Soap String

funny
how nature informs
its dwellers
there is a change
on the way
funny how our
life design
does the same thing
we keep grabbing
at the soaped string
and wonder why
it slipped through
our fingers
we can't hang on
to the love of our life
we can only learn how
to remember it well

Flickering

we all want to be happy
let it be
we don't need to keep
sharing our pain
trying to give it away
doesn't work
we need to share our joy
and if we don't have any
get some
joy walks into my life
when I see pictures
of Kody Hadley Asher
grandchildren laughing
delighted by something
we hardly noticed
a candle is designed to burn
to its very end
so should we
flickering

Labels

please stop labeling me
you can't
I am unique
there is no label
that will fit me
or anyone else
I pray when and where
I want to
I eat what I want to
when and where it suits me
I don't follow every fad
facebook twitter and texing
don't need it
I don't like waiting in line
makes me think I am waiting
to become like all those ahead of me
give me land lots of land
with starry skies above
don't fence me in
with a label
my life is my own
for me to know
and for me to let go
of what others will know
there is way too much talk
about everything
we need to shut up
and live our lives
the best we can
my husband use to say
if you don't live your life
someone else will
don't want to be like
someone else
you can be you better
it is only in the end
you become part of the whole again
leaving it at birth
returning with the final label
this is all
you need to know

Sunday Morning Prayer

hot humid sunday morning
decided to do some praying
in a good spot for it
over at the monastery next door
the greek monks chant
a beautiful service
in greek which means
I don't understand it
from 6am to 11am
it is a magnificent holy place
where understanding words
is not necessary
then of course you eat
oh here I go again ambling on
and not getting to what I wanted
to tell you
little quiet slow things
become big noisy fast things
here at the cabin
like this morning
I stepped into the garage
and got stopped short
I had to sweep a tarantula
the size of a baseball
out of the path to my car
it didn't like it much
assuming its attack mode
showing me all its biting stuff
it meant business so did I
wondered if a prayer
would work here and now
I gently persuaded it to retreat
to a safe dark corner
away from the sure crunch of a tire
gentle interesting creatures
I hope our paths cross again

Rattlesnake

years of taking pictures
when our kids were growing up
probably thousands or more
different cameras lenses
big and little
the decision was
couldn't give up the big lenses
one day I decided to put my camera away
wondered what I had been missing
too much time clicking searching
a lense for perceived perfection
I know now it must be in you
or maybe doesn't exist at all
an expectation of just one more frame
did I see more with my camera
squeezed against my cheek
like a shotgun I don't know
maybe I see it differently now
relying on only my lenses
the only thing I know is
I love those old pictures
rewinding the good old days
reminding me of so much forgotten
there is a new camera back on my cheek
still trying to get the rattlesnake
coiled at my feet

Forgive

Jesus loves us
just as we are
He died on the cross
forgiving our transgressions
He is both teacher and advisor
forgive yourselves and others
who have trespassed against you
love yourself so you can love others
what you don't have
you cannot give
be happy content and well
unforgiven issues sprout the seeds of disease
find the peace and quiet of Jesus
let it live in your spirit
He will show you the way
He always has and always will
He has never changed