Monthly Archives: December 2013
New Year Reflections
My wish for each of you is that you find whatever it is that you seek and truly cherish that which you find in the New Year.
Many of us become ensnared by the stresses, demands, ambitions, and desires in this pressing crucible of life.
The sands in our own hourglasses of life continue falling as another year goes by the wayside. I hope it was a good one for each of you.
Remember, during the hustle and bustle, the yuddy-yuddy/yammer-yammer, and excitement as a New Year begins, take a moment to reflect upon this awesome thing we call Life.
Little scenes come flooding back through the eyes of my mind: The wonder on a child’s face, a rainbow, or a bird in flight. It is the little things that ultimately make up each day. Do you catch the idea?
My New Year’s wish for you is that you each live as long as you want and want for nothing as long as you live.
Happy New Year, Everyone!
Seeking and Learning
To those seeking and learning:
Bravo! All my sincere encouragement.
Keep going!
To those who have learned and know:
Congratulations! It’s yours to keep forever!
To those who have always intrinsically known:
Blessings upon you ten-fold!
Put your best foot forward.
Even if nothing else happens,
You would have taken a step in the right direction!
Friends
Friends are like two-way radios —
They send, I receive —
I send, they receive.
We are tuned to the same frequency or wave length
in the philosophy of Life.
Bethlehem
This poem comes from Autumn Leaves:
Oh, so still is the night,
Peaceful, yet hushed in quiet,
And bathed in a single star’s light,
Oh, Bethlehem!
Time gives a greater Light birth
That will shine throughout the Earth,
Though hosting this event — not by whim,
Remembered forever, Bethlehem!
Time does not stand still for man,
Endless hourglass measures sand,
Remembering again David’s stem,
Born in you, Bethlehem.
Many years ago and far away,
We still celebrate that day,
A Light that darkness cannot dim…
A Savior born in you, Oh, Bethlehem.
Jerusalem
This poem comes from Autumn Leaves:
She sits on a battle-scarred hill,
Standing quietly like a lone sentinel,
Waiting through clear, starlit nights
For history to turn yet another page.
Resting against an ancient olive tree,
From Gethsemane, I gaze across the valley.
She looks like a dull jewel
In desperate need of a good polishing.
War, tears, bloodshed and misery
Have been seen often by her.
She wears them like every day apparel.
Peace is not found within her walls.
Yet it’s written that a child was born
In a village known as Bethlehem
That’s just south of where I rest,
Just as the prophecy foretold.
Born in the bloodline of David,
Root and stem of Jesse,
Born to die, yet live again
And live forevermore. Amen!
His house was over there
Across the little valley.
All that’s left of it now
Is the Wailing Wall.
The mind boggles at the battles fought,
At the endless bloodshed,
The lives and dramas played out
And history that touches lives untold.
Here on this dry,
Barren landscape…
Where water and not gold
Molds the lives of the people.
The bride to be
Patiently awaits her groom
To dazzle the whole world
On her wedding day.
Timeless
This poem is in Autumn Leaves:
Peace be with you,
My thoughts unwind,
But…I knew you elsewhere,
From a distant time.
Though it seems but yesterday,
Still it’s been a long, long while,
Something hauntingly familiar,
My thoughts beguile.
Memories sometimes lapse,
But time cannot disguise,
I believe it was your smile,
Not your laughing eyes.
No words spoken here,
Nor lofty man-made towers.
Simple use of thought exchange —
No clock to chime the hours.
Corridors of time are hazy.
Dust covers her ancient fold.
Recollections thwart and tease
In this timeless mold.
Pardon my intrusion
Into your hallowed space.
Forgive my poor conclusion,
But…I never forgot your face.
Timeless memories the past can blur,
Yet never to erase
Our footprints o’er paths we walked,
Another time…another place.
Thoughts we shared, flowers touched,
As we made our way.
Soft words exchanged, feelings passed,
Fragrance lingering where we lay.
Enraptured by you still,
Forever I’ll repose.
Would you linger her a while,
My spiritual, timeless rose?
U.S.S. ARIZONA
After standing on the decks of the memorial for the U.S.S. Arizona,
I wrote this poem to honor our fallen comrades on the
50th Anniversary of that day, December 7, 1991.
It is included in my book, Autumn Leaves.
We came to pay you tribute,
O’er encrusted decks we stood.
And because you are deserving,
We rendered as we could.
Oil seeps up to surface light,
Rainbowed tears of those below,
Doomed forever to silence
Those many long years ago.
“Forget me not,” you whisper.
“Perish the thought,” say I.
“Though you sleep beneath the sea,
Your memory shall not die!”
“Remember Pearl! Remember Pearl!”
Soon became our national cry.
Our country rose in anger
On a vengeance trail to fly.
We shed our tears; we shed our blood.
War took an awesome toll.
Still we fought on to victory
While you topped our “Honor Roll.”
So rest in peace, fellow comrades,
The victory has been won.
We’ll not forget the price you paid
Seven December, Nineteen Forty-One.
Note: Oil still seeps out of the hull of the U.S.S. Arizona, creating rainbows on the water above it.
wfosterwelborn 