Today...

The sun is setting

Yet the twilight lingers..

Another day

Slips through my fingers.

Another day of life

On my tab, mounts

Did I choose

Something that counts?

Did I accomplish

Something brave or bold?

Is there another story

That I have told?

Is this world

A better place?

Did I put a smile

On someone’s face?

Of the countless things

I wanted to do…

Did any get done?

Did I follow through?

Did I tell those I love

What they mean to me?

Did I paint a picture

For them to see?

Did I finish things

Already started?

Did I share kind thoughts

Before friends departed?

Have I done

What’s needed today?

Have I said

What I needed to say?

And now, at last

As this day is done

I think I’ll go watch

The setting sun.

Ordinary...

Ordinary people

Leading ordinary lives.

Ordinary husbands,

Married to ordinary wives.

Ordinary children,

Go to ordinary schools.

Ordinary families,

Follow ordinary rules.

And in an ordinary world,

Filled with ordinary stores,

Ordinary living has ruined,

Our mountains, trees and shores.

Ordinary use

Of ordinary things,

Extraordinary abuse

Of all natural things.

Unless we stop the cycle,

Of ordinary living,

The bounty of the land,

Will no longer be giving.

The ordinary things,

That we ordinarily see,

Will, in extraordinary fashion,

Forever cease to be.

And so, no longer ordinary,

We must do things differently,

And take extraordinary measures,

To save all that we see.

Ordinary rivers, and ordinary hills,

Ordinary oceans and ordinary trees,

Will become extraordinarily extinct,

If we continue doing as we please.

Sorrow comes and sorrow goes....

Sorrow comes and sorrow goes…

The feeling is fleeting but the pain lingers.

How can I live a life filled with sorrow?

When did the joy slip through my fingers?

I have known pain and crushing disappointment,

I gave them their due, then sent them away.

Sometimes lingering in a pool of self-pity,

Other times, losing them in the light of day.

Life is full of those moments of sorrow…

That turn into days and weeks and years.

Seconds, and minutes and hours lost

Because I gave in to my worst fears.

I cannot predict what sorrows are waiting

To inflict pain at the worst possible time.

But then, again, what time is best?

Does pain ever have any reason or rhyme?

And can we really live in a happy world?

Devoid of pain and suffering and sorrow?

How can I appreciate the sunshine today,

Unless I know that it might rain tomorrow?

So every day, I appreciate life’s little joys

They help me assuage the moments of sorrow.

And if the clouds are raining today,

Then the sun will surely shine tomorrow.

Such a simple verse you are reading,

And really not so very clever.

But these simple thoughts expressed

Abide with me, in my heart, forever.

Gone...

Long ago, when I was just a little girl,

Daddy planted trees in our front yard.

This morning I watched, as they were cut down

And seeing it happen was very hard.

Old and tired, with hollowed out branches,

Posing a threat of falling, and causing harm,

I had to make the decision to let them go,

And now, the front yard has lost its charm.

More than trees, and even more than shade,

They were a symbol of a time that’s past…

Just sticks when they were planted in the soil,

It never occurred to me that they wouldn’t last.

And so, I’ve lost still another connection….

To a place that I can never return.

To a time in life when I was just a child,

To a sense of safety for which I yearn.

Safe and secure in the arms of my parents,

In a life that would last as long as the trees.

A part of me left with those trees this morning,

A sense of connection that no one else sees.

Those trees were a constant, growing tall,

Presiding over all of our family’s events.

Having to lose them now, after all this time,

Really and truly does not make any sense.

But gone they are, to join my parents,

And live forever in my memories…

I chide myself: “stop crying, silly woman!”

After all, it was only a couple of trees..

Sunshine...

Life is good and kind and sweet.

The sun is shining and bluebirds are singing,

Flowers bloom and share their heady perfume.

The grass is green, a velvet carpet…

Underneath my bare feet.

The warmth of the sun bakes the back of my neck,

My hair pulled up on top of my head.

Watching the butterflies in flight,

Flitting from one flower to the next.

Spreading the joy.

My heart is beating softly,

My breathing is gentle and unlabored.

The stress has lifted from my neck and shoulders

And I can’t feel any pain, anywhere.

I am truly free.

I finally know that I really matter,

That someone cares what happens to me.

I am not alone, even when no one is around

There is always Love to envelope me,

And keep me safe.

I don’t live in a glass bubble;

My life is not devoid of pain

There’s always some source of sorrow

But this afternoon, I will play

And then, I’ll deal with it tomorrow.