Sunflowers waving
midst scorching heat remain bright
reigning until Fall…
exuding God*-blest life’s bliss
welcome vibrant hue-changes.
*Numbers 6:24-26The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
August 20, 2026
3rd place, "End of Summer, Beginning of Fall Tanka" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Tania Kitchin; judged on 8/27/2026
Looking at my candle in the castle
Wondering the reasons of my hassle
Falling in love with my King in spring
What a foolish thing that stings !
My King, already promised to his queen
Oh, I wish that by you, I’ll be seen
But I’m only a naive yearning jester
I’ll never be gracious and wise like her
The rejection, sadly, is so foreseen
If one day I declare my love for you
Will you know that what I’m telling is true ?
Or will you think it’s another one of my jests ?
Will you be able to digest my loving interest ?
Blowing out my candle
Deciding not to cause an embarrassing scandal
I’ll never tell my love for my dear King
But what we could’ve been will forever be missing
Radiating smile of peace*
midst blissful laughter of gladness
our special child is blessed all the way
while showing thanksgiving in his prayer position.
Grateful to the Lord with sign language gesture
enveloped around family's warm fellowship's care
our boy, with sweet smile aims for daily triumph of miracles' height
while optimizing divine strength bestowed by God in his therapy sessions.
Inspiring us to toward victory along life's race
as our faith overcomes woes while glowing with gratitude
our child exudes bright smile, basking under heavenly light
thankful to God's wondrous compassion, loving kindness and mercy.
*Numbers 6:24-26The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
June 7, 2026
3rd place, "Thousand Watt Smile" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Miranda Hawley; judged on 8/17/2026
(((*************************************************************)))))
(((bulbs burst out birth-bliss ^^^^ ))))))
((( *** blooms bring forth God-blest harvests*** ))))))
((!!! buds breed Spring baskets %%% !!!))
((~~~ () () () () () () () () () () () () ~~~)))
((** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** **))
(((“” ! ! “” ! ! “” ! ! “” ! ! “” ! ! ! “” ! ! “” ! ! “” ! ! )))
(((((@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @)))))
*Numbers 6:24-26 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
April 9, 2026
1st place, "Illusku: Illustrated Haiku Challenge 4" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by JCB Brul; judged on 4/20/2026
"Only when we have known the darkness can we see it in others.
Kind words to them are like morning dew, refreshing a wilted flower."
~ by poet
Kindness blooms
in merciful hearts
with sincere
compassion,
as a gardener cares for
delicate flowers.
Empathy
for sorrowful souls,
tenderly
nurtures them
like rain nourishes the rose
when petals wither.
Be gracious.
Whisper in an ear
"Weep no more."
Let your words
remove the thorn from the stem
of a wounded rose.
My gosh you are the most beautiful women I have ever seen.
Your alabaster skin and the warmth of your heart within
illuminate your face I see when I close my eyes,
and I can take her beauty with me wherever I ride.
My desire, this desire is strong within,
I want your love it's an addiction
And I caught you staring at me once from a distance,
This had my thoughts racing at your beauty’s insistence.
If I were an artist, you are the canvas on which we lay,
If I were a poet your beauty would be at play,
to console and cajole (as you stand below the mistletoe)
you into a lovers embrace,
In the writhing and the sighing of our lovers’ interchange
let us not forget our place
we must honor God by covenanting as one
so, let’s be gracious and spacious
to one another as we step through the portal as up-abovers.
I can’t express this enough and there is more to be said,
I am captured by your beauty to the point of each distress,
so you as a model as this artist looks on,
I draw in all the curves from hill to glen
And think of all the kisses to your supple lips
and the flowers petals as they open
Always Follow The Golden Rule
Help Others when can if You Can. Be Kind. Be Giving.
Be Very Very Honest evenn if it means you losing. Be Juste/Fair with others.
Always Strive to be Happy.
Be kind To Animals.
Be Willing to Listen. Not just Talk talk. Some people talk too much.
Be Grateful fo what you have-Your Possessions no matter how small.
Be Gracious in defeat and Magnanimous/humble in victory.
Be Humble.
Try hard to do at least 1 Good deed a day.
Add some good ones in that I omitted in the Comments.
Any that come to mind.
When do you decide to stand and fight
When do you not let them walk all over you
When do you take pride in you
When will it all come around
After you have cried useless tears
Lost sleep
Revolve on what ifs
The secneios all so scary
What will it take
When you are Contemplating suicide
When you are feeling so low even those around can't bring you above the deep
Those few you let influence you
Happingly take their feet on your face
I don't care what you have done
How you have failed
You dont deserve to be treated like crap
You are way to special
Way to beautiful
Way to wonderful
To let others take you down
Fuel your demons
I've been there at the end of a rope literally
I've tried to end all their suffering
But it is their suffering not yours
Not for them to decide
This is your life be grateful be gracious be strong
Carry on hoist your weight above your head and fight
Because drowning is not the answer
You are much more.
I was standing in the end of the bus;
Sitting on my chair amidst people;
Then a boy entered in the bus;
He was out of the blue;
Light blue jeans.
Light shirt;
An enhanced belt;
All the focus in this boy was in his belt;
All I could think,
In my head,
At the moment,
Was to remove that belt;
And I said to myself,
This boy really must be gracious,
Out of the blue,
In the middle of the fog.
…Without a word or a look at me;
I just want to remove that belt now;
And have him hard;
A blue perfume, strong;
For
a girl
with shy smile,
bit assertive,
sweet tooth, talkative,
foolishly true-speak rude,
learning to be gracious kid
polite and well-mannered quickly
evolving to responsible teen
with changing family was tightrope walk.
'Walk the tightrope again' said the tough fate
so as adult balancing fears, tears,
terrified of making mistakes,
choices in the heart of hearts,
learnt to be polite, I
carry on tight-lipped
along ebb tide
of precious
divine
Life.
Life is a Bumpy Ride
My granddad would always say with pride
But you need not live in anxiety and fear
With God in the driver’s seat and in your hand a beer
So don’t you worry when you reach a narrow bend
There is always a hand waiting to lend
There will be sweet memories that will make you smile
And some people who would make you throw up bile
The lessons learnt will be precious
But God will always be gracious
Just don’t lose sight of the road
But be focused and tenacious
"THREAT TO DEMOCRACY"
Democracy has a different meaning
It depends on where you are leaning
There's always a cost for freedom
Your price is based on what you want to pay
People generally take life for granted
Never realizing that it's democracy
People should be gracious and show gratitude
The guidance and direction is the latitude
Your political stripes doesn't matter
Or will you simply say, pitter patter
If we lose our right to democracy
We will be at the mercy of a Dictator
Banning books and protecting crooks
Believe it or not, heading towards a government, one size fits all
Minority rules the majority, how does that make sense
People undecided on how to vote, stradling the fence
Making America great again, what a joke
Understand what's at stake and let them know that you spoke
Voice your concerns, using the ballot box to leave your vote
Things you take for granted, will no longer exist in this episode
The threat to democracy
Is accepting an autocracy
Idiocy, hipocrisy, conspiracy, illiteracy
The threat to democracy
Written by Floyd Neal
May 16, 2024
Inspiration for poem
A divided country
January 29 Praises to God Bible Meditations Based on Exodus 33-35
Key Verse – Exodus 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
PRAISE BE TO GOD WHO MAKES ALL HIS GOODNESS PASS BEFORE US
Praise be to God for making all His goodness pass before us along His:
Gracious mercy
Great miracles
Good ministry
Governing might
Generous magnanimity
Grand magnificence
Glad merriment
Exodus 34:5-6 Praise be to the Lord for the proclamation
of His name with His attributes:
Always merciful
Absolutely gracious
Affirmatively longsuffering
Abundantly good
Assuredly truthful
Actually forgiving
Actively working
Exodus 35:2 Praise be to the Saviour
Who wants us to have a holy day for Him and:
Rest in His love so blessed
Refresh in His labour that builds up
Replenish in His load of benefits. Amen!
January 29, 2024
LIFE IS A SONG
Life is beautiful, life is precious.
Make life lovable and marvelous.
Meet challenge of life being righteous.
Every step of life must be gracious.
Optimistic zeal to run gorgeous.
Devotion on action ! Oblivious.
Love and compassion to make life glorious.
To fight for justice simultaneous.
Be prompt to lend your hand to sufferers.
Your help and service sure to get bonus.
Self confidence is pivot ! Obvious.
Not you and me ! We are for all of us.
Propel dynamic life : Be valorous.
Self sacrifice not superfluous.
Life is a song to sing mellifluous
on note of truth tuning melodious.
Lyrics of song to show petals of lotus.
Song of life not solo ! Sing in chorus.
Aged chains are hampering me.
They get heavier constantly.
Age changes everything,
Voices crackle, making it hard to sing.
Walking and talking become a chore,
The conversation is a bore.
When the subjects get too deep
Old-aged folk tend to fall asleep.
Mumbling softly under their breath
They often gasp, scaring guests to death.
When they lay with open mouth
They do not realise their teeth went south.
This state of affairs could cause them to dribble,
It may embarrass some, but to old folk, this is trivial.
Getting old may make one sad,
But after all is said and done, it's not all bad.
How lucky old folk are to be still alive,
To have lived a long life and survived.
Father Time has passed us by
We aged folk should not moan or cry.
We should be gracious and thankful, too,
And hope that life will be kind to you.
Trusting future generations will be healthy and strong,
And be gifted with a life that's happy and long.
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