Beauty

. 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...

. It’s All Her Fault ---with a nod to Eleanor Brown's "Bitcherel" Why write in meter when penning a poem, __You ask me, so here’s my reply: When I drop the rapturous roll of a rhythm __My muse fades away with a sigh. Some muses are fans of haphazard eruptions---...

. July The sounds of Nature presage__And brilliantly exudeAn all-compelling message__Of carefree attitude. The raven in the garden__That's cawing aw-aw-awAnd throaty-chirping martin__We’re in July! they call. It’s Summer! Ditch the guilt trip __And bleak work-ethic trap.It’s time to loll or take a stroll,__Eat barbecue and nap. Forget the dietary rules;__Today we’ll not complyBut eat...

. Endurance Endurance! A three-masted barquentine has lain a century beneath the ice. In frigid-climed Antarctica she’s been athwart the ocean floor. She paid the price for Man’s relentless struggle to compete with elements that Nature brings to bear. For months she’d creaked and groaned as ice floes beat against her...

. The Northern Classical Garden ---on the transformation of a vacant lot by students and faculty at Northern Academy of the Arts in Middletown, New York ---after Keats  Our youth whose lives lie in the balance, More so are lost inside a maze— No guiding voice, but only silence And...

. The Vision of George Washington based on the story by Wesley Bradshaw, published in 1880 . I. Message Disclosed What you have heard of Washington is true. At Valley Forge, in those dark winter days, Our freedom-fighting soldiers suffered so I’d see the tears course our commander’s face. He’d...

. . An Epistle of Sullivan Dear Gilbert---your libretto is delightful! A charming English-Japanese confection. I now concede my words last week were spiteful And truly earned your heated interjection. Apologies. Your umbrage was quite rightful. You’re guiding G&S to sheer perfection. . Japan’s Mikado! What a striking thought! And...

. Cyprus  July 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the invasion of part of Cyprus by Turkey Land of my birth you’re blessed with gifts divine Of loveliness and beauty hard to find, Where Aphrodite from your sea did rise To taste the nectar of your air sublime. Cyprus, where the...

. Candlelight Vigil the persecution of the peaceful meditation practice Falun Gong by the CCP began on July 20, 1999 A single candle burns tonight, a sacred memory, An ember for the price of truth, a noble destiny, The story of a humble man who's never known of fame, Whose...

. My Vacation Trip in Verse by James A. Tweedie One of the comments in response to the recent “On the Meeting of Poets” post read: “A diary in verse. It’s original and interesting. I’d like to see more.” Since I journaled in verse that recent trip my wife and...