YES, I KNOW NOVEMBER (for All Soul’s Day) Yes, I know November The tolling of the bell, The whispers of the suf’ring souls From mountain top to dell. The chilly, gray, damp mornings The rusting of the leaves, The whispers of the suf’ring souls Like moans from one who grieves. And in the windy noon-time […]
For Jerry My Host laid down a carpet of the softest leaves, He gave me those to travel on, I was fatigued, If they not fallen then it would be hard To walk along that forest pathway heaven-ward – Mostly poplar, gold and rust, and then some red, Crimson sumac leaves on which the sun […]
Pierre’s Pockets The beginning of Wisdom Is Fear of the Lord, So Wisdom with age? I’ve seen no accord. So you’ve lived many decades Seen the world more than twice. But what have you learned? That sinners are nice? That sinners eat And sinners drink And sinners read And sinners think! And sinners have Sincere […]
ALL HALLOW’S EVE On All Hallow’s Eve Doth blow the leave Bare branches Bend down to the ground. Children believe And simply conceive There’s evil And it’s all around. So pumpkins all lit Trick or treat just a bit All costumed they Go through the town. They face with much wit Tell jokes that do […]
October Feast Day In the gold mouth Of the morning I knead the bread From wheat. Mix broccoli, bacon In wooden bowl Add raisins Sugared sweet. A Burgundy wine From His own grape Marinating beef Will seep. Then later boil Egg noodles, white Pile in a Buttered heap. Chocolate cake Oh what a gift Miraculous […]
Man’s Best Friend …for Octoberfest A man’s best friend If you please Is not a dog But cheddar cheese. A cheese whose taste Runs sharp or mellow Why cheese with beer Can help a fellow And make him look Like a handsome hunk When he passes some To a girl that’s drunk In the local […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
