Sometimes I wish that I could be
A cardboard angel on the tree
That’s packed away when Christmas ends
Into a box with all her friends !
Thence sleep in peace until next year
To waken there without a fear
Of haloes bent or wings half torn
When we rejoice on Christmas morn !
This dream’s been my attempt to flee
A life filled with uncertainty !
There was a time in storyland
When castles were both large and grand
Where wizards ruled across the seas
And royalty lived as they pleased !
In storyland there is no pain
The dragons all have fought in vain
The heroes dress in white and gold
And children love the stories told !
I think I might have liked it there
While we all know that’s not quite fair
Though fantasy much pleasure gives
It’s there imagination lives !
God’s angels who abide on high
All sing His praise to passersby
His works are so miraculous
To share His love is glorious !
How marvelous for us to be
A part of His community
Let’s join again our voices raised
Accept His love and be amazed !
Here’s to the vets of every war
What was it they were fighting for
These valiant souls who fought and died
They stood alone or side by side,
For war is such an ugly thing
We’ve seen the sadness it can bring
The victor tastes both death and pain
While those who lose have fought in vain !
Now turn around and search about
There is some way to figure out
Chaos must end ere it’s too late
Or we will share the selfsame fate !
EXCUSE me, have you heard of Sir Edward Dyer (1543-1607), Earl of Oxford, English lyric poet and attributed author of “My Mind To Me A Kingdom Is” ? Â Today, a chilly Sunday morn, these 7 words were my waking thought ! Â I am not a suspicious sort but I question the reason, I should like to learn where these words emerged from. Â Perhaps we live an alternate life within our private dreamworld ? Â Or as my mother was prone to point out to me quite frequently, I possess an overactive mind, aha ! Â Back to my original observation about this poem written mid 16th century, please take time to research original 8 stanza, 48 line piece of melodic perfection ! Â Once again I credit my English mentor, Lorena E. Fry for introducing this depression-era child to the pure joy of words ! Â Can you imagine what it must have been like for the ancient Greeks to participate in the Socratic Circles of Plato’s time ? Â Or to stand in the Pit of the Globe in 1600 London ? Â Where would we be without the vocal power of the pulpits of life ? Â I’ll close with Dyer’s last stanza:
My wealth is health and perfect ease…….My conscience clear my chief defence
I neither seek by bribes to please……………Nor by deceit to breed offence
Thus do I live, Â thus will I die…………………….Would all did so as well as I !
Sincerely, Â Â Â Â Claire B.
Sometimes the heart wells up with joy
Fueled by the truth friendships employ
And brings sunshine to time and place
To leave impressions we embrace !
To be a friend is no small act
It takes great effort and some tact
But most of all forgiving thought
Will in our growing web be caught !
How wonderful our lives would be
If God should bless this company
And save us with a show of hands
Mongst friends from many other lands !
I try to keep myself quite occupied
And free from traits of vanity and pride
Preferring to embrace those simple joys
Of loving kindness, happiness and poise !
For in my life this is what I have found
Tis best to keep one’s feet upon the ground
Forsake the envy hiding in each heart
And grateful thank the Lord for His new start !
I’d love to be a child once more
And welcome daddy at the door
To laugh and smile and play some game
Or hear my mother call my name !
We’d spend an evening by the fire
Reading chapters meant to inspire
Our hearts to learn the proper ways
To love our Lord and render praise !
I cannot wait till winter’s done
These bones of mine are not much fun
They grind and groan and mostly ache
Sometimes I think they will just break !
When I was young and in my prime
I’d bend and stretch and dance and climb
But that was very long ago
Before my age began to show !
Take this advice from one so old
When youth has flown and love grown cold
Remember God is there for you
With warmth and love He’ll see you through !
I hear the cries they fill the air
The world is bleeding everywhere
I beg our God to still the sound
This world is dying all around
Oh Lord above please hear our plea
And save us from catastrophe !
The silence creeps into the room
Its magic soon all thoughts consume
The shadows fall upon the door
Then slowly settle to the floor.
It seeps into each lonely crack
To lure the quiet darkness back
And melts away into the night
As we arise with morning light !
There is no winner in defeat
That moment lost will not repeat
The air is chill the world is blind
What is it that one seeks to find ?
For strength and faith shall ever be
And like the wind will set us free !
Oh my beloved Lord, wherefore hast Thou forsaken me
And left me here to weep and sigh for an eternity ?
Some memories I can’t retrace
They’re part of this my final race
Like thieves that scampered into night
Whose victims never knew the right.
The aged man the sweet-faced boys
Who filled my days with endless joys
Their names leap off my secret page
Now I have reached declining age.
Amid the faces I have kept
Are tears I’ve hid and never wept
While time each lonely fragment keeps
My heart recoils and weeps and weeps !
I prayed I might amend my sight
To never face that lost daylight
I could not bear those days again
That patient silent waiting pain.
Now Mary was the special one
God picked to bear His only son
From Judah’s tribe she had to be
Samuel vowed to Ruth’s Jesse !
Descended from son David’s clan
His grandson who was called Nathan
Was that forebear of Miriam,
Her name was changed to Mary then !
Now Joseph was descended from
King David’s young son Solomon,
Oh what confusion this must be
Describing Christ’s birth history,
It is so hard to learn these facts
I should have picked the Book of Acts !
When I was young and in my teens
I never owned a pair of jeans
At school we learned to sew and cook,
Spend time with God and His good book.
There was world war, we did our part
And prayed that soon our lives would start
We volunteered for U S O
And questioned where our youth should go !
Cold war, Korea, Vietnam
Ungodly wars since it began
Please pray on this, what shall we do
When will its ugliness be through ?
It is foolish for a bird on the wing
To look for a reason for him to sing
While a wolf on the prowl seeking a kill
Silently hunts on a crest of the hill.
For these are God’s creatures without a cause
What is it they know that lends them no pause ?
I wish that I had the faith that they do
To know that God’s there forever like glue !
Claire V. Bogdanos 