WHITE SPOT ON MY SHOE

We painted the kitchen cabinets recently…after 30 years it was long overdue…

And I noticed when we finished painting…a white spot on my shoe.

We never know when a memory will call on us…when it will linger with us a while… 

when it will find it’s way from whence it lives..to make us stop…and smile.

Our house is filled with many items…which we usually walk by unaware…

but every now and then we’re visited…by the memories lodging there.

A drawing completed by my dad…when he was just a boy

A recipe written in Deborah’s mom’s hand…that to this day fills her heart with joy.

A counter cross stitch hanging on the wall…A picture…a photograph

A Scattegories game that still reminds us…how Deborah’s dad used to make us laugh.

A growth chart filled with grandchildren’s heights…A walking stick… A teddy bear,

and we cannot sit around a campfire…without memories filling the air.

A spot of paint from our kitchen project…as we tried to change its hue… 

that escaped from the brush as I painted…and landed on my shoe.

A spot of paint that had no idea…what it would come to mean to me…

A spot of paint dropped from my brush…that would paint a memory.

A spot of paint that may cause other people…when they see me walk by…to stare

but because I understand it’s meaning…a spot of paint I’m leaving there.

AWAKENED BY THE MOON

I didn’t think it possible…and at the time I thought it inopportune…

But in the early hours of the morning…I was awakened by the moon.

I tend to sleep less soundly these days…now that I’m a little older.

Perhaps that’s why I felt (or sensed) a moonbeam on my shoulder.

I opened my eyes as the moonbeam nudged me…

I eavesdropped on a gentle breeze

and outside my window the moon was full…

as it filtered through the trees.

It was still dark when I checked the time…It was only half past four

So I turned away from the moonlight…determined to sleep some more.

But her moonbeams were persistent…in the window they kept peeping

So I got up when I finally realized…I was finished with my sleeping.

I walked outside…the morning was brisk..

It was still too dark to see…

So I sat in a rocking chair and began to wonder…

what the moon would want with me?

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness

The mountains in front of me were aglow….

And I decided to linger awhile

on the porch and enjoy the show.

The moon was floating in a luminous sea…A mixture of dark and light…

And only the brightest stars in the heavens…were visible in the night.

As I sat alone in the silence of the morning

watching nature’s wonders drifting by

I understood what Shakespeare meant

when he said our souls are in the sky.

And I thought this is exactly what I needed

After a week filled with hate and sadness and sorrow…

And I secretly hoped in the back of my mind

to be awakened by the moon tomorrow.

WHY ARE WE AFRAID TO TRY?

Hurricanes are massive…they devastate cities, homes…and more.

But hurricanes are natural disasters…we can’t stop them from coming ashore.

We have come to realize that hurricanes, swirling off the water, are the norm…

So we try to build our houses better in hopes they stand up to the storm.

Tornadoes wipe out entire neighborhoods on a scale wide and grand.

But tornadoes are natural disasters we can’t stop their blowing across the land

We realize that tornadoes, across our countryside, are the norm

So we try to make sure our buildings have basements to take shelter from the storm.

Earthquakes crumble buildings in an instant…entire cities from the quaking

But earthquakes are natural disasters…we can’t stop the ground from shaking.

We realize that earthquakes will destroy our cities, destroy our towns

So we try to make our buildings stronger in the hopes they won’t fall down..

Another mass shooting has brought us all to tears…causing sorrow, causing woe

We can’t understand how anyone can take a gun and kill people they don’t know.

Innocent people murdered from every walk of life…

They are someone’s child, someone’s grandchild…someone’s husband…someone’s wife.

They were out for fun together…why they were shot…they know not why…

One minute they were laughing…they did not expect to die.

They were soldiers who have fought in wars…across other countries they have roamed…

How could they survive the terrors of a war…only to be murdered in they’re home?

These mass shootings continue to dishearten to break our hearts…and again we are appalled…

Mass shootings are certainly disasters…but they’re not natural at all…

We may not be able to stop people from killing…perhaps we never will…

but we have it within our power…to make it harder for them to kill.

If we can better prepare ourselves for natural disasters 

I have to wonder why…

When it comes to mass shootings…and automatic weapons…

why are we afraid to try?

WHEN IS THE TIME?

It was just like any other high school…it’s name was Columbine

when 2 students decided to shoot it up…in April of ’99.

They killed 13 innocent people…without a reason or a rhyme…

We wanted to talk about gun control then…

But we were told: It’s not the time.

And so we did nothing.

13 years later, one man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School

shot and killed 20 children and 6 adults…without a reason or a rhyme…

We wanted to talk about gun control then…

But we were told: It’s not the time.

And so we did nothing.

3 years later a man walked into a prayer service at a church in Charleston

shot and killed 9 people…without a reason or a rhyme.

We wanted to talk about gun control then…

But we were told: It’s not the time.

And so we did nothing.

1 year later at a nightclub in Orlando. 

A man shot and killed 49 people…without a reason or a rhyme.

We wanted to talk about gun control then…

But we were told: It’s not the time.

And so we did nothing.

1 year later from 32 stories up and 4 football fields away

one man, his intentions they are still surmising,

shoots randomly into a concert…and the death toll is still rising.

We don’t know why he did it…there seems to be no reason or no rhyme…

And we want to talk about gun control…

But again we’re told: It’s not the time.

I’ve heard people say, there’s nothing to do…this is the price of freedom…

but I beg to disagree

This is not the price of freedom…it’s the price of anarchy.

I’ve heard people say, guns don’ kill people…people kill people…

And it’s obvious the person shooting is deranged or mentally ill…

That’s true…but we give them easy access to automatic weapons…

automatic weapons that are meant to kill!

If it wasn’t the right time in 1999, 2012, 2015, 2016

or after this latest deadly and senseless shooting spree..

Would someone please tell me…for I’m at a loss,…

When would that right time be?

(I wonder how can we believe any congressman or representative

when they tell us it’s not the right time today…

How can we possibly believe them…

If they’re taking more from the NRA?)

WHEN WILL THIS SENSELESSNESS END?

When I was a boy I had toy guns…my parents could buy them at any store…

I played cops and robbers with my friends.

I played cowboys and Indians…and war.

One gun I filled with caps…they came in a little roll, …red and round…

and when I squeezed its trigger…that toy made a gun-popping sound.

Then I grew up, I’m not sure when, and other thoughts occupied my mind

I discovered other games to play…and I left toy guns behind.

Now I’m and adult…I have no guns…but they can be purchased at many stores

People can own an arsenal of weapons…even when we’re not fighting a war.

And some of those people are using those guns

To kill innocent people… families and friends…

And after each new atrocity happens we ask….

when will this senselessness end?

Can’t those who love guns and those who hate them come together

combining their divergent views…

putting their differences aside for the good of this country

and come up with something to do?

Because we can no longer trust that every gun owner is decent…

and we can’t on their own integrity keep relying…

because those aren’t caps they are loading into their guns

and innocent people are dying!

Because once again we’ve seen the horrors real guns can do…

how they can injure and take life away…

Because reality is so much different…

than the games I used to play.

Because we don’t want to see another person murdered…

at a concert, in a restaurant or riding a bus…

And because we don’t want to worry and wonder…

if the next victim will be one of us?

THE PHOTOGRAPHER

I took a week-long class on photography…actually the whole week was a blur

as I learned about ISO, F-stops…exposures…zoom lenses and apertures.

Okay…perhaps most of that complicated information…I did not quite amass

but I’m proud to say at the end of the week…I did complete the class!

I knew my camera knowledge was sketchy when I first decided to go

but it took a class In photography to discover how much I didn’t know.

Still… we had a wonderful teacher 

who served as our photographical guide…

and we spent most of our time taking pictures 

in the North Carolina countryside.

I did pick up some camera facts…but mostly what I found

Is how taking pictures tends to slow you down…

it makes you stop and look around.

And when you slow yourself down (not only in photography)

You are amazed at all the beauty surrounding you

and the wonders you will see.

And you want to catch that wonder…before the light changes and it’s gone

So as you slowly walk and view the world…

you’re camera’s always on…

Because what I learned in my class…in my week of photography

Was how to capture a moment in time…for all eternity.

And if I can capture that moment…for friends and family to see…

Then I don’t have to be the best photographer in the world…

Just the best one I can be.

So after a week in my photography class…

I’m only a little better than when I walked in through the door…

but I am slowing down, I’m seeing the world differently…

and I’m taking pictures like never before..

Photography does have its rules and its guidelines

But when all is said and done…

The goal of photography, (this I also learned in class)

Is to take lots of pictures and have some fun

A BABY AT THE FUNERAL

Frances’s funeral was yesterday….

she died a week ago

Her funeral was the first step…

the beginning of letting go…

The moment we all realize…like a gentle summer breeze

Frances made us smile for a short while…

and now we’re left with memories.

There was a baby at the funeral…

Oh, how Frances loved a baby’s charms…

I wonder: Did she see the baby nestled there…

within her mother’s arms?

There is a lot I didn’t know about Frances…

so much of her life I had not seen…

She lived 87 years…I’ve only known her 17.

But it only takes a moment, I believe,…

to know if someone is honest and gentle and kind…

The baby got a little fussy and I had to smile…

for I knew Frances wouldn’t mind.

It was a beautiful service…

filled with scriptures, tributes and songs

But a baby knows not of funerals…

and to her it ran a little long…

She began to cry a little louder…

her sobs breaking the silence and solemnity…

But I didn’t mind this in the least…

Her cries were like a hymn to me.

I thought the moment she started crying…

the service was improved

because all of us who knew of Frances…

knew she would approve.

There is a lot we don’t understand about life and death…

It is a blessing we don’t know everything…

Perhaps a baby crying…

is how the angels sing…

If that’s the case isn’t it nice to think…

in the innocence of a baby’s cry…

The angels were welcoming Frances to heaven…

as we all said goodbye.