The Day Before They Fall It is enough to follow The autumn of the trees To know the heart is shallow And heaven will not please Although a time of ruin Might seem to be a curse, The happiness of heaven Would cause the heart to burst Enough to see in glory The deepest gold […]
The Invitation When I see the blazing of the redbud tree, The tulips filled with ruby and with ivory, The sunlight poured with lavishness inside and out, A moment then suspended is our churlish doubt, The naming for the banquet given out by One Who sets the goblets for us and pours out the sun […]
Requiem for the Homeless Man He died of an overdose of neglect; who cares that he was one of the hidden people exiled from smiles. His sores were so heavy he had to lean them against a wall, a bench, or a gate, or let them fall into the gutter where he belonged who cares? […]
Watchman, What of the Night? “Black, my friend, black as pitch, yet ever darkening. Those who live do sleep Some, troubled, tossing, groaning, dreaming of evils, Fearful of life, fearing personal poverty. “Sleeping in death are Paine, John and Abigail Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, the men of Washington, Who fought, died, for truths they held self-evident. […]
Don’t be Gloomy… Don’t be gloomy, we could be As cheerless falling from the tree, Scarlet, crimson, dark of gold Rich with browns of autumn mold Let the wind swing out, detach The wings of us the earth to catch, Do not grieve or boast thereof, It is more colorful to love We are born […]
Why do some Trees Dance? Why do some leaves flutter, wave, and tremble, Shimmering sunlight Like a thousand tiny mirrors, With barely a breeze going by? Why are some branches quite limber? Shaking leaves in spritely waves, Making a new music of light and sound On the stillest of days? Why do some trees dance? […]
Stars of Mercy What strange dreams, what nightmares! Aztec temples and cathedrals, Pyramids and blazing terrors, Fortresses, Great Walls And yet three horses graze at night Beneath the silent quarter moon, Rivers flow of endless light, Shine as smooth as stone For one such night I would give all The temples to the sun To […]
Holy… GHOST in the GRAVEYARD It’s Friday night Of the fourth week of school A bit of a nip Beginning to cool. After supper In the night It’s “Ghost in the graveyard” Children take flight! They run round corners Of neighbors’ homes Hide behind cars With duct-taped chromes. Quiet brown Crackling leaves breeze They all […]
What is it with women’s curiosity to know what’s in a celebrity’s purse? You know that feature found in the back of magazines — like some reward we get for reaching the last page: “We caught up with Brooke Shields and convinced her to ‘Spill it all’ for us!” Then we get to be shocked […]
Horse to Ride She won a little horse in a raffle, A shapely bay to shelter in a stable, A quarter horse both spirited and agile Down what snowy trail will they canter, Where in the evenings of winter, The dusks of December growing denser? The warmth of the stable and the stall, The light […]
The Sacramental Soldier had died. My eight-year-old nephew. He was the second of my sister Peggy’s precious four children. Peggy is the fourth child in our family and I am her older sister and the oldest of our parents’ ten children. I have eight little sisters and one little brother. I used to tease my […]
The Boarder Baby A boarder baby comes Into this hospice world A miracle wrapped In a flesh caftan Breathing heaven’s air From the womb of time Syllables from the Talmud Trickle softly from His parted lips Into mystery. In his throat Stars sing Canticles to the sun until Silver nitrate psalms Poured the root of […]
Wager On that day as dusk became He gambled in a deadly game, Indemnity for them or no: Here, see the flesh and blood I throw If I lose, their death has won, Forever yielding dust to dust, See the crown that I throw down: Pride and malice, greed and lust I am the gamble […]
Shifting Sands I have seen the trees grow tall And wondered how they got so big. I have watched them blush in fall Then strip to bony branch and twig. I have counted every wave That crept across the open sea. I have seen them swell so brave Then clap the shore of eternity. I […]
Incantations would not Work You are a ripple in a cup And call that little wave: Myself, But ocean runs and ocean rolls Immense and savage, ill-consoled, It comes from nowhere you can see Fingers skyward breaking free Do not betray the sea or else It will revenge its moving self, How many rippled cups […]
Oh, look: Another study conducted on what the undervalued, average American Housewife/ Full Time Mom would earn if she actually received an annual salary. Oh, look: More bank executives getting paid millions of dollars to not work. That’s right, Bank of America just fired Sallie Krawcheck, (now former) president of wealth and investment management and […]
The Call Two old aunts After many decades were called To raise an orphaned nephew Angels left behind but could not tame Into holiness; he was empty, So they feasted him On their sacrificing. When he needed gates, They petitioned a builder For a small house; they didn’t own A down payment. Their prayers And […]
The Mountains Tremble How many useless words and few: The loving prophet and the fool, For one the Father that He knew And for the other useless tools A fool is like a winter rain That rises up before it sinks With clouds of gray prophetic pain Profound as death before he thinks No one […]
All God’s Creatures My house It has some termites. My house It is their feast. My house God gave Them termites He really likes them beast. But just like me Them termites Were made by God Creator And God His Greatest work? The termite Exterminator! Hilary McRee Flanery
Where was the Wind? She was riding the powerful gelding, Jack, In the shadows cast on the narrow trail When the trees above her, soaring poplars Whipped like masts from side to side Poles on a ship in a switching gale Pitching hard in baffled seas No wind there to move the trees The rushing […]
Like Jonah Hands shaking Stiff body aching Face white as a lily Your story so familiar Three days in the belly of that whale Forced your faith You set off running To where before you dared not go And saved a nation. I laugh because Now I understand Like so many others, Hands shaking Stiff […]
Before the Forests Burn What happened to the animals after the eviction When man and woman, flesh and clay, were driven out from Eden, Would within, invisible, the beasts of Paradise Wander with a sense of vague and puzzled emptiness? Although the winds of evening cooled them in the shade Would they have sensed a […]
Climbing Home The trail I seldom trod, Keeps coming back to me. Though turning right or turning left, Its entrance still I see. I tried to take it once, In holy chivalry, Until my Guide was out of sight, Then felt I had to flee. They say it leads to home, That path of misery, […]
Before the Last Day Along the creek side Where the trail descends, before the riffles Seethe among the great round stones Gray knucklebones A brown Arabian Glowing in the sunlight Fifteen hands high The rider stops then slowly nears As one who steps up to a stranger Imparting confidential messages – It is the morning […]
