A nagging chill pervades the room
One seems to sense impending gloom
Another day has come and gone
Another chance to wish upon
Some fragile hope we care about
Or dream we followed most devout.
A helpful thought to keep in mind
Remember to be just and kind
There is one way that we can choose
One path to follow win or lose
We need no special trade or school
It’s simply called the Golden Rule !
I wish I had a magic wand
That reached into the vast beyond
To make each happy dream come true
A gift of joy from me to you,
That is what friends are really for
To keep us close and even more !
And if my wand could work in space
We might escape this human race
To gather there at God’s front door
And bide with Him forevermore !
The wind and rain came pelting down
To leave my senses all aground
One question that I asked aloud
Can life progress under a cloud,
Are we all bound to be possessed
By causes old and thoughts distressed ?
Oh, what I’d give to find release
In pleasant joys and joyful peace !
The fantasy of modern day
That won’t attempt to melt away
And hides behind a false facade
Is that no one is fooling God !
A veil of water clouded earth
Until the time of Noah’s birth
God’s anger rained the deluge down
To cover roof and hill and mound.
Rainbows are there reminding us
His power can be swift and just
Our weakness is that we can’t see
His vision of eternity !
It may not seem to be quite right
But there are times I wake at night
So sure that God is by my side
I lose all fear and will abide
Within this world of safety first
Where ancient words still quench my thirst !
I love the songs they used to sing
The Psalms I keep remembering
The hopes and joys once promised us
As voices raised sang glorious
Accompanied by cherubim
Applauding God and thanking Him !
Who’s asking for another chance
One more wish, perhaps one last dance
What has been said along this line,
Maybe this time it will be fine ?
I’d like to believe there is hope
That still exists a way to cope,
A path that leads to peace and calm
To keep us safe from hurt and harm.
Who dares to dream, you know it’s me
I trust God’s generosity !
The darkest days that will obscure
Those times in life we feel secure,
And overshadow happiness
To leave in place some deep distress
While never understanding why
Some choose these passions to apply !
Tis sad to know this can be true
And comes between both me and you
To leave behind a tragic rift
That is to none a helpful gift,
But rather claims unhealthy cause
Engendering eternal wars !
Oh little lamb, so calm and still
I sight you there upon the hill
Why is it that you quiet wait
Aside that height in passive state ?
What is it that you seem to see
That’s still invisible to me,
Who is expected to arrive
To bring you peace as you survive ?
Oh simple and unfettered lamb
How may I learn just who I am ?
This nation that we love so much
Seems to have lost its common touch
And travels on a road unknown
While seeds of discontent are sown.
This promised land that God has blessed
Has lost its aim, is in distress
Now choosing to deny our faith
By following an avid wraith.
Oh Lord above, please guide our fate
We ask of You, it’s not too late ?
I thought I saw a drop of rain
Go trickling down my window pane
I watched entranced by its descent
Slow and cautious the liquid went.
I wonder if our lifespan apes
The way lost hope or wish escapes
And trickles down to wash away
Afraid to greet each blessed day ?
Is this what life is teaching us
To live in fear and never trust
To spend our time in cowardice
Ignoring God’s rewarding bliss ?
Oh Lord, sometimes I find myself cast adrift
With reason run astray like a miser’s thrift
I cannot understand or comprehend why
My life’s course is set on medium not high.
I’d like to believe that we are all alike,
Walk on four balls while out requires a third strike,
However time will prove that forgiveness waits
Patient there standing outside those pearly gates !
Great flocks of seagulls fill the sky
My heart now hopes that spring is nigh
Oh, what a marvelous surprise
A blessed sight for worn out eyes !
The winds of March blow bleak and cold
The air outside grows stark and bold
In my long life I’ve never known
A season where no seeds were sown
Seems God has chosen to reject
Requests for weather circumspect !
I’d like to believe there is hope
To train our lives with broader scope
And come prepared for challenge made
To seek and find not to evade
The knowledge that can teach us how
To live with nature then and now !
I’d like to think that you and I
Are more than distant passersby
Like strangers on a lonely street
With chances that we’ll never meet.
Each day I wake with happy face
Expecting I should life embrace
There must be a way we need seek
To tread a path that’s not oblique.
We can remember to be kind
And leave hypocrisy behind
Have I been dreaming all this while
Or can I sense a timid smile ?
Don’t concentrate on laughs or frowns
All life must have its ups and downs !
Life is one living circle awaiting God’s commands
I do not know the reason it shrinks or it expands
But I know that we are here serving at His leisure
Whether it results in our pain or simple pleasure,
The happy thought we exist is an indication
He cares and watches all deeds in anticipation !
Do you question who my tears are for,
All my loving friends who’ll come no more,
Those who challenged all my fantasy
With these faded visions I still see ?
Faces haunt me both the night and day
I can’t shrink their images away,
No matter if it is great or small
Sad because they can no longer call !
I loved the tenure of their wise speech
And the bridge to freedom they could breach
I’d be grateful if we’d meet again
God choose the day, I’ll do where and when !
When I find myself in a daze
I wallow in vanilla glaze
I’m not too sure why that should be
My world is mostly sugar-free !
Perhaps my childhood will explain
Why sugar icing calls my name
I grew up in a sparser time
Where sweet things cost one extra dime,
And cake was truly all homemade
No soda pop just lemonade,
That canvas bag of powdered sweet
Marked 3 X, my old childhood treat !
How much longer Lord, must I wait
Upon my knees aside the gate
To learn if there’s a chance that I
Have found some favor in God’s eye ?
Perchance to dream and closer be
To dwell in that eternity
Along with those who’ve gone before
Now waiting there outside the door ?
Oh what a joy would be allowed
If I could join that chosen crowd !
Poor old teddy bear, waiting tired and time-worn
Reminding me of many nights spent too forlorn,
We have seen better days when your soft coat was new
And all the dreams we dared to dream seemed overdue.
I put away my childhood toys as I grew old
Because I’d sought the happiness that futures hold.
While childish hopes are based upon small simple things
They fade into the lonely past that growing brings.
Sometimes I wish, with all my heart, I could recall
That yesteryear, so long ago, when I was small.
There’s a precious amount of brief security
In loving a teddy bear who loves only me.
There in the past, the story grows
It lives the lie that sorrow knows
And carries on it’s tattered wings
The futile hope that dreaming brings.
Where did the thoughts of yesterday
Get left behind or go astray ?
How did we lose our earthly core
Or fail to reach for sky once more ?
It seems to me, we cannot know
How far and deep that loss will go
I need you Lord, to purge my soul
And help me please, maintain my goal !
This heart of mine is like a tool
It tows the line and bides the rule,
It feels the ache of those in pain
And weeps for souls who can’t sustain
A way of life in which there’s peace
And from this fear who seek release.
Please tell me why the weak must be
Sad victims of inequity,
I wish I knew what I could do
To ease their ache and help them through
The only words I have to say
Are “God is good, He is the way” !
We’re given the strength to believe
And the wisdom to understand,
The will to accept and receive
To learn to obey and command.
Man’s power of love conquers all
In spite of the ache or the cost,
Wherever this madness may fall
Or whether it’s won or it’s lost.
While the love of God’s not the same
It rises greater than real life
As we humbly call on His name
He answers with kindness not strife !
In darkest night I hear the sound
Of silence folding all around
The gentle sway of emptiness
Enlightens my need of success.
The morn will come and light the way
To help me face a bright new day
Another start, another try
These gifts the world does not deny.
Since time decides if I have failed,
My heart concludes, the ship has sailed
I’ll clasp my hands and close my eyes
And lose myself in paradise !
There were two souls long lost at sea
They sailed so far but couldn’t see
One steady course to set them free.
They traveled past the great divide
And cruised the world on either side
There seemed no chance they would collide.
They traveled hard and traveled long
And tried to fit and to belong
In foreign waters filled with song.
Remembering God loves us all,
Perhaps one day it will befall
No matter where that port of call !
My life is like a slippery hill
Sometimes I fall or take a spill
And there are times I cannot see
A feckless bump in front of me.
My eyesight dims, my courage fails
And all my strength in shadows, pales
I know I should be better at
This game of playing mouse and cat.
I find such things a childish chase
My life has need of richer pace,
Dark monsters hurry, fast away
I have no time for games today !
If love had arms, I’d clasp you close
Unto my heart and then disclose
The passion that we never knew
Just lingered there and grew and grew.
It simmered on the edge of fate
It flourished soon but came too late
There never was one chance that we
Would spend our lives in parity.
But that was oh, so long ago
Who can remember, who will know
Sometimes a breeze caresses me
What is it that I cannot see ?
I look into the blue above
For signs of God’s eternal love
And lo, before me clouds arise
To fill the void in vacant skies,
They dance and float with such panache
Creating panoramic flash !
I’m dazzled by their wild display
Reminding me this is His way,
And I shall ever grateful be
He made this world including me
Oh blessed heart that sings a song
Or hums a tune the whole day long,
That dances down an empty street
Where victory must be discreet.
The song we chant is such a gift
It fills the air and spirits lift
I yearn to hear that melody
That echoes like a symphony,
A hymn that’s raised with one accord
To love our God and praise The Lord !
Claire V. Bogdanos 