Oh how I miss each Sunday morn
Sounds echoing since I was born
Those happy tunes or plaintive hymns
From early on till evening dims.
Their voices raised with one accord
The hopeful sing and praise the Lord,
My mother’s voice so sweet and strong
Would sound aloud the whole week long.
She loved to sing each olden tune
About romance, lost love or moon,
I wish I knew if heaven rings
With hymns and songs an angel sings !
Once was I thought that I would be
Some heroine in history
One must be brave and noble too
With sacrifice for quite a few !
It took so long to understand
That life’s not always great or grand
And sometimes it just pays to be
A simple sort with piety !
It’s strange the way dreams disappear
To leave us all quite baffled here
How much more fun if we could be
Included in God’s next story !
Perhaps it is because I’m old
That childhood glows like precious gold
Those days we thought had been forgot
Are part of each one’s Camelot !
Which role we play is our own choice
The option is weep or rejoice
We complicate decisions made
It’s what we do when plans are laid !
For each of us who would go back
What’s done is done we can’t redact
While we retrieve lost memory
There’s nothing that God does not see !
I thought I was alone last night
The sky was still the moon so bright
A fragile silence filled the air
Almost as though someone were there !
Deep in the shadows of my room
I shivered in the subtle gloom
And whispered softly in my prayers
When all else fails I know God cares !
Now as I close my eyes with ease
To slowly sink upon my knees
I’m not quite sure how I shall rise
But when I do tis God’s surprise!
The mist that rises from the sea
That through the night envelops me
And curries favor with the winds
Consoles me as each day begins !
Tis true I was a child forlorn
Who to adversity was born
But took to courage with a will
To greet the world and ply my skill !
There is no task that is too small
No barrier I find too tall
No kindness lies outside my reach
My love of God’s beyond impeach !
What is it that men mean to say
Their words keep getting in the way
Feint tongues are stumbling o’er their teeth
Failing to state what’s underneath ?
Much easier to honest be
When will they learn that truth is free ?
I cannot worry what will be
I’m such a tiny entity
This world exists by its own choice
Impervious to my small voice !
I barely keep myself afloat
How can I steer your private boat,
I wish that I possessed the strength
To forge a peace for all at length !
I pray the Lord will kindness show
And point the way that we must go
To conquer anger, fear and doubt
And fill our days with cause devout !
This foggy veil now drifting down
Into the haze that hugs the ground
With winds that shift without a sound
And misty showers all around,
Light spray obscuring each surround
Midst floating clouds with haloes crowned
These are the sights sure to be found
As we melt into God’s playground !
When I was young with vision clear
My heart was bold I knew no fear,
But as I grew the world did change
The clouds above grew dark and strange !
Familiar things assumed new shapes
One’s sense of loss sought out escapes
What happened to the olden ways
Of peace and hope and love and praise ?
Tis soon the time to pay the price
Shall we just pray and toss the dice,
It seems we have no other choice
For who is left to raise a voice ?
How I remember little things
The way the scent of ocean clings
And salt that lingers on one’s lips
Or dreams of trips on sailing ships !
The sound of waves that lash the shore
They whisper you’ve been here before
Days of great joy they can’t return
Their memories shall ever burn !
A heart that’s full with treasure sings
Amidst the pleasure laughter brings
Remembering what used to be
Becomes a lifelong litany !
The lions dozing in their den
The deer now grazing in the glen
The sheep who feed on meadow grass
And goats who climb each mountain pass,
Those tame or wild, both great and small
They’re God’s creations one and all !
Forests or fields or highland fife,
Grasslands and hills that teem with life
Camels and lizards on desert sands
Coyotes and wolves in frozen lands,
Imagine what this world would be
Without God’s great diversity !
Claire V. Bogdanos 