If My Song could Last Forever

Photo: Well Seasoned 1Hours into Seasons

There’s a sweetness in the morning when the sun has yet to rise

And the blooms lie, still unopened, under sleeping butterflies;

When the stars still wink and glimmer, while the frogs yet softly sing—

There’s a sweetness in the morning that is like the breath of Spring.Photo: Well Seasoned 2

There’s a graciousness at midday when, amid the racing streams,

All arise and put in motion yesterday’s profoundest dreams;

When the past its chains has loosened on the race of all alive,

That in joyful forward motion we, like Summer, grow and thrive.Photo: Well Seasoned 3

There’s a calm amid the evening when the birds come to the trees’

Respite from the day of flying, echoed by our evening ease;

When the cares of noon have lessened as the dusk swept into place—

There’s a calm amid the evening, peaceful as the Autumn’s grace.Photo: Well Seasoned 4

There’s a beauty to the nighttime, glorious and peaceful bliss,

Treasured for the kind renewal of the souls that rest in this

Cradling darkness and this languor, in this place of mending rest

That, like Winter’s dormant healing, lets us wake refreshed and blessed.Photo: Well Seasoned 5

I would take these hours’ presents as my guide through seasons long,

Through a lifelong path that’s pleasant as a choir’s finest song;

I would be a seasoned traveler, happy above everything,

If my song could last forever,

Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring.Photo: Well Seasoned 6

Communal Keeping

Digital Collage: What Light is ThisWhat Light

What gleaming and pellucid light is this

That dances from the darkness into view,

As gently kind and tender as a kiss,

Drawing the violet warmth out of the blue—

What is this gracious, guiding, welcome light

That, numinous, its blessing shines on me

And bids me then, so warmed and kindled bright,

In turn to shine? ‘Tis Hospitality.

What, then, the lantern lighted as we part

To guide and keep us as we wander on,

No longer cold and dark as at the start,

Though time find us all yet asunder, gone—

What is the lamp that makes each soul a sun

And lights the path to gather us anew

From ends of earth, that beckons everyone

Back home? It’s Love that lights the whole way through.

There’s comfort in the midst of darkest night

Where Love and Hospitality alight.

I am Moved

Photo: Where the Wind Takes MeTransportation

These days, a gentle breeze is quite enough to take me down,

to knock me senseless to the curb, to blow me out of town,

or out of countenance, at least—but if I am astute,

I’ll let the breezes blow and take me down a different route.

Why should I let a breath derail my happiness like wrath,

if I can take it in my sail and find a different path?Photo: The Winds Bend but Do Not Break Me

Seriously!

High Holy Hilarity

Those who learn to love with laughter

Will best live Happily Ever After.Digital artwork from a photo: Happily Ever Laughter

Cautionary Tale

Years ago our family lived near a wooded area where all of the kids in the neighborhood loved to explore and build forts and play, but the youngest among us wasn’t permitted to go there alone, for obvious reasons. The training was attested to by the little girl from next door who announced quite solemnly to my mom one day that her “mother always told [her] never to go into The Forest.” This little ditty is for Micki.

Don’t Go into the Forest

From long ago, our elders cautioned us

That in the wood there lurked a dreadful beast

Whose fangs were fiercely fine, and for whose feast

A hearty haunch of whole rhinoceros

Was scarce an appetizer, and the main

Entrée, a village full of soldiers, knights

And heroes snapped up, each, in single bites,

Made more delicious by their screams of pain.

Our fear of this stayed abstract, since the hurt

Inflicted, terrible enough, was made

For full-grown animals and men, which stayed

The doom from us—but then we learned dessert

Was Children, and we changed our minds, for good,

About the lure of wand’ring in the wood!Digital illustration: Child, Mother, Monster

My Opinion, and Welcome to It

Digital illustration: Tweeting in the Twentieth Century

Here’s a little something I’d Tweet if I had an actual Twitter account, because I’m quite sure the whole rest of the world *really* needs to know it.

Just My Opinion

While I pontificate and muse

On any topic I should choose,

You can’t be blamed for heading east

When I head west or, in the least,

For covering your weary ears—

Like any sentient who hears

Such foolishness as what I spout—

But don’t talk, too; I’ll just tune out.

Let’s Just Hug It Out

The Cuddlesome Kraken

You think that I’m all hands, my love,

Controlling, holding tightly so?

Don’t wriggle, struggle, push and shove;

This is the only way I know!Digital illustration: Cool Kraken

I love you, darling, s’truth I do,

So let’s just cut right to the chase—

Let me wrap all my arms ’round you—

Embrace, embrace, embrace, embrace!Digital illustration: Kraken is Warm for Your Form

Roaring through the Twenties

I didn’t plan it, but in an abstracted moment, something happened to me. I was noodling around with some bold geometric abstractions with a sweeping organic curve, and hey-presto, there arose another kind of imagery, organically if you will, from the illustrations I was making. Their loose, zingy energy immediately made me think of the Jazz Age, all youthful impatience and catchy rhythms—of skinny collegians with megaphones, top hats piled up in the cloakroom at a speakeasy, and slick-haired tenors piping from scratchy gramophones to lure heedless girls with pin-curled bobs out onto the dance floor. Pay no mind, as you read, to the nonsensical text and the slippery grammar—after all, the sort of brash youth I’m picturing would’ve been exhorting their mates with that madcap urgency that preceded the crash of ’29, probably with a cigarette holder wedged in the teeth, and possibly fueled by a G&T or two. If you can let go of your suspenders just long enough, jump on in and do the Charleston along with the rest of ’em.

Digital illustration: Jazz Age 1

Just A Little Jazz-ma-Tazz

When you feel yer feet a-tappin’ and your hands just get a-clappin’

Somethin’ grand’s about to happen:

Just a little jazz-ma-tazz—

If the week was long an’ weary and your eyes are gettin’ bleary,

Time to let it go, ma dearie,

With a little jazz-ma-tazz—

Take a sip o’ somethin’ chilly, knock yer elbows willy-nilly

And don’t worry if it’s silly,

‘Cause it’s only jazz-ma-tazz—

There’ll be time enough tomorrow for ol’ tiredness an’ sorrow;

If you’re empty you can borrow

Joy from jumpin’ jazz-ma-tazz—

So get up an’ quit yer waitin’ and yer heavy hesitatin’

And begin the celebratin’

With a little jazz-ma-tazz—

Get yer sleepy feet a-tappin’ and your hands awake an’ clappin’—

Somethin’ grand’s about to happen:

Spark a little jazz-ma-tazz!Digital illustration: Jazz Age 2Don’t forget to pick up your boater or cloche as you leave, and don’t blame me if your heels are howling in the mornin’.

 

Thirsty as Ever

Last week we were rained on rather thoroughly in Puerto Rico, but only in a welcome, friendly way. That’s how it gets, and stays, so verdant and rich—Rico—there, after all. Other than trying to steer clear of the biggest instant rivers in the roads, the only negative reaction I can say I had to the episode was one of longing for the same thing to happen just a little more often in Texas. Happily, there was a brief, modest rainfall today. But I’m feeling a little greedy, and hoping for more.
Photo: Thunderhead near San JuanSo Rain, Already

Something hanging in the air, like newly laundered sheets

Oppresses breath and dampens souls and irons out the streets;

Humidity flows, deep and wide, ’til birds transform to fish,

Swimming in air as thick as seas, until my fondest wish

Is that a seam should open up the center of the sky

And rain pour down, and I’ll feel, too, so happy I could cry.Photo: Thunderclouds over San Juan

Fear Not, I’m Entirely as Silly as I Seem

Digital illustrationMission Soon Accomplished

If I should seem suspicious or you think me too reserved

To let my hair down and relax; if I make you unnerved,

Don’t get all nervous and afraid–don’t fall apart and cry–

It’s not your fault that I’m this way: I’m not a super-spy.

There’s nothing wrong or worrisome that you should fear from me;

No problem, nor is there a thing that’s not as it should be–

Unless, of course, you would include on such a list of crimes

That I lie here in wait for you, reciting silly rhymes.

My mission, I confess to you, is simply to drive mad

Each person passing near enough to hear, however bad,

Each silly and ridiculous and impish bit of verse

I can dream up and spout at you; they go from bad to worse.

The only point in all of it, and you can rest assured,

Is that my secret will get out: I’m totally absurd.