Blog Posts

For Jack

8/26/2018

If you and I take off tonight
out of the window and out of sight
over the hill and far away
off on our own for a year and a day
what should we take to eat and drink?
and what will all the neighbors think?

Never mind, we’ll just explain
whenever we make it home again
that it was time for us to go
and shuffle off to buffalo
to visit scenes we’ve never seen
outside of a glossy magazine
to find a place of our very own
where we can play the saxophone
and have no need for keys or locks
and never wear our shoes and socks

So what do you say, are you ready to go?
Shall we hit the road and go with the flow?
Just leave a note that you’ll be back
and sign it Lots of love from Jack

2017

8/26/2018

The fireworks start at midnight
but nothing else is planned
The unfamiliar road ahead
is hard to understand

We may be bound for heaven
We may be going to hell
Or maybe somewhere in between
but only time will tell

The pundits are divided
The fortune tellers too
Though some insist that all is well
Some wonder if it’s true

We’re entering the great unknown
A place we’ve never been
Welcome to the future:
this is Twenty-Seventeen

Thanksgiving 2016

8/26/2018

Where have we been since last we met?
Hopefully nowhere we’d rather forget!
Were we circulating?
Hibernating?
Gravitating?
Or merely contemplating the flow of days
we’ve spent in all our different ways
since last we met?

What have we learned in all these weeks?
That wisdom is as wisdom speaks
That fortune’s fickle, so is fame
they flicker like a candle flame
That things are seldom as they seem
and some are nothing but a dream
That far-off places entertain
but not like coming home again
is what we’ve learned in all these weeks

We are enslaved by obligation
beset by trial and tribulation
So where to find the motivation
to interrupt our occupation
and join this annual celebration?

Our ritual of giving thanks
is worth all the gold in all the banks
There’s no more precious rendezvous
Than being here today with you

Sunflowers in my Room

3/6/2016

Under doctor’s orders
I took myself to bed
In and out of daydreams
hanging by a thread
Peering through my eyelids
everything is red
Doomed to isolation
living in my head

Then you brought me sunflowers
and sunshine filled the room
Pretty yellow faces
banishing the gloom
Something deep inside me
struggling to bloom
Basking in the golden light
of sunflowers in my room

Happy New Year 2015

1/1/2016

This year is coming to an end
A new one’s on the way
The midnight ball will soon descend
to welcome New Year’s Day

The optimist will speak tonight
The pessimist will too
They may be wrong, they may be right
It’s just a point of view

Each day will bring its own surprise
devoid of guarantee
I trust the morning sun will rise
The rest is up to me

Thanksgiving 2015

11/26/2015

This life would keep us on the go
all chased and chasing in our myriad ways
The rush and clatter of our worldly days
was ever thus since long ago

Who would not seek to beach their keel?
To find safe harbor with the mainsail furled?
To shelter from our helter skelter world
released from this relentless wheel?

So, on this day we celebrate,
let’s form a circle as we’ve always done
and join our voices to declare as one:
“We’re giving thanks; the rest can wait”

Turn Back the Clock

10/24/2015

Sometimes I wish I could turn back the clock
and return to an earlier day
Go back to the boats I managed to rock
in my careless, regrettable way

A thoughtless word can wound or worse
and I’ve uttered my share, to my shame
The weight of remorse is a constant curse
but I’ve only myself to blame

This is my moment to make myself heard
I regret having caused any pain
I’ll say I am sorry and mean every word
then I’ll never be careless again

Sports Day

9/30/2015

Come all you runners to the field
let’s see who’ll take the gold
Whoever doesn’t win must yield
so come, be fleet, be bold

The time has come, the starter’s gun
propels you on your way
You athletes who were born to run
will meet your fate today

Within the scrambling jostling pack
one runner fights for space
To bolt like lightning down the track
and win the vaunted race

With pounding heart and lungs aflame
you cross the finish line
To take the trophy and the fame
that oh! I wish were mine

Rosendo

6/12/2015

We buried him this afternoon
Tonight I lie awake
To watch the passage of the moon
And wait for dawn to break

A man can travel far and wide
If he’s inclined to roam
But come the turning of the tide
His friends will bring him home

Today we stood with Rosie’s clan
A fireman rang the bell
Rosendo was a gentle man
We knew and loved him well

Elaine

5/14/2015

When I stood with my back to the morning light
and gazed at the rest of the day
I couldn’t imagine the dark of night
for sunset seemed eons away

As the sun rose up in the fullness of time
my meridian arrived all too soon
And nudged me along from the height of sublime
to the slope of the long afternoon

Then my sweet irreplaceable hours slipped away
like a river that flows to the sea
Till at last in the twilight I turn to survey
what has always been precious to me

Now I stand with my back to the evening sun
One last lingering look and my day is done

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