worry, we have faith, we’ll see it through and done

          It’s always darkest ‘fore the light

Stones unturned, we’ll leave but none