I was hoping to be happy by seventeen.
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard
......
Veiling, barely, his dread
Beauty and its blaze,
An angel sets warm bread
and cool milk at my place.
His eyelids make the sign
Of prayer; I lower mine,
Words interleaving vision:
--Calm, calm, be ever calm!
Feel the whole weight a palm
Bears upright in profusion.
......
This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.
She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
......
An Ancient gaffer once I knew,
Who puffed a pipe and tossed a tankard;
He claimed a hundred years or two,
And for a dozen more he hankered;
So o’er a pint I asked how he
Had kept his timbers tight together;
He grinned and answered: “It maun be
Because I likes all kinds o’ weather.
“Fore every morn when I get up
......
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
......
Love…
How did it happen ? When did it happen?
Did everyone except us see it coming ?
In our carefree days, it was fate that made us meet,
Two hearts searching for rhythm, oh what a treat,
......
The sun is hot
The birds all flock
The boats convene
Revelers serene
The drinks are cool
They make you drool
The wind blows soft
......
A tiny kitchen
A broken gate
A single bed
And a best mate.
Cups of tea
In doughnut-shaped mugs
That same blue blanket
Plenty of hugs.
Uncut grass
Carpet-less floor
......
I'm often asked by friends afar
What was that bright and shining star
That led me to this place of joy
To truly savor this, my rather special toy.
Was it the palm trees swaying in the breeze,
The cheeky Pelicans skimming waves with ease,
Florida's sun beaming brightly morn to dusk,
No need of taking weather Gods to task.
......
I wish it had happened at a better time...
Maybe it would have gone in a better direction, maybe not.
The yellow of the bus, the brown of the sand, and the blue of the water & sky,
All hold memories of moments
I never knew would end so soon...
The classroom, full of chairs and tables where we sat every day,
hold memories I never knew would exist one day...
Walking into that place every day, knowing it's not the same anymore, is hard.
All those memories keep coming back in a flash.
......