Grandfather Clock
(A Variation on a Triolet)
When I was young, not four foot tall,
My Grandpa’s clock I remember well
Stood and chimed, alone in the hall,
When I was young, not four foot tall.
Taller than I, standing by the wall.
Older than he? I could not tell.
My Grandpa’s clock - I remember well!
When I was young, not four foot tall.
My Grandma polishing the fine grained wood,
I remember the hands, time’s steady measure.
Day and night the clock in the hall-way stood,
My Grandma polishing the fine grained wood.
Pacing the hours across my passing childhood
The pendulum swung in timeless leisure.
I remember the hands - time’s steady measure,
My Grandma polishing the fine grained wood.
ABaAabBA
06/13/2021
Cradle your love gently in caring hands
Tenderly as velvety fine grained-sands
Be the rainbow in their showery days
Today tomorrow forever always.
Love graceful as pirouetting snowflakes
Enfold with warmth of a loving embrace
The life changing gift tied up with heart strings
Jewels in the crown that only love brings.
Hold onto your love, never let it go
Even when apart, let the lovelight glow
Love never dies, it’s nestled in your heart
As constant as the sun, moon and the stars.
True love, true friends and family are treasures
They’re our assets of love without measure
To be cherished for as long as we live
Blessings of our hearts to have and to give.
“No matter where you love, why or with who
Cradle with love those near and dear to you.
A Service Member's Story
(In Friends We Trust)
The night is cold, the sand is deep,
with miles to go before we sleep.
But on we trudge to spot our friends
Where danger stalks in mountains steep.
We fight a war that never ends,
And no one knows what life portends,
Yet we fear not what daybreak brings,
We'll take whatever their side sends.
Wind-blown sand hits hard and stings;
The dunes shift fast and coat all things
With fine-grained dirt of desert's dust,
That fouls all weapons as it clings.
Still, on we move as we all must
To offer freedom to the just.
We fight to save each others' lives,
As in this world, In Friends We Trust.
Winds blow leaves rustle the branches strike the windows
the dogs are restless and move from the sofa to their crates
I watch the leaves and branches as they dance a war
dance the dance of ancient tribes twirling around rocks and winds
preparations begin as the evening darkness spins
a warning dance and a blacken night
clouds cover the sparkle of the stars the only light,
electricity flashes from the sky, electrical wires are shut down
man’s mechanical load, light bulbs go out candles flicker
and fine grained crystal satellites are fighting to remain
the universe stretches and sings to a sun
stronger than anything mankind has known,
each second a billion nuclear bombs explodes
with earth, and planets’ moons red, white and blue
abandoned now oxygen free, nitrogen night atmospheric
emptiness there are electrodes in the air
magnetic fields solar flares
We damage the earth and the universe prepares.