I used to think
that oughts and shoulds
would hinder good –
that freedom to exert one’s will
was how one ought to go
to grow into the one
God has in mind.

But now that I am old
I think to temper freedom
is a good idea –
not to destroy it
but to constrain impulse enough
that one can honor
what other generations learned
that proved to work for them.

She said:
“Don’t tell anybody
but did you know…….?.”
Then she said to another;
“ Don’t tell anybody
but did you know…….?”
And then she said to still another:
“Don’t tell anybody
but did you know…….?”

The word got around the neighborhood
almost as fast as it would have
had there been electronics.

The fields are white
with Queen Anne’ Lace.
The fields that recently turned green
remind me of the last snow fall
back when we yearned  for spring.
The lace, once harbinger of summer
abounds this year
more than I’ve ever seen before.
I don’t know what has caused
this extreme display of beauty
and do not need to know
in order to enjoy.

When
you have done
something
to make one
glad
what you
have done
to accomplish
the transaction
is often
a greater gift
to you
than the one
you gave.

The kite was a poem
i launched into the sky
and I held it with a string of ink.
The kite danced to cadences
stirred by the wind –
and it looked beautiful up there –
so beautiful  I wished to pull it down
and share with you.
But the string broke
and the poem fluttered and fell down
and though I searched
I could not find it.

It is said that he recorded
his intercessory prayers
and when answered
he made note of them.
I admire
the clarity of his faith.

I’m uncertain
of what to ask for
and hesitate to claim
that my overtures to God
are heard.
Still I go at it
as I have for years
just because I must
and trust
it makes a difference.

It’s about the only food
that  is deemed acceptable to eat
by picking up the whole thing
and “going at it” with your teeth –
back and forth or round and round.
It is fun to eat –
fun to watch how others do it.

July may be launched by fireworks
but it is sustained by
corn on the cob.
And please
if you need to pick your teeth
following your enjoyment
do it as unseen as possible
otherwise it is unseemly.

I tried on pain the other day
and saw it didn’t fit right
upon my aging body.
I have some friends
who wear it pretty well –
they’re more tolerant than I.
I tried to smile
and made my lips curl up
but didn’t feel the smile.
I turned stoic
and grit my teeth
and  thought I’d not complain.
But soon my disposition
revealed my happy self
had  somehow disappeared.
So I will try to wait it out
and hope that time
will bring the matter to a close.
Should it not I’ll seek
some better strategies for coping.

From my recliner
I see them scrubbing
oil soaked birds.
The birds look like:
“What the hell is going on?”
as they endure
the ministrations
that will save them.
There are still
plenty of good folk
offering various kinds of healing
to our ravaged world.
I sit here and applaud
and sometimes write a check.

The telephone pole
that at one time
seemed intrusive
to the beauty of
the line of trees
that border on
our back yard boundary
has become virtually invisible
not because of
an act of nature
but because
our eyes have learned
to refuse to allow its shape
to deter our joy of seeing
the elegance of
our changing seasons.

How easy it is
to ignore
what we do not wish to see.