resolutions fail
promises may get broken
yet we must still try
Now that all the family and friends have retreated back to their own caves to digest the pies, cookies and candied everything of another holiday ruckus, it’s finally time for me to tidy up the old homestead. January has arrived here in the Ozarks. It is traditionally a month of resolutions. Those promises we all make to ourselves to be better neighbors, better friends, better family…better human beings. Time for reflection and regeneration. A time to remember those things that treated us well and how not to repeat the mistakes we've made throughout the years. I have my list, though I’m sure most of them will fall by the wayside within days, I’ll still try to keep them as long as I can. Because even though I’ll only keep my resolution for a day, a week or a month, my life might be in a better place for a while. Besides, who says I can only make a resolution once?
Sad to see so many books
for want of being read
dying on the library shelf
some look as tho' they're already dead
and to think I could devour them all is fiction
I would be fooling myself instead
I've consumed all the classics Shakespeare complete
but science and mathematics have me completely beat
with all the thought authors put in hate to see it go to waste
can't put a good book down once I've had a taste
the silence of the written word
drink in the view something on which to chew
speaks volumes there's so much to tell
literacy is as the Trojan Horse inside my heart the citadel
don't want to see them fall by the wayside
thrown in the weeds on the seedy side of town
not wanted around
dropped in the dump out of sight out of mind
take a look there's so many books check them out
and oh so little time
he warns he's not a mind reader
as the wiles of my silent treatment
fall by the wayside wasted and utterly forlorn
AP: 2nd place 2025
I’m watching the icicles dripping,
Reminded of ten years ago,
When I held up my grandson to watch them,
All the things then that I couldn’t know.
How he’d soak up so much he was learning
And prove to be clever and smart;
How his joy in our moments together
Would tattoo him right onto my heart.
How he’d love to hear all kinds of music
And would shine when he played the trombone;
How his passion for reading and language,
Which we’d shared, he’d continue alone.
How some interests would serve to sustain him -
New cuisines, tech advances and school,
While some others would fall by the wayside -
Making maps, which were detailed and cool.
There will be so much more in the future
That his mind will grab onto and hold,
But when we watched the icicles dripping,
So much living had yet to unfold.
We drift, unaware—
years merge into moments,
promises fall by the wayside, collect dust.
If we could backtrack every decision,
each fault line of our days,
would we discover we really lived
or just shuffled in place?
As I sit back and reminisce about my day,
I ponder all the happenings that came to play.
All the concessions, all the bargaining, all the ways I gave in;
My stomach drops as if I've committed an egregious sin.
Why is always about they want?
I'm constantly preaching about boundaries and maintaining them,
Yet mine at the slightest breeze seem to snap like a stem.
It feels like sacrifice after sacrifice is made in the name of peace
But none of my own turmoil halts to a cease.
Why are my feelings always discarded?
As the sun sets and we disperse to attend to our own lives,
I feel like fish fileted by dull knives.
I rest my spinning head and try to reach some sort of closure
For my dreams won't come without some sort of composure.
Why do I always fall by the wayside?
Here we go with a New Year’s resolution
Deciding to make a change or start over
Forever arriving at the same conclusion
Were you intoxicated and now sober
Even if we design it or stamp it into a stencil
Take an oath that we will see it to the end
Never write it down in black ink but in pencil
Waste a whole year but still seeking to extend
Not bringing it to fruition with an impulsive pledge
Most declarations or expectations fall by the wayside
In a month, if we start, we will push it over the edge
It may be outlandish, but we can say at least we tried
...comes the force of awakening
like tenderness and fire
an intimacy that stands at the edge of new
time works differently
reshuffles life
in heart hammering excitement
invested with hope
to push aside the boundaries of impossible
two people shaped by each other's needs
drawn together in physical ease
when words shake down reserve
when touch morphs into love
sometimes tangled and knotty
like heartbreak in country music
if we just climb high enough
if we have the courage to carry on
if forgiveness transforms silence
disputes fall by the wayside
we change through loving eyes
vows that summon us forward
that never numb with age
Does the world know what it ought to cherish?
to woo a full humanity
to mend the battle scars of war
when we know a visionary change
that lives on
in the love we leave behind
The hippo and the crocodile, rarely bosom buddies
Tighter squeeze together as the shrinking water muddies
Some fall by the wayside as that arid river bed
Leads those that do not falter to a bitter head to head
Jostling for position in the sun’s relentless gaze
The water hole is barely damp for days and days; and days
And one by one their eyelids close on this their final stand
Even as the clouds portend new rain to quench the land
The final crocodile takes a final snorted breath
The final hippo perseveres with all that he has left
But soon he too succumbs for the sake of just one sip
And so he fails to comprehend that steady, drip... drip... drip
My arms around you as the night draws on,
our bodies melted into one,
time slows down -- but not our hearts nor our breathing,
only you, only me in the Universe -- sharing, learning, loving.
What was -- passes into now,
the needs of two blend into one,
dreams fall by the wayside in the darkness
as reservations and hesitations lose their hold,
into the night, into the darkness, into the new.
Only light can slow down the night,
the beauty of you on soft-morning display,
and I beside you -- cursing and blessing that light,
only you and only me...
within the Universe.
At the core, distractions fall by the wayside and nature takes the stage. The face of duality blurs, while hearts integrate. Fear is confronted with softness, and pain replaced with ease. The mind freed from conditioning, the ego set ablaze. Intuition leads to freedom, while doubt lays to rest. Purpose calls for a hearing; it is time to take our place.
As you grow older, they fade into oblivion
The friends you once revered,
The company you once adored,
Like flowers, they fade and fall by the wayside
You go through life alone
And no one cares to know
Your pains they cannot share
And the trouble they cannot feel
As you grow older,
Their motives become clearer
Yesterday's fondness dissipates
Time has conquered their love
And you are left alone
With memories of lies
The lie of friendship
Mocked by time
The celebrations soon will all be done,
Christmas and New year's eve are put to bed,
trees down, cards on the mantelpiece are gone,
replaced by January blues instead.
As the year's dying seconds slowly tick
and promises are made, old habits die,
our Teflon resolutions, all non-stick
fall by the wayside as the days go by.
Why hold such stock in one day of the year?
Each day's a gift, be thankful at its end,
Rise full of hope as the new dawn appears,
embrace the challenges that it may send.
Man numbered them, and gave each one a name,
but live each day as if they were the same.
I walk down the cold damp cobblestone path. I head straight toward the judges' courthouse. The gas street lanterns light up my way. With every step, I feel a sense of foreboding. What looms for me in the courthouse? Who is the judge? Will he know all the steps which I have counted to arrive?
As my feet pound the cobblestones they echo with the sound of eternity.
Nothing but judgement lies ahead of me.
I'm here...I have arrived.
With my breath quick and my heart pounding, I push open the heavy wooden door as its loud creek warns me of judgement.
I stand frozen, the judge and I look at each other, he motions me to come to him.
With every step, I am purified. All my calamities fall by the wayside.
I am finally right in front of him.
He pardons me and I am forgiven. I had to come, but only on his terms.
Pillored and adulterated
Innocence flies away
Fearing to be underrated
In slimy circumstances for too long kept at bay
Until to her dismay
Innocence uncovers the mask
Behind facades that waylay
Every question innocence dares to ask
To establish the veracity
Banished so unfairly to confines
Where the truth plasticity
In the sand draws red lines
Challenging meninges
Whose yardsticks fall by the wayside
The day disturbances in sapience syringes
Opt to defend discredited personal pride.
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