A pair of white doves came to nest on our barn roof
First there was one, then another
They were cold and frightened from the sleeting snow
They had little ribbon bows tied on their feet with bells
You were delighted but I was the most delighted 
I fed them corn from my hand
They pecked about on the snowy barn mantel
That was dry and warm with hay
Their feet were cold because they had nowhere to land
They looked at me peacefully
It was Christmas Day.  In communion we sat
Resting our bodies from the winter cold
Companions in a barn are a blessing from God
For God knew what He was doing
Around us the seeping of ice thaws and cars in the distance
The feel of my hand in yours
They put their wings together and closed their eyes and rested
God makes miracles
For the littlest creature was loved enough
For God was watching over all things
He led the boy home and put him in bed
Then wrapped him in an electric blanket
He served him mashed potatoes, roast chicken and stuffing
With a little cranberry sauce and some juice
He gave him a wife with a warm heart
And two friends to keep him company
Long slow days resting under the christmas tree
And warming oneself by the heater
Hot mug of coffee for those that had come
And cheerful burbling of conversation
Ladies and Lords coming and going
People greeting one another and giving gifts
He closed his eyes and curled up in a little ball
And I made myself some coffee with sugar
We lay still and listened to the earth turning
As it shifted about its axis
Creaking like a sailboat in the harbor
He gave us a market to sell our embroidery
We made these little gifts made of wire and tinsel
We made them together ourselves
People came from far and wide
And read our news and notes
It was a good life and God was here
And we rested with the Lord in His Sanctuary
Many long winters and many long snows
Much peace fell about our door
The throwers of stones put down their stones
And walked away sorry
For you and I have been on a great adventure
So let us both retire
For we have seen the walls of the kingdom
May we lift his name on high
Oh God that remembered us in his Cathedral
Oh Holy Cathedral Divine
Praise be to the God that works with us
As we plan the events of our futures
Praise be to God for all these presents
That we open with eager hands
Presents full of gold and red paper
And ribbons and jewels and lace
These are the most loveliest presents
This feast is divine
I lay with a full belly of mashed potatoes
And think about how much God loves me
May our deeds grace God to thank him
For He is Good
I close my eyes and send my passions
Down seeping into the earth
Earth of all lost things
The earth under the crystalline crust of snow
The dizzying height of one who can fly
Your gift and my gift are handprints in the snow
But I am lain sore and low by now
I've learned that God does not want to change his ways
God is terrible and dark in His Will
God's Will is often to torture his children
But Yet, it is God's Will
I have learned that the hard way
I lay in the still deep shadows
Nursing the wounds that I have earned
My body broken with punishments
I cannot go any further in my pursuits
But when I see children laugh and smile, then I smile too
Then I know that I did the right thing
I feel, when I see people having fun around me
That my footpaths on the earth were not in vain
My spirit goes to dwell with them
Where there is much joy
My body has become a lump of clay
It is by now deformed and weak
A veteran of a cause I fight alone
When my body shames me I look at those around me
And then my heart soars along with them
No sorrows too great, little one, to bear
No sorrows, no sorrows
But you are a child of the most high and triumphant
He whose wheels scrape across the sky
He who whisps the cloths into shapes
He who plans your destiny
Maybe not all Good, but He is God
He does want His beings to suffer
It is His Will and His Will is natural
And anything that counters God is unnatural
The planet all singing together
No sea nymphs for the hero of the night
No pretty papers for the mother's duckling
No warm towels to wash yourself with
No age spots to soothe your pain
No sylph to awaken your inner dream
No balm that is cold and soothing
Your life, like my life,  will be flickered out
And someday we will all rest under the stars together
My body is deformed and ugly now
But I feel deeply proud of my choices
Peace to the grey bird outside your window
Peace to the bird that sings all night long
Long tranquil days of sadness and prayer
We keep vigil until we, too are taken under
One day we will all lay under the stars of heaven
When children play my heart will soar
I will learn to forget you
The wind blows through my heart like breath
For I am becoming the wind
Whatever comes to take me down
I will be ready for whatever comes
The trumpets blow hard for me in heaven
They clarion calls out my name
I will hold my head high when I arrive
I will be proud and triumphant
On all things there is waiting
There is waiting in the leaves and in the sun
All around me, waiting for something to come
Little chipmunks are getting excited
The fish are hovering listlessly
The little duckies are laughing cheerfully
They have high hopes for the future
Everyone has high hopes for the future
Everyone wants to start again
Whispers of new love on the horizon
People are full of hope
Breaking to bits the thing that came
With hopes growing up through the  earth
Nature is surviving the blows of death
Nature will yet outlive the curse
Music floats in from a balcony
A worried hound barks in alarm
Women hang up their wet laundry to dry
Babies are lulled to sleep
This small person sitting here
Was once a reason for the apocalypse
But maybe her eyelids were blessed
Maybe God will spare them from harm
When children play, there one is with them
The heart dances with its fellow man
Boots for the winter will keep out the cold
There will be enough for Christmas
Children will have mamas and papas to protect them
They can play in the light of the moon
Maybe I can focus on a new project
One that will bring in much change
This house full of ghosts is holding
It is weathering many storms
A place to come and pray
After what has happened here
Bells on my ankles and white linen around me
A swath of purple for a shawl
Little tricycles with their wheels turning
Waiting for someone to come and play
The pain of losing you will fill my sails
And carry me to the furthest shore
I will cry about this one day
But not until it has passed me by
By like the sunken flower when
She realizes she is a lost toy
When I realized you didn't love me
That you were intended for another
Judge ye not, taught Jesus
When he looked into your eyes
But I smile when I think of your suffering
And so I am letting you go
It is a lonely city
People pass each other by without speaking
There is so much unsaid
That people live behind closed doors
When I see you curled up into the fetal position
Especially when your body is cold
That is the instant that I am sure I did the right thing
For I cradled you close to my body
When you needed nourishment, I fed you
When you were scared, I held you
When you cried , I comforted you
And when you needed to grow, I released you
To fly in the wind like a dandelion spore
To find your place under the moon
Wherever you land, to go as far as you can
To discover the one that you love
The salt sprays breaking where you stand on the bow
Gazing out to sea
Lost and without a comforter
Will you be okay on your own
Little chocolate cakes with frosting
That we eat together looking into one another's eyes
God's confetti explodes all over me
And I brush it off quietly
I am pulling carrots from the soil
The soft sandy soil of my vegetable garden
The roots give when I pull them up at their base
They have frost on their leaves for the winter
Potatoes and carrots for the winter
And spinach leaves and onions
Your hair falling down around you like a shawl
Like a lady living in luxury
Good food, soft clothes, clean home
And guests to shower you with friendship
When you lift your eyes gently
I know that I am doing the right thing
Little sapphire hearts that hang like stars
In my ears like tears that I never spoke of
Tears that were never noticed or never fell
The reason I smile so rarely
Yellow and black butterflies with zebra stripes
Pickles on meat sandwiches
Little gulls going up and down the beach
Being washed away by God's patient swells
Bells on the feet of birds and rabbits
Little mice that crawl up and sit in your lap
Queen anne's lace spanning the meadows
Blowing up and down in the wind
Oat grasses waving in the breeze
The laughs of children in the air
But when you look, there are no children
Frogs croaking from the muck of a green pond
Leopard frogs with golden eyes
Marble floors with green, blue and pink roses
Stones cut in the shapes of petals and leaves
Lollipops with ribbons tied around their sticks
Candles in glass lanterns at night
Feather bouquets with blue glass beads
Pink ribbons pulling hair back from the forehead
Turtles slipping under the surface of a pond
And you sitting across from me
Pandas when they reach for more bamboo leaves
The river when she cries
River blowing down her veins
Pouring out that which forgets all things
Your lamp will be on all night
Your candle will keep out the dark in my heart
Little green fish in a clear glass bead
Gingerbread house with a gumdrop path
Icing piped on for a roof
And sealed between the cracks
Little dolls thinking to themselves
Watching you from the corner of the room
Mimosa leaves pressing their leaves together
When a dark shadow enters the room
Your path leading into the woods
And my house off in the distance
Village lays low and prayerful
As Christmas draws near
Cold rain falls down in a sad way
The rain attempts to wash away pain
Although an evil thing has drained the storehouse
Yet we are still alive and singing
The rustle of the grasshopper wings
The creaking of the stair
People wander in and out of this place
The road beyond here leads on and on
Soft pink and blue teddy bears
Sweaters that are large and comfortable
Black pants and a pair of mukluk boots
The sound of jingle bells in the night
Cats when they sleep full of fish dinners
When everyone's in from the storm
The trees when they think softly
And one brushes by them without a sound
Gentle paths that lead around the front steps
And wander into the village
Pearls draped among silk flowers
Sitting in the corner embroidering
An electric fireplace at the foot of my chair
Warm slippers after a hot bath
Children come running in quietly
Then take their plates of dinner
Blown glass ornament of red and green
Hanging from the christmas tree
Grateful to be alive
They lay in a happy reverie
Chickens scratch for meal on the grass
All around, there is life
Life coming back from the past
Christmas lights and a happy glow
The wooden slats of the porch
When snow falls upon it
The sun grows long and slants
Across the stretch of winter land
The winter with all its parched cold
Rivers flow unto the sea
Like a man coming home and embracing his family
Your life, my life, his life
All things eventually flow into one
All things eventually return to the dust
So many things make the creator sad
Wind blows through my hair like a memory
Impossible to reach the sea
All creations come and go
People die and they never get to realize their dreams
Most never find their earthly paradise
People make mistakes and die for them
God gets tired of his creations and destroys them
And the creations feel afraid for a while
When they are wiped away God feels better
People lose form and become dust
Your hope goes out and I die
Then noone knows what to do
So many lost feelings
So many feelings of solitude and suffering
In the long stretch of years of suffering
Many people must face the future alone
The body is a sacred vessel
The body is a temple of the divine
Tears falling so hard
Weeping for all that is lost
Noone has very much now
Everybody sits by themselves
Maybe this is the will of God
The will of God working
God in his silence kills
He gets tired of his creatures
Under the sun is the land that flows into the sun
In pain the final curtain
A soft moss plant that covers the ground
A bluebird hopping on the lawn
Lost silver and porcelain and beaded necklaces
Lost blessings that will never be recognized
Lost affections that were never given
The winter sunlight coming through on a winter day
You when you come down to water
People praying before they find their end
The fear people feel before they find their ending
Sadness when there is no answer
The feeling when you relize God made a mistake
The way people get sick
The way people feel afraid when noone will help them
Pain of being alone
Noone will rescue the suffering
Noone will come to their aid
A quiet person who likes to sit alone
Must bear the suffering of many
Water flowing into the sun
Peace like a thousand pains
Pain like hopelessness and suffering
Nothing to make them well
Dark ivy climbing up a brick wall
People sleeping within
Beds with heaters and blankets
People living comfortably
Little bits of hay and straw
A barn mouse building a nest
Crickets cricking in the grass
Chickens scratching about in the courtyard
January sunshine falling through the panes
When you are alone in the day
Some thing like bits of yarn and feathers
Baby birds sleeping therein
Hay creatures and dry hay
Barns dry and warm
Cold koolaid drinks when you are tired
A mother when she is sewing
Watching one's mother sewing
In a quiet way from across a room
Watching the hair fall across her forehead
Watching her mend pantslegs and crochet caps
Embroidering little stars and flowers into cloth
And then stitch spirals and branches and leaves
Trickle of water running down a hillside
Day's end when all is done
Noone left to mend the things that are broken
Just people feeling hopeless
Rivers flowing into the sun
Days that are winding down
No answer on the phone line
No one to write letters to
No one that isn't up to something
No one you can trust
Nothing but sadness in the end
Life played out like a song
All alone the pain of a thousand horizons
Like hope that has been placed further on
Reefs break waves and coral shells
The necklaces of clam shells
Alone on the beach in winter
The leaves fall into pools of leaves
Waters forming over pools of leaves
Waters with little creatures
Parsley and cilantro growing under a window
Front porch slats in the sun
Abalone shell in the palm of my hand
At the time off the apocalypse
Nearly all of the human race has been destroyed
About ninety percent
I hold this abalone shell in my hand and wonder
What has happened to everyone
When we are all gone from the earth
There will be nothing left of us but this abalone
What does abalone mean when we are all dead
What will it hold within it
A relic of a former time
Like a child's teddybear to an alien
When I hold this shell I think of the future
And wonder what the fallen would have me to do
The abalone shell will be all that's left of me
When I too have fallen
I pick up my pack and carry it
And prepare to continue on
This abalone will one day be the only evidence
That any of us ever existed
The ones that were alone in their suffering
Are inscribed in the atoms of the abalone
Their memories, their will, their pain
All of it is here
Our enemies came from on high in the heavens
They came like the night wind around our camp
When the people died they felt alone
Like noone else could hear them
One mark of the apocalypse was isolation
The facts were never announced on the news
Oh mercy is inscribed in this abalone
Or lack thereof
It says that without the hope of mercy
The world will be destroyed
Like pandora's box at sundown of humanity
The earth brims on oblivion
All lost, all lost
The city by the sea
Your life and my life flickered out
Like breaths of things newly born
The earth filled with children
The children are gone now
God's voice pouring out over the waters
The shivering of puppies
Peace like a spirit on the edge of night
There is nothing left of us
Just one hope that in mercy
A few of us might survive
Oh city by the sea
When I see you come running towards me
With your arms spread wide to embrace me
I want to go with you into oblivion
Breathe and nothingness
The low creakings and flashes of distant night thunder
I watch you from a distance
With eyes that are dim to pain
Eyes that look up with slow hope
Hope slowed down by the will of God
Will of God moving among us
When will you spare the earth
All dead and all forgotten
How bleak the future looks
The groaning of the earth
When it shudders among us
The earth that would not be desecrated
The earth that wants to destroy us
The will of God moving among the waters
Day dimming like a light
The Gods like fierce birds of prey
Feasting upon us like abalone
Oh prey that was trapped
Oh little baby ponies
Why ponies, why   

A pair of white doves came to nest on our barn roof
First there was one, then another
They were cold and frightened from the sleeting snow
They had little ribbon bows tied on their feet with bells
You were delighted but I was the most delighted 
I fed them corn from my hand
They pecked about on the snowy barn mantel
That was dry and warm with hay
Their feet were cold because they had nowhere to land
They looked at me peacefully
It was Christmas Day.  In communion we sat
Resting our bodies from the winter cold
Companions in a barn are a blessing from God
For God knew what He was doing
Around us the seeping of ice thaws and cars in the distance
The feel of my hand in yours
They put their wings together and closed their eyes and rested
God makes miracles
For the littlest creature was loved enough
For God was watching over all things
He led the boy home and put him in bed
Then wrapped him in an electric blanket
He served him mashed potatoes, roast chicken and stuffing
With a little cranberry sauce and some juice
He gave him a wife with a warm heart
And two friends to keep him company
Long slow days resting under the christmas tree
And warming oneself by the heater
Hot mug of coffee for those that had come
And cheerful burbling of conversation
Ladies and Lords coming and going
People greeting one another and giving gifts
He closed his eyes and curled up in a little ball
And I made myself some coffee with sugar
We lay still and listened to the earth turning
As it shifted about its axis
Creaking like a sailboat in the harbor
He gave us a market to sell our embroidery
We made these little gifts made of wire and tinsel
We made them together ourselves
People came from far and wide
And read our news and notes
It was a good life and God was here
And we rested with the Lord in His Sanctuary
Many long winters and many long snows
Much peace fell about our door
The throwers of stones put down their stones
And walked away sorry
For you and I have been on a great adventure
So let us both retire
For we have seen the walls of the kingdom
May we lift his name on high
Oh God that remembered us in his Cathedral
Oh Holy Cathedral Divine
Praise be to the God that works with us
As we plan the events of our futures
Praise be to God for all these presents
That we open with eager hands
Presents full of gold and red paper
And ribbons and jewels and lace
These are the most loveliest presents
This feast is divine
I lay with a full belly of mashed potatoes
And think about how much God loves me
May our deeds grace God to thank him
For He is Good
I close my eyes and send my passions
Down seeping into the earth
Earth of all lost things
The earth under the crystalline crust of snow
The dizzying height of one who can fly
Your gift and my gift are handprints in the snow
But I am lain sore and low by now
I've learned that God does not want to change his ways
God is terrible and dark in His Will
God's Will is often to torture his children
But Yet, it is God's Will
I have learned that the hard way
I lay in the still deep shadows
Nursing the wounds that I have earned
My body broken with punishments
I cannot go any further in my pursuits
But when I see children laugh and smile, then I smile too
Then I know that I did the right thing
I feel, when I see people having fun around me
That my footpaths on the earth were not in vain
My spirit goes to dwell with them
Where there is much joy
My body has become a lump of clay
It is by now deformed and weak
A veteran of a cause I fight alone
When my body shames me I look at those around me
And then my heart soars along with them
No sorrows too great, little one, to bear
No sorrows, no sorrows
But you are a child of the most high and triumphant
He whose wheels scrape across the sky
He who whisps the cloths into shapes
He who plans your destiny
Maybe not all Good, but He is God
He does want His beings to suffer
It is His Will and His Will is natural
And anything that counters God is unnatural
The planet all singing together
No sea nymphs for the hero of the night
No pretty papers for the mother's duckling
No warm towels to wash yourself with
No age spots to soothe your pain
No sylph to awaken your inner dream
No balm that is cold and soothing
Your life, like my life,  will be flickered out
And someday we will all rest under the stars together
My body is deformed and ugly now
But I feel deeply proud of my choices
Peace to the grey bird outside your window
Peace to the bird that sings all night long
Long tranquil days of sadness and prayer
We keep vigil until we, too are taken under
One day we will all lay under the stars of heaven
And think about what we have done
I don't think anything should be done right now
I have finally realized that God is too cruel to make a change
God wants us all to suffer
He set up the world to make the people suffer
And his ways have designed a world where we can suffer
When we fight suffering, we are fighting God
So I just break bread together and pray
Breaking bread is in its way one meaning of life
We are not supposed to be too happy
All alone, the sea's wide whirls
Are pelting down her hair upon the sea
Wicked ways often go unnoticed
So use your judgement and discretion
Let your gaurdian angel protect you
Be of a prayerful stance
Be someone who accepts suffering
God wants us to accept the fact of pain
In my pain, the upspringing of thousands of beautiful flowers
Maybe there is something about pain
Something enduring in pain to understand
I try to listen to pain
When I listen to my pain I pray about it
And then I break bread with the one I love
Then go to sleep under a sea of stars
At peace with my creator
Far away, on the edge of the sea
At the banks of the land of sleep
Where fishes play in the warm bathwaters
And roil on the surface of the sparkling water
The sparkling water that goes in and out
And knows all things about its creatures
It knows when creatures are in need of things
Or where their hearts are lingering
The waters that read the minds of those
Who bathe in its shimmering tides
It grasps the cold fish in its understanding hands
And holds them closely to it
Love for that which understands
And that which lives within its being
The fish sing the song of the sea
And by the night they sleep under the heavens
The heavens which show the depth of breadth
The creatures that move among its shadows
Are not unlike the fish of the sea
Are not unlike the does of the forest
The does which have no claim to their lives
But are hunted as a prey
The predator that hunts them on its property
For man has dominion over the earth
The earth and her seas and forests
Perhaps not god-given but claimed
Man is just another animal
All die in the end
The dragon of gold and red which dances
Up and down like a gilted snake
Her gills are not unsusceptable to arrows
She too is vulnerable to swords
The weapons of man that kill her body
Are something dumb that understands not
Soon all her energies will become one with the ocean
For she is a hunted animal
Her body cannot outlast the predator
And she, too will die from her form
her body will become dust
Her energy will have to take another form
That which kills is chasing the prey animal
As it runs across the plain
This energy of chasing and being devoured
Is fueling the turning of the earth
The rising and falling of your lover's breast
When he is in the heat of passion
But love does not last for eternity
All love is eventually taken away
No love will endure forever
Someday it will be time to pay the piper
If you give god sacrifices of things left over
Then maybe God will forgive you
To run in her silky hair as she glides
Over a plain that mirrors the face of all things
This light is temporary and fleeting
Soon this light will be put out
The thing that hunted it will go on
It will outlive that which it has killed
No other way out but death
If only there had been a way out
In the teeth of dogs is the dove I loved
He will not live much longer either
A muck eater on the low levels of the forest
Your light and my light lost in time
No one knows where the line runs out
No one knows how long there is
The fish swim on in the sparkling sea
I will love you until the end
Slow moving through the veins
The sluggishness in the blood
Stilled like a dove with its wings pinned
I lay looking at you calmly
You could destroy me with a flicker
Or you could become the love of my life
I see you are not impressed enough with me
To do anything passionate
The wind blows about my legs like an excited child
The wind wants to go on an adventure
The wind wants to make me laugh
And wander without measure
I see, but seeing I am silent
Like padding over the snow
The pain you caused me grew in me
Until I bore the flowers of hatred
The thicket has been bugged for some time now
It is no longer safe at home
But my home will be the rusty wind
And I will blow about and cause things
I smile when I see you still alive
I helped you escape your enemies
And found you a place to lay you down
I cared for you like an injured hawk
Your happiness is my happiness
Maybe you'll be safe awhile
The days that stretch before me are empty and lonely
Long days spent thinking to myself
Some slaves escape their captors somehow
So I am surviving this delerium
This disease has eased its merciless pace
I lay me down in the thicket
I lick my own wounds in a hungry way
For I am deeply grateful to be alive
If my life is spared I shall become an ascetic
And pray and think my days through
When children play my heart will soar
I will learn to forget you
The wind blows through my heart like breath
For I am becoming the wind
Whatever comes to take me down
I will be ready for whatever comes
The trumpets blow hard for me in heaven
They clarion calls out my name
I will hold my head high when I arrive
I will be proud and triumphant
On all things there is waiting
There is waiting in the leaves and in the sun
All around me, waiting for something to come
Little chipmunks are getting excited
The fish are hovering listlessly
The little duckies are laughing cheerfully
They have high hopes for the future
Everyone has high hopes for the future
Everyone wants to start again
Whispers of new love on the horizon
People are full of hope
Breaking to bits the thing that came
With hopes growing up through the  earth
Nature is surviving the blows of death
Nature will yet outlive the curse
Music floats in from a balcony
A worried hound barks in alarm
Women hang up their wet laundry to dry
Babies are lulled to sleep
This small person sitting here
Was once a reason for the apocalypse
But maybe her eyelids were blessed
Maybe God will spare them from harm
When children play, there one is with them
The heart dances with its fellow man
Boots for the winter will keep out the cold
There will be enough for Christmas
Children will have mamas and papas to protect them
They can play in the light of the moon
Maybe I can focus on a new project
One that will bring in much change
This house full of ghosts is holding
It is weathering many storms
A place to come and pray
After what has happened here
Bells on my ankles and white linen around me
A swath of purple for a shawl
Little tricycles with their wheels turning
Waiting for someone to come and play
The pain of losing you will fill my sails
And carry me to the furthest shore
I will cry about this one day
But not until it has passed me by
By like the sunken flower when
She realizes she is a lost toy
When I realized you didn't love me
That you were intended for another
Judge ye not, taught Jesus
When he looked into your eyes
But I smile when I think of your suffering
And so I am letting you go
It is a lonely city
People pass each other by without speaking
There is so much unsaid
That people live behind closed doors
When I see you curled up into the fetal position
Especially when your body is cold
That is the instant that I am sure I did the right thing
For I cradled you close to my body
When you needed nourishment, I fed you
When you were scared, I held you
When you cried , I comforted you
And when you needed to grow, I released you
To fly in the wind like a dandelion spore
To find your place under the moon
Wherever you land, to go as far as you can
To discover the one that you love
The salt sprays breaking where you stand on the bow
Gazing out to sea
Lost and without a comforter
Will you be okay on your own
Little chocolate cakes with frosting
That we eat together looking into one another's eyes
God's confetti explodes all over me
And I brush it off quietly
I am pulling carrots from the soil
The soft sandy soil of my vegetable garden
The roots give when I pull them up at their base
They have frost on their leaves for the winter
Potatoes and carrots for the winter
And spinach leaves and onions
Sage and half a lemon stuffed into a whole chicken
And roasted in the oven
A little garlic in butter and salt
Poured over noodles and served in a bowl
Your hair falling down around you like a shawl
Like a lady living in luxury
Good food, soft clothes, clean home
And guests to shower you with friendship
When you lift your eyes gently
I know that I am doing the right thing
Little sapphire hearts that hang like stars
In my ears like tears that I never spoke of
Tears that were never noticed or never fell
The reason I smile so rarely
Yellow and black butterflies with zebra stripes
Pickles on meat sandwiches
Little gulls going up and down the beach
Being washed away by God's patient swells
Bells on the feet of birds and rabbits
Little mice that crawl up and sit in your lap
Queen anne's lace spanning the meadows
Blowing up and down in the wind
Oat grasses waving in the breeze
The laughs of children in the air
But when you look, there are no children
Frogs croaking from the muck of a green pond
Leopard frogs with golden eyes
Marble floors with green, blue and pink roses
Stones cut in the shapes of petals and leaves
Lollipops with ribbons tied around their sticks
Candles in glass lanterns at night
Feather bouquets with blue glass beads
Pink ribbons pulling hair back from the forehead
Turtles slipping under the surface of a pond
And you sitting across from me
Pandas when they reach for more bamboo leaves
The river when she cries
River blowing down her veins
Pouring out that which forgets all things
Your lamp will be on all night
Your candle will keep out the dark in my heart
Little green fish in a clear glass bead
Gingerbread house with a gumdrop path
Icing piped on for a roof
And sealed between the cracks
Little dolls thinking to themselves
Watching you from the corner of the room
Mimosa leaves pressing their leaves together
When a dark shadow enters the room
Your path leading into the woods
And my house off in the distance
Village lays low and prayerful
As Christmas draws near
Cold rain falls down in a sad way
The rain attempts to wash away pain
Although an evil thing has drained the storehouse
Yet we are still alive and singing
The rustle of the grasshopper wings
The creaking of the stair
People wander in and out of this place
The road beyond here leads on and on
Soft pink and blue teddy bears
Sweaters that are large and comfortable
Black pants and a pair of mukluk boots
The sound of jingle bells in the night
Cats when they sleep full of fish dinners
When everyone's in from the storm
The trees when they think softly
And one brushes by them without a sound
Gentle paths that lead around the front steps
And wander into the village
Pearls draped among silk flowers
Sitting in the corner embroidering
An electric fireplace at the foot of my chair
Warm slippers after a hot bath

Oh Moses in the river reed basket
You are floating safely towards your destiny
On the cool warm river currents of fate
That lead you to your future
The mother has left you a scanty store
And you have a lot of dreams
You sail safe towards your kingdom
Oh prince in the river reed basket
Your hair falling into a tumbling plunge
Soft like the breath of a dying beauty
Or someone who is prepared to die
Wispy like the wind in January
Just before the balm of spring
Deep like the eyes of the old faithful dog
Who returns to the same porch lifelong
Faithful in a way that only the gentle are faithful
Forgiven beyond doubt
Your hands full of grace are moving like tree branches
With the tolerance of a fawn
All fate can take heed before this lion
When he upholds your mighty door
The door to your bower is fortified
With the roar of the lion across it
Floating in your river reed basket
Towards the day you find your place
Until then, all things in to all things
And may you be kept warm and safe
I told my heart it felt not what
It did not want to feel
The rivers poured away from me
My heart was a cage of steel
I told it that it was misled
That all things do decieve
That soldiers often die before
They fill their sorest need
I looked out to the ocean
And saw an offshore storm
The warnings all ignored
And fate left to pick up the remnants
All lost, the moon on the craggy shores
And the moon on your little slippers
The moon on the banks of the sandy spring
And hatboxes full of satin ribbons
The moon before the sea has raged
To quicken that which is injured
No task set before her fate
Was softly left undone
Your breath upon the windowpane
Like forgotten tracks of spring
Like the lamb which cries for mother to hold
And the unbearable wings of torture
The strong wings that carry the tortured souls
To the ivory faint shimmered shores
These arms recognize me as something dear
And maybe they will carry me home
All light where light was not before
These mysteries betray
All lies where lies were concealed with a kiss
And calvary sworn to obey
All hope reechoed on her shores
And all flew out to sea
Too far and never to return
Until my beloved returns to me
I see you and fear you not
But rather am filled with pity
Your song, like my song, will be traced in time
Along the heiroglyphs of history
The pitter patter of duckling feet
Will lead you towards your home
So onward misled destiny
And onward Christian soldiers
For kindness sustains all things
And love from faithful mothers
Life's foot like a rabbit foot
And someone behind the curtains
And far off the cry of one betrayed
And nearer now, the village bustling
And in the night, the lonely wanderer
And the hermit mending clothes
The leaves fall in a special way
That says God is watching over all
Where the brink's run out to the sea
You are fending off some great mystery
Beyond, the orange sun is slipping under the horizon
Before time and host's begun to fade
Before the page bleeds out into snow
Before the wound begins to heal
Before the amber becomes great beauty
Before all secrets are revealed
Some people run on and on
Running into the sun
But life is running out of time
Is death really the worst outcome
When life is full of heartbreak
And all has been scattered again
There are worse things than to die
There are worse things like committing sin
Often the virtuous die because of virtue
And God takes the pure of heart
The people with nothing sitting by the road
Are some of the most virtuous of all
Life as life itself holds less value
It is more important what one does with life
With what one has, that one does good things
Some people have very little
Some have short lives and some have no chances
Some never get the chance
Many get chances but fail
While others wish they had had a chance
Death looms ever clearer on my horizon
As enemies close in around me
My deeds many and my future dim
I look to that which lies beyond the eternal
Where I must soon be going
Where I must count among the stars
Perhaps my life was something sincere
Something sincerely given to others
The heron flies towards home slowly
Just enough to stay in the air
Your light, all lights, they all go out
People get lost and blown off course
Maybe in hunting the impossible
I find hope for the present time
The shore that sets on the bow of the horizon
Is waving to me faithfully
Maybe all things were not in vain
That the world left me a hope
Your hope far on the other side of hope
I look no more for you
The rose garden with its velvet burgundy petals
A hope forever true
Lush worlds may lie beyond the horizon
You may find me there someday
Your world has betrayed and forsaken me
So I look to another shore
Horizons beyond our understanding
May find us in our enslavement
You will always be my sleeping beauty
Even when you have left me
I pick one burgundy rose for you
To put behind your ear
But even your life was not enough to appease
So you too were cast into the hay
Some stray hairs pulled into a braid
A river becoming a marsh
The world dawns upon the brink of new beginnings
The ancient runes are being forgotten
The children are singing new songs
Legends are being told about heroes
That none dare speak the name of
But noone comes to haunt this lonely door
Their footpaths are desolate
Maybe in you, a hazel tree springs
Maybe another fountain
That death is not the worst thing that could happen
So look to the furthest shore
Your slippers for you to wear to eat breakfast
Your candle to carry you to your bed in the dark
Long winter nights when the wind blows mercilessly
And creaks about the eaves
The sandalwood of a fan in its cheerful array
Bread with butter and hot tea
Holding a seashell in the palm of the hand
The memories of the sea
Sea that beats blues into greys and white again
Sea that swims on forever
Sea where rivers melt away
Sea where the porpoise swim
Long hours spent in gratitude
Just listening to the familiar sounds
Happy and grateful to be alive
Just the sensations of still being alive
The cool of a porcelain object on a table
The sweetness of candy
The way cheese dinners satisfy
The feeling of clean sheets on the skin
Being held when one feels scared
The light of a lamp on a cold night
Knowing one is safe and warm
The warmth of a bathtub full of bubbly hot water
Or the sunlight falling across the room
The feel of velvet brushed against the cheek
The voice of someone who loves you
The way that fresh berries taste
When you have been working hard
Or cinnamon in apple juice
Or biscuits with bacon gravy
Tilapia that flakes with lemon and melted butter
And chili on a cold day
Spaghetti with meatballs and cheese
Soft music to listen to quietly
Movies and TV and laying still
Listening to one's own breath
When people have some spending money
And they go to the store and buy presents
Presents that they wrap and put under the tree
Warm embraces after long partings
Gifts that delight, gifts of pink and purple
Gifts of blue and yellow
A chocolate on the pillow at the end of the day
Two chocolates on two pillows
Two sticks to hold up a pile of hair
Brushing one's hair in the light of the moon
Some lost little coins
Noone knows how little
As though noone would help
And noone would come
Under the weeping willow
Where the butterfly settles and rests
Her wings of blue and black
Like cathedral windows celebrating the dawn
Spun honey drizzled onto a pool of chilled rice custard
With fresh raspberries and cinammon on top
Chicken baked in hummus, lemon, garlic and cumin
served with hummus and fresh tomatoes with feta
Chili and a grilled cheese with dill pickles
Summer sausage slices, cheese cubes and butter crackers
Fresh vegetables boiled in chicken broth
Rice boiled with onion with melted cheese
Sauteed Mushrooms on a sandwich
Collard greens mixed with cream cheese
Bellpepper and goat cheese served with crackers
Bread spread with peanut butter to feed wild birds
Peanut butter and icing on chocolate cake with chocolate
Pumpkin and icing on cake
Mashed Blackberries and icing on a blackberry filled cake
Chicken tomato curry with fresh mango and raisins
A big bowl of boiled mashed potatoes and butter after doing hard work
Cottage cheese and fresh tomato or canteloupe
Apple juice mixed with hot tea and cinnamon
Homemade Souvlaki steak and baked potato
Baked sweet potatoes warm on salads
Topped with goat cheese, bacon and raspberry vinnaigrette
Oil, vinegar and jelly on a salad is a vinnaigrette
Pizza and salad
The further one goes on one's journey
The sadder one gets
Many wander so long that they become bitter
Noone knows how much they miss their mother
To spread light in a gradual way over time
This is the best way to live
Muffins of blueberry and cheddar cheese
A few fresh flowers served with a grilled cheese
Chili served in a mug with cheese
The longer one goes the more lost one becomes
These little trinkets in the palm of my hand
May help me find my way
Many legends, stories told about great feats
The struggles were insurmountable
Love where love was not
Love found waiting in ruins
Love where love was not expected
Noone comes to call upon this lonely door
No pretty foot has trodden this path
No mouse has skittered across the floor
All quiet lying in charred stone it lays
The ruins of a proud cathedral
Sitting on luggage in a train station
Ladies in sundresses hurrying past
Women with baby carriers begging for money
The lost and lonely fawn
Mailbox in the snow against a white sky
The still calm day in the icy freeze
Giant slushie freezing the earth
The little greens and grasses struggling under its weight
Gas stations by the highwayside
Oases of respite in the bleak journey
Cold drinks and snacks and a tank of gas
Then one goes back out into one's struggle
A struggle that claims the lives of many
Where there is no warmth or comfort
Little golden door
Sleeping children softly breathing
The world softly coursing like a stream heading home
Pouring out all its great mystery
The tigers that crouch under the palm leaves
Where the african bush hunters hunt with their spears
Castles filled with luxurious dark rooms
Canopy beds hung in blue velvet
Tied back in little gold ropes
Children with grey and white mittens
Playing in the snow
Blueberry pickers on the mountainsides
Mountains peopled with healthy trees
Giant spiders that hunt people
Amok in the local forests
Women begging for cheese biscuits
To feed to their families
Women cleaning the countertops
And preparing meals that are worth eating
Marinated steak strips on wooden skewers
Served with fresh fruit and grilled vegetables
Birthday balloons and paper banners
And cards and a birthday cake
Squeals of pleasure when a sudden delight
Lights the shadows on a face that has known true pain
A little face lined with compassion
A face that has been forced to shed tears
Many long nights crying alone
This face has weathered many storms
The face itself has been wounded
Some say there is no real face
But the child that sees through the eyes therein
Sees brutalities that would seem to age him
But instead he grows more and more innocent
As the charges are brought against him
His chariot is with the celestial powers on high
His paths are paths too high for we mortals
His arts are arts too beautiful to behold
And his music has the ability to heal pain
When he walks, the plants and trees grow faster
His presence quickens the life spirit within all creatures
What he heals will be healed
What he saves will be saved
When he bends down to gather herbs in a garden
He is choosing what to kill or to save
What he wants to do will be done by God
And he cares enough to know
The care that sprouts from the wells of his eyes
Is enough to keep a freezing person warm
Dropping tinsel and flower seeds wherever he goes
For this is a being of compassion
That, looked not for, goes unseen
His gown is knit silver with crystals
He walks barefoot in the dell
Watching the hunter hunt
He admires the strength of the arrows
He longs to watch them leave the bow
Footpad by footpad
He crouches as he follows
Calling gazelles to wander before them
And rescuing them just in time
A venison stew with peas and potatoes
And he will lay his head on your shoulder
And when he sighs, may he find peace there
For his sufferings outweigh his own comprehension
The pain that comes to the child
Is enough to make anyone angry
Where is the tormentor that turns the spit
Where is he that refuses to acknowledge him
The child is a little air spirit
Blowing free in the wild faery wind
No one too low to save
No one he will not ransom
His sufferings make him divine
His face divine for its wounds
But faces are only skin deep
And the best have no faces at all
River tumbling down the mountain
Coursing on to burst the city gates
Valleys strewn with streetlamps
Little veins leading into the remote wilderness
One wound tells a story
Of a battle endured
One wound tells legends
For wounds are marks of record
Marks that reveal suffering
And wounds are dangerous
Where there is a wound there is danger
Fickle of you to  leave this peach here
But sweet that you left it for me
Wise that you thought I would like it
And fortunate that you found me worthy
Many strange tales have passed
More of tragedy than light
Stories revealing a balance being drawn
That suggest reincarnation may be ocurring
When something strange happens to someone
It may be reincarnation
Karma coming and going on the great river
Suggesting that there is no way out
Little kiwi slices for your baby
To taste between his teeth
Husbands are babies
We care for them gently
Christmas bells
My heart soars with the Christmas bells
The Lord rides the night on the wind
Every rustle of leaf tells the coming sign
The branches bow low to the king of creation
The little dolls quicken in spirit
Everyone with broken hearts waits for God
For everyone is having a hard time
The sounds of tortured souls echoing on the walls
The cries of those who are losing everything
Torture means losing everything
And their cries of despair are piteous to hear
Surely these are the children of God
Those that lose their bodies, children, money, rights
People whisper curses without speaking
As they pass along the city streets
There is usually a fight going on silently
People are scrambling to get what is theirs
Your light and my light linger here together
Together we have everything
Our communion taken toogether
We suffer in one another's arms
People laying in eternity
They cannot ever escape
Noone wants to save them
There are few that know they are trapped
That on high which takes its revenge
The little gifts I buy you
The way you smile when I give them to you
The falling of downy white snow
Little Christmas mice nibbling corn
The way you smile back at me
The loss of those that have suffered
My friend's look of constant agony
One hawk flying
Alone over the frothy sea
Noone to hold it back from fate
Noone to clip its destiny
The people line the street for the parade
In glittering cheering array
Some cheering, others comforting one another
But how easily they are led astray
Decieved, they are all confused
Noone knows what to do
Some run for their cars and others frown
But noone understands
Why some cruel hand stirs up mischief
Oh was it human hands
Was that which brewed from up on high
Or was it from the crowd
Was there some genius mastermind
Or was it the end of the world
One sound, but noone knows how far or near
Noone even knows whether it spoke at all
A sound not heard fell on the earth
The sound was the sound of a spirit
It was a ghost sound that changed the world
A sound that never was
Maybe better that it's over
But never to have known at all
Strange sounds there have been many
Like the ocean against the hollow of a shell
Ships coming in from up on high
We many never know how many
Or how many have been victimized
Or if they even are
One light, all lights, lights
How many are we up against
That which flies overhead is strange
There is nothing that can deny
But maybe one can rebulid now
And maybe we will not hear of them again
Some sea roses light like breath
Or a pink angora sweater
Candy corns and pumpkins in a tin
When you and I have broken hearts
We both have broken hearts
So we sit with broken hearts together
But hearts break gently
I begin to find my peace in you
I should have seen you were the one
Before it was too late
But now I am alone with a broken heart
Oh why was I so blind
Some feathers for your hair
For you are a mountain beauty
Your lips berry dark
Your eyes blue grey
Noone knows how lost the world careens
Like sheep without a shepherd
Like children with no comforter
Like mothers with no father
Or homeless people with no charity
Or ducklings who have fallen behind
No mother to keep our boots all warm
For there is noone to help us
All things lead to all things
No one comes to this place any more
All alone, it is a lonely place
The ship is out at sea
The gentle shepherd pats our heads
He loves us very much
In the stillness of the night one can feel the love of Jesus
Guiding and watching over every one
Ball of twine that I am rolling in my hands
Where is your center
A quiet place full of ghosts
Where is the man that I loved
Oh bleak winter
Blowing against my cheeks
Bring some sign of the weary traveler
That rests here in my shade
May you be set free
May that which attempts to destroy thee
Instead wrap thee up in a heated blanket
And make you feel so safe
All alone, all alone
Oh City By The Sea
Whose trumpets break upon her shores
Where all lost things come into being
Where lost stuffed bears and rabbits are found
Where lovers are reunited
The dead candle lies in rubble
And new energies are shifting in
That which has followed behind
Will be lost off course
And that which one has not found
Will someday be found
Eggplant vines grow around cottage steps
And you can run up the stairs
Everybody you love is there
Sitting humbly by
Noone knows the way home yet
Noone can go back home
But there is a bugle on the horizon
Maybe some answer in the storm
I went out into the cold thunderstorm
I went out to look for you
You had run into the face of the storm
To Walk into the city
The rain was pelting on my face
I tripped and fell into some mud
A man stopped me by the road
He tried to force me to go home with him
I had to run back home
My hair was matted and wet
I cried bitter tears that I could not find you
And later caught pneumonia
The bunny that rests in your lap
With the soft way of thinking
Little nose listening to you
Large soft ears against its fur
Chicken and dumplings when you feel tired
When you feel you cannot go on
Trees listening to your sickness
Hoping you'll get well
Butter and flowers and fresh bread
Big clocks ticking reliably
Lost on a day when all was lost
Noone has come home yet
Solitude on a day you have to yourself
A day to do anything you want
A day to cut out butterflies from paper
A day to sit by the fire
The dark and pulsing night overhead
Like a huge pulpy orchid listening to you
The still and quiet union
The deadliness of solitude
The reason one puts one's canoe to water
The reason one forgets one's purpose
All things flowing into all things
Lost puppies with noone that loves them
The way puppies whimper when noone wants to play
Then they curl up in a ball for warmth
Animals die of sadness
They die when they realize noone loves them
A heated blanket could help them live
Or someone to make them feel safe
Animals need a little hope
They need a reason to get up in the morning
People need white and pastel mushrooms
They need baby blue moons and yellow stars
They need elaborate pastel castles
With little turrets with windows in them
And someone looking out the window
Little cottages with chickens in the yard
And a lamppost lighting the way back
Baby bunting in your pea green netting
Where is your mother
For everyone needs a partner
A partner is someone that loves them
Everyone needs someone to keep them safe
Someone to turn down the lights for them
It could be anyone that loves you
The person often starts out as a stranger
But they become someone that keeps you safe
So you never need to be afraid
Chickens pawing around the front porch
Asking for some corn
Baby bunting safe and sound
Noone will bother you today
Noone will trouble you for money to pay
No one will tell you to go
You will have bunnies and little cream puffs
And some flour and butter to cook with
You can make dumplings out of it
And drop them into chicken broth with chicken
Then you can eat it out of a bowl
And roll around in bed

And all across life's little way
Strange music drifted through the air
It told us we were all going to die
And the whipporwhill cried on into the night
With an agonized shriek that broke the silence of the night
Like the tearing of the fibers of the mind
Like memories trespassed upon and hopes broken
Like that music which the must and dumb hear not
Like that ghost which stands quietly aside
And watches her temple palace burns to the ground
Like the screaming of women upon destruction
Or the hiding of silvery texts
By dawn's light all was awashed in tremors
And you were my doe-eyed beauty
All bruised and grief-stricken your tears meant less
Than the ivory of the elephant to the lion that devours it
Like concrete on flowers or gall mixed with water
Your tears and frets fell unheeded upon the well of my heart
Until even I wondered why they had fallen unmourned
And I turned and saw you grieving
"Oh dear me, I'm so sorry," you kept repeating
In a high lilting and pretty voice
And the strange music lay dark and made of stone
Unmoved by the pleas of the child you
But maybe tomorrow the cries will go heard
Or is there a reason for unheard cries
Is there a reason for cries that God turns away from
To those love pains which fall on deaf ears
I love a man who loves me not
I pace all day and listen for his voice to sound
But less and less his voice falls upon my path door
And deep is the silence between us
It is deep as the river that flows by here
And the trees that drink up the night air
As we lay under the still white light of the moon
As my Ptolemy cries on into the night
May the moon creep in and find you there
May the door be kept ajar
May all fountains slip forth their mad gushing
May there be an end to all these sorrows
May you get well in the light of the moon
May crickets sing where your footpaths fall
And the little be let out to pasture
May all little things be free to run
May they run along their own happy ways
For in light flecks the little free sparks
That dance along the edges of the fountain
Are some of the prettiest and furthest flying
And some of the most memorable designs
So let little free spirits fly free and run on
Ever skittering into the horizon
It's joy that binds them with eternity
And joy that keeps them going
If their joy is taken they lose everything
And I am sitting by the fountain
Counting the days I have to wander the earth
And not to be forgotten
The enchantment's lying in the bottom
Where the leaves rest under your tea
They spell out a happy ending
And a mending to all your ways
The weaving in and out of life
Is a thing most beautiful and triumphant
Your petticoats make you jump and giggle
So I'll brush your hair in the light of the moon
There is a destroyer on the fringe
A dark and terrible meditator
If he can he will send all creations burning down
A world destroyer in solemn thought
But two lights are bouncing off of the cosmos
They are sending rays of real starlight
Like a brood of chickens I rest here
With the things that I am protecting
Should mountains shudder I'll die here
But you will keep my heart warm
So not to die of despair
An iris growng up through the concrete
A dizzying height of a bird
A message that pierces the canyons
A voice that speaks courageously
A voice that shudders not at hardship
A hand that is steady and guiding
The bird's nest will be safe here
And her shores will sing unsounding
Beyond, the fragments of an island
Are torn from the safe places in her heart
But the winter paradise is safe here
She will not fear for anyone
The faraway lost will never be found
Always it will murmur from the distant shore
Never will I find that thing I ponder
Just turning it over and over in my hands
Like a cool river stone rests in my palm
I will never attain that star
Beginning to lose my purpose with this energy
I have begun to dream new dreams
And here I wait for your call
The mysterious creature that works in the shadows
A sylph, a wisp, an unreal spirit
My agony is lost on the wind
In wind the suffering people live on
You can feel them in the wind
People who released life's chalice and let fall
Their hands from the silvery door
Perhaps my death has been postpond by me
Because I would not let go of my life
The one I protect is safe and sound
He knows this life is haunted
He knows that ghosts are drifting in and out
He knows that we are both cheating death
At night we lay so still and listen
To the peace that dwells about our door
The world is old and heavy now
The world is full of spirits
God's wrath has broken so many flowers
The blue iris seems promising
Suggesting that its light may increase with time
That its light may be enduring
Suggests that there are sunflowers growing nearby
That will prove to weather the apocalypse
The confused earth remnants lie broken
Like the unhealed wound that waits for pain
Like the light that rims the darkest rain clouds
Or the sun going down on a woman who is sewing
Her cathedrals spun to dizzying heights
The remains of her diner lay all over the floor
If her body forsakes her she will lose her life
With a weak and wintery wobbly she walks
Noone comes to call upon her anymore
TThe child has been sent away
If the child had not leapt for joy at the moon
It would not have been forbidden
But this time has a sad countenance
And we must mourn instead
I grieve the thiing that never reaches the shore
Like the hemlines of an old lady's dress
An old lady with the mouth of a tiger
And the heart of an ox who lifts water
The stillness and calm of the holy night
The night at the brink of the world
A pinprick or a feather could have sent the world reeling
To and fro like a drunkard
Or a person who has lost absolutely everything
Even the clothes on his very back
He once had himself a fine home with a view
When suddenly the tempter sprang up all around him
The raging sea was hot with wrath
His little knuckles cold with fright
Oh world that suffering came to this being
Who was without guile nor treachery
What force that destroys has found you here
The force that longs to kill you
Your paths were blessed and in the night
You did not deserve to suffer
Everything is too much a price to lose
Noone deserves to lose everything
Noone deserves to have everything and lose it all
And perhaps I once had things I do not
Yet everything was nothing to me then
And bleak the winter wind that blows
Oh lamb left out in the cold all night
Oh Father God who stretches forth his hand
Wreak not that havoc that I fear to see
Oh let him escapee destruction
Let there be a calm and a peace
A calm and a peace that endures a lifetime
Let there be hope nd a path for us
Oh let it fall softly before us
Like the little slippers of the moon
When she tiptoes through the garden
How light her feet, how softly she falls
How fierce the blazing dragon
How little are the ones that sleep
And unawares lay sleeping
How little that which frightens me
Like a leaf that scratches against my window
Noone can help those who are trapped in homelessness
A cup of cold water cannot really help them
I'll drizzle some honey over your chicken
With the hope that it may bring a smile to your face
Many have not gotten this far
And I've seen such terrible suffering
People crying and shouting without hope
Without hope and without answer
There is a point at which a person becomes a star
When virtue becomes starlike
The point that you reeach when you find your zenith
Is the point that will surely destroy you
The point that you will give your life energy to
The point that you follow into the sun
Nobody knows that desolate way
That leads the homeless to their final doom
Noone knows how to save them
Noone can do anything to stop homelessness
Serving hot mugs of chili and cold drinks
May be the only way to protect them
Maybe suffering will end somehow
Maybe there is something that can be done
All lost when you feel afraid
All lost like the children with nothing
I look at the sun and pray
That things will always be this way
But your fear makes me tired
Maybe someday things will be better
I looked to the sun and recognized it
Like the denizens of time
I recognized the sun like something I loved
And didn't know it was there
High up in the sky a ball of orange
I saw what I had been serving
And paradise like the parting of the sea
You greeted me so warmly
The sun was light where you and I
Are flicking our feet by the water
But you and I will die someday
Yea, it may be sooner than later
Our death, and ord what is a death
Is it as little and unimportant as you say
Or is it the extinguishing of hope itself
Is there a reason for his pain
Is death the thing that I am fighting
Oh, am I fighting death
To conquer that which I hold beautiful
The creature that stands by the shore
Love is the powerfullest emotion
It leads people forth like the scent of flowers
It brings people to their destinies
And throws them into wars
Love may be the reason people fight
It may be something that is merciless
Something that kills and destroys as well as builds
Something that gets people killed
But love, for me, is you standing by the water
A little away from the water
Love is the sad way you look into the distance
Love is my best friend Ptolemy and I
When we brng you heaps of sandwiches
Love is when Ptolem and I makke dinner for you
It is our beautiful expression of love
Like two missionaries from the same faith
Ptolemy and I are going on in our journey
But you are the reason we are suffering together
The reason Ptolemy keeps crying
You are the reason that fish freeze in the winter cold
And the depth of the furthest star
In your life, I find second meaning and purpose
Ihe peace of water
In you, the bark that will carry me home
In you, the reservoirs that may save us
Where is the voice that calls from the distance
The voice that asks me for help
What will I do to give it some hope
In all these suppositions, nothing
Will all things add up to nothing in the end
Are all things done in vain
Are the scruples that we hold really essential, after all
Is there virtue in being civilised
If, when an animal asks you for food
Is it important that you give it
All these traditions and gestures we use
The things that keep us from fighting
Are they really something that will save us
Is being polite that important
If, when I tell you something soft
Is it important to say thank you
Are little frills and dress bonnets
Are they something that we may need
Is our struggle to have dignity together
The thing that will sustain us
All chaos falls about the door
And ships are floating past
Is that which asks of us the thing we should follow
Should we give to those that ask of us
What lambs are there waiting for you
What bunnies flop their ears
Your life the sacred candlelight
The light by which I see
Pilgrim where I found you
Where and what is your dwelling
Can I come and sup with you
When my battle is ebbing
Oh, loss twere better that you were not born
For there is no hope in this sad place
No little shoes to shoe your feet
No one to greet you warmly
No reaching hand to save your life
No bacon and cheese potatoes
If I had my way
I would give bacon and cheese to everyone
In Jesus'Name,
Amen
The lights glow on in the green black night
With the hope of a way out
Ever enduring light travels on
Through the brink of her clear horizons
Where it settles loss is felt
All things lost are coming into being
And when I kiss you a light is triggered
A light that shuddders all mortality
The lights that glow seem indifferent
But they are actually thinking quietly
Lights glow because they have a reason to be there
And your all cohesive sanity
Your sanity is a reason for the crushing of dreams
Your sanity is destroying beautiful things
Love is madness and madness is love
And the lights glow on in the green black night
Lights glow because they come from beyond
With a statement that says "I was here"
Unmoveable and changeless
They exist in a quiet way
The rolling and churning of that which moves
And swells and undulates under her brow
Is actually quite passionate about what it is doing
It sends good energy across her shores
Tumbling and falling down like a bitter pill dissolving
Her hair like a wild ocean dream
The lights glow on in the green black night
And you are my green black night
You are my light and you are my star
But what if that spell is broken
What if that strand is chopped into
Or hacked into oblivion
What if the key is losst forever
Will the secrets within never be disclosed
Or will it take another form
And jump to another spirit
Love is an energy that causes inertia
It powers ships sailing across the sea
By love many impossible things can be accomplished
And many things can survive bitter nights
This rag doll with her petticoats
Is actually a very important one
Her key fits into the lock like an answer
What an important key
But could another key be found
Should this one lose its enthusiasm
Could a key be found to realise
The things that within lay sleeping
The trees glow on in the green black night
And under them is the laws of existence
The principles that one must uphold
The truths that must be protected
A life is a light that eventually goes out
Why do we lose that which was won
Like something reaching for and gaining light
It conquers that which it seeks to understand
Oh God that thinks quietly
But I am praying to energies
The river falls with an energy that is soft
Like the downy white tuft of a thistle
It the thistle crushes, all is gone
And your little craft is lost
But what if I plant a seed in the ground
Or put away for later
Roses bloom with the beauty of the moment
And when theey are gone there is nothing left
What they were, is no more
And waters flow without having a purpose
On and on they flow into the night
With something like an energy
They just exist, like the clean black night
They just go on and on
There is sleeping in the snow a child
The child is a meditation
So if you want to understand, find someone to love
Someone you can pour all your energy into
All loss the brink of time and space
The wars birthing and dying in insurrection
The civilizations rising and falling
The lives as they are softly destroyed
Still all of this remains on
Your hope was doves on my windowsill
Many years spent alone
Long years spent wondering about the meaning of things
And the wreckage of the body
Dumb to that which kills and destroys
Held in check by the powers that be
The great voice shouting, "My Will Be Done"
Yet all I see is energy
I see an unfolding that is eternal
A winding and unfolding that goes on and on
I want to follow it like a way out
Like a rope thrown overboard in a shipwreck
The holy and divine is a symbol
Alone in the universe
I stand learning what is real and what isn't
God has dealt me a sore blow
So I just sit and listen
The waves that blow along her shore
Are reeling me into nonbeing
To see into the reaches of compassion
Alone in the universe
I wonder what is out there
Your doll floating up to me
I looked at it for a long time
In a dumb way that wondered what was to come
Like a hand on the stair at evening
Your hope was that which was never to come
It was that which is real and eternal
This thing called existence is blowing in the wind
Like a leaf holding onto a branch
The thing that comes and goes among us
The Gods of Creation
They are symbols of the great all being
All symbols warring and finding peace
But I find meaning in one small stone
One stone knows you were the reason I had come
It knows that finding you was my destiny
It rolls over sympathetically
The sun rises up on the horizon
Where you are is perhaps where I too will go
I think that is my purpose
And if my purpose is lost then I will have no reason to exist
I will sit and stare at the wall
Many strange patterns have come and gone
They are breaking and rising on the horizon
Long robes and trumpets call across that land
These rocks may hold a secret
If people are sent here for a purpose
Then what is to become of me
An evil energy blows down the sidewalk
And troubles the leaves that shudder
But what will happen when that person is gone
Then surely I will cease to exist
Then my particles should fall apart
Then thoughtless I lose my existence
Surely porcelain dolls have thoughts like this
When the sun is passing along the ceiling
No hope lasts but you

In a little house by the sea
The stove full of simmering creole
Hot cheese pie and grits porridge
And a nice white slab of baked sea fish
And you can warm yourself to a little electric fireplace
Warm tea to drink, a fleece blanket the color of the sea
Some little cheese straws and iced cookies
The kind that people long for
When they're standing in the rain
Storms come to the island
Spring blows in around march
The trees shed their pollen
In golden blankets that grace the floor of the land
Like a promise of good things coming
The water warms around then
Where in the winter the water was warmer than the air
In spring the ocean feels like bathwater
And the crocus nibble your toes like breath
The people start coming out on the beach around then
And everybody starts to party
Little puppies and kitties are born in spring
The businesses start hiring
People take out their summer beach gear
And buy roses and sweet nectar vines
The lowcountry is an easygoing place
Up inland people are mean to each other
People tip their hats and have parties on the coast
The marsh is trespassed in gentle bridges
You look out across the marsh and think about life
You wonder what has brought you this far
Sometimes the sea calls and you rush out to greet it
To wade into its grey abyss
To go further enough into the water to lose space and time
To become that which was chased after
To lose yourself and go back to the clay
The ocean whispers softly
Oh lunatic dancing by the sea shore
God will rock you in his cradle of water
Back and forth like the baby bunting
He will give you new strength
With love he will hold you in your bed
With the water enfolding and coursing
Churning in and out
The cool greens of the ferns and vines
That blanket the canopy forest
Are crushing a volcano that longs to erupt
And pour molten wreckage into the sea
The clownfish are nibbling
The cool ferns of the forest are thinking
Above them, only blue
Below them, the saltwater stew
Of shadows that come and go
Some shadows small and unimportant
Others long and terrible
Some shadows that circle the boat
Suggesting no way out
Shadows that wander through the night
Like the mist when it lays off the water
Water so placid and calm and cold
That nothing dare disturb it
No one dares disturb my heavy curse
The curse that's been lying in the hay
A baby that laughs like a billiard breaking
Into a hundred flecks of light
Slow rivers that course like blood through the veins
Of a deeply ponderous form
Oh river, river, remember me
In thickets warm with fur
People wander with no comforts of home
They have nothing waiting for them then
Unless some samaritan have the heart to respite
To shelter them from the cold
A shelter is a sacred thing
It carries holy powers
Although its powers are not all clear
Shelters around the world are saving human lives
Those that face the elements die
Humanity must look after its own
And if we look not after our own
Then there will be noone to look after humanity
Hot cider in silver teasets on lace doilies
Children celebrating easter
Children with gloves around their fingers when it snows
Mothers who cook like chefs
Markets of hand painted dolls
Only a few dollars each
Bright colors, dolls in fuschia or blue dresses
Tribal prints, red, gold, and purple
Thinking along the lonely road
That leads me here in solitude
When you were my only purpose
Before I recede into the dusk
The horns ring out on the horizons
And the angels fly circling the sky
Like hawks their great black wings circle us in the sky
And then the sky begins to get dark
The sun blacks out and behind the sun
A light like a hole in the sun shines through
And the shadows grow long and the earth grows eerie
All is dark for a few hours
And then the angels push the dark away from the sun
And it shines clear as before
Oh, what does this solar eclipse mean
What is the reason for it
In a little cottage by the sea
One lays back in a papasan chair while the cieling fan turns
 A windchime made of sea glass and driftwood jingles gently
A sea cucumber in the palm, stranded in a tidal pool
Little holes in the sand where creatures have burrowed in
The wavery patterns on the sand suggest that time goes on and on
The shore meets with all shores, all parts a part of the main
Time is cyclical and eternal in the rebuilding of the patterns
God intends for his children to be happy
All alone on an empty beach, you walk towards the horizon
The clear stretch and the grey froth breathing in and out
A horseshoe crab strands upon the shore
A jellyfish lays in a glittering spherical mound
Windbreakers and jackets at the ocean
The wind is cold and the sand stings
You stand into the wind, warm in your jacket
Like noone can ever hurt you
You are safe for awhile
Dolphins in the currents just beyond the waves
Dolphins have telepathic power to give happiness
They channel the deepest feelings into people's hearts
Inspiring hope and laughing at sharks
Sea roses survive the elements behind the dunes
Pink roses glow with the light of the moon and sun
Petals flutter like wings in the wind
Driftwood is bleached white by the sun
Little crabs scatter back and forth
Gulls eat leftovers on the beach
People fall in love at the ocean
Clam shells can be strung on necklaces
A cooler full of granola bars, cheese and juice
That night, two bodies embracing in the clean warm bed
And a refrigerator full of snacks
The sea rolls on forever
Do robins drink at your birdfeeder
Do deer sleep in your shade
Is there hope or dreams in your heart
Is there a river you can follow to the sea
Is the soul really sacred
Are we more than matter or are we light
Are we holy, are we sacred
What wind moves without grieving the dead
Getting caught and losing form
All lost, all lost
There is noone left to bring comfort
Noone left to sit by the eaves and listen
Noone to put out a bowl to gather the rain
The small hands of the rain are helpful
They bring peace to tired bodies
When all is lost, the cooling, soothing rain
brings comfort to things that are in pain
Much sleep when one has suffered long
Much rest when day is done
In you, the hope of my future
In you, the dirt for my flower bulb to grow in
In you, my future
In you, the way out
The little ferns that grow in the gully
With little fronds like fans
Stones cold and wet and dark
Red Chickens scatching in piles of oak leaves
Darting in and out of the undergrowth
An armchair in a window overlooking the woods
Rain coursing slowly down
Feeling safe in the woods in the rain
Pattering sounds and slight movement in the leaves
Soft, warm and dry, a heater by your feet
Blanket around your bed
Dusty books to warm yourself against
Books with pictures of lands and adventures
Love affairs with rebels, quarrels with kings
Princesses who are never recognized
Princesses who are sold into slavery
Poets who change the world
Buried treasure and villains who gaurd it
True love conquering all things
The hero and heroine live happily ever after
And the children dance in the sunlight and rain
They live happily ever after
And all is well then
The little tin soldiers stand in rows
The carousel of pink and gold
Pink velvet roses and satin ribbons
Loose glitter in little pill boxes
Umbrellas with cherry blossoms painted on them
Butterflies with blue and black wings
Dishes of jewelry
Silk flowers and Strands of pearls
Saucer chair in a cozy place
Bed underneath a window
Boys when they giggle with delight
Elephants playing in the ocean
Sandwiches and potato chips
Gingerbread cookies with orange candy
Tigers roaring fiercely
Urns filled with birds of paradise
Small wooden seals and silver frogs
Tapestries that tell stories
Little shelves with picture books and trinkets in them
Candles floating in bowls of water
Tea with apple juice, honey and cream
Vanilla creme sandwiches and slices of cake
Asparagus with bacon and olive oil
Rain puddles and warm dry boots
Children blowing bubbles
Puppies on clean newspaper
People with their whole lives ahead of them
Those who can do anything they want
Sea urchin drop earrings
Talismans of gold
Baby chicks looking up at you gratefully
Pears and cream
Tears of joy after a long day
Hugs late into the night
Being in love and being loved
Holding everything in your arms
Having everything in someone
Knowing you did the right thing
Cathedrals crying for your return
Sleep after a long day
When tide and time and marsh is begun
When all is given away
When I stand on the shore and hold you in my arms
You are worth more than money
I have everything because you love me
In you all things will be okay
What led me to this silken height
That betrayed me to my captors
But little matter, for you are here
And in you I am richer than any other
What care have we for anything
Solitude is wonderful for a little while
After too long it becomes terrible
But for just a little while one feels peace
Snowstorm on a bleak day
Streetlamps glow orange halos with the snow falling down
Ice forms on the branches like glass
The glass cracks and creaks when the wind blows
And the tree shudders, shaking down ice crystals
Icy puddles by the side of the house
Where the ice has been crushed by friendly boots
Inside the house, you and I are safe and warm
We are watching TV and eating biscuits with bacon gravy
We both have a bowl of fresh fruit and a glass of orange juice
Like squirrels putting away acorns for ourselves
Chirping and twitting cheerfully about how warm we are
Two little animals kept safe from the freezing cold
A pink plastic butterfly with a motor for its fluttering wings
Little pagoda of stone in the corner
Gold crepe paper and gold curled ribbons
Aluminum foil that crinkles around salted toffee
Kittens opening their eyes to the world for the first time
Looking around and trying to understand what life is all about
Little kitties when a pink butterfly lands on their nose
And pale yellow sweaters that cover one's flaws
Rain that falls on a summer day with the sun shining through
Falling on the green grass and smacking on the sidewalk
Fresh sheets and towels from the dryer to snuggle into
Your mate's arms after a long day
The tired way an old couple smile at one another
When they have weathered many struggles in life
Passionflowers reaching for the light
Passionflowers turning into crystal
An umbrella when you're with the one you love
Walking hand in hand
Elephants with red and gold blankets
People when they face a challenge
And gently overcome it
Dawn on the light of the world
The grace when someone offers you food
The grace of a person when they give you comfort
Lanterns made of metal and glass
An owl roosting in the top of a dilapidated building
Fresh diaries with cream colored pages
Lanterns with candles in them
Bluegray water that laps at your toes
Chocolate eclairs that fill your belly
Snowflakes that land on your nose
Soap after a long hard day
Glitter for the cheeks and nose
Getting the day off when one doesn't feel good
A clean conscience like pure snow
Righting one's wrongs with the power of prayer
Making dirty spaces tidy and clean
Buttons that look like mosaics of stone
Children jumping in puddles with galoshes on
Buckets of sand dollars and seashells
A foot shower to wash off one's feet
Sand castles and little leaf boats
Floating across the water
Mimosa fans when the moon shines through them
A hug when you feel cold
Some snacks and a place to rest yourself
A city street at night with a warm bakery cafe
You duck into the cafe and order a deli sandwich
Some money to do whatever you want with
A pile of well-worn pants to mend by hand
Sitting by the fireplace and mending them
Ostrich feathers of pink and blue
Pinned down with a diamond pin
Pearls when a person has done manual labor
Bonsai trees when a person thinks alot
Long velvet dresses for those who spend time indoors
Grasshoppers cricking their legs in the tall summer grass
Stone ruins that endure time's worn old age
In the light of the silvery moon
People that find their way home in the night
The way lost wanderers find their way
Murmurs of a lady to a white pensive dove
Chicken broth with fresh boiled vegetables
Little pewter statues of animals that fit in the hand
Lions, elephants, cats, snakes, turtles
Treading water calmly in a pool
Long idle days of summer slipping past
Fields of queen anne's lace bouyant in the wind
A tub full of fragrant bubbles
Fleece lined flannel jackets with frog buttons made of wood
Dolls that are well loved
Music boxes with ballerinas with white tutus of glass
The most delicate music plays in a tinsel of light
Sunlight lighting up a dark room
Musty earth rich with compost
Nestling bulbs into the musty earth
Nourishing it with a generous helping of warm summer water
Little chubby yellow baby chickens darting in and out
Of their mama red chicken's legs
The mama chicken looks concerned
But the babies are having the time of their life
Her downy red breast could shelter their bodies
But the humans design her nest
They decide whether to make her into a meal
Or to let she and her chickens grow up
Chickens love with the heart of a flower
They don't deserve to die
They say that chickens cost too much to keep
But those that keep them are blessed
In the end where the two lines meet at last
Does true love overcome all ultimate struggles
In the zenith where tide and time has lost
Will I meet you on foreign shores
All lost the mosaic of the heart has been rent
Like a broken clay pot
Or a dress in tatters in the back of the store
Or something meek rising up in self defense
Like a wounded soldier crawling backwards in retreat
Or a sailboat with a broken mast
How cheerful its proud white sail cheers over the horizon
Oh, will the hope in this little prayer last
Will love endure time's onslaught of torment
Will it continue through the storm
Though adversaries crash and storm it
Will the mother bird keep the babies warm
When the babies cry, will they be fed
Or will one unseeing eye destroy us all
An eye that seeing, sees not
And reasoning, reasons not
Will it take our lives as collateral
Oh little ship sailing for the land
May God fill your sails with wind
The little children left at home
May they find you at day's end
May you fall to your knees at close of day
And take them into your arms
May the baby of the family be enough
To keep your heart warm
The alligator swims up the river
And lands in a still deep spot
Light shifts and sends its silken strands
Into the surface of a table where it lands
With a resigned crush and its strands fall about it
Like the tentacles of a flower that has been shaken from a tree
Island life in this little cottage
With the waves beating against the sides
Palaces of paradise with the lights down low
And the little heater bubbling away
Not one visitor has troubled this place in many years
A quiet sanctuary
The walls are breathing in and out
At night there is feasting and television
And you to hold me close
The creeks are crystal, crystal and cold
And the leaves are starting to fall
The insects cry out in the peak of their triumph
A good season for end of summer soup
Lifelike, a crystal butterfly perches on a mirror
Eyeing me intently
Otters dive in and out of the river
The alligator moves back downstream
Love's steady flow like the magic of true love
And you serving gratin to customers
With the grace of a dancer who dances when she walks
You have feet like the petals of a camelia
Your eyes like the pools that gather humbly
At the foot of the proud and arrogant
Your eyes are beggars' eyes that beg for their bread
You look longingly and repentantly at me
Every morsel that falls you gather it up carefully
And your eyes are blue and green
Like deep pools that leaves listen beside
Your eyes solemnly ask for what you most need
Begging is painful and humble task
You pick up crusts that your friends leave you
Sometimes dipped in broth and cheese, but sometimes stale
You scavenge around on the streets
In your eyes the hope of repairing worlds
That may not yet exist
In your eyes the trace of the panther hunting
The path of an arrow flying through the air
The disaster of a socialite whose dishes have been shattered angrily
And she bends over their shards and sobs unbelieving
The coyness of an inventor taking out his toys
And the voice of the wife of a soldier at war
The panther smells blood and heads into a valley
Where the creek is lush and yielding
Like dangly earrings in autumn over a red cardigan
With a white collar and a lush black liner
Storms beat against her shores
Like the lush footpaths of the indian
When he traces his way through the forest path
And comes to a clearing full of sunlight
The yielding of the pear tree
When she bows down her elegant arms
Laden heavy with tart green pears
The bouyancy of a cold river fish
Its scales sparkling with pink and gold and black
Looking back at you wildly
The hand that dipped into this stealthy stream
Was surely not sent here by accident
A karmic web, all things occurring for a reason
The paybacks of an eternity of debts
Some debts good, others not good
All things have a reason for occurring
Lost love swirls in the wind
The voices of lovers that were torn apart
You can hear them in the lifting of leaves
And perhaps they are the reason for the wind
Sparkling water before it falls
Bubbles rising up and up
My friend who helps me shoot pears off the tree
And then we go and pick them up and eat
Some of the pears don't want to fall
Some of the pears are quite unwilling to give
We beg for bread and they fall in a furious way
We get a good laugh out of their reactions
Alone in the clean black night
The thing that hunts is far away
So I am enjoying the peace in solitude
The cicadas cry out the song of songs
And in these roots all meanings have an end
All things flowing into this one thing
All purposes leading unto this one purpose
Those that have died and those who live on
Have labored to bring this night
The way they struggled is the way the leaves fell
And I lay in the dark and listen
Listen to the silence of the planet
As it flies through space and time
Listen to the autumn descending
Like the answer to many prayers
To the ones who have fallen recently
And what they labored to bring to birth
One dream was this house under the stars
And all contributed to it
One house for all to comfort us
The individual battles of a silent war
A war to save the little bird
And his nest where the dolphin plays
A war that brought kings and planets together
And the living and the dead together
A war that brought animals and plants to speak
And prevented the end of the world
The cries of those that fell are here
They tell me to keep going
In all things to continue on
In spite of that which torments
All individuals contribute to the whole
Each one helps to build a temple
Most are more helpful than not
And the temple lies in peace
A temple of more significance
In the symbol it represents
A temple worth dying for
The house of the littlest lamb
And when the littlest lamb cries out
It wreaks the fires of heaven
And when the littlest lamb stumbles
indeed the earth itself stumbles
If the littlest lamb gets a warm dinner
Then all things get a warm dinner
The little lamb is loved you see
He is loved by the great I Am
The temple of the little lamb
Was loved by the great I Am
When the little lamb dies
No one knows what may happen
But perhaps one of you could change that
Perhaps someone little could be the next little lamb
His eye is on the sparrow, after all
He loves those that come to Him
If you go to the great I Am
Go with the heart of a dove
Then you, too will feel his love
And  He will protect you from harm
Grief comes like something heavy weighing down
Then scatters into fractals of crystalline light
Your scatter as you creep humbly from place to place
So many things I could not find words to say
But though I never told you, they were important to me
They rang true on the emptiness of my heart
People struggle to do the right thing
One action or move sends them staggering back
Though some people do harm to others
Most people seem eager to help
Most people need a little coersion to do good
One minute warlike and the next docile
People are easily swayed from one opinion to another
Sometimes the bleakness of life in its struggles is tiresome
As though no world could ever console it
And the energies that move through the cosmos are misleading
There is a God guiding that which takes and gives
Often a little prayer to God is all it takes to survive
Sometimes roadblocks in life are impenetrable
The divine will that guides the direction of fate
Can be coaxed or soothed or prayed to
The loss of pain, the grief of suffering
The tears that fall in hardship
These things weigh heavy upon the soul
Many people lose hope and take their own lives
Heartbreak is deadly and it causes deaths
So don't get involved in something that could break your heart someday
Don't put all your eggs into one person's basket
Don't trust your partner with your happiness
Your pain becomes all pains in the end
Your agonies become one agony
Like a river flowing into the dawn
Your agony will someday be your ticket to paradise
All agonies, great and deep as they are, will eventually end
Every storm runs out of rain
If you are stuck don't give up
Just lay low and keep praying
There is one way to travel through time that I know
It is by standing still and letting your troubles pass you by
Just lay still and let troubling moments wash over you like waves
The moments of agony will go away
If you survive a hard time, someday the energies will shift
God will put you back into a good place
That insurmountable obstacle is overcome with prayer and supplication
Your agonies will surely go away
All things into all things
All agonies fold into one
No demon so terrible that nothing cannot overcome it
There is usually a way out
Sometimes one is so overcome with pain that one feels like dying
Sometimes all one needs is sleep
A few haypennies for mother
A few kernels of corn for the mouse
Little slip-in shoes for the boy who lives down the lane
Seed for the birdfeeder
Pink or white hairbows for women's hair
Shower gel with glitter
Teddy bears for someone who's been away
Aloe for the skin
Warm soapy water and paper towels and a desire to do good
Scrubbing down kitchen surfaces in one's spare time
When one has a little extra time
Scrubbing surfaces while potatoes or soup is boiling
The happiness in approaching cleaning with a desire to shed light
If you clean with a desire to shed light in the world
Then your cleaning will be more effective and fun
If you clean things with a hope of making the world a little brighter
Then your heart will soar as you accomplish your task
You will feel heaviness lighten when you wash dishes
And soapy water will help you know you've found your place on earth
Noone knows how to take care of themselves
That is why there is so much crime
When people haven't had a hot bath or meal they do bad things
They get in fights with each other
If more people bathed twice a day
If people made themselves potato gratin
If there was always fresh fruit and yogurt in the fridge
Then maybe things wouldn't be so bad
Tiptoeing across cold wooden floors eagerly
Sausage and cheese wrapped up in dough
Caramels in gold foil wrappers and suger candy hearts
Mugs of hot apple juice with sugar and cinnamon
Whispering to a dove while it listens
Bringing a cup of hot tea to a parent
Asking someone lonely to dance with you
Cutting out paper dolls with someone who rarely speaks
Arranging flowers with someone who doesn't speak to you
Asking someone what they really like to do best
Asking them what, deep down, do they most want to do
Then giggling about how to make it possible
Following each other through the long leagues of life
And ever finding new prizes to reach for
Respectfully treating one another with dignity
So that you always respect one another deeply
Then making all your dreams come true
Together or alone
If alone, then just to be happy
With whatever you already have
And, being happy, to find new friends slowly
Over a period of years
For friends come from God
If one doesn't treat their friends well
Then they will melt away
But if people really respect one another
Then everything will be okay
Pink tulle inside a large pastel box
And inside, little delicate jewelry
Jewelry in the shape of dripping teardrops
Candy corn with caramel apples on halloween
Chopping cabbage into wedges for soup
And adding diced bellpepper, diced tomatoes, corn and onion
Chicken smothered in cheddar and bacon and grilled onion
People huddled around a bonfire, trying to stay warm
Children when they wish on a star for christmas presents
People when they have enough to be happy
When you are crying and the reason you were crying walks in
They apologize warmly for what they've done and embrace you
And wait for you to plan the next move
Without a breath of cruelty or condescension
Just the simple joy of comradery and friendship
Someone who likes you for who you are naturally
So that you don't have to pretend to be anyone else
Jingle bells as a sleigh pushes through a snowy night
With someone who wants to give presents to children
Probably regardless of what they want
Someone who wants them to be happy
When people are yelling at each other
And all manner of revenge is being taken
Somebody hands out fruitcake and egg nog
They look at you incredulously
But people normally yell when they are hungry
If people are yelling at you, give them something delicious to eat
And it will go away
The savior left me with some food to offer
So I broke it and shared with everyone
Then they all stopped attacking me
For that is one meaning of Christmas
Everyone feasting and sharing
All one planet under the stars
The planets beyond us don't want us out in space
So we should look around at what we have
Should concentrate not up and out into space
But within, inside, where our homes are crisp and warm
We should buy ourselves good things
And spoil our bodies luxuriously
With generous handful of body wash
Body wash has the power to save the world
I lather body wash all over my skin
Then I get really quiet with happiness
The fresh from the bathtub feeling is priceless
I pretend i am a baby duckling in the tub
I put it all over my head and dunk under
Then I put it on my arms, legs and everywhere else
I sometimes put dish soap in the water to make bubbles
I keep towels on hand that are clean
And I pluck the hairball from the drain every few weeks
Most people's bathtub drains are clogged with hairballs
It is because they don't know to remove the hairball in the drain
Drain unclogging fluid causes blindness and is poisonous to the skin
And one can become disabled by the harmful chemicals
If one gets drain chemicals into the eyes they will go blind
And many blind people end up homeless
So instead, pull the hairball out with a piece of metal or plastic shaped like a hook
Put a hook in and scoop out the hair
This useful tip could help millions of people survive
Then everybody could get a bath
Maybe a yellow rubber duckie or some plastic bath lights
Gingerbread and tea after a doctor's appointment
Then curling up in front of the TV
Or reading a good book in one's pajamas
After a long successful bath
Red ribbons all over the house
Egg custard in little white ramekins
Little pearly buttons on sweaters
Some with flowers, some with designs
Little frog buttons to close the front of sweaters
Someone who likes to tease you
Without really hurting your feelings
Laughter all around the house
A green lizard dragon with blue skin wings