Courtesy

“May I help you?”
“Thank you.” “Please.”
“Beg your pardon.”
“Yes, I agree.”
A cheerful “Bless you” when I sneeze.
Courtesy is made of these.

“After you. Please, go ahead.”
“Won’t you sit and break some bread?”
Can’t read what’s inside your head, so
Some things better left unsaid.

Fair to you is fair to me,
The boon of reciprocity,
The bedrock of civility,
The heather’s breath upon the breeze.

Every heart craves sympathy
With soft indulgent chivalry,
The precursor to comity and
Laughable affability.

So, grace be kind and courteous
Replete with geniality,
And life be kind to bear in mind
That this is how it’s meant to be.

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Courage

Courage dwells not in the fight, for
The melee yields no vindication.
The truly brave will find a way
To mediate a situation fraught
With angst and argument,
A good old-fashioned donnybrook.
Tis in the pause he finds a cause
To contemplate a second look.

Comes a time when courage means
The acumen to walk away
When bellicose belligerence might
Seem the watchword of the day.
But lion’s roar and tiger’s teeth
Expire on the spit,
While prudence and discretion are
The archetype of true grit.

There is a grace in courage
To impede the inner fiend,
To rein the fire of unrest and
Capture dawning’s gleam.

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Cooperation

I will if you will if she will if he…
Life flows as it grows and
We find synergy.
But no one can know what
The answer should be til
The barrister files the defendant’s plea.

Can I depend on…?
Will you, or no?
Can we move forward?
Who’s running this show? Can
We find ample compromise apropos
And come to some fair remedy?

It matters for nothing who’s right, who is wrong,
Who has clout, who has leverage,
Who’s weak or who’s strong.
What matters, in truth, is how we get along
In deciding and guiding our destiny.

So, tell me, please, what can I do
To see it through til the race is run?
In symbiotic harmony
We can agree.
We can get this done.

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Consideration

The limits of respect and favor
Stretch unbounded on all sides,
Gameless, blameless, even shameless,
No one can intimidate the
Dauntless steed upon whose back
Consideration rides.
The simple truth of tact is
Far too valued to innumerate

Nothing wrong with looking inward
Where desire is overgrown,
But the sweet reality is knowing
We are not alone.

Every other has a need,
A passion and a dream
Furious to score the spotlight,
Desperate enough to scheme.

We are wise to sate the selfdom,
Gorge the goblin with respect.
In the end and in return
We get back more than we expect.

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Confidence

Children learn from tender years
About the little train that could
Who had to overcome some somber doubts
Before he understood
Determination, clear and simple,
Magnifies the likelihood of
Reaching cherished destinations
The way he always hoped he would.

Every arduous situation,
Every frown or cautious smile,
Every challenge to adventurousness
Becomes a test or trial.
And while the winsome winds of
Wisdom may not flow mile after mile,
The bold pluck of tenacity
Exceeds the need to reconcile.

There are times to back away,
To knuckle under in defense,
But passion and determination
Overcomes with confidence.

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Compassion

In a world where hearts are hardened
From the brine of stormy seas
Pounding with relentless fury,
Battered by the broad debris.
Hard to deal with sympathy
And feel the plight that others know
When every turn tends to confirm
We’re drowning in the undertow.

Praying for epiphany or
Maybe some grand miracle
Where we might be a giving tree
And feel magnanimous and full.
Even with the smallest gesture:
(Kinder discourse, simple smiles)
New directions break horizons
Stretching on for miles and miles.

Choirs of angels beckoning with
Softness purified by light from
Somewhere far beyond the spectrum
Known to ethnologic sight.
Sweet compassion, mercy forward,
Filled with tender clemency,
Feathered with the grace of kindness,
Underscored with empathy.

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Commitment

The world can be a frightful beast
With gnarled fangs and cuspate claws
That author pause, creating cause for
Hesitation to commit.

Decision this, selection that,
The oddest twist of tit for tat,
The sinking feeling of concern for
Premonitions of regret.

Fear invokes the perfect storm of
Doubt and indecisiveness,
Trails lined with divisiveness
Of baleful bane and benefit.

Cannot opt for second best
When mettle quickens to the test.
Make a choice, reject the rest
With no prerequisite.

There’s no need to please the masses.
Seize the moment ere it passes.
This may be the perfect fit
If fate is kind and you commit.

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Cleanliness

I cannot speak to Godliness, as
It’s never been my bailiwick.
If holy scripture was my sea
I’d wind up floating like a brick.

But cleanliness is something that,
As age advances, I embrace with
Open visage as a sign of
Elegance and humble grace.

The great unwashed may have their reasons,
Muck and mud may have a season, but
It seems barely short of treason
With soap and water near at hand.

Stop the crying, no more sighing,
Doesn’t take a lot of trying.
There is simply no denying,
No way to misunderstand.

Nasty has a time and place.
Grungy has its hour,
But when the dirty work is done
Be kind enough to bathe or shower.

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Caution

Danger walks on narrow paws. It
Prowls and stalks on quiet haunches,
Shadowing the tremulous and fearful
Masses to their peril.

Virgin corners wreak from watchful
Challenges of gut and grit
Putting mind and matter to the test
Against the fit and feral.

Little wonder caution speaks in
Measured whispers, “Warning, warning.
Take your time as you approach
This nameless path. Use extra care.”

Break the reckless roller coaster rush
That wants to bleed the bone by
Heading herald’s harbinger to
Sidestep hazard’s baited snare.

Choices seethe with consequences
Where the seas of fortune flow.
Caution, deftly contemplated
Helps avoid the undertow.

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Charity

Wedged between a smoky screen
Of muddled muck and clarity
Where choices wan to fits of pain
And hope grows cold and ashen.

No one wants to be the one
In need of parceled charity,
Even when the offer comes from
Kindness and compassion.

We are one when come undone
And standing in harm’s path
Where fate demands a helping hand
To assuage fiendish wrath.

Too often pride’s impediment
Stands staunch in firm embrace
Til charity is left to
Disappear without a single trace.

But when accepted as is given,
With humility,
She carries high her
Consequential banner of nobility.

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Caring

God will bless the caring soul
With treasures unexplainable
To those whose focus can extend
Beyond their own perimeter.

Expanding auras often offer
Fostering that otherwise might
Go unnoticed in a world
Ambiguous and immature.

In the tasking and the asking
Will we stop to lend a hand?
In the helter of the skelter
Shall we help our fellow man?

We take and shake an offered hand
Presented with sincerity,
Then fill our hearts with kindness
For the plight of all humanity.

Haste to attend a needing friend,
Give ear to his concern.
You never can be certain when
There’ll be a lesson to be learned.

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Bravery

I’d like to think that I am brave,
But in the ‘over all’ of things
I shudder as I stutter and I
Wonder just what I would do
If, when confronted with the dangers
Tribulation often brings,
I would rise to the occasion
Or melt into a mound of goo.

Face to face with fierce encounter
Might I find the fearless fervor
To resist the fancy of flight,
Stay my station, test my might.
Or do I quiver, shake and shiver
Ever hapless to deliver,
Fearful to rise to the height and
Do what I believe is right.

Mournful woe? Unnecessary.
No want for reckless rant or rue.
When time sings out for bravery
I’m sure I will do what I have to do.

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Benevolence

Ply me not with compensation
For any gift of charity.
I ask for nothing in return
But commonplace civility.

Many may, in many ways,
Begrudge blind generosity
With but one question to be answered:
“What’s in it for me?”

Benevolence begs no return,
No payment for its gracious favor.
All it needs are fronds of fondness
Bathed in altruistic flavor.

Kindness makes its own reward
To stroke congenial behavior.
Steadfast to the test of time
Its sweetness is a treat to savor.

The world may judge us with despair,
Devoid of human common sense,
But praise to he whose epilogue
Is one of pure benevolence.

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Assertiveness

Power is born from a fearless thirst
Of fierce combustibility
That must be sated at all cost,
But begs responsibility.

Must admit to overstepping,
Hardly taking time for prepping or
Thinking through before accepting
Sense and sensibility.

Vaulting forward in a rush of
Mad disquiet brushed and flushed
And pounded into paltry dust
Til all control is lost.

Wait! Back up and start again.
Consider what it takes to win
And keep your conscience as a friend,
All while pondering the cost.

Nothing wrong with taking charge;
Someone has to do it.
But ego oft gets in the way
And before you know the score…
You blew it.

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Accountability

Not my fault,
            Not your fault,
                        Not their fault,
Not our problem.

Yes, things happen. Understood.
Mixed results both bad and good.
Did we? Should I? Wish we could’ve
Made a better stratagem.

Owners need to take the knock,
Shouldn’t be a test of will.
Time for someone to step up to
Take control and foot the bill.

Prone to seek the easy out,
To hide behind convenient lies.
But lies are feeble to disguise
The truth echoed in guilty eyes.

Let me stand the reprimand,
Bear the blame for all to see.
Justice finds its best reward  
Linked with accountability.

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Best Friends

Bobby Lee and me
We grew up together.
We were always the best of friends.
Swore our kinship in blood,
Fought the world side by side
Never thinking our friendship would end.
Taught to love God and country;
They were worth fighting for.
So, we joined up together,
Headed off to war.
Made the best of all the worst times
And finally made it back home.

But through it all, 
No matter how hard the fall,
If we needed someone to lean on
We knew just who we could call,
One who’d be there til the end,
‘Cause we were best friends.

Carried each other through thick and thin.
Marched all the way through Hell
And made it back again.
Now I have to carry him one last time
And go it alone.
Ashes to ashes, back to Mother Earth.
Praying for angels to kindle rebirth,
Lost in the memory
As I carry him home.

But through it all, 
No matter how hard the fall,
If we needed someone to lean on
We knew just who we could call,
One who’d be there til the end,
‘Cause we were best friends.

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Horizons

I always check horizons
To see what lies ahead,
Trying hard to be prepared
Just like my Daddy said.
You can’t know the future
But the pathway can be clear.
Keep your eyes on the horizon,
Face tomorrow without fear.

You can let your guard down,
Let your worries take control,
Face the day with blinders,
Let the devil have your soul,
Or you can make your mind up
To control your destiny.
Keep your eyes on the horizon
And set your spirit free.

There may be trouble up ahead,
It seems to be that way.
Simple doubts that block the sun
And turn blue skies to gray.
But I don’t worry ‘cause I know
It will work out in the end.
I’ll keep my eyes on the horizon
Like a trusted, faithful friend.

You can let your guard down,
Let your worries take control,
Face the day with blinders,
Let the devil have your soul,
Or you can make your mind up
To control your destiny.
Keep your eyes on the horizon
And set your spirit free.

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Table for Two

I’d been dining so long at a table for one
From the first signs of daylight til way past the setting sun.
But my heart opened wide the day I met you.
Now the rest of our lives we can dine at
A table for two.

Small talk and wine
And the music so fine
As the lights fade to amber and blue.
Dessert will taste sweeter.
Everything’s better
At a table for two.

We were both standing and waiting alone in a crowd,
Silently wondering, but never saying out loud.
We took a chance on each other and our friendship grew.
Now we’ll spend the rest of our lives
At a table for two.

Small talk and wine
And the music so fine
As the lights fade to amber and blue.
Dessert will taste sweeter.
Everything’s better
At a table for two.

Made for each other, the fates have been kind.
I spend my days with nothing but you on my mind,
Cherishing every moment that I spend with you.
Waiting to get back and share
Our table for two.

Small talk and wine
And the music so fine
As the lights fade to amber and blue.
Dessert will taste sweeter.
Everything’s better
At a table for two. 

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Waiting Around

I’ve been waiting around for someone like you,
Someone who can lift me up
And make me feel brand new.
It makes me thank the man above
For the love that I’ve found,
Lets me know that it’s all worthwhile
Waiting around.

You travel many a circle looking for love,
Trying hard to discover
The one you’re dreaming of.
You kiss some frogs, you kiss some fools,
Sometimes you feel like a clown.
So you take all your wounded pride
And keep waiting around.

Blessings fall to the one who patiently waits;
The one who dares to take a chance
And leaves it all to fate.
When the one who was meant to be
Lifts you up off the ground,
Gives you joy that you never knew while you were
Waiting around.

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One Red Rose

They say sometimes less is more
When you’re trying to express
To the one that you adore
How she brings you happiness.
Your eyes tell me there’s no need for words
To tell you how the feeling grows.
A sip of wine, a single kiss
And one red rose.

A rose of passion,
A rose of trust,
Deep with emotion
With a touch of lust,
Filled with secrets
Only your heart knows.
I can say it all
With one red rose.

I used to think that to win at love
I had to give you lavish gifts,
Expensive jewelry, fancy clothes
Meant to make your spirits lift.
Now I see it’s the simple things
That let you know why my love grows,
Like the words of a sweet love song
And one red rose.

A rose of passion,
A rose of trust,
Deep with emotion
With a touch of lust,
Filled with secrets
Only your heart knows.
I can say it all
With one red rose.

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Makes Me Crazy

Makes me crazy.
Makes me cry.
Leaves me searching
For a reason why.
You left me without a single word,
Never said goodbye.
Is it any wonder loving you
Makes me crazy.

I never thought that this could happen
Even  in my wildest dreams.
Guess it only goes to show
Things aren’t always as they seem.
I was blind to your unhappiness
Cause you kept it all inside
Until the feeling that you used to have
For our love slowly died.

And it makes me crazy.
Makes me cry.
Leaves me searching
For a reason why.
You left me without a single word,
Never said goodbye.
Is it any wonder loving you
Makes me crazy.

I can only hope that you
Will somehow find a way,
Find forgiveness in your heart
And come back home to me someday.
I can’t even bear the thought
Of living without you.
It makes me crazy.
Can’t you feel it, too?

And it makes me crazy….

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The Box

It was so lovely,
The wrappings and ribbons,
A gift for no reason
Right out of the blue.
Inside the box,
My greatest possession,
A genuine token of My love for you.
It’s only a ring with one tiny diamond,
The one that my grandmother wore. 
I know that she’d want it to rest on your finger
To show the whole world you’re the one I adore.

You were so gentle unwrapping your treasure,
So patient in claiming your prize.
You opened the box, holding your breath,
I could see tears welling up in your eyes.
Then in an instant I’m down on one knee
Asking the question you knew.
You answered softly, without hesitation,
“Yes, Darling, I’ll marry you.”

A sweet precious memory from so long ago
And the years have been wondrous since then.
To think it all started with one tiny box
Makes me wish we could live it all over again.

It was so lovely,
The wrappings and ribbons,
A gift for no reason
Right out of the blue….

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Pray for Rain

Pray for rain
So no one sees these tears.
Hide the pain that’s been building up
For so many years.
Loose the chains around my heart 
As I slowly go insane, as you’re
Leaving me alone to pray for rain 

You didn’t even bat an eye
When you broke my heart in two.
You said it was over and
You found somebody new. 
I guess that I could argue, but
There’s nothing left to gain.
So I’ll just sit right here and wait
And pray for rain.

Someday I’ll get over you.
Someday I’ll move on,
Get used to being all alone and
Realize you’re really gone.
I may even find someone
To help me ease the pain.
Until then I’ll just sit
And pray for rain.

Pray for rain
So no one sees these tears.
Hide the pain that’s been building up
For so many years.
Loose the chains around my heart
As I slowly go insane, as you’re
Leaving me alone to pray for rain.

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Playing with Fire

It’s a game that we play with each other
Where silence can cover our eyes,
Where truth dwells in shadows, secrets abound,
And reality wears a disguise.
We both perform with no net below us
As we prance across the high wire.
Never a thought about our tragic ending,
We both know we’re playing with fire.

Playing with fire…
          The flames growing stronger.
Playing with fire…
          The song never ends.
Filled with desire
          And fueled by a hunger
Til the truth disappears in the wind
While we’re playing with fire.

Can’t say just when it all started,
When we began telling these lies.
But it’s left us both broken-hearted
With neither one taking the prize.
But that doesn’t stop us from singing,
Pleading our case to the choir,
But it doesn’t help because we both know
That we’re only playing with fire.

Playing with fire…
          The flames growing stronger.
Playing with fire…
          The song never ends.
Filled with desire
          And fueled by a hunger
Til the truth disappears in the wind
While we’re playing with fire.

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Run Away

After all this time together
I believe that we’re worth fighting for,
But you can’t stay to talk it out.
You just shut down and walk right out the door.
I tried so hard to make you see
The million-and-one reasons you should stay,
But your ears won’t listen to the truth,
You just take your foolish pride and run away.

You can run but you can’t hide
Because you know down deep inside
The simple truth that you and I are one.
We can’t change our destiny
Even though we don’t agree and
I say things that put you on the run.

I know you didn’t mean it when
You said you couldn’t take it anymore.
You’ll be back to work it out
Just like we did a hundred times before. 
But every time feels different
And every time I just hope and pray 
That it won’t be the last time
The next time that you up and run away.

You know I couldn’t help it
When I told you it was over,
It’s just a chess piece in this game we play.
But you’ve been gone so long this time
I can’t help but wonder
If this time is forever and a day,
And this time is the last time
That you run away.

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