HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEW YEAR'S EVE

I have always felt a little lucky for all the blessings I’ve received

Not the least is having my birthday fall on New Year’s Eve.

When I was young I was astonished to think everyone on Earth

Would come together with friends and family just to celebrate of my birth.

Even perfect strangers would meet in places like Times Square

To watch a ball drop, kiss each other, then throw confetti in the air.

Of course I now know that kind of thinking was a bit deluded

Because all the partying and confetti comes once my birthday’s been concluded.

Yes, it seems all those people who gather, all those strangers, all my friends

Are not happy that my birthday’s here, their happy when it ends.

By then it was too late, however, for I knew by fate I had been kissed

And now I see the world through the eyes of an eternal optimist.

I guess that’s why when Deborah asks about a gift, when she finally inquires

My answer is the same each year...I have everything I desire.

I have a wife whom I love and who will love me till the end

I was lucky when I married Deborah to have married my best friend.

I have children who I’ve seen grow up and now that I’m old and grayed

They are happy and still love me in spite of mistakes I’ve made.

I have grandchildren who ever since they were tiny, little blokes

Have loved me and, more important, still laugh at all my jokes.

OK, it’s possible over the years their laughter has turned to moans

But a Pop Pop only hears the laughter where other’s hear the groans.

I have been very lucky, yes truly blessed indeed

For life has set before me everything I’ll ever need.

That’s why when Deborah asks, I’m not being nonchalant

What can I possibly need when I have everything I want?

A birthday is like a new beginning and time again to realize

That everything we will ever need is right before our eyes.

I think there are many people who already know this, at least that’s what I believe

Perhaps that’s why everyone celebrates my birthday, New Years Eve.

GOOD LUCK IN 2014

To ensure that luck will come our way it seems there’s nothing we won’t do

We’ll carry a rabbit’s foot, cross our fingers or hang an old horseshoe.

Not only do we hang it but to show we know what its luck is all about

We hang the darn thing pointing up so the luck will not run out!

How do these superstitions form? It’s really not to hard to see,

As so many other things in life...blame it on the family.

When I think back to my childhood one superstition I hold dear

Is the odd but appealing way we greeted each new year.

At the first stroke of midnight New Year’s Eve, seconds before the Happy New Year shout

We’d open up the back door and let all the bad luck out.

Once all the bad luck exited, at least as far as we were concerned

We’d quickly shut the door so it could not return.

Then before the clock struck midnight we’d run to the front door in a blur,

And open it to welcome the New Year and any good luck accompanying her.

When I grew older and wiser(?) I wondered what we were doing this for

After all couldn’t the bad luck just run around and return through our front door?

In moments of practicality I believed this is just what would ensue.

I mean think about it, if it were truly bad, isn’t that just what it would do?

When I grew even older and wiser I overcame my misguided suspicion

And I began to comprehend the whole point of this tradition.

The point is not to ensure only good luck will appear

The point is to renew our hopes and dreams as we welcome the new year.

So this year as when I was a boy at the first stroke of midnight New Year’s Eve

I’ll be at my open back door watching all that bad luck leave.

Then I’ll run over to the front door as strange and funny as that seems

To welcome in the New Year with all her hopes and dreams.

Do any of these superstitions work?  Have they every brought good luck to me?

I guess it’s possible and, knock on wood, that’s good enough for me.

SOME ODD MOMENTS OF 2013

Any look back at 2013 wouldn’t be quite complete

Unless we looked at some of the moments we hope not to repeat...

He didn’t break any laws (although it was a moral misdemeanor)

When Anthony Weiner went online and posted pictures of his weiner.

And just when we thought his sordid story couldn’t get any stranger

He started texting women in the name of Carlos Danger.

Manti T’eo was in the news, the Notre Dame linebacker had regrets

When he revealed he was in love...with a girl he never met. 

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator...for a while no Republican was hotter

Until, that is, the state of the union rebuttal when he chugged that glass of water.

A zoo in China promised a lion in their brochures and catalogues

Turns out their lion wasn’t a lion but a giant, furry dog.

Obama passed Obamacare, he was going to make health care right

And it might have worked if anyone could have logged on to his site.

This year saw Miley Cyrus twerking everyone as if she was possessed

And we had our fill of the Kardashians (didn’t we?) and too much Kanye West.

At Nelson Mandela’s funeral the interpreter’s signing seemed idiotic

Turns out the man so close to so many world leaders was a little bit psychotic.

There is now a new affliction that made many of us come unhitched

For it seems you can be as bad as you want as long as you are rich.

It’s true, and it’s called Affluenza ...I only have one thing to add

The whole thing, like most of these stories, would be pretty funny...if they weren’t so very sad.

I could go on and on and mention Simon Cowell’s indiscretion

And all those other politicians that had to make confessions.

But I won’t...let’s just say goodbye to these moments that were odd and unforeseen

And hope they don’t return to haunt us in 2014.

Although we probably haven’t seen the last of Miley or the Kim/Kanye duet.

And I imagine Anthony has even bigger plans for his old weiner yet.

Which makes me wonder will next year be better than this one or even more extreme?

Ah, that is the beauty of not knowing for one can hope and one can dream.

THE ROACH

Yesterday I defended my theory about squirrels and how dangerous they can be

Only to find there are some people out there who disagree with me.

To those still under their magical spell, my heart goes out to you

For when they come for me, and they will, you’ll be taken too....

Let’s say you think squirrels are cute; you believe they’re behavior above reproach.

You have to agree with me, unless your an entomologist, about our friend the roach.

I don’t have the statistics but when all the counting’s done

I believe roaches outnumber us by about a billion to one.

If you think roaches do not plan or perhaps are not so bright

Why then do they run for the hills the minute you turn on the lights?

Because they’ve been devising a plan as they crawl over our dishes and our cups

And when you turn the lights on they know the jig is up.

Yes they don’t think I’m on to them but there can be no doubt

They are definitely planning something once the lights go out.

Why after you’ve been on vacation with your family or you spouse

Do you come home to find roach droppings scattered throughout your house?

I have seen the evidence and I’m sure that you have too

How else can you explain the things I’ve found in my barbecue?

Some are much more brazen, they must like to see you squealing

As they climb right up your walls or walk across your ceiling.

And isn’t it funny how they get their kicks by invading your personal space

When you wake up in the evening and one is walking on your face?

I believe it’s part of their higher plan, perhaps that’s how they wield their power

By accosting us at the most inopportune times, like when we’re in the shower.

How often have you tried to kill them? You’ve tried hitting, you’ve even sprayed

Only to watch them crawl through a crack the width of a razor blade.

Even if you succeed and you think you’ve killed them all

What’s the use? There are a million more scurrying inside the wall?

Still think I’m paranoid, I’m off my rocker, that you have nothing to dismay?

Well let me tell you what I observed in my yard just yesterday.

I looked out my window to see the squirrels’ and roaches I’ve been fighting

Meeting in my oak tree...I think they are uniting!

KILLER SQUIRRELS?

Deborah tells me I’m paranoid but let me give my theory a whirl

I believe we must be very weary of our little friend the squirrel.

(Did you notice how I said little friend, I am exercising much discretion

When they read this, and they will, I don’t want them to get the wrong impression.)

Let’s begin with one statistic. Did you know when all the counting’s done

It seems the squirrels outnumber humans by a score of 3 to 1.

And have you ever observed squirrels? I don’t mean to cause a fuss

But watch them and you’ll quickly notice they’re observing us!

When Deborah and I take a walk in the morning there’s a squirrel in every tree

And I can’t help but get the feeling that they’re all watching me.

Oh when I look at them they pretend to play without a care or fear

But I know they know I know they’re not as innocent as they appear.

For instance if all squirrels were as adorable as most people think they are

Why do they wait till I am finished washing it before pooping on my car?

If squirrels were just cute little rodents who are both charming and appealing

Why do they chew their way inside our attic and run across our ceiling?

And finally if you’ve ever had a bird feeder you know about squirrelish gall

They devise elaborate plans for reaching the food so they can have it all.

I’ve even seen them work in tandem, one distracts me, I give chase

While the other climbs the bird feeder and quickly feeds his face.

I used to believe I am larger than they are and my brain is bigger too

Now I’ve come to realize that only one of those is true.

So tell me am I being paranoid, or am I the one whose truly wise?

Am I as crazy as Deborah says or are squirrels planning my demise?

As you make your judgement think of all the squirrels that frequent your life too

And remember it’s not paranoia if it actually is true.

If you think my argument is solid and my reasoning above reproach

Tomorrow I’ll tell you how I feel about our little friend...the roach.

HAPPY DECEMBER 26

Happy Day after Christmas; like Christmas it’s a day filled with merriment and laughter

But one that has the marked disadvantage of arriving on the day after.

December 26 is one of those unlucky days that tries to be brave and save face

For it knows it could have been a holiday but had to settle for second place.

Yes, I’m afraid December 26 in history is fated to remain somewhat unreckoned.

Doomed to stand in relative obscurity with it’s neighbor January 2nd.

Today I celebrate all those days who because of their calendarial lateness

Are destined to travel down the path of history...one day away from greatness.

Do you know the name of the first man on the moon? Of course, everybody does.

But do you remember the second, Ed Aldrin, known to his family as Buzz.

We remember Edmund Hillary, the first to scale Mt. Everest one cold and fateful day

But who remembers, Tenzing Norgay, the sherpa who accompanied him on his way?

Mt. Everest it’s the tallest mountain in the world but the second is almost as high

Yet K-2 is only an afterthought, kind of like the 5th of July.

Ivana Trump was Donald’s first wife; the second is now rarely seen

Because Marla Maples is as popular as, you guessed it, February 15.

We remember Snow White as the first movie Disney brought to the silver screen

The second, Pinocchio must take it’s place next to the innocuous March 18.

Everyone knows Amelia Earhart, her story is one of courage and devotion

She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

The second was Geraldine Mock, at her even more accolades were hurled

For she kept going after crossing the Atlantic, and flew all the way around the world.

Isn’t it funny how life works, for none of could have foreseen 

That Geraldine would be a footnote in history like the day after Halloween.

But such is the way the calendar unfolds, be it September, October or December

Some days, like people are destined for greatness while others we hardly remember.

I think it’s time we change all that and give these days and people their due.

For I believe second places and days after deserve a home in our hearts and minds too.

So hold your chin up December 26th, you have nothing to lament or to fear

After all you could be February 29th and show up but once in every four years!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all of my friends, I hope all your wishes came true

But I have to ask if you’re reading this rhyme, What is the matter with you?

I suggest you immediately make it a point to bring this nonsense to a quick end

Turn off your computers, IPADS and phones and go enjoy your family and friends.

Wait, I just realized, since I’m the one writing this, I’m sure you all will agree

I could ask myself the same question, What is the matter with me?

So I’m about to take my own advice and with Deborah I shall now go and play.

Before I go let me wish you all peace as you have a joyous and safe Christmas Day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE

I love Christmas Day with the giving of gifts, and believing in make-believe

But I also love the days that lead up to it and most notably Christmas Eve.

The gifts sit unopened under the tree, they are wrapped and the bows are all tied.

Christmas Eve is the last night we have to dream about the presents hiding inside.

The anticipation brings with it a warmth and a joy, you see it as you walk down the street

It’s felt in the hearts and rides on the shoulders and faces of the people we meet.

I guess I shouldn’t be astonished by feeling this way anymore

Because I carry with me a history of enjoying the night before.

I remember the night before my first date, I was filled with excitement and awe

I remember that night as affectionately as I remember the movie we saw.

(It was a beautiful evening, we sat in the theater and I remember Becky’s silhouette

As we ate our popcorn and drank our sodas while watching Romeo and Juliette.)

I remember the night before my first kiss, it’s a night I can’t easily dismiss

As I was hoping the next evening would be...the night of my very first kiss.

I remember the night before I was married, my face was a perpetual grin.

Wondering what the future held for us and waiting for that future to begin.

I remember the nights before my children were born as much as the days of their births.

I imagine if you looked you wouldn’t have found a happier person on Earth.

Yes, Christmas morning and all special days have the power to enchant and beguile

But Christmas Eve is another example of how it’s the journey that makes life worthwhile.

So as much as I enjoy Christmas Day there are many more reasons I believe

To wish all of you who are reading this a joyous and grand Christmas Eve.

I HEARD THE WILLOW WEEP

When I was young my family would walk, Mom, Dad my brothers and me.

Ending up at one of our favorite spots by the lake under a weeping willow tree.

It was here one day with my head on her lap. I believe I was half asleep

When Mom told us the story behind that old tree, the reason that all willows weep.

It seems a long time ago under a willow tree a man and a women first met

And under that tree their love blossomed, a love neither would ever forget.

The young man was called to fight for his country, he joined the navy and went off to sea

The young girl pledged to wait for her love, under the branches of their willow tree.

Each day the young maiden waited, her eyes searched as her heart ever yearned

But such are the misfortunes of war that her young lover never returned.

One day the young maiden started to cry as she faced the worst of her fears

Try as she might she couldn’t stop her crying and she drowned in a river of tears.

The willow that witnessed her sorrow, whose friendship she found soothing and true,

Could not control his own feelings and, when his friend died, began weeping too.

And willows all over the world to this day continue to cry for lovers star-crossed,

For all love that is left unrequited...or never discovered...or lost.

Mom was convinced if you lie under a willow not only will it offer safekeeping

But if you put your head to the ground and listen, you can also hear that tree weeping.

Was it true the story my mom told, or just her way to make us feel blessed?

After all these years my head tells me no, but my heart keeps telling me yes.

Perhaps that is why whenever I see a weeping willow I go to it without making a sound

I quietly lay down beside it and gently put my head to the ground.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the weather serene

When I heard the willow weep for Claire Davis, a young maiden who was just 17.

I heard it weep for this young girl who will no longer love; no longer dance; no longer run

She died Saturday, the latest victim of a violent person with a gun.

And I had to wonder as we do nothing but over and over again say farewell,

Was the willow weeping just for Claire, or was it weeping for the rest of us as well?

FROM MRS. SMITH TO BETTY CROCKER

Years ago in the program I was teaching every Thanksgiving do or die

I would enter my class in a contest to bake the most delicious pumpkin pie.

I would find the most delectable recipes and only the finest ingredients would I choose

But somehow in spite of all this dedication, my homemade pie would lose.

I thought baking a pie from scratch is always best; this turned out to be a myth

Because 3 years in a row I lost to a pie baked by Mrs. Smith.

Mrs. Smith was not another teacher whose homemade pie made a real smash.

No, my nemesis was Mrs. Smith the frozen pie (it was I who found the box in the trash).

(I will not reveal the name of this fraudulent cooking whiz

Because she is a friend on Facebook...and she know’s who she is!)

Even after showing them the box, the judges were unswayed; their ruling stood.

They were adamant my homemade pie just didn’t taste as good.

I never won a pie making contest.  I like to think my pies were too unorthodox.

Still today I can’t walk through the frozen foods without cursing out the box.

But that was long ago and I’ve recovered from my shame

I understand when it came to pie contests I only had myself to blame.

Flash ahead to this Christmas season when it was prearranged 

I would be a willing participant in my former school’s cookie exchange.

Once again I looked up recipes, would I make my cookies green or red?

Finally I decided on cake pops made out of gingerbread.

So I mixed up all the batter, rolled them into balls, then put them in the freezer.

I was sure these gingerbread cake balls would be a a tasty, fun, crowd pleaser.

I covered them with chocolate, knowing in the exchange they would be the stars

But I noticed they didn’t taste as good as Barb’s sweet lemon bars.

I asked her how she made them, to reveal to me her secret baking tricks

She smiled and said she ran out of time and used a Betty Crocker mix.

Once again I felt a blow to my cooking prowess and my self-esteem

In fairness how could I compete with a box that labeled their lemon bars supreme?

I have learned a valuable lesson or perhaps all this failing has sent me off my rocker

But next year’s when I enter I’ll sign up as Mrs. Smith then cook with Betty Crocker.

12 DAYS

My birthday is December 31st perhaps that’s why I’ve always been a little unclear

Why we’re so quick to complete an end of the year review before the end of the year.

We’re shown the usual montage all edited into a beautiful and fitting vignette

The only problem I can see...the year isn’t quite over yet!

I saw a 2013 review Thursday: people, news, books, trends and shows.

It made me wonder how can the year be over when we still have 12 days to go?

With 12 days to go it seems premature to complete an end of the year review

I would prefer we wait till 2014 before we bid 2013 adieu.

In 12 days I could receive gold rings, drummers drumming, a partridge in a pear tree,

Yes, think of all the lovely gifts my true love could give to me.

In 12 days there may be peace in the world, a cure for cancer could even be found,

A new book may be published that could alter the cosmos or at the very least, inspire or astound.

In the next 12 days people will fall in love, babies will be born and people will die,

Songs will be created, marriages performed, and new inventions surely will fly,

But all these will be lost in the annals of history. From this news we would have been cheated

Since, in the minds of many, 2013 has already been completed.

If something momentous occurs in the next 12 days is there any way we’ll even know it?

Since the review of the year is already over the networks might not even show it.

Our years fly by quickly enough as time is something we can never quite master

I can’t for the life of me figure out why we would want to make them go any faster!

Speaking for all the people born late, let’s wait till the new year has dawned

Before you tell everyone in the viewing audience that this year is already gone.

So as my birthday approaches at the end of this year here’s something you can all do for me.

Allow me to enjoy the last 12 days of the year as I did the other three hundred and fifty-three.

THAT OLD CLOSET DOOR

To look at it you’d never know it’s significance, you’d think it was nothing more

Than a silver knobbed, white, nondescript, skinny old closet door.

But as you turn that knob and open it your opinion might be modified

For that’s when you notice it’s true significance lies on the other side.

On the back of that door, for Deborah and I, is one of our most treasured sights.

It’s a history of our family recorded in our children and grandchildren’s heights.

Ryan makes the first appearance on the back of that old closet door

Four years before Deborah and I got together, in September 1984.

After Bryan, Ali and Ryan were grown all that door did was patiently wait

For the entrance of Damien, our first grandchild, his height recorded in 1998.

This was followed by Taylor in 2000, Aden in 2005 and Ava in 2008.

Today that door is covered in heights with their names and corresponding dates.

Every time the grandchildren visit, (a trait in them I adore),

In order to see if they’ve grown they race to that old closet door.

They stand with their heel agains it, I mark their height, then they turn and they holler

“Hey Mom, hey Dad, guess what, I HAVE gotten a little bit taller.”

It’s inevitable all children grow up; it’s not a matter of will they, but when

As proof Damien became taller than Nana in August of 2010.

And we’re not sure how, since we’re a short family, perhaps it was a gift from heaven

But Damien grew taller than all of us back in December 2011.

And Taylor is continuing the tradition for it seems abundantly clear

That he will be taller than Nana by the middle or end of next year.

(In truth that may not be as big an accomplishment as all of us might be thinking

For even though the grandchildren are growing up, Nana and I are now shrinking.)

I cannot open that door without smiling, and sometimes a tear falls from my eye

When I realize, as duly recorded, how quickly a lifetime goes by.

With the future around every corner, a future that’s moving so fast

This door is one way we have of holding onto and easily remembering the past.

We’ve lived 25 years in our little house and I imagine we’ll live here 25 more

But we have decided if we ever move, we’re taking with us that old closet door.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Juliet once posed the question, when she uttered, ‘What’s in a name?’

Yesterday, for a different reason, I was feeling quite the same.

I was reading about the Sandy Hook shooting, I was saddened and outraged

When the name of the man responsible jumped at me off the page.

I believe, once we hear the initial news of a tragedy, the who, the where, the when

There is no need to ever memorialize the murderer’s name again.

For I don’t believe the people responsible, the ones who are to blame

Deserve the right to immortality, or merit any fame.

They are the reason so many lives are left forever unfulfilled

And I don’t want to see their names next to the names of those they killed.

I think history should be saved for the innocents, theirs are the lives we should proclaim,

While the lunatics who killed them die without anyone remembering their names.

We should think of the feelings of the families, not the person who callously forsook them.

We should remember the lives of the people who died not the name of the person who took them.

If Shakespeare were alive today to witness such tragedy

I imagine his Juliet soliloquizing, ‘tis thy name that is my enemy.’

And as such she’d declare henceforth that name should forever be disclaimed.

Yes, perhaps that would be her the answer to the question ‘What’s in a name?’

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

I attended Aden’s 4th grade Christmas concert: 7:00 Tuesday night

Watching him standing and singing with his class was the usual delight.

Wait! Schools don’t call it Christmas anymore, oh how this dismays

As they’ve opted to replace Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays.

Still, there is something pure, angelic and often times astonishing

Watching children up on stage as they wave, smile, dance and sing.

I noticed that Christmas concerts have changed so much since I was a little boy

Oh they’re still filled with excitement and innocence and pride and beauty and joy.

And there is a nod to songs I remember, they sang Jingle Bells and Deck the Hall.

But most of the songs they were singing, I didn’t know at all.

It seems the songs I grew up with at Christmas are no longer being assigned

It’s as if in the name of diversity those classic songs got left behind.

Now I believe in diversity, isn’t that what made this country strong?

But it’s creating Christmas concerts at which no one can sing along.

Perhaps I’m too old fashioned, I’m certainly feeling a little Jurassic

But isn’t singing it over and over again, what makes the song a classic?

And if each year the songs are changed at concerts in December

I wonder as they grow up what songs our children will remember.

They’ve taken out religion so the Christmas Story’s been retired

Now they’ve taken out the old songs, the ones I most admired.

If we keep taking away traditions, what’s next, no Santa, perhaps no sleigh?

Then Christmas will be relegated to just another day.

America used to be called a Melting Pot where no matter where you were from

We could celebrate our differences but come together as one.

Now our differences take center stage even at a 4th grade concert, so it seems to me

America is now so multicultural we’ve lost our identity.

I believe in traditions and I believe in holding onto them at any cost

But somewhere in this multicultural celebration my traditions have been lost.

So I left Aden’s concert glad to see my grandson and still filled with joy and pride

But also a little sad as I watched my Christmas memories get swept aside.

THAT DEPENDS

How important are parents in their children’s lives, how much influence do they extend

The answer is not complicated, simply...that depends.

Will your children grow up kind and loving? Will they be people you’re proud of?

That depends on if you’re teaching them kindness, warmth and love. 

Will your children grow up with prejudices, will hate and bigotry ensue?

That depends on if they’re witnessing tolerance in you.

Will your children grow up generous, or will they in themselves be immersed

That depends of if your teaching them to put themselves or others first.

Will your children grow up greedy, will they take what isn’t theirs

That depends on if you’re teaching them to accumulate or share?

Will your children grow up happy or will they end up sad and blue.

There seems to be a pattern here for that depends on you.

So parents if you ever wonder how far your influence extends

Remember the answer’s not that difficult....in two words...that depends.

SLOW READER

I am an avid reader now, but not so long ago

When I was in school I was admonished because I read so slow.

(OK perhaps by not mentioning it was a very, very long time ago I am being remiss....

Just remember time is relative...now let’s get on with this!)

For many years I didn’t read, you might say to reading I was averse

I’m reading again, still slowly, but I now see it as a blessing not a curse.

When you open a book you never know what the author has in store

Will there be drama, comedy, mystery or perhaps a little something more.

If you see a book as only words on paper...that makes them seem so bland

I see those words as stepping stones into another land.

From the comfort of my bed or chair the adventure doth begin

For once I turn a page I can visit places I’ve never been

I can journey to exotic lands, witness untold beauty so sublime...

It’s even possible in a book to go traveling through time.

I can help solve difficult cases, know what’s lingering behind that door

I can feel the joy of love when it emerges, or the horrors of a war.

Where else can you travel the globe and experience such wonderful panoramas

All from the safety of your home while still in your pajamas?

Which brings me back to reading slowly, if I can travel from the present to the past,

From one world to the next, why would I want to read fast?

No, I prefer to take my time for it is my long range plan

Once I find a great book, to linger there as long as I can.

So to those teachers who said I read too slow, you were right but there’s an upside

In slowing down the joy lasts longer and I definitely enjoy the ride.

INNOCENCE

One of my favorite attributes of children, when I see it I feel blessed,

Is the enthusiastic, unbridled innocence with which they all possess.

A child will sing uninhibitedly before he realizes there’s a song.

A child will dance spontaneously whenever music comes along.

A child will draw upon a canvas before she realizes it’s a wall.

A child will climb as high as she can before she knows that she can fall.

A child will run around naked before he realizes there is shame.

And until we teach them differently a child treats everyone the same.

A child will stick her finger anywhere before she knows that thinking’s flawed.

A child will marvel at the heavens before she knows there is a God.

A child will play with a ray of light before he realizes there’s a sun

A child will attempt to pull a trigger...before he realizes it’s a gun.

Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook 173 more children have died by guns

Never again to run around naked or play in the rays of the sun.

Never again to sing, or dance, or draw upon a wall

Never again to marvel at the Heavens, to climb up high, or fall.

These 173 individual cases are everywhere we look

Each tragic death of a child is someone’s Sandy Hook.

Each loss of life...of innocence makes us want to stand up, scream and yell

For we all know with each death our innocence is lost as well.

There are solutions to this problem...solutions we all know

For Heaven’s sake when we needed it we found a cure for Polio!

It’s up to us to help assure our children will survive.

It’s up to us to help ensure their innocence will thrive.

Until we do we’ll continue to grieve but our grieving will be for nought

As we try to explain to our children why their innocence is shot.

THE WINGS OF TIME

Time is often hard to comprehend, for she can be our enemy or she can be our friend.

She can mark the joy that welcomes a beginning or the sorrow that envelopes an end.

We all have similar experiences sharing the joy of a special day

Or the sorrow of the date a loved one passed away.

We are in each moment for a second only...and then that moment’s gone

Replaced by the next one, then the next one as Time moves ever on.

If that moment is a joyful one we wish for time to journey slow

We are glad we had that moment but sad to see it go.

If that moment is a sorrowful one tis Time we want to blame

We curse her arrival, we plead and wish that moment never came.

But be it joyous or be it sorrowful Time moves straight and she moves swift

And it makes me think as I sit and wonder...perhaps that is her gift.

I do not believe it is Time’s intention to aggravate or annoy 

She is only seeking balance between our sorrow and our joy.

Finding joy in a joyful moment is easy and sublime

But finding joy after sorrow, well, that takes a little time.

Perhaps that’s why our yesterdays so quickly become tomorrows

To give our joys more opportunities to overtake our sorrows

Then once a year she returns to that day without malice or regret

To remind us we can find joy even though the sorrow we’ll never forget.

One year ago today a lunatic entered an elementary school and took

The lives of 20 children and 6 adults in a place called Sandy Hook.

Time has come full circle, for that’s what Time does, don’t you see?

And once again she brings us face to face with that senseless tragedy.

Yes they were taken too soon, yes many lives that day were destroyed

But if all we do is dwell on this then we lose sight of any joy. 

As we recall the senseless deaths, all those horrible memories this day revives

We must remember the joy was not in their deaths it was in the beauty of their lives.

There will always be a sorrow attached to this day, that is clear

But I hope they to find some joy as Time revisits them each year.

I can’t imagine these people’s pain as out of this abyss they try to climb.

I can only pray their ride gets easier as they travel on the wings of time.

IS THIS PROGRESS?

As I watch TV every now and then I’m transported back to a time long ago

When the world was a little bit simpler, when everything moved kind of slow.

It was a time when, while watching TV, we heard the words, ‘this is only a test’.

And I wonder, since then how much TV has changed, how much has the medium progressed?

When I was young you might say television was early in it’s inception

We had one black and white TV that got 3 channels and not the best reception.

The 3 networks programmed their channels to educate, inform and delight

And they wanted us to get to bed early because all 3 stations signed off at midnight.

But before signing off they’d play the Star Spangled Banner, you know America’s song.

We would all stand with our hands on our hearts and happily sing along.

Speaking of standing that’s how we changed channels, the remote had yet to appear.

The antenna stood on top of the TV and for obvious reasons was called rabbit ears.

If the reception was poor Dad would make me reshape the ears until everything was just so

Since I couldn’t move without the picture fading that’s where I watched many shows. 

But normally we all sat down as a family, (on the couch was our favorite repose)

To watch, on our only TV, whatever program Mom or Dad chose.

Back then our parents didn’t worry, yes, there were standards for what to put on TV

Which meant when you turned on the television everything you saw had a rating of G.

We’d watch Christmas specials together to our happiness and mutual applause

And once a year, for it only came on once a year, we’d all watch the Wizard of Oz.

That was TV when I was growing up, at least I seem to remember it that way

Now let’s compare it to this time and place, the television of today.

Today there are televisions in every room of the house, they sit on counters and stands and on tables

And hundreds of channels are available over satellite dishes and cable.

TV is now on around the clock, there’s no need to even talk to your spouse

You can watch it on screens the size of a stamp, or on ones as big as a house.

We can watch it on our computers, IPADs and phones- why it’s such a wonderful creation

We can watch while we’re in our car, in restaurants, or filling our tank at gas stations.

We no longer need worry about reception, all televisions are luminous and colorfast

We all have remotes so we don’t have to get up and rabbit ears are a thing of the past.

We no longer have to watch as a family, there’s no need at all for family detente

If you don’t like what’s on in the living room, go to your room and watch what you want.

There are no more standards on TV, at least none I can ascertain

There seem to be no body function or body part from which television will abstain.

Swearing, sex and violence have become so commonplace on TV that our society no longer balks

In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if children today learn to swear before they can walk.

The Wizard of Oz is now on as often as you’d like, if you happen to miss it on TV

No problem you can probably find it on Hulu or Netflix or watch a copy on your own DVD.

So, have we made progress? You be the judge, and when you decide you can tell me

Oh, yes there is one thing I forgot to mention...back then watching TV was free.

Certainly with progress comes more problems, problems we must somehow make right

But as for me, some days I long for watching TV with my family in front of that old black and white.

POLITICALLY CORRECT CHRISTMAS CAROLS?

In order that shoppers would not misinterpret it’s meaning...the folks at Hallmark say,

They rewrote the line form Deck the Halls so that the apparel is no longer gay.

And just who would misconstrue the lyrics? Near as I can figure the answer’s no one, 

But I’m sure we’re all glad the Hallmark apparel is no longer gay...but fun.

I’m afraid if we extend Hallmark’s logic, even though their logic is undeniably strange,

There are a slew of Christmas carols we’d quit singing, or definitely have to change.

The song Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; we might as well throw it away

Because if Hallmark is worried about its apparel, how can our Yule tide be gay?

Silent Night has a round yon virgin who is a mother with a child on the way.

How dare we allow our children to sing about a woman defiled that way.

We can’t use the word virgin if she’s with child, there’s something inaccurate about that.

And we can’t make her round, that’s insensitive, might as well be calling her fat.

We can no longer sing about a White Christmas, think of the fighting that would bring about

Because if our Christmas is only a white one, so many other colors are being left out.

If I really saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus, that would be wrong, of course

And chances are Christmas would be ruined when Mommy and Daddy divorce.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town reads: he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake.

We’ll certainly have to alter these lyrics, if not for us then our children’s sake.

If he’s in our bedroom at night and near us during the day, to him the police would assail.

Because Santa, the stalker, would be breaking the law and we’d send his ass to jail.

If not jail, I’m afraid we’d throw the harmony of Christmas completely out of order

When this year Santa finds himself slapped with a restraining order.

Over the years singing the classics have we all been a little shortchanged?

Are none of our carols politically correct?  Do all of them need to be changed?

Or...can we put an end to this nonsense and go out and appreciate the day

By having a holly jolly Christmas while letting our apparel and Yule tide be gay.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE...

The carols and stories of the Christmas season are something I adore

But I must confess I’m getting tired of Twas the Night Before...

Twas the night before Christmas and all though the hood

The shopping was over and Daddy’d done good.

He’d gone to Best Buy, the great showroom floor

All this tech made him feel like a kid in a candy store.

Advertisers now take the Christmas classics, change the wording, change the spelling

To make us want to buy the goods and services they’re selling.

The messages on billboards, televisions and radios all belie

The new meaning of Christmas..which is to entice us all to buy.

Buy whatever it is they are selling...buy this items then buy some more

All hawked to rewritten Christmas carols or Twas the Night Before.

I wonder if James Pierpont would think it crazy or bizarre

That his beloved Jingle Bells was being used to sell us clothing or a new car.

Would Franz Gruber be angry...would he cringe at the very sight

Of stores selling new-age electronics to the tune of his Silent Night

I’m sure Clement Clark Moore as he was writing, in all his wonderful imaginings

Couldn’t have dreamed his Twas the Night Before would be used to sell so many things.

It seems they will rewrite any Christmas tradition in order to commercialize

Whatever it takes to get us to buy and then upgrade or supersize!

Why they’re even using Santa to sell items on radio and TV.

Since when does Santa sell items? I thought he gave them away for free?

Wait, as I watch Miracle on 34th Street it definitely appears

That the commercialization of Christmas has gone on for many years.

So what are we to do about this, certainly it is ourselves we are deceiving

When we forget the meaning of Christmas is in the giving not receiving.

Not the kind of giving in the commercials, not items stacked on the toy store shelf

I mean the kind of giving that comes from the heart, the giving of oneself.

If no one spent a dime in this commercial world in which we live

Imagine the kind of presents we’d all be forced to give.

We’d give our love, our time, our kindness, our friendship and what’s more

We could all go back to enjoying Twas the Night Before.

# MY PHILOSOPHY

What kind of society have we become? Is this the start of our demise?

When so many people for no reason berate and criticize?

What good is criticizing just to criticize? Does it help the human race?

How does anger, spite and bitterness make the world a better place?

People have become aggressive as they take to the internet’s streets

Hiding behind the anonymity of their hahstags and their tweets.

While sitting safely behind their devices without a thought or care in the world

Insults can be tossed out, people bullied...obscenities hurled.

They are aggressive, contentious and hostile as these abuses and barbs they throw

I’m not sure why in a world that needs kindness they choose to let anger flow.

It must be easier to say hurtful things, to forget that manners should apply,

Than it is to be kind, and generous, but for the life of me I don’t know why.

Our language is filled with words of love and caring, words that often bear repeating.

Words of friendship, support and tenderness, these are the words we should be tweeting.

If my parents were alive today I know they’d be appalled

For I was taught if I have nothing good to say, I should say nothing at all.

As I was composing this I thought to myself, surely it’s foolish to be devising

A poem that criticizes the people criticizing!

But when a person criticizes to be hurtful, mean or cruel

When they don’t think of other people’s feeling, it is that person who’s the fool.

I agree with the Dalai Lama who says what a wonderful world this would be

If helping others was our goal and kindness... # my philosophy.

ECHOES

Our grandchildren have returned home, we had a wonderful time

I’m almost too tired from all the fun to complete this daily rhyme.

The house seems a little empty, but wait, how can that be?

When only yesterday it was a whirlwind of activity.

Although somewhat barren the house is definitely not bare

For echoes of the grandchildren are bouncing everywhere...

Finding their pickles on our tree, playing on the backyard swing

Games on the IPAD, sewing with Nana, six cans of silly string...

Up in the tree like little squirrels climbing as high as we think they should

Finding an old Gameboy that still works, helping Pop Pop chop firewood...

Hot dogs on the grill, throwing cheese on our baked beans,

Making s’mores around the campfire, hands that never stay clean...

A marshmallow roasting contest I tried to win at any cost

I even bribed the judges....I can’t believe I lost!

Ready for bed, sleeping bags on the floor, watching Elf on our big screen TV

Everyone sleeping in the glow of the Christmas tree, everyone...including me.

These are the echoes I hear today, the latest ones that have been cast

And I have to smile as I hear them blending with echoes of the past...

Watching movies with our own children, back then we had VCR tapes

Saturday morning making pancakes in varied sizes and shapes... 

Telling really funny jokes that everyone thinks are lame... 

The faces may be different but the laughter is the same...

As I walk around our empty house...as from one room to the next I roam

I realize its these echoes that make this house our home.

THE GRANDCHILDREN ARE COMING

Our grandchildren are always a joyous, welcomed sight

And today their coming over and they’re going to spend the night!

As we await their visit Deborah and I always feel inspired.

We have so many activities planned we’re already kind of tired. 

Normally with the two of us our house is calm and muted 

But when the grandchildren crash through our doors it cannot be disputed.

It’s like miraculously in that instant our house turns itself ‘on’

And the effects of their sleepover linger long after they have gone.

It makes me wonder as I sit here if I will find the time

Amidst the wonderful chaos, to complete my daily rhyme.

But I will do my best to finish before they all appear

Wait, is that them knocking...gotta go, they’re already here.

THERE IS NO REASONING WITH A FOOL

Yesterday I was enthralled when a friend sent me a poem by Roald Dahl.

It read, ‘So please, oh please, we beg, we pray go throw your TV set away.

And in it’s place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall.’

This same friend once made the decision her children would grow up without television.

Did these parents, I wondered, have a screw loose? Isn’t that a form of child abuse?

I was sure it must be some kind of crime for what would they do with all that time?

Their life would be hell I had to admit without the TV set to babysit.

When I tried to show them they were remiss our conversations went something like this:

“Without TV what will they do all day?”  “We’ll give them instruments and let them play.”

“But what if being musicians is not their thing?”  “We’ll give them the lyrics and let them sing.”

But what if they can’t sing, now there’s a flaw.”  “We’ll give them pencils and let them draw.”

“But what if with drawing they can’t acquaint?” “We’ll give them brushes and let them paint.”

“But if their paintings aren’t up to speed?” “We’ll give them books and let them read.”

As you can see (and perhaps I’m being cruel) there’s is no reasoning with a fool!

Now their children are grown and to my surprise they’ve grown up kind, considerate, and wise.

Perhaps it was my thinking that was out of sync because they taught their children not only how to think

But how to create and dream and see; and they did all this without TV.

As I look back perhaps I wasn’t too cruel for there was no reasoning with this fool!

Ah but we live in a more modern time so let me amend Mr. Dahl’s little rhyme

‘So please, oh please, we beg we pray go throw your TV set away.’

And in it’s place buy a Kindle or a Nook for they can hold over 3000 books!

And in place of your TV, take heart; they’ll be plenty of room for your children’s art.

YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SWEAR

Yesterday I posted a rhyme on swearing and whats more

I believe everyone not from Ohio got a perfect score.

It was to prove my Ohio friends, unlike my friends here in the South,

Do not, as was reported, all have potty mouths.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that the answer to each verse

Didn’t have to end in a swear word or culminate in a curse.

So today I will reveal all the answers that you crave

And may you all be ashamed of the answers that you gave.

If a person keeps telling you something untrue after a while you might snap

You might look that person in the eye and say, Buddy you’re a sap!

If he keeps talking on and on and to his lie will not admit

You’re next reaction might just be, “He’s only got half his wits.”

If you know someone who’s rude and vulgar, indelicate and crass

Would you ignore this bad behavior or call him a jackass?

Let’s say you have to work with him, this low-life, two bit schmuck

Wouldn’t you love to look him in the eye and say, You’ve really run amok!

Perhaps you’re more religious and your 2 year old’s having a fit,

You might pray for help from your god because your toddler’s such a twit!

You missed the lotto by one number or you’ve been cut off by a truck

From Maine to California you might say, I’m thunderstruck!

Let’s say a young man is driving the truck and you ran into a ditch

When you realize you’re unhurt you call your neighbor for a hitch?

You’re working on some home project, you’re using your little finger and you jam it

It hurts so much you try to not to scream but you can’t and yell God unjam it.

So what do you have to say for yourselves? I hope it makes you shudder

To know with a little nudging you’re minds jumped into the gutter.

Isn’t it funny how many of you in the blank lines you completed

Had no trouble coming up with expletives deleted? 

Just so you know, Ohio’s reputation I am now glad to resurrect

For everyone from the Buckeye State got everyone correct!

So where should all those people go whose study made Ohio sick?

Hmmm how about straight to,... H....E....double hockey sticks.

I SWEAR

In a study released yesterday an advertising company found

That people in Ohio are the biggest swearers around.

Well I grew up in Ohio so Jesus H. Christ I knew

The results of this darn study, why, there’s no way they could be true.

So I devised a study of my own (not that anybody cares)

To prove not just Ohio...but everybody swears.

Simply read this little rhyme and fill in all the blanks

And we’ll see on the swear continuum where everybody ranks.

If a person keeps telling you something untrue after a while you might snap

You might look that person in the eye and say, Hey Buddy, cut the ____________!

If he keeps talking on and on and to his lie will not admit

You’re next reaction might just be, I can’t believe this _______________!

If you know someone who’s rude and vulgar, indelicate and crass

Would you ignore this bad behavior or call him a dumb _______________?

Let’s say you have to work with him, this low-life, two bit schmuck

Wouldn’t you love to look him in the eye and say, You know you really _____________!

Perhaps you’re more religious and your 2 year old’s having a fit,

I don’t think it matters what state you’re in you might say Holy ____________!

You missed the lotto by one number or you’ve been cut off by a truck

From Maine to California you might say, What the ______________!

Let’s say a young man is driving the truck and you ran into a ditch

Would you be kind and gentle or call him a son of a _______________!

You’re working on some home project, you’re using your little finger and you jam it

It hurts so much you try to not to scream but you can’t and yell God _____________.

If you knew even some of the answers, not to worry, don’t make a fuss

For it seems if we look hard enough their’s a sailor in each of us.

True this is not a scientific study; but bear with me I implore

I won’t publish any of my findings but I wonder, How’d you score?

I believe I’ve redeemed my home state and proven my point, on this I swear

People in Ohio are just like people everywhere.

So don’t fret all you Buckeyes, this dang rumor we can quell

And the company that published the study, you can all go straight to _______________.