YOUNG
Young and strong and full of vigor
So proud to answer the call
Crisp new uniform
Standing sharp and tall
Solemn with intent
To serve for one and all
His country and comrades
He bravely manned the wall
To stand against the bitter foe
And endure war’s awful squall
With valor and service true
Til the fateful fall
Then home again and still young
But only full of rigor
Keeping poise in fortune,
Set my heart on entering the fray;
Making courage, control and persistence
My weapon to conquer the affray.
Never will I shrink from obstacles,
Even when they seem like profanity;
The divine light of aspiration endures,
Even the darkest kindle into luminosity.
When thorns filled my path,
Or the vast sea spread its gown,
Even the sun's relentless blaze
Seemed as if heaven had come down.
With The Himalayas as my guide,
I vowed never to retreat;
Making valor, might and endeavour
My weapon to conquer the freight.
He was almost a toddler, more of a stand up and take a bow crawl away and climb on whatever was near. We used the now dreaded “play pen” to keep him out of trouble. Then it happened…CHRISTMAS. You know, the tree part.
It was a smaller tree but it took hold of his complete attention. And that took complete hold or our attention. What to do?
After a serious deliberation concerning the alternatives, it was decided by a majority vote, one almost a toddler abstaining.
To protect the child from the tree and the tree from the child it was decided that the tree would be placed in the “play pen” and the child allowed to view it at his leisure. Christmas was a rousing success. The tree hung out with us until New Year’s Eve.
the tree’s history
a Christmas awakening
discretion’s valor
MADNESS AND FEAR AT BAY AS MY FAMILY WITHSTAND THE TOTAL OVERALL EFFECTS THAT STOLEN VALOR HAS CAUSED THIEVES INVADED OUR HOME SEARCHING FOR MY WAR HERO MEDALS DOCUMENTS TO IMPERSONATE HIM IN WASHINGTON DC KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS CONVENTION THIS HAS CAUSE HIM GREAT STRESS WE ARE BOTH DEVASTATED BY THIS CRUEL ACT HORRID IMPACT FRUSTRATION DEEP SADNESS RELIVING VIETNAM RELIVING THE TRIUMPH OF WAR RECIEVING MEDALS JUST TO HAVE THIEVES BREAK INTO OUR HOME EXPLOITING WOUNDED WAR HEROS POW IS IT ENVY JEALOUS HATRED OR MALICE MY PRAYERS ARE WITH THESE BRUTAL IDENTITY THIEVES IMPERSONATING A WOUNDED WAR HERO IN AMERICA THE MANCURIAN CANDIDATE EXPOSING SENSITIVE MILITARY DOCUMENTS MIND TAMPERING THE EMOTIONAL STATE OF STOLEN VALOR IS INDEED COMPLETELY DEVESTATING FOR MY FAMILY I HAVE TO PICK UP THE PIECES AS WE COPE WITH THE MENTAL TORTURE MENTAL CRUELTY UNFAIR PRACTICE WE ARE ALWAYS AIRBORNE SCREAMING EAGLES WEST MOORLAND VIETNAM GOD BLESS AMERICA STOP STOLEN VALOR STOP HURTING VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES
Bravest Sons of India – Neuve-Chapelle, 1915.
(Linking Pin Sonnet – Dr. Joseph Spence Sr. Style)
India’s sons marched where guns roared in flame,
Flame lit their path as the Lahore men onward pressed,
Pressed with the Meerut through wire none could tame,
Tamed only by hearts in brave Garhwal dressed.
Dressed for the storm, Gurkha steel cut the way,
Way through the fire where the Kaiser’s men stood,
Stood firm for the flag in that Flanders day,
Day paid in blood for the world’s greater good.
Good men they were, yet no grave bears their name,
Name clearly carved instead on memorial white,
White stone in France tells the tale of their fame,
Famed in the East, now in every nations’ sight.
Sight holds their valor where red poppies still sway,
Swayed by the winds, they march with us today.
© USA Goodwill Ambassador, Professor Dr. Jospeh S. Spence Sr. August 12, 2025. All Rights Reserved.
My dear, I share with you a truth:
A life lesson I have lived.
Discretion is valor, a silent shield,
A strength that guards the heart revealed.
Be not the man who parrots all he hears,
Who, finding no one to tell,
Confides in the door.
He's a fool lost in words that wound and bore.
Let discretion be your strength—
Bridle your tongue with care,
Let intuition guide your ear,
Be perceptive, be aware.
God may have endowed such a man
With heavenly graces,
But the ruin of him will be
His own endless talk, so careless and vain.
To know what holds value for another
Is a burden not for faintest minds;
A sacred trust to keep,
A treasure in silence deep.
Discretion defines character—
Be the safe where secrets sleep.
Be eager to listen and to grasp,
But slow to speak.
In this wisdom, your honor will last.
Valiant are the lips that stay sealed
Even at the tempest of awkwardness.
Duty calls from valleys deep and wide,
Wide like hearts where brave resolve does bide.
Bide the storms, through fire and endless rain,
Rain of trials met with a calm refrain.
Refrain from fear when darkness clouds the sky,
Sky holds hope where eagles dare to fly.
Fly with honor carved in steel and soul,
Soul forged firm in sacrifice and role.
Role of country’s shield in battle’s fire,
Fire of freedom fed by hearts’ desire.
Desire to serve with valor, strong and true,
True to flags in red and white and blue.
Blue, the banner waving high above,
Above all stands their country, duty, and love.
A string of summer days strung like pearls of valor
it is hard to be sad when the sun appears like a coin
dazzling us inside a bright blue sky, like an orator
Decorative fragrant white flowers, lily of the valley
sweetly scented bell shaped beauties that grow
in the meadows, what fragrant Grace we tally !
Nothing gold can stay or so they say, but whos to say
if you string up one happy moment ...
those pearls of valor will surely take your breath away.
‘The better part of valor is discretion‘
(Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5, Scene 4)
By Shakespeare
After 38 years of marriage
I have learned to be very discrete~
I just say yes dear you are right
She stands proud,
On mountain trail,
All tattered and torn.
Her stars holding fast
To the cloth she wears.
The Fifty stars she bears
Her strips bleeding
The pain of summer’s end.
She must transcend.
She’s graced these snow-crowned peaks,
With Hardiness and Valor,
Courage and Sacrifice.
She’s Reigned over these mountain vales,
With Justice and Vigilance,
Strength and Perseverance.
She’s blessed those who’ve traveled by
With her Innocence and Truth,
Purity and Love.
She’s stood her many trials.
Though tattered and torn,
With Pride and Dignity.
Like an eagle, she flies
Over this great land
And galaxies far.
She blesses the springtime beauty,
The summer’s green,
The aspen, when they shed,
The snow when it falls.
There is much to honor
In this old flag of ours,
And the unity it personifies.
Tis nothing less,
Than Old Glory,
In all her Glory.
#1: The Cravings Cull
the cravings have come back ...
and, they are so more restless ...
at my finger's edge ...
they cull at you--an easy picking, know they their victim's all ...
but their unrest is incomplete ...
in me ...
they never rest ...
like now ...
constantly, the cravings are insatiable
and the only way I knew, was to fight and so I drew ...
I drew, I drew, I drew, as I fought the way I knew ...
The casualty of a heart hurts
and seems to bleed clear tears
from this enigma. It harrases an
assuming face coldly hand-held
serene.
Triumphs
there's more
coming,
isn't from
Valor
Dona Dalva,
no coração
é uma flor,
e na mão
tudo que
leva valor;
sua ação
é um abraço,
sua palavra
é conexão,
é pura atenção.
Dona Dalva,
na simplicidade
e no toque,
o mundo
se encontra,
a cada dia,
mais e mais
amor cultiva.
Still, somehow, a man of purest valor:
From nothing flees - please, add Hard Labor.
In labor finds his fun and ardor,
At home nose for wild beasts’ odor…
But he can’t lectures give on Labor:
Exactly where he’s got no valor;
Merely keeps repeating “Field Labor
Johnson shall continue to savor!”
To this moment, some man of valor,
Towards challengers walks no armor,
Sometimes wearing a smile of humor:
A ship sure to berth at its harbor.
Now, sad battles with a brain tumor,
Valor to end with a tremor,
A wonder he still retains humor
Right eye on son, his left on labor.
Doric columns supported the xyst
with ancestral plane trees and boxwood
lining the spaces between and whispering
the secrets of ancient polished stone.
The promenade led to the gymnasium
where zealous athletes of strength and valor
practiced their regiment for the Games
to earn enhanced esteem and station.
So compelling now to amble and hear
their eager, raised voices of so long ago,
echoing through the walled garden
if one remains silent, and listens.
fear
angst, anguish
doubting, distrusting, disbelieving
apprehension, anxiety, bravery, bold
advancing, asserting, attacking
vigor, valor
courage
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