Emotional Rollercoaster

Alone

In the middle of a crowded room

Silent voices scream for recognition

Fear

Twists guts into compressed clay

Paralyzing limbs, numbing throats

Degradation

Fills the ears of the emotionally injured

Ruining scarce moments of hard-fought joy

Depression

Carries sinking hearts into oblivion

Erasing memories of happiness felt

Hands

Reach out, begging for salvation

Yearning for one sign of love

Answers

Arrive in rain-soaked clouds

Pouring down tears of understanding

Compassion

Clears the night of unmasked terrors

Awakening remnants of esteem, long forgotten

Joy

Blooms in multi-colored bursts of words

Spoken, thoughts shared, kindnesses felt

Light

Seeps into crevices of the heart

Obliterating shards of self-doubt

Happiness

Explodes in multicolored bursts

Opening souls to welcoming voices

Surrounded

Encased

Enfolded

Alone no more

Come for a Visit

Come for a visit, Grandma, please.

I want to sit upon your knees

and feel your arms around me tight

all afternoon and into the night.

You don’t have to bring me anything

like dolls, ponies, a pretty ring,

books, finger-paints, or fancy clothes.

I don’t really need things like those.

All I want is to feel your love

tightly around me like a glove

and snuggle deep into your arms.

My own special lucky charms

When can you come to visit me?

I’ll pray today, my eyes to see

your smiling face and comfy knees.

Come for a visit, Grandma, please!

Dream Logic

When delicious dreams dance

Through your sleepy cerebrum

Do you see ghosts galloping by?

Are angels announcing successful situations?

Or decidedly deadly demons destroying

Your timely treasure trove?

Might competing cherubim choruses clash

Creating unheavenly harmonies, or

Little leprechauns lustily leap through,

Waving windswept rainbows bending

Toward the lavish land?

When unlucky lions lust for

Momentous meals does your being believe

It’s treacherously true, or does

Righteous reasoning untangle gigantic gnomes

Grappling on your luscious lawn?

Carefree cats carouse in your yard

Delirious dogs dangerously stalk prey

As your heavy head haltingly falls back upon

Puffy pillows of dainty down.

Soldiers slash and burn buildings while

Crafty commanders shriek scrabbled sentences

Waving wicked wands that sprinkle sparkles

In the deepest, darkest night.

Vicious venomous vipers sizzle zooed zebras

Lounging lazily behind links while

Porcine pandas ponder bulky bamboo

Priests praise gods in unholy ululations

While communities corrupt into chaos

Rioting right through your lonely life

Mothers majestically cradle crying babies

Born in proud poverty while

Faith filled fathers find superior strength,

Saving all from untimely death

Logic, luckily leaves as soon as eyes

Close and delirious dreams drip

Drop by drop preparing paths for

Dream logic to wind its wicked way

Into your nightly nirvana.

Never can one predict what may emerge

When the eyelids languorously close and

Dream logic descends.

The Car Ride

Driving home the freeway jammed

Even the diamond lane crammed

Cruise ships seeking safe repose

Passengers fighting off woes

Fingers white around the wheel

Hearts forgetting how to feel

Tunnels permanently blocked

Wooden doors steadfastly locked

Hopeless, dreamless, zombie-like

Pounding in the golden spike

Absolute sincerity

Wallows in simplicity

Disaster looms up ahead

Patterns melt the tangled thread

Revolutionaries sway

Blinkers indicate the way

Arterial trends emerge

Widens an expansive urge

Switching lanes has come too fast

Now forgetting all the past

Exit sign soon arises

Throwing off all disguises

Speeding in direction shown

Eager not to be alone

Holy Time

there is only here and now

and the once was and the soon to be

the should be, the could be, the might be

joined together, past, present, and future

blending into seamless time

beginning at the beginning

stretching off into the eternity

marching in a straight line

from time before all records were kept

pointing to time unknown

dropped in, snuggled in, squeezed in

human beings alter the universe

irrevocably

jumping barriers

leaping across boundaries

in pursuit of dreams

quests for an unholy grail

chasing illusive butterflies of chance

that change predetermined destinies

altering time forevermore

some keeping meticulous track

of minutes

days

months

years

while others intentionally forget the done

glossing over the finished

as if brushing off flies

for by shedding the past

the future lies

untarnished

unblemished

shining bright as the star that led

the Magi to Bethlehem

in search of

the One who would be

the only here and now

The Meaning of Christmas

the angels sang a lullaby

the night that Christ was born

in chorus of sweet harmony

they sang upon that morn

the Magi came from far and wide

to worship at His feet

they knelt and prayed right by His side

and vowed of Him to speak

the shepherds gasped in awe and fear

for Christ had come that day

to bring a message all must hear

before they fall astray

a star shone bright up in the sky

above His tiny head

and peace to all it seemed to cry

while He slept snug in bed

and so, dear friends, let us all fall

upon our knees and pray

for we must answer Christ’s call

rejoice in Him today

A Mighty Hand

A mighty hand reached to the earth

and fingered fractured soil so fine

that particles of dust, no worth,

trickled like lonely sands of time.

Tears trickled through a curtain torn

showering grace as before the fall.

With tiny steps, the world reborn

 trumpets in harmonious call.

New life springs forth with joyful cry

in clear and confidant voices.

As one all speak to beautify

their world of wondrous choices.

Rains poured upon the thirsty land

bringing relief from loneliness.

Blossoms burst forth upon demand

blanketing wanton carelessness.

No longer parched, the land doth give

joy-filled colors to open eyes,

and offers gifts so all may live

without sin and empty lies.

A mighty hand reached to the earth

and dug the enriched soil so fine

and sighed, for it had earned its worth,

erasing the mistakes of time.

Air

Precious air

Elixir of life

Sweetness inhaled

Through porous fibers

Seeping into the heart

Of evergreen forest

Blooming field

Star-blessed skies

Of mystery

Enlivening ideas

Spurring creativity

Accelerating motion

Vibrating thought

While in infancy

Yet morphing at

Incredulous speeds

When deprived of air,

We drown in our

Murky seas

Of misery

Swimming against the tide

Trying simply to stay afloat

Nose barely exposed

Drawing in the tiniest

Specks of air

Elixir of life

Precious air

Air

Many Long Years

My path wasn’t always paved with smooth stones.

The bumps and crags caused me to stumble,

To veer away from my God,

Thankfully not for long.

Life would be good for a while

I’d pass a difficult class,

Date a nice man

But then an obstacle would rise up

It’s not that I forgot how loving God could be,

Or that I lost faith in His love.

I’d get lost in my own drama

Thankfully not for long.

I’d forget to look up

And enjoy the blue sky above.

Be mesmerized by the clouds floating by

Instead, I’d plod along lost in my sadness

.

I thought I had no one to turn to.

No one who’d care if I bared my soul.

Not one single person who’d dry my tears.

Thankfully it didn’t last for long.

When my world fell apart, dragging me into the depths

I’d wallow in misery, tears washing my face,

Blocking my vision so completely

That no joy, no hope could penetrate.

But then something wonderful happened,

My husband-to-be entered my world

And everything changed.

Thankfully for a good, long time.

He was there to bolster me up when

Sadness weighed on my shoulders.

He was there when I felt incompetent,

Incapable of succeeding in whatever I chose to do.

He showed me the blue sky, the clouds drifting by.

He held my hand and made me feel loved.

Together we laughed and smiled.

Thankfully for a good, long time.

He brought God into my life.

Together we’d pray, attend Mass,

Take classes to be better parents.

Walk with me when the path got bumpy.

He changed my life in so many ways.

And still does, all these years later.

He’s shown me unconditional love.

Thankfully for a good, long time.