The Balance

Life is organized chaos,

A pond's ripple in the rain...

An equal balance of beauty,

Matched to unbearable days of pain.

The future is very simple,

Philosophers take note...

The force that caused the ripple,

Will either quickly sink or float.

Wish Me a Rainbow

Wish me a rainbow and wish me the stars
All this you can give me
Wherever you are

And dreams for my pillow
And stars for my eyes
And a masquerade ball
Where our love wins first prize

Wish me red roses and yellow balloons
And caress us whirling
To gay dancing tunes

I want all these treasures
The most you can give
So wish me a rainbow
As long as I live

All my tomorrows
Depend on your love
So wish me a rainbow above

All my tomorrows
Depend on your love
So wish me a rainbow above

 By: Ray Evans, Jay Livingston

Rest in peace Natalie...

Remind Me

“I truly have lived an incredible life”,
Remind me where I was that day…
I recall being so very happy,
Yet those memories are fading away.

I can remember the excellent rushes,
Brain freezes and brilliant sunrises…
The joys of love and compassion,
Successes with at-risk enterprises.

The constant fight against failure,
Is still present with me today…
I am forgetting what the battle is for,
So at risk of just walking away.

Please show me which building to enter,
Help me find my place in line…
I appreciate any compassion,
I know I’ve out lived my time.

Falling Bridges

There were many obstacles in our youth;
We encountered roadblocks every day…
Always finding a fallen bridge,
Opening paths along the way.

Later years found the trails paved,
Though the canyons felt larger to cross…
The abyss much deeper and darker
Our bridges free falling and lost.

Dreamt in Error

Often I keep the blinds closed,
My dream world filled with compassion,
A planet where only good things occur,
Empathy, the most coveted passion.

A world where species co-exist,
And humans themselves get along…
Waterholes safe for everyone
Of Earth’s family, to which we belong.

Newspapers let the light creep in,
TV news breaks the window glass…
Allowing the heated convictions inside,
Sucking in greed and hate with the drafts.

I somehow never remember,
The lesson I learned at age five…
Bambi, just minutes into the film,
Orphaned, his idyllic world had died.

Whidbey Island Autumn

The apples are pies and apple sauce,
Half the pears, preserved in jars…
The rest now papered for winter,
In the cool garage, with the cars.

The winter preserves are finished,
Each berry handpicked and chosen…
The corn, Swiss chard and beet greens,
Par boiled and conveniently frozen.

The most storable winter staple,
A Sherman Farm Hubbard Squash…
Now stockpiled in the basement,
With green tomatoes before the frost.

Some octogenarians I know,
Will think they over fed their cat…
Climbing up their stairs in April,
With produce nibbled by a rat!

Fly Paper

Sitting in the local pub,
Blowing smoke rings in the air…
Laugh-out-loud conversations,
We drank too much and didn't care.

Raised glasses toasted our good life,
Celebrating both old friends and new…
We dove head first in tomorrows,
A shared optimistic, yet naive view.

We later followed different paths,
Each acquiring our own unique history,
Till one by one our whereabouts,
To one another was a mystery.

Once magically, we fell in together,
Drawn to events only youth attracts,
Till one by one we fell behind
As life dropped us in our tracks.

We survivors cherish those moments,
Every dance, every song, each caper…
Flying through our dreams and memories,
Until captured by time’s fly paper.