Mountain Top

From a distance I see only majesty

In your demeanor,

Standing tall and proud,

Unflinching, watching over your domain.

 

You sport a soft nightcap of white

As if the night was stilled forever,

Sleeping giant hushed in stillness,

Nothing to explain.

 

Offering a simple challenge to

The village folk below:

“Who will dare ascend my walls to

View what only I can see?”

 

Few will try and few succeed and

Fewer still will ever know

The meaning of fulfillment

Of your bold hyperbole.

 

Eons in the making

Climbing boldly through the clouds,

The mountain rest in stately pride

And looks down on the crowds.

 

To the Core

People will be people,

Some you loathe,

Some you adore.

Some are saintly, some are sinners,

Others rotten to the core.

 

When the world has knocked you over and

You’ve been dragged across the floor,

Find your feet,

Raise your head up high

And walk right out the door.

You don’t need to be a part of all

The grit and grime and gore

So, spread your wings

As your heart light sings

And let your spirits soar.

 

Travel to a time and place

You’ve never, ever been before

So you won’t have to deal with people

Who are rotten to the core.

 

North-South-East-West

Go west, young one, to

Seek your fortune

In lands of opportunity.

There was a time when this was true,

And many joined the jamboree

As shifting borders grew the realm

To manifest its destiny.

 

But the sun lives in the east

To greet the day,

To wake the beast

So all may shed the cloak of darkness

To earn their place

And share the feast.

 

Travel north into the tundra,

To the land of frozen waste where

Life is hard and death is harder

And directions can’t be traced,

Where souls of hearty constitution

Choose a life to be embraced.

 

In the life of southern comfort

Where the seasons change in kind,

Time to savor every season

As the calendars unwind.

No directions, no decisions,

Only rest and peace of mind.

Music, Music, Save My Soul

Music has the power to

Inspire the very soul.

In the deepest, darkest hour

It can be a saving hand to hold.

Lifting up and moving onward

With a new resolve,

No obstacle impossible,

No problem that’s too big to solve.

 

Whether you like Rock of Pop

Or Folk, Hip Hop or Blues,

Country, Jazz or Heavy Metal,

Anything you choose.

Classical, Soul, Alternative Rock,

Punk or Funk or Indie,

Disco, K-Pop, J-Pop, New Age,

Latino or Hindi.

Gospel, Grunge or Showtunes,

Classic Rock, Rhythm and Blues,

Reggae, New Wave, Techno, Celtic,

There’s no way to lose.

Some you love. Some you may hate.

Some you may not even know.

Let it be my medicine.

Music! Music, save my soul.

 

Wishes

Wishes are butterflies

Fluttering about

On magical wings, darting in, shifting out

From flower to flower,

Bloom to bloom,

Chasing the daylight,

Banishing gloom.

 

Candles on birthday cakes

Mark the occasion, a

Noble tradition in

Life’s celebration.

Blow them all out and

Your wish will come true

As if it be a miracle

Out of the blue.

 

We all have wishes.

We all have dreams.

We all have plans, plots,

Projects and schemes.

But it takes dedication

And a staid attitude

To make, in the end,

All your wishes come true.

Reasons

We may never know the reason

We were placed here on this globe

Regardless of the seasons we

Persistently prattle, prod and probe.

 

It took millions, perhaps even billions

Of years to get where we are today.

And it may be millions of billions more

Before this experiment all goes away.

 

Life is a mystery and there is no doubt

We’ll spend our days trying to

Figure it out.

But even though doubts and

Perplexities grow,

There’s really just one thing that

We need to know.

We have been given a wonderful prize,

And all becomes clear if

We open our eyes.

The reason of reasons,

So easy to see,

Is to cherish each other

And simply just be.

 

Why Me?

Dealing with a plethora of

Calculated maladies

Throughout a wilted lifetime

Folding wearily to close.

Wondering without wonder

How I earned this wretched bed of fleas

With a never-ending feckless cast

Of miseries and woes.

Why me?

Gall stones, kidney stones, arthritis attacks my bones.

Degenerating vertebrae with bulging discs

That slip this way and that

Sending shards of pain down the leg

Back to my brain.

Pressing on sciatic nerves

Much more pain than one deserves.

Pressing stenosis in my spine

Adds misery to my storyline.

Pancreatic inflammation,,

The most pain in all creation.

Diabetes, such a curse, puts my diet in reverse.

Basal cancers on my skin,

Cut it off. It’s back again.

Raging eczema running amuck, 

More ruddy red than a firetruck.

But of the issues I have faced

I save the worst for last.

Of all these miseries I profess,

Shingles really kicked my ass.

Why me?

Whispering Into the Wind

So much love can be amassed when

Whispering into the wind

When it learns our joyful ode and

Serenades it back again.

 

Every thought,

Every secret known

To us and us alone

Softly echoes in the distance

Spawning sun-sweet pheromones.

 

Bemused in mellow meditation’s

Calm cocoon of conscious belief

The whispers swell to urgency

Then settle in refined relief.

 

To hold the wind in warm embrace,

To breathe full-circle mindfully,

To know that now is all we have

And now is all we ever need.

 

Peaceful zephyrs calling softly

Landing lightly on my skin,

Listen to my fervent prayer

As I whisper in the wind.

 

To the Moon… and More

I grew up in a simpler time

When thoughts of walking on the moon

Was nothing more than fantasy,

Unlikely if not ludicrous.

 

Not to say that dreamers failed to

Picture possibilities,

But current thinking back then

Made discussion seem superfluous.

 

Of course, we all know how the

Swift scenario developed

In a decade furious with change

And challenges and competition.

 

Suddenly, the scene that seemed unreal

Unfolded step by step

Until the day in ’69 when

It all came to fruition.

 

Looking back and looking forward,

Looking past what looks are for,

Moving out through time and space,

Reaching for the moon,,,

And more.

 

Stop the Madness

The world is spinning out of control

Like a pinwheel in a blustery breeze,

Where gravity is just a notion

That can be rebuffed with idle ease.

 

Suffer all the throes of madness

When reality is rejected

Leaving tyrants and buffoons to

Trounce upon the unprotected.

 

Empty fools reflect in folly

Unperturbed, slightly amused.

Happy just to watch the fireworks,

Gratified to light the fuse.

 

When the world is too much with us

And the chains proclaim their weight,

When all common-sense deserts us

And the enemy storms the gate,

 

That is when we stand together

Shouting in a single voice

“This is where the madness ends.

This is where we make our choice.”

 

 

Teamwork

Trying hard to pull the weight expected

To achieve success.

Logging so much more than time

And effort than I bargained for.

 

Keenly knowing that solutions

Will more likely be addressed

Through symbiotic partnership

In teams of two or ten or more.

 

There is something satisfying

Working well within a troupe

Of dedicated and like-minded

members with a lofty aim.

 

Pressing forward with each hero

Soldiering within the whole.

Supporting, bolstering the mission,

Moving toward the chosen goal.

 

In the great, grand scheme of things

When searching for a dream,

Goals are much more likely

To be reached when working as a team.

 

Too Much Bluster

Everybody knows somebody

Furnished with the gift of gab,

Whose ceaseless stream of consciousness

Is game for every ear in range.

 

At first you listen patiently,

Even though it’s dull and drab,

Even though there is very little

Information to exchange.

 

Soon you come to realize this

Loose one-sided banter

Is nothing more than bluster

Without purpose or remorse.

 

You wonder, “Should I walk away?

Would it be rude?” No.

That’s no answer.

So, you stand with arms akimbo

Til the ranting runs its course.

 

Cannot give it too much weight

Because at end of day

When the bluster loses luster

It will simply fade away.

 

Wolf Cry

Is there anything more mournful

Than the woeful cry of a lonely wolf

Perched upon the hilltop

Breathing missives to his loyal pack.

 

Doubtful his initial plaintive howl

Is going to be enough,

Repeat, repeat, repeat again

Until the answer echoes back.

 

Bring the coven back together

In their commonality.

Strength in numbers,

Deadly forecast,

One mindset where all agree.

 

On the prowl with silent footfalls,

Swift the pathway moves aside.

Senses keen in search of quarry.

Woe to all in their domain.

 

Those who tempt their fickle fate

Discover there’s no place to hide,

And in the end the wolf cry

Is the only thing that will remain.

 

Energy

Energy is everything and

Everything is energy.

Wind and water, lightning bolts,

The sun, the stars and galaxies.

Held in place, in the control of

Forces that we cannot see.

Theories of creation cloaked

In shrouds of muddled mystery.

 

Waking every morning,

Yawning, stretching out to

Greet the day.

Searching for the sustenance,

The energy to work and play.

Provender to fuel the flames,

A bountiful buffet,

Granting everything that we may need

Along the way.

 

Yes, it’s hard to comprehend

The sources on which we depend.

To know where energy begins,

To sore predict where it may end.

 

Less is More

Simplicity is an awesome concept

Bordering on the incredible.

Boiling the broth to a fever pitch

Makes the renderings temptingly edible.

 

A flood of good wishes on birthdays and holidays,

A plethora of accolades,

But what of that one-on-one

Time with that special one

Spent at the end of the day.

 

Too many cooks, they say, can spoil the pot,

And “too many chiefs” cannot lead.

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?

Are there ever too many good deeds?

 

Sometimes there are so many choices to make

That it seems an impossible chore.

You stir it around

Til the numbers boil down

And you realize, yes,

Less is more.

 

 

Predator

It creeps. It crawls.

It leaps and brawls.

It keeps its claws

Razor honed.

In stealth it walks

Without a squawk

With heart as hardened as a stone.

 

Beware the ruthless predator

Who kills without remorse.

Whose only instinct is survival,

Only tool is brutal force.

 

Do not dare present a frailty

Else you chance reveal a flaw

That he can use to his advantage

And slash you with his massive paw.

 

When the night is cold and dank

And you walk the streets alone,

Beware the loathsome predator

Whose scruples are unknown.

 

One Day

I wake up every morn

And it’s today; just one day.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way,

So, here I’ll stay.

While some may freak and try to run away (far away),

I just can’t wait to get things underway.

 

I’ll never see this wonderous day again,

This one day.

I’ll treat it like an old and trusted friend

Come what may.

And though it may be fleeting like the wind

I won’t ask it where it’s going,

I won’t ask it where it’s been.

 

So, if you have a chance to celebrate

Just one day

Invite yourself to frolic, romp and play

For just that day.

No matter what good etiquette might say

You can really have it all

For just one day.

 

 

Sing

I have always loved to sing

Ever since my tender youth.

But good fortune did not bless

My vocal cords, if I must tell the truth.

 

Though my voice might creak and crackle

And my pitch could stand a tweak,

And my throat be filled with gravel,

And my breath wearied and weak,

I will lift it ever upward,

So, let listeners ears beware.

Where my dulcet bellowing should land

I truly do not care.

 

All I really mean to say,

The news I am trying to convey,

If feeling happy is your thing

Just open up your mouth and sing.

 

Forever

Some think it clever

To think of forever

As something that never

Shall come into play.

 

But every endeavor

Defers to discover

Forever is ever

A heartbeat away.

 

Every story embodies three parts:

A beginning, a middle, an end.

Lost in a rhythmic void circling about,

To begin all over again.

 

Some think it fantasy

Drifting an endless sea.

Others may disagree with proper doubt.

How can we ever know

Where this forever goes?

God, grant us wisdom to

Figure it out.

 

A Universal Truth

Looking for purpose.

Looking for proof.

Seeking the one universal truth

To unlock the mysteries

Hiding in histories of

Ill-fated fantasies

Wasted in youth.

 

Gazing with wonderment

Into the firmament,

Into the endlessness

No eyes can see.

So much unknown

And not one thing is permanent,

Nothing holds fast through

The vast galaxies.

 

So, why are we caught

In this brief span of time?

And why should we care for our brother?

The one pure truth in the whole universe:

We were put here to love one another.