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Winds of Change

This poem comes from Autumn Leaves:

 

Icy fingers on my spine,

Premonition of thoughts sublime.

Unknown fear entering on-line,

Tomorrow’s daydream, yesterday’s rhyme.

 

“Explain this feeling of mine,”

Command I of my brain,

“That has come stealing, creeping,

Cold and frozen up my spine.”

 

Searching all the hidden places,

Recalling memories, hazy faces,

Sifting, sorting, ever recalling,

Striving for an answer so evasive.

 

Then my brain, always kind,

Answered the question on my mind.

“This eerie feeling, troublesome, strange,

Is but the hard, cold winds of change.”

When Love Dies

This poem is from Autumn Leaves:

 

Words spoken in anger,

Forever enshrined.

Feelings mixed and scattered,

Emotions entwined.

 

Feelings torn asunder.

Thoughts agitated, grieved.

Words like darts, festering wounds,

Through time unrelieved.

 

No peace of heart,

Corrosive, eroded…

Flame burned out,

Tranquillity exploded.

 

Grapes dry out,

Dying on the vine.

Clouds blot the sun,

Pain heals with time.

 

Beauty of the rose

Fades away and dries,

Like love when it withers,

Is tortured, and dies.

Controlled Strings

This thought comes from Autumn Leaves:

 

Life, like a marionette,

One breath, one step, one day at a time,

Dancing to monotonous music, but—

Who controls the lines?

Love

This poem is from Autumn Leaves:

Love, like a garden, needs vigilant weeding.

Love, like a fire, requires constant feeding

To keep it in order and burning brightly.

 

Love, harsh words can often shatter.

Love, which wrong action can tatter,

But sharing and compromise bind it tightly.

 

Love is not honored by corridors of time.

Love requires daily attention to make grow sublime,

And words spoken in haste bring feeling contritely.

 

Love is soft spoken, building no dissension.

Love is feelings and touching, with full comprehension.

Many words often lose their savor; use sparingly, but nightly.

What is Love?

This poem, which I wrote some years ago, comes from Autumn Leaves:

What is Love?

Is it the twinkle in a young puppy’s eyes?

Is it soft-spoken words of promise,

Bringing a pretty maiden’s sighs?

 

What is Love?

Is it the quiet, understanding look in a mother’s warm smile?

Or is it the sultry eyes of a temptress

Who seeks to beguile?

 

What is Love?

Is it two lovers locked in rapture’s sweet throes?

Is it devotion or poetry,

Emotion or prose?

 

What is Love?

I’ve searched long and hard, looking for the answer,

Piercing through volumes

Like a hard-charging lancer.

 

What is Love?

Everything I’ve read or heard reveals nothing conclusive.

The answer is existent,

But very elusive.

 

What is Love?

I don’t know the answer–I can honestly state.

If you know, please tell me.

It must be fantastically great!

Continuation

This poem is from Autumn Leaves:

To each is given his portion of elixir

Or ambrosia of life,

And, like high-test rocket fuel,

Propels us in all endeavors, happiness and strife.

 

Changing tides bring flotsam and driftwood

Up from ocean’s deep measure,

Casting them on beaches to bleach white

And await nature’s further pleasure.

 

Thistle puffballs, blown by winds of change,

Are swirled and elevated,

Waiting patiently for sun and rain,

Settling quietly to earth, tempest’s flight abated.

 

Earthquake, flood and blizzard are

Simply nature’s greater forces,

Instilling awe, humbling man to an unknown source,

And given time, purges all from her chosen course.

 

Death ends all life, choosing no sides,

As force of nature erupts and collides.

Time is the unrelenting referee

In command of sun, moon, seasons and tides.

 

Flowers bloom, birds nest, and fish spawn.

Sunrise heralds another dawn.

Earth, streams, and ocean relinquish their bounty twain.

By His grace, the cycle starts once again.

Happiness

This poem is in Autumn Leaves:

 

The orchid can pale

Beside the rose.

Blue jeans look poor

Beside fine clothes.

 

Mercedes will win

Each status symbol race.

Homely old Ford sure

Looks out of place.

 

If money could buy it,

The rich would aspire

In all their surroundings,

Cars and attire.

 

The poor man’s left standing,

His feet in the soil,

Indulging in dreams,

Engrossed in his toil.

 

Whose life is the fullest?

Which philosopher can say?

Which path is best to follow,

Or who knows the right way?

The Veils

This poem is from Autumn Leaves:

 

Layers of veils

Drawn over the mind,

Shut out light of knowledge,

Shielding hope from mankind.

The first one blots out charity,

It’s called the veil of “Greed.”

The second is called “Suspicion,”

And curtails doing good deeds.

The third one is “Jealousy and Envy,”

Stops our hearts from being kind.

The fourth is “Indifference and Falsehood,”

Makes people follow along blind.

The fifth is the darkest–

It’s simply known as “Hate,”

Yet the shining light

Of Love can penetrate.

Regardless of how tightly

These veils are drawn,

They can be opened by Knowledge

As night surrenders to dawn.

Ever so slowly now,

The veils begin to part.

Understanding rushes in, beginning to win,

Over the mind and into the heart.

At last they’re completely open,

Not able to stand Love’s bright decree.

The harsh light of Truth assisted,

And together they set you free.

Prime Time

This poem is from Autumn Leaves:

Does watching a clear, fast mountain stream

While inhaling sweet, spruce-laden air

Or enjoying quiet serenity of beautiful aspens,

Gazing up at rough-cut grandeur of towering mountains

Cast a therapeutic spell?

The answer is freely available to anyone

Willing to venture out and sample

This boundless treasure.

Worries flow away merrily with the water’s rush.

Troubles vanish like smoke

In the crisp, cool air

Which teases the mountaintops.

Thoughts are free to wander aimlessly

While consuming enormous quantities

Of rich subject matter.

An all-elusive peace enters the dark,

Twisted inner recesses of the subconscious,

Bringing with it freshness and light.

Wild creatures scurry and flit about unconcerned,

As nature spins and weaves,

Displaying her enchanted magic.

An unspeakable sense of joy and well-being prevails,

Engulfing mere mortals,

Sealing the lips to silence,

For to speak might shatter the beautiful, fragile spell.

America

This poem is in Autumn Leaves:

There! Do you see it? Is it still there?

A bright ray of light that splits the dark clouds of despair…

A ray of light brightly shining forth

Through the dark gloom of ignorance…

A ray of light bravely illuminating

And piercing the haze of hunger.

What is this light made of?

Where does it come from?

This bright brave light is composed of

Invisible substances called love,

Hope, dreams, tolerance and freedom.

It emanated from a piece of earth called America,

Conducted by a God-fearing people

Who left the darkness and live in the light.

This bright light cannot be extinguished

Because, once seen or heard of,

Shines into the hearts and minds of the tired,

Hungry and opposed people of the world.

Do you see it? Yes! Yes!

Thank God, it’s still there!