70

 

(I wrote this poem when I turned 60…already somewhat old and gray

and now that I’m am 70…it’s still appropriate today.

I’ve lived through another decade with family and friends still sharing hopes and dreams and fears…and if we’re all lucky you’ll be reading this poem again…

when I turn 80 in ten years.)

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

not the least is having a birthday that falls 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, with innocence, deluded

because all the partying and confetti comes once my birthday has concluded.

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

are not happy that my birthday’s here, but happy when it ends.

But that hasn’t stopped me from thinking how by fate I have been kissed

and has help create inside me 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 gray

are happy and still love me despite…mistakes I’ve made along the way

I have grandchildren who ever since they were the tiniest 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.

Which is the reason in the face of proof to the contrary….

I still wholeheartedly believe….

why so many people come together to celebrate

my birthday…New Year’s Eve.

FAMILIES AND FIRES

 

As we sat around a campfire with most of our family near

we reflected on the changes we’ve all been through this year.

An engagement, a wedding planned, Amy starting a business of her own…

A new job, a drivers license, a lot of trips…how we all have grown

Then we did what families do when they gather as everyone gets a little older…

we sat around…we talked…we laughed…shoulder…to shoulder…to shoulder.

As I watched the faces of my family radiating in the fire light…enjoying the fire’s heat

I thought how sitting around a campfire is a perfect place for a family to meet.

How a family and a campfire have many traits they share…

How the basic framework of both are created with great care.

How you try to make both perfect…get everything just right…

so once you light the fire…it will burn long into the night.

How every flame in a fire, like every member of a family, starts out hesitant and slow

How both need to be fed and nurtured if they ever are to grow.

How each member of the family shines with their own unique and individual flame…

How no two fires, like no two families, will ever be the same.

How sometimes one flame, one family member, will burn a little brighter…

but how we also know…

soon another flame…another family member will have their turn to glow.

How there comes a time when you are older 

when you sit back thinking you built this fire right…

how every flame…every family member…is burning long into the night.

And across the flames your family members know that look…

know there’s no need to inquire

as to why the smile on your face 

shines even brighter than the fire.

AFTER CHRISTMAS LIST

 

When I was young I’d start my Christmas list well in advance of Christmas Day

Because often I would change my mind before sending my list Santa’s way.

My list was long and specific…I wanted Santa to be clear 

about all the thing I wanted on Christmas Day that year.

But as I grew a little older my way of thinking took a twist…

Now I wait until after Christmas before I make my list.

Yes, when I was young on my list was every item I wanted Santa to address….

Now, when Christmas is over I make a list of all the ways I have been blessed.

The first items on my list are always my wife, my family…my friends…

From here I keep on writing as the list never seems to end.

I have a house, a car, clothes, food to eat and anything I want to drink…

I can sing, and dance, and laugh and play…I have the ability to think.

I can see, hear, touch, taste, smell…

enjoy the sun, the moon the stars and the clouds  in the sky above…

I can get excited, be surprised…I can smile..I can love.

I can travel across the Earth…I have the ability to understand the beauty of the mountains…the forests…or a walk along the sand.

I can experience the wonder of the flowers…the trees…I can even put into words

how I feel about the elephants, the dolphins…the dogs, the cats…the birds.

I can hold hands, hug, I can kiss and can be kissed…

Why I even have the ability to make an after-Christmas list.

A list I’m happy to revisit each year because what’s new to it…I never know…

Because, as another year has passed, it’s a list that continues to grow.

‘Dear Santa’…is how I end my after-Christmas list each year

‘Although I no longer send my list to you…

I’d like to thank you for all those gifts you delivered

that helped make all my dreams come true.

THE BEAUTY OF LOVE

 

Looking into the mirror…she allowed her hands to trace

the crinkles, the folds, the creases…all the wrinkles on her face.

She said, “Look how old I have become...do you still love me yet?”

He smiled, “I shall always be your Romeo...and you...my Juliet.”

“But I was once so beautiful...or have you, to my delight... forgot.”

He smiled, “You shall always be my Guinevere...and I...your Lancelot.”

“Age may mute the beauty of a painting,” he said, “but the beauty still endures

“You will always be a work of art, and I...a connoisseur.”

“That is the beauty of love”, he smiled...”for when love is in your eyes...”

“You will always see the beauty...age endeavors to disguise.”

THE IMPERFECT PERFECT CHRISTMAS COOKIE

 

She is a wonderful baker…with magical baking skills she is endowed…

being able to make the perfect cookie has always made her proud.

If you ask her friends and family…as a baker they’d shay she’s a 10…

but even a perfect baker has an off day now and then.

She was making snow globe cookies for her church to be served on Christmas night…

but when it came to the last cookie…she couldn’t get the decorations right.

“His hat is wrong.” She lamented. “His eyes are too big and his nose has gone south…

His body isn’t smooth enough…and don’t get me started on his mouth.”

“Is that a scarf or a lobster claw?  His arms are much too small…

This cookie,” she said dejectedly, “cannot be served at all.”

But she promised the church two dozen cookies and even thought it was not her best…

she didn’t have time to bake another…so she hid it under the rest.

She watched as children ate her cookies but as was to be her fate…

her ugly snow globe cookie was the last one on the plate.

As a mother handed this cookie to her daughter…the cookie she had botched…

the baker turned away…she was too embarrassed to watch.

“Thank you for the perfect cookie.” The mother told the baker…

The baker smiled thinking she was being kind…

until she saw the little girl with a crumb-filled smile sanding in front of her…

and realized…she was blind.

“Your cookie was delicious.” The young girl said as against her mother’s leg she leaned.

“It was the most beautiful cookie my hands have ever seen.

“His hat, his eyes…his nose…his scarf…his mouth…I could feel them all…

I love how you kept his body rough…did you mean to make his arms so small?”

I’m not sure how or why, you did it….the girl said enthusiastically 

but it was as if that perfect cookie…you created just for me…

Now the baker always brings two batches of perfect cookies with her

and everyone understands

one half are for those who see them with their eyes…

The other half…for those who see them with their hands.

HAPPY DAY AFTER

I’ve written about the day before Christmas…then added Christmas Day into the mix…

So it only seems appropriate that I write about December 26.

So…happy day after Christmas…like Christmas it’s a day that can enchant and captivate…but it has the disadvantage of arriving one day late.

December 26 knows it could be a day more people would adore…

If only it showed up a little earlier…if it had arrived one day before.

(Not to make light of Boxing Day or the Feast of St. Stephen…which on the 26th are on display…ill-fated,, however,  to be celebrated in the shadow of Christmas Day.)

Yes I’m afraid December 26th if destined forever to be cursed…

with the relative obscurity of the day that follows January 1st.

So today I celebrate all those days who just because of their one-day lateness

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

We remember the first man on the moon…how Neil Armstrong led the way…

while the second Buzz Aldrin, is as remembered as they day after Valentine’s day

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 day of July.

Amelia Earhart was the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean…at her many accolades were hurled…but did you know the second, Geraldine Mock..actually made it all the way around the world?

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

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

But such is the way the calendar unfolds, from January to 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 too.

So hold your chin up December 26th, today is your day to shine…

after all you could show up only every 4years…like February 29. 

A PRAYER FOR THE CHIDLREN AT CHRISTMAS

 Today, Christmas Day, I offer a Christmas prayer…with hope it finds its way

to every person in the world…even those who don’t celebrate Christmas Day.

It’s a prayer for the children but written to the adults…

at least that’s how its verses were compiled…

knowing if it reaches the adults…it will find it’s way into the child.

This prayer goes out to every God you pray to… the Great Spirit, Allah, HaShem, Brahman, the Creator, Jehovah…you get the gist…

and any other entity you pray too…any God I might have missed. 

As you pray to your Gods…pray they help us find…

dignity, respect and acceptance….pray they help us all be gentle, loving and kind. 

Pray they help us create a world where no one is hungry or enslaved…

where everyone is compassionate and honorable 

where we all find within ourselves the strength and courage to be brave.

Pray they help us find family and friendships where our mutual love runs deep…

in a free and peaceful world where everyone has a warm, safe place to sleep

Pray they help us build a world that is wise and humble…and just…

filled with people who we do not fear…filled with strangers we can trust.

Pray they help us find a world where wonders exist around every turn…

where we welcome wisdom and truth…where we’re not afraid to learn.

And finally pray they help us construct a world that has long been overdue…

where the wishes hopes and dreams of our children have the opportunity to come true.

A world where every person comes together to play and laugh and sing…

and do their best to make a better world…for everyone…and everything.

Where Merry Christmas isn’t just something in December every year we say

but is a feeling…a way of life…we practice each and every day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

THE DAY BEFORE

 

Christmas Day has its allure…the gifts…remembering what it’s like to believe

but today I’d like to celebrate the allure of Christmas Eve.

The gifts sit unopened under the tree, they’re wrapped…their bows are tied.

Christmas Eve is the last night we get to dream about the wonders hiding inside.

The anticipation brings with it a warmth and a joy, you see it in the people you meet…

It on the faces of every person…young and old…as you pass them on the street.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by this feeling anymore

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

I remember the night before I graduated high school…how most of that night I was awake…wondering when the next day arrived…what path my life would take.

I remember the night before asking Deborah to marry me…I had that whole night to assess…how I was going to ask her…wondering if she’d say yes.

I remember the night before we were married, wearing a perpetual grin…

wondering what the future held for us…waiting for that future to begin.

I remember the nights before my children and grandchildren were born 

as much as the days of their births.

I imagine if you happened to see me on one of those nights…

you wouldn’t have seen a happier person on Earth.

When I stop to think about it…this all started, I believe,

almost 70 years ago when I was born on New Year’s Eve.

I have no doubt tomorrow will be special…

a day you’ll cherish forevermore…

but keep in mind there wouldn’t be as much joy on Christmas Day

without the expectation…without the anticipation…without the day before.

With that in mind as this poem comes to and end

a final wish before I leave:

May you all have a joyous

a jubilant

an unforgettable…

a very merry Christmas Eve.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THOSE WHO HAVE DEPARTED

 

We all have Christmas traditions that no matter how we change and grow…

harken back and remind us of Christmases long ago.

A certain ornament, a song, an aroma that can elicit a smile, a laugh…a tear

as we remember a time, a place, a moment…with someone we hold dear.

I love to take time out during the holidays…when everything’s moving so fast

A quiet moment in an empty house…to visit those echoes of the past.

When I close my eyes and listen in the silence and solitude I find…

I can see and hear those echoes of the memories left behind.

A lavishness of memories in which I’m free to linger, run…or stroll.

A cornucopia of memories over which time no longer has control.

I’m like a child in a candy store once those memories have started…

I visit last year, many years ago, family and friends still here…

and those who have departed.

You might think I’d be sad…that sorrow would overtake my mind…

when I’m visited by a memory…someone departed left behind.

But I’m not! Because from the moment I see or hear them…

the moment their memory arrives…

it’s as if they never left…as if they’re still alive!

And for that moment we’re together…celebrating the place, the time…the day

before circumstances…fate…or destiny…took them all away.

Yes, these moments in my empty house 

fill me with much more laughter than sorrow and tears…

for although I’m sad they have departed…I’m so happy they were here.

Visiting these memories always leave me smiling…

feeling a little wistful…and tenderhearted….

but happy I’ve had a moment to wish a Merry Christmas…

to those who have departed.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

 

Even though every year he’s gotten a little older…

even though his family grew…and grew….and grew

It’s always been hard to buy him presents…for his birthday…and Christmas too.

Every time we ask him what he’d like…he grins from ear to ear…

His answer…“I don’t need or want for anything…I’m  happy.”

and we know he is sincere.

As children who wanted everything we saw and everything money could buy…

this was hard for us to understand…so, one day, we asked him why.

“When I was young I was like most children, I presume.” Was how he started his reply.

“I wanted everything I saw…everything money could buy.”

“Oh, how I treasured all those gifts I received…my feelings for them were strong…

only to quickly leave them behind when the list for next Christmas came along.

“Then somewhere along the way those things I once wanted…

that I thought were so important…I realized…were not…

And now the things I treasure most…

time…

love…

happiness,…

family…

friendship…

peace…

are all things that can’t be bought.”

“I understand your predicament…this fact I happily concede…

how it must be hard to buy for someone who has everything they’ll ever need.”

“My hope, is that, one day, you’ll all be hard to buy presents for…

on your birthdays and Christmas too…

to understand…as you get older…

that’s what a life filled with joy and happiness will do.”

ALTERED TRADITION

 

Our Christmas plans are finalized…this year we will celebrate…

our Christmas not on Christmas…but December 28.

Our family has some Christmas traditions that when we blended together we created…

The first is we chose Christmas Eve as the day our Christmas would be celebrated.

The second is we order pizza…always Dominoes supplied…

(That’s what happens when for Christmas dinner you ask your children to decide!)

This would become our Christmas tradition…at least that’s what we believed…

We’d eat pizza, open presents and play games on Christmas Eve.

It was a tradition that worked for years…Christmas Eve was our Christmas Day…

until Ali got married, Ryan moved out…and Bryan moved away.

Suddenly our little blended family from all those years ago…

with jobs, friends, girlfriends and grandchildren…began to grow…and grow…and grow.

So our Christmas tradition had to change…this we happily concede…

and now we celebrate our Christmas on a date that all our schedules have agreed.

Oh we still order pizza, open gifts, play some games (and now call Bryan) on the new date we arrange…

because some traditions are just too beautiful…too time-honored to ever change.

But that doesn’t mean in future Christmases…there might come a time when…

do to circumstances beyond our control…we alter our tradition again.

For we have found it’s not the tradition itself that’s important…how this is but a myth…

what makes a tradition special is who we spend that tradition with.

So this year we will follow our old Christmas traditions on the new date December 28th 

adhering as close as we can to those first traditions we created…

but we’ll also be ready next year…if our traditions need updated.

LOVE AND COOKIES

 

In the middle of making her famous peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

as she observed the first batch in the cookie jar displayed

his wife mused, “In all our years together I wonder…

how many of these cookies have I made?”

And that got him to wondering not just about all the cookies she’s prepared

but about how many other moments…like this one…they have shared.

In all their time together…all those hours, days and years

how many smiles have they shared with one another…

how many laughs…how many tears.

How many whispers. looks and touches

How many sounds…how many sights

How many ‘good mornings’ given and returned

How many kisses and ‘good nights.”

How many joys and sorrows have they shared

How many sun rays…and moon beams

How many fears have they divulged…how many hopes, wishes and dreams.

How many times have they hugged or sang or danced together

How many walks across the sand

How many times have they said ‘I love you’

Leaned on each other… held each other’s hand.

“I remember the first time I told you I love you.” He said 

as he grabbed one of the cookies…about to have himself a snack

but I imagine, just like these cookies, as to how many…I long ago lost track.”

“I think of life…our life together, as a continually evolving rhyme

and I think one of the beauties of love…is how we lose track of time.”

“Love is experiencing something together for the first time 

that becomes a treasured part of our past…

and being blessed to experience many more moments together

before that one moment that will be our last.”

“Perhaps loves most precious gift,” he said,

“which often goes unspoken and unseen…

Is to have so much happiness from the first moment to last moment 

that we lose track of all the moments in between.”

JUST SOMETHING I BELIEVE

 

You might call me a dreamer…a romantic…you probably think I am naïve

But that there is more love than hate in the world is something I believe.

When asked how she creates a love song…the musician quickly replied,
“I close my eyes…I think about love and the notes awaken from inside.”

When asked how he pens a love story…the author is quick to impart,

“I close my eyes…I think about love and find the words within my heart.

When asked how she paints so beautifully…the artist smiled then quickly blushed…“I close my eyes…I think about love and it’s love that guides my brush.”

When asked how he creates such magnificent figures…the sculptor answers, “As far as I am able to understand…I close my eyes…I think about love…and love, then, guides my hands.”

A poet is no different…we close our eyes…we think about how love is everywhere…and when we open our eyes the words appear…as if they were waiting for us there.

I believe there is more love than hate in this world…

as many people through the years have shown…

Yes, I believe there is more love than hate

and I believe…I’m not alone.

THE KEY TO BUYING A USED CAR

 

When Ali asked me to help her find a used car for Ava I thought, “She’ll thank me forevermore!”  because this is exactly the kind of thing we parents were created for.

Wanting to show my daughter and granddaughter I was equal to the task…

I researched, when buying a used car, the 25 questions you should ask.

I even looked into how I should act…should I smile, sneer or scoff…

and how I need to look responsible, mature but not too wealthy or well-off.

Responsible, mature but not wealthy or well-off…well here’s a little fact…

that description fits me to a tee…I wouldn’t even have to act!

A button-up shirt with a collar…something in greens or blues…

no expensive jewelry…and please…no worn out shoes.

When we met Ali and Ava at the used car dealer I was a wonder to be seen

comfortable shoes, blue jeans and a button-up shirt…I chose the color green.

I was cool, calm, collected…didn’t want to appear tyrannical…I was ready with my questions about mileage and any problems electronic…or mechanical.

I looked over the car with Ali…ready with my questions to amaze and to inspire….

to show I knew what I was doing…I even kicked a tire.

My plan was to ask insightful questions then render my opinion and support…

but Ali had the answers already in her own Carfax report.

Ali did all the negotiating…in fact the only thing I could think to say…

Was…can you tell me please…the color of this car…is it brown or is it gray?

As I was ready to enter the negotiations…to put my prowess on display…

Ali closed the deal…got the car she wanted at the price she wanted to pay.

I’m sure my reasoning is correct here…that my thinking’s not bizarre…

and whenever Ali’s asked how she managed to get such a good deal on Ava’s car…

She will look that person in the eye…

Think of me…and the truth she will not skirt….

“I’m pretty sure,” she’ll say with a smile, “it was due to my dad’s shirt.

REVISITING THE CLOSET DOOR

 

It used to be the first thing our grandchildren would do…run and open that closet door

But now when they come for a visit…it’s not the first thing they run to anymore,

It used to be they couldn’t wait…for on that door is shown…

since the last time they visited us…just how much they’ve grown.

On that door is what amounts to a kind of family tree…

with their heights and dates written in black for all of us to see.

It’s funny how time changes things…it not like it was before…

because now when the grandchildren visit…they walk right past that door.

Now that they have grown up…now that time her will on us has imposed…

They are no longer concerned about how tall they are…

and that closet door remains closed.

But every time I open it…I’m reminded how quickly the years have amassed…

and I often pause a moment for a visit to the past.

I’ll run my fingers along their heights and dates…thinking not, ‘where did the time go?’

but about how lucky I have been…to be here to see them grow.

Remembering when they stood there…

how I’d mark their height and hear them yell, “Oh wow!

”Hey everyone…come look…I’m so much taller now!”

It’s funny over the years how our lives have rearranged….

how now, when our grandchildren visit, their priorities have changed

It’s no longer the first thing they do when they come to visit anymore…

and now it’s me, not them, who can’t wait to open that closet door.

PRECIOUS INNOCENCE

 

Children sing uninhibitedly when they’re happy…like they haven’t got a care.

Children will begin to dance spontaneously when there’s music in the air.

Children will climb as high as they can climb…before they realize they can fall.

Children will draw upon what they think is a canvas…before learning it’s a wall.

Children treat everyone the same before being taught this kind of thinking may be flawed…Children marvel at the heavens before they ever hear of God.

I recently listened to a brother talk about losing his sister…and everything from him this took…when, ten years ago,  he survived but his sister didn’t…the murders at Sandy Hook.

What struck me most as I heard him speak of the day the murderer and their paths crossed was how his innocence was taken…the same day his sister’s innocence was lost.

How she would never again sing or dance or draw upon a wall…

How she’ll never marvel at the heavens…climb too high…or fall.

“I was able to do all the things my sister never would.” Her brother sorrowfully exclaimed knowing from the moment she was taken his life would never be the same.

The more I listened to this young man speak about his life and his sister…now 10 years dead…I thought how the innocence we possess as children hangs from a tenuous thread.

How it can be lost in an instant like it was at Sandy Hook…taken by a gun in the hands of a maniac…and how once it’s lost…or taken…we never get it back.

Which means it’s up to those of us who understand…every woman…every man

to protect the innocence of our children for as long as we possibly can.

We know of ways that we can help…and with each new generation of children we get another chance….to allow them to innocently draw on walls, to climb, to sing….to dance.

But we keep failing our children…unable to work together on this problem…unable to unite….which makes me wonder how many more generations of children will lose their innocence…before we get it right.

STANDING ON THE EDGE OF FEAR

 

The best gift they ever gave their children was to make this solemn pledge:

Whenever their children needed them most…they would join them on the edge.

They wold join them on the edge of fear…and if their courage swayed…

they would whisper softly in their ear, ”It’s okay to be afraid.”

Their children knew it…felt it…from the moment they could crawl…

that their parents not only believed in them…but would be there if they fall.

And when they fell their parents would say, 

“Don’t let your dreams…your hopes….your wishes die…

for it is not a tragedy to fall…but it is a tragedy if if you don’t try.

They say the best gifts (and whoever ‘they’ are I think we should believe them)

are the gifts that bless both those who give…as well as those who will receive them.

Standing on the edge of fear 

their children were blessed to learn not to let their hopes and dreams and wishes die….

While standing with them on the edge of fear…

their parents …were blessed to watch them fly.

UNDERSTANDING

 

He cannot see the sun…although he feels it on his back…

He cannot see the stars or the moon…for his world is painted black.

She cannot listen to the nightingale sing…or hear footsteps on the ground…

She does not know her mother’s voice…for her world is lacking sound.

He cannot climb the stairs…or jump high into the air…

He cannot walk or run…while confined to his wheelchair.

And we wonder how this is possible?

How did this come to be?

and what must life be like for those so different from you…and me.

So we attempt to come together without making too much of a fuss…

and we try to share our world with them…as they share their world with us.

With our friends who cannot see…we will be each other’s crutch…

as we explain the world we see…and they reveal the beauty there is in touch.

With our friends who cannot hear we find a way to understand…

We will learn to speak with one another…by talking with our hands.

With our friends who are in wheelchairs…we find a common goal…

we will show them how to rock…if they show us how to roll.

And though we’ll never truly understand each other…it’s enough to know we care…

as we slowly begin to realize…despite our differences…there is so much that we share.

And so we wonder…after experiencing our different worlds together…

and having so much fun…

If this kind of acceptance and understanding…would work for everyone.

Perhaps, then, we wouldn’t let our different countries, 

different backgrounds…

different colors…

different beliefs…

create in us so much discord

so much pain…and so much grief.

What if the things that make us different…

instead of being feared and hated and banned…

what if the things that  make us different 

are just different things to understand?