Of What I Have Learned

I have learned but a little
Yet this I know
Never hold on too tightly
For we must let go
And never decide
That you will cling
With all your might
To an earthly thing
For things are temporal
And will slip away
I’ve learned there is potential
For joy in each day
I've learned that wisdom
Is not found in books
And too often we judge
On the basis of looks
And I have learned
That true beauty lies
Where it cannot be spurned
With naked eyes
That forbidden pleasure
Lasts but a moment
And the flip-side of its measure
Is a silent torment
That there is no tear shed
Which will not dry
And not all tears are bled
From out of the eye
I have learned that
Sometimes we weep
In our heart of hearts
When the hurt is deep
That a broken heart hurts
But we will not die
And it is a gift of worth
To be able to cry
I’ve learned that for man
We can never do enough
If we serve the hand
That is not tempered by love
I’ve learned to love
But not to own
And two are better
Than being alone
I’ve learned just a little
In life's ebb and flow
And I’m somewhere in the middle
Of what I ought to know
I have learned
That I can cope
If God is my
True living Hope


J~

Glimpse of Paradise

This is no mental luxury
No, this is a feast for the eyes
As the Keeper of infinity
Sheds upon the skies
His art for all mankind to see
A glimpse of paradise


Janet~

Tonight the run was extended
Simply because of the spectacular sunset!
For awhile the clouds appeared to be
Like distant blue mountains…

Saddened

I am saddened by many things
Betrayal and the sense of loss it brings
I’m saddened as I see the final wisp of today
Silently slip into yesterday
Without you

I am saddened by the melody
Sweeping from the half-bud tree
It seems to whisper of things undone
And moments too quickly gone
Without you

I am saddened that we are lovers at heart
But strangers together; too far apart
I am saddened, thinking of whence we came
As I hear the silence breathe your name
Without you

Janet~

The Knowing

Somehow the knowing holds me
When everything is blue and cold
I remember the words you told me
As tenderly they enfold
The moments of uncertainty
I simply turn my head
To hear your muffled heart-beat
And the whispered words you said,
‘I love you’

Just as the heart-beat in the earth
Is never really still
As we behold its grand re-birth
Claim every field and hill
So too, the pulse of knowing
Gleams softly in my eye
Its quietness bestowing
The echo of your sigh
‘I love you’

J~

Inevitable

Time seems to gain momentum
With each turning of the page
A silent, swinging pendulum
That softly sets a stage
Of what was… and is to come
Ah, this is middle-age
J~

Nothing on my Mind

I have nothing on my mind but desire
To hold your hand
Leaving plebeian woes behind, in the mire
Of the common man
As we melt to the beckoning of wood and rill
What of artless reckoning; we are weak of will
And the call of the wild is an urgent power
We must lie awhile in a field of flowers
And listen to the tune of the willow trees
Hearing the croon of the wayward breeze
As it strums the limbs and the waving grasses
In a chorus of hymns as it softly passes
Man draws a cold and rigid design
Too soon we grow old as we walk its line
Of law and demand, of toil and duty
Barred from a land of rampant beauty
Today we rebel and follow the lead
Of distant hill; as we willingly heed
Its softer command to rest on the arm
Of a meadowland where the sun is warm
With the breath of spring upon our hair
The scent of the earth permeating the air
Arousing a lust for life and love
From the placid dust to the heavens above
With nothing to do but yield to the powers
Of green and blue in a field of wild flowers
Oh darling, I have nothing on my mind but desire
To hold your hand; beneath leafy spire
And the golden kiss of the swaying willow
Where life is bliss and the world is our pillow

Janet~

I apologize for the unexpected 'break'
due to computer woes.
All is well that ends well;)

Drawing Lessons

I trace the blue of your silhouette
Against the moody sky
Lest perhaps I might forget
The color of your eye
I run a careful finger
Along each slant and curve
Letting my pencil linger
Where you seem to touch a nerve

I’m taking drawing lessons
Learning a new art
I am my own teacher
And my canvas is my heart

I scan the tender curvatures
Of brow and cheek and lip
Then turn my head a little
Lest a sudden tear might slip
And blur or smudge the sketching
On a canvas I can’t see
But somehow seems to be etching
Into the heart of me

I’m taking drawing lessons
The result is a mystery
As I run a trembling finger
Across your memory

J~

Disappointment

Disappointment is a cold and cruel knife
Its pain is one we all must sometimes bear
It carves and shapes us as we go through life
But pain can never quench the power of prayer

Feet may trample on the dreams that die
Sorrow bleeds; invisible and red
Disappointed tears may dim the eye
But they cannot keep a prayer from being said

J~