PROMISES

What our love has done for us
I cannot even begin to speak
Without trembling ...
You and I have left a fading world
Smog-crushed
Power-crowded ... dust-spun
You and I have left this kind of world
For an infinite one ...
Spinning our circles of earth
And moon into galaxies
And hurling our lives into
Light years of reveries ...
I have only begun to envision
Our possible place
A someday miracle of eternal time
And space ...
Though it begins with such immediate smiles
Your eyes ... a leaf ... your lips on my cheek
Its promise is so boundless
Love ... I dare not speak.

MEMORABILIA

In years to come

There'll be no letters

Yellowed at the edge

To save for generations

Yet unborn ...

There'll be no diaries

Left for them to see

How great-grandfather spent his day

Or worked his way

On freighter ships

Across the seas ...

No love notes

Hidden in a secret drawer

Tied with a faded ribbon

To read again once more

Technology is close at hand

And we no longer understand

The pen ...

How deep the loss

Of all those yesterdays

With joy and sorrow

If they are all forgotten

By tomorrow.

INTO THE DISTANCE

When I curl myself
Into the far-away monuments of my mind
Built from long dark halls of yearning ...
Stretching into the high paths against the blue hills
Of learning ...
This is where I hold my dreams for myself to see ...
Of the far-away long-away mists of me
Moving into the distance
Myself walks
With the perfect poise of age and grace
Into the clouded mystery
Of eternal time
And space ...
Here are my hands reaching
And here is my heart groping
The summer sun and straw-flowered kiss ...
Share all of the dreaming caught in this
Great scope of memory
And all the far-away long-away misted hopes
Of what will be ...
Here is where I curl into myself and embrace
All of the harbored calm
Of eternal time
And space.
-----------------------------------------------------
This picture was taken on my last trip to San Francisco in Feb.

RAIN IS

Rain is for remembering

Its little voices fall

Soft as the memories

They recall ...

My mother used to say

"This is a hot cinnamom roll day"

I'd watch her strong hands shape each bun

And poke in raisins one by one

And soon their sweet spiced smell would stain

The kitchen window washed with rain ...

And then sometimes my father would say

"Let's take a walk this rainy day"

And we would set out hand in hand

Across the grey bedraggled land

We'd turn our faces to the skies

And let the rain fall on our eyes

And breathe in air all scented sweet

By rain-soaked grass beneath our feet ...

Rain is for remembering

Another spring

Another spring

SWEET MAGNOLIA (To Mama)

A sweet magnolia smell reminds me of you

Somewhat like a painting you once drew

Your ivory soft petals ... my heart ... they caress

As your soul went through me

When you were laid to rest

I call for you ... my magnolia friend

When life's path turns dark

Ivory soft petals comfort me ... my mama ... my heart!

INNOCENCE OF CHILDHOOD (To my beloved children!)

She toddles through the lush green grass

Upon her tippy toes

And falls upon her padded bottom

She giggles as she goes ...

A daisy chain begins to grow

Upon the field of green

She picks the daisies with her toes

And drops them in the stream ...

She tilts her head to gaze upon

A sky of azure blue

And dreams of dreams within the clouds

As only children do.

______________________________________________________

Photo courtesy of Lorraine at: http://wordsflowandstuffl.blogspot.com

Thank you, Lorraine!

A PEACEFUL DAY

The day is crowned with peace

I rejoice in this

And find myself at home.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear readers and friends, I am heading to the mountains tomorrow morning to meet some friends and go cross country skiing. I will return on Sunday. So, till I visit you again, take good care and be well. I wish you all much joy!

-Margie xo

I WILL NOT

I will not grow old gracefully

No! I never will!

I cannot wait for spring

To look for daffodil

I do not care at all

If I am gray or bent

But I will never while I live

Be spent

Oh I will ever strive

To have a young heart still

I will not grow old gracefully

No! I never will!

A WOMAN'S WAY

She wears her life's true love upon

Her breast - a gem - magnificent

And cherishes with all her heart

Its beauty and wonderment.

But also in some box she keeps

Bright colored beads she likes to own -

The light - the brief - the little loves

Of vanished girlhood she has known.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo courtesy of Lorraine at: http://coloursandstuffl.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much Lorraine, for sharing your wonderful photos with me!

MY HEART IS HIGH

My heart is high with meadow larks

My heart is winging hills

My heart is where the tallest trees

Touch heaven's window-sills

My heart is wide with rainbow fields

My heart draws rivers in

My heart is reaching stretching far

Where ocean shores begin

My heart is deep with daffodils

My heart has songs to sing

My heart is deep my heart is wide

My heart is high with spring.

WEATHER SPY

I have known the sting of winter

on the warmest day in June

Despite what the weather prophet

quoted from his chart

I have caught the scent of lilacs

in December - Now I know

That the season's

in the rhythm

of the beating

of my heart.

...............................................................................................................................

Photo courtesy: per orginal copyright at: www.cardensdesign.com/photography/nature.php

THE MIRACLE CHILD (Every New-Born)

Oh, that your eyes

May see the blue

Of skies

And you may know

The sound of rain

And hear the wind

Against the window-pane

Oh, that your heart

May feel the

Flying souls

Of flowers

Through the air

Blowing across

The hills and plains

Which like a prayer

Sink deep

Into the very soul

Of all things

Oh, Miracle-Child!

May your heart

And mind and soul

Soar upon

Inspiration's wings!

Towards God and Man

And Earth and Sky

Where holy kings

Have made the soul

A harp which sings!

CAN'T YOU HEAR ME CALLING?

Press your tender lips to the passing breeze

and feel my kiss

Catch a falling drying leaf

and hold my hand

Look to the sky full of clouds

and see my eyes

Dip your loving fingers in winter's stream

and touch my tear-soaked cheek

Watch fall giving way to winter

and know how I long for you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Heading to San Francisco on Feb. 14th and will be gone for a week.

I won't be posting again till Feb. 22nd.

Wishing all that celebrate Valentine's day a day full of love and joy!

Take care dear readers ... I shall miss you while I am gone!

-Margie xo

GARNERED

If I should know that death will come for me
Before another summer's blossoms shed
With witchery of purple, blue, and red
Their sudden beauty's spell on bush and tree
If I should know that I shall never see
The radiance by a summer rainbow shed
I would not have you grieve when I am dead
Believing me denied such luxury ...

For I have loved this fleeting life so well
Its color, fragrance, joys of night and day
So conscious have been of every leaf that fell
Responsive to each birdsong of its May
That I have stored rich memories to be
My dream of life through all eternity ...

OLD THINGS

I love old things

Weather-beaten houses with moss-grown roofs

Where memories of generations cling

Old china fragile as the lily hands

That painted blossoms on it long ago

Brasses from those dimly lighted shops

Where skull-capped ancients peddled hammered ware ...

Old books where scattered margin notes

Are indices to histories never told

Old people who have aged like ivory

Made beautiful by time's poetic touch

Old loves that remember music

Are sweeter as their memory grows old

And pictures on whose colors time has laid

A hand that tempers them to golden tones ...

SNOW

The snow is so beautiful, God

it turns the marsh grass

into plumed scepters ...

bends the pine low

frosts the hedge

the sky is the color of the inside of a shell ...

a lone duck flies by

with a sense of urgency

ice floes drift on a pewter sea ...

and new snow falls

silently

oh, God, how can I bear to die

and leave your lovely earth?

WINGED

I held a part of Heaven in my hand today

Because I climbed a shining hill

(You of the valley will not understand

But if you've lived on mountain-tops you will)

No mortal stature ever reached so high

But I was all there is of earth and space

Because I climbed a hill and touched the sky

And felt its blueness on my lifted face

I was a God-child with new wings to wear

New wings so wide their feathers brushed the dawn

They silvered all of everything: the air

I breathed ... the living ground I stood upon

How dark the world! How dull all worldly things!

Today I wore an angel's lilting wings!

WHEN YOU ARE NEAR

The peace

that comes

when you are near

pleases and eases the soul.

TREES

You cannot know the loveliness of trees

Who say, "How beautiful!" and pass them by

Not knowing the great comradeship of these

Most noble presences of earth and sky ...

You must have lain beneath their arms at dark

Breathed in their fragrance with the morning air

Felt living coolness underneath their bark

And shared their stillness as an hour of prayer.

HAPPINESS

I hate to let go of a day

even though it is quite outworn and thin

and dusk is creeping, cool and shadowy

through the widening seams ...

Tomorrow I will gladly face the welcome task

of breaking in a new day

shaping it to me

stretching the narrow hours

to cover the length of my happiness

the breadth of my sorrow ...

But now, I hate to let go of the old day

so completely my size

and so threadbare that I can scarcely hold it together

another moment!

But familiar

and so very comfortable ...

THE OLD MAN

While the roses were blooming

And the grass was green

My old friend died

In a place unseen ...

He was getting on in years

He was eighty-three

A man of truth and wisdom

As hard as the old oak tree ...

His friends were the animals

He used to watch them play

And those animals were there

The day he passed away ...

In the middle of the meadow

Near the tree line end

The old man sat down to think

But he never got up again ...

Now our friend is gone

And as I walk by

I see the look of sorrow

And a tear in every eye!

UNDERSTANDING

When I see a red bird

Perched upon a tree

In a bleak December

Singing lustily

I won't say it's happy

Though its song seems so

For I sing, too, on dark days

And I ought to know ...

Know when words ring gaily out

To a listening throng

There may be a sad note

Threading through that song

Or a heart be broken

Though a laugh is heard

So it is with tenderness

I salute the bird.

DADDY

Daddy, let's go for a walk

Daddy, kiss me good night

Daddy, read me a bedtime story

Daddy, sing me a lullaby

Daddy, I'm going to school now

Daddy, I fell down

Daddy, help me up

Daddy, did you know how much I love you?

Daddy, please don't die

Daddy, don't leave me ...

Daddy ...

... Good-bye ...

-----------------------------------------------

My daddy died in 1974, I miss him so!

MY MOTHER'S HANDS

My mother's hands
that held her belly tight
waiting for the day
with love like golden light.

My mother's hands
the day I was born
that held me to her breast
though her body was worn and torn ...

My mother's hands
that kept me safe at night
took away all the nightmares
and soothed away the fright ...

My mother's hands
that washed away the pain
my tears were her tears
like drops of salty rain ...

My mother's hands
like God's hands above
will forever protect me
with their soft and gentle love!

---------------------------------------------
My mom died in 1998 but I always feel her love for me!
She is so close in spirit!

IN MEMORIAM

The shadow by my side

is gone

the warm nose resting on my knee .

My fur-ruffed friend

who met me by the door

followed me from room to room

and floor to floor.

We dwelled together

on that rare-found plain

where animals and people

are as one

he was as much a member

of the human race

as our family that he'd loved

since he was young.

A bond between us

woven close of love

happiness and sorrow will survive.

And may we meet

someday beyond this life

where dogs die much too soon

and leave their masters

still alive.

-------------------------------------------------

Sammy, who is in the picture, died in 2005, he is missed dearly!

A WIDE BED

A warm back in a wide bed

while heavy snow through the silent woods

has curtained off the smallest sounds

beyond the dark ...

A light caress in a warm bed

while winter wind with a low laugh

invites the trees in their downy dress

to share a dance ...

The length of you and a deep love

while snow, wind and a winter night

are locked outside beyond the warmth

of a wide bed.

BEAUTIFUL FRAIL THINGS

I have drunk joy today
I have mastered fate
I have known what it is
To conquer and create ...

Sometimes I ask myself
After days like this
"Have I no longer need
of his kiss?"

But when I see tired eyes
Quickened with light
As a lover's footstep
Sounds through the night ...

Or when I hear a little child
Laughing alone
Telling what it might be
When it is grown ...

Then I no longer doubt
That my love must be
Beautiful frail things
Have need of me!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's been so long since I have posted or visited any of my special blogger friends. (So sorry!)

I have not forgotten any of you and came on today to wish all of you a most Wonderful New Year!

I hope 2010 brings each one of you many blessings and much joy!

I miss all of you!

I will return but just do not know when as I am still not feeling quite up to par!

The picture I've posted here was taken at Thanksgiving when my family was in Vegas.

We had a wonderful time there!

Well, I must go as I want to get out and enjoy this beautiful Colorado day!

Take care my friends and enjoy each and every moment of your life!

~Love and light~

Margie

NEED TO TAKE A BREAK ... DR'S ORDERS!

Hello to all you special people that visit my blog!
I will be taking a break from blogging.
I saw my Dr. yesterday and was diagnosed with tendonitis.
It is very painful and I have it in both arms.
I'm wearing braces and taking an anti-inflammatory medication.
Dr's orders include staying off the computer for a few weeks.

So no blogging or visting anyone for a while.
I'll so miss all of you wonderful people as visting you is a bright spot in my day!
But I must get this tendonitis under control!
I do not want to have to do PT as I am now doing on my knee.

So, till we meet again, I send you all wishes for love, peace & joy!
Oh, I'll try my very best to visit your blogs today ... one last time before I go.

I so hope I can get back here before too long.
I shall miss you all!

Blessings!

Margie
XO

DEBT

Talk not of gratitude

Nor think you owe me gold

A flower perhaps or a song

But the debt incurred is old.

Old as you and older

For, child, before your birth

When I felt the quicken in me

I portook of sky and earth!

Your birth was a storm that passed

You a plant that grew

I was rain and sun and soil

I was God and earth to you!

I was summer and winter and autumn

I knew fear and joy and peace

Forever I will be your debtor

Let talk of gratitude cease.

Go forth, my child, unfettered

I am your mother but now also your friend

Wishing you well forever

But owing you till the end!

WEALTH

What can wealth give that I have not?

The air I breathe, the heavens blue

The sunshine bright, the stars at night

Three meals a day and health anew

Loyal friends and neighbors true

The joy to live, to work, to roam

A place to rest and call it home

What need I more that wealth can give

When life is love and love is to live!

WALK IN THE RAIN

Now I shall walk in the rain . . . the friendly rain.
Down a long road until I find a lane
That leads through pastures to the ocean's shore.
Drinking the strength of earth through every pore.
Feeling the glad response of growing things
Hearing the muted hymn that Nature sings
When rain, the friendly rain brings to the earth
Song and a hope renewed and gentle mirth.
The grass takes on a lacquer of new green
While myriads of toad-stools dot the scene
Like exclamation points. Small brooklets spill
In waterfalls and rapids down each hill.
The world is glad again ... and so am I.
The rain beats on my face. I feel the dry
Parched skin relax to loose a gleeful smile
As I trudge on through slushy mile on mile.
I splash in mud and water to my knees
In reclkess pleasure. Wait! Is that a sneeze?
Good gosh! Great Scott! Oh, I say hab you
Ad aspirid? Sniff. Sniff. Ka-choo. Ka-CHOOOOOO!

MONARCH DAYS (For my parents who always encouraged me to dream!)

When I was six

Summers were made of

Fireflies and dandelions

And trading mud pies was a priority

With Tommy next door ...

We'd wish for sunny days

And chocolate ice cream

With sprinklers

He was my best friend

Each morning we would begin

A new adventure ...

Our pockets full of plums and crickets

Selling my father's tomatoes

In the driveway ...

I picked raspberries on Thursdays

And ran barefoot through dreams

That seemed a million miles away

And now I know ...

That it was the right thing

To let the lightning bugs go free.

AN OLD PRAYER AND A NEW ONE

Long ago I made a prayer

"Let me keep wonder in my heart."

I pray now ..."Let me be aware

To know and love a thousandth part

Of all the wonders of each hour

The pageantry of every day

To use each sense and super-sense

To contact life in such a way

That I may see a simple flower

And know its color, shape and scent

As though I were a part of it

And feel the Ultimate Intent

That forms each small exquisite part

To serve its small important place

To see a golden pollen grain

Or planet circling through space

And know that each in its own way

Is part of such a vast design

That human mind can never grasp

The whole of it nor trace the line

That leads the seeking human heart

Along the hidden purposed course

Oh, may I walk with perfect trust

The path that leads me to the Source."

I hold this wonder in my heart

And try each hour to be aware

To give my thanks and live my thanks

Articulate in act and prayer.

EVERY DAY

Every day is set apart
From other days
A jewel some remembering heart
May always keep.

Bargained for with care and bought
With reckoning
Borrowed out of time or caught
Upon the wing.

Battled for and dearly won
Given or lent
Freely lived from sun to sun
Freely spent.

Every day is for some heart
A day of days
A jewel life has set apart
To shine always.

FOR MY MOTHER'S EYES

Do you know how much
I am thinking of you, Mother mine?
How much I've longed to be there with you?
Do mothers' eyes have special pow'rs to
see between each line
and read their children's hearts?
I think they do.
Because the aching tenderness for you
that fills my breast
my gratefulness that God let me go
to you of all the mothers in the world
can't be expressed in words
at least not in any that I know.
Unless, invisible to all
except a mother's gaze
a halo loaned to them some way
and even then I don't know
how I dare attempt to coin
a pristine phrase
to rearrange the same old words again.
But, Mother, God has used the same
ingredients for years
and yet how diff'rent is
each newborn child
and from the same old formula
of joy and tears
a brand new life is suddenly compiled.
So, Mom, because I'm part of you
perhaps your eyes can see
a newer, deeper meaning
when I say
how proud I am of you
proud in profound humility
because you're mine
on this and ev'ry day.
__________________________________
My Mom died in 1998 but she is always in my heart!

BALANCE

Sometimes I write of streams, of forests green

of flowers on hills that still are home to me

I grieve at changes that have come to be

buildings and crowds where once

the snow lay clean ...

Yet would that land have seemed

so fair back then ...

if I'd been there without a horse to ride

without a dog to serve and guide?

How beautiful is home without a Friend?

Yes, I've faced sadness as each Friend passed on

I could have wept less if I hadn't cared

to hear a purr, to scratch a dog's warm ears ...

They walk carefree and fast who walk alone ...

Yet, thinking of the Best Friends who have shared

my life, I know the joy outweighed the tears.

IN QUIET REFLECTION

I don't suppose that anything I write
Will shake the world or change it overnight ...
But then that's true for most of us, it seems ...
We think great thoughts and cherish noble dreams ...
Of how to overcome all want and strife ...
And wish for everyone a good life ...
However, it could be that in these few lines ...
There might be here and there some pleasant signs ...
That life reflects our efforts and intent ...
In love and tears and awe and wonderment ...
But usually I'd think it quite worthwhile ...
If words of mine would bring a smile ...
Or even now and then have someone see ...
The wonderment of life - along with me.

I am a woman
yet my heart awaits the night
singing like a girl's ...

PATTERNS

Of all the fathers I recall

mine had to be the best of all ...

I loved to feel his hands in mine ...

when we washed up at supper time ...
and later, when we went upstairs ...

I wanted him to hear my prayers ...

He was the one to dim the light ...

when I said my last good-night.

And mother - being special too

quite understood my point of view ...

She knew that time brings changes and ...

would, one day, disengage my hand ...

from his, so I could then be free ...

to look for someone just for me ...

My choice (I know it made her glad)

turned out to be a lot like dad.

AUTUMN FESTIVAL

These friendly hills are now attired

To dance to tunes by winds inspired

Each golden tree will swing and sway

With oakbrush dressed another way

Confetti leaves will fill the air

Ripe apples will be royal fare

The harvest moon will shed its light

So dancing can go on all night.

But when the festival is through

The friendly hills find rest is due

And so in ermine robes they keep

A rendevous with healing sleep.

FOR A YOUNG DAUGHTER

You who love all little things
A humming bird with shiny wings
A violet, a blade of grass
Whispering when at dusk You pass
You who love each little note
Lilting from a young bird's throat
Who put into the sky at night
Tiny bits of golden light
Called stars, and in the sky by day
Wisps of clouds; to You I pray
Watch over her! I would not dare
Call your attention to this small prayer
But oh, she is so very small
You might not notice her at all!
___________________________________
I wrote this poem when my daughter was a little girl ... she just recently got married ...