THOUGHTS

Day and night they travel onward

Hour by hour as on parade ...

Some thoughts travel on to action

Some at home forever stayed ...

Some are languid passing onward

Leaving not a joy or pain ...

Transient as the smiles that greet us

Never to return again.

Thoughts can mar our souls

Forever blighting beauty from within ...

Sealing there our hearts forever

As in bondage so grim ...

Others soar to heights of glory
Wielding power that bringeth fame ...

Sweet the thoughts with flower's laden scented

As perfume they came ...

As ye think therefore ye liveth

Soar thou high above the rife ...

Feed thy soul with living beauty

For as ye think ye fashion life.

TO MARY

Your voice is silent, hushed in that deep sleep

But still-water, flowing

By the path we used to take,

In understanding music tells the things

That only you could say to me.

My surety of this is past all knowing.

My hand is empty ... wanting your dear touch,

But through the day

And most of all at sunset, one gold ray

Of light ... articulate

Reaches to clasp my all-too-wistful fingers

With loving caress.

The night beside me stands and stoops and lingers,

To tell me of your nearness.

Then sets the stars
That never have been there before your going

To guide my sleeping thoughts, seeking, forever seeking

Your too-missed, too-absent, dearness

IN THE ATTIC

I went up to the attic

One lonesome rainy day

For there on days such as this

My children used to play.

A swing tied to the rafters

And old board for a seat

And yonder stood a pair of shoes

Minus the little feet.

A doll in a doll cradle

A pencl and a pad

And on the pad was written -

"From David to my dear Dad."

A table in the corner

A hobby-horse and chair

And old couch in the shadow

Day-dreaming I sat there.

The darkness and the quiet

The patter of the rain

Soothed me to quiet slumber

Their laughter I heard again.

The clouds then stopped their weeping

Like mine their tears were spent

The sun shone on the roses

Whose bush the rain had bent.

A HAPPY THOUGHT

Have you ever noticed

How varied folks can be

How some are springs

And some are wells ...

And when it comes to me

I think that I'm a bit of both

A wellspring ... do you see?

For much that flows

From deep within

Comes bubbling out so free ...

Filling up each lovely day

As easy as can be

And where it all must come from

Is a mystery to me ...

But isn't it a happy thought

To stop and think a bit

That when we're simply being

We are blest by it!

ONCE I ENVIED

Once I envied the fishes

Their crystal halls of sea

And the lark its flight

Up heaven's height

Where I could never be.

I envied the sky its sunsets

The grass its dew of dawn

And the bee his secret shining hours

Beside the rose in her honeyed bowers

With crimson petals drawn.

But you have brought me sea and sky

Heart of flowers and dew

Though now all choices were offered me

I would choose of all to be

Lying here with you!

MORNING WALK

I couldn't take a walk today

For a dam broke in the sky

And flooded all creation

With rain-storms rushing by.

So I went to roam instead

Through meadows in the mind

And found forgotten flowers

On hillsides I once climbed.

Within there is a universe

As boundless as the one we see

Divine Mind, in us, infinite

Where, rain or fair, we wander free.

MOTHER

She put her eager hands about my life

And led me out into the bright new day ...

The clean, cool wind blew through my laughing hair

All wonder glowed upon my waiting face ...

She taught me how to love the great, tall things

We practiced how the robin tells his soul ...

She showed me how a rain-pool holds the world

How I could give a sunset-full of love!

A FRIEND LOVETH AT ALL TIMES

Though friends may make some errors

Sometimes not up to par ...

Their virtues still are many ...

So we love them as they are

We, too, oft fail to measure ...

To what we ought to be

We want our friends to love us

And give us loyalty ...

Allow for human frailty

Just stress whate'er is best ...

Then love will never falter

But meet true friendship's test!

THE GARDEN

The garden is a magic place

All full of scent and sound

Summer has enchanted it

And drawn a circle round.

The bees and hummingbirds have come

The air is filled with wings -

Finches, robins, larks and wrens

Here everybody sings!

The flowers are drenched with sun and rain

And they are singing, too

A symphony of color-blend

Beneath a cloak of blue.

At night the moon and the stars gleam down

The garden's fairyland

A world of fantasy and dreams

In summer's gentle hand.

IN THE END, A BEGINNING

I find the end of life may be
Far better than the start
I carry so much more of love
Within a grateful heart ~

I've learned a lot there was to learn
And though there is much more
I know the joy of learning now
As I could not before ~

I have compassion I had not
When I was very young
Friendships so meaningful to me
Echo like songs I've sung ~

I've coped with life and fear
And think I can survive
The tragedies and painful hours
That may yet some day arrive

But if I am granted the time
I have wisdom to try
And make myself more than I am
Before my time to die.

TO - MORROW

No need to worry for the to-morrow
Life will be what we make of it to-day ...
From this day's joy, I shall never borrow
To-morrow's need, I shall not have to pay ...
To-day is ours, just all we have to live
No other day we ever have to fear ...
To fill our lives with joy to-day, to give
For the to-morrow's need is never here.

I shall live to the fullest every day
From life's springs of joy, I shall always drink ...
I'll pluck life's flowers, and strew them o'er the way
For just to-day is all I need to think ...
And I shall always fill to-day with cheer
For we know --- to-morrow is never here!

MARRIAGE

Marriage is an instrument
designed to be played upon
by twenty fingers, and which
when tuned with delicate precision
by human love and empathy
is capable of exalting souls
and moving mountains; however
the music is composed by two artists
the songs are sung by two mouths
and the martial concert is directed
by two conductors
thus the longed-for-achievement
of perfect harmony demands
a deliberate and calculated
double self-sacrifice
that from this union of twothere may arise
perfect oneness.