Oh magic wand, where have you gone
We need your help to carry on
The weatherman decrees more snow
Where did your special powers go ?
How long is it we’ll have to wait
For spring to enter our front gate,
Oh springtime sprite you’re overdue
Do you need help to make it through ?
Dear snowfairy, it’s time to fly
We beg of you, please say goodbye !
They’ve walked and talked and played a bit
They’ve tossed and lost, made fun of it
As playmates they have shared a game
They ran about and called each name.
For that is what small children do
Beginning to form friendships true
While all the years that pass between
Hold fast as they become a teen.
Their friendships have a special bond
They cling to those of whom they’re fond
They fill the hours of youthful days
In trying out our grownup ways.
God plays a role for they must grow
Into adults who need to know
Because this task is too intense
Who speaks for them in their defense
The problem is in growing up
One needs to drink from every cup !
I wish that I could stop the clocks
Or pause their bold tick-tock, tick-tocks
They tick away the hours we’ve got
And hasten what will be our lot.
That minute comes without delay
When we must face our exit day
Be strong because twill meet us all
Who knows if it be spring or fall.
Arrive it does be sure of that
Don’t pack a bag, you need no hat
There’s no rewinding anywhere
For tis the end of life’s affair !
It is much fun to walkabout
To run and skip and laugh and shout
How easily we make the case
That all of us wear the same face !
But do we know that this is true
Examples set by me and you
No two alike, no two the same
Each, disability to claim.
We’re not all blind, but shackled are
By speech that blames chaos afar
Who ever dreamt that there would be
A world crammed with war amputees !
Flying carpets where have you gone
I need a rug to ride upon
Perhaps a shell like Venus had
Or dolphin’s back, like Alan Ladd.
We should recall those olden days
When fantasy was all the rage
And films and books and fables old
Like fairy tales were stories told.
Today the truth is all we’ve got
Accepting that, I’d rather not
While Ali Baba was his name
Those forty thieves brought him his fame
Arabia was mystic too
I liked it then, well didn’t you ?
Today tis sad, this world to think
It seems we’ve reached the final brink
There’s no time left for let’s pretend
The world we knew has met its end !
Those images that I recall
So long ago when I was small
My father’s laugh, my mother’s smile
Sweet memories held by a child
The smells, the sounds that filled the air
The joyous times that we all shared.
Oh how grown up it was to be
Included in their company
Such love held fast both now and then
And glowed as I remember when !
There is great wisdom in the thought
To treasure all the lessons taught
Those stories to the children told
Of leaders wise and heroes bold
With roots steeped in our history
Filled with great hope and mystery.
This saga of our faith and dreams
Believing now much nearer seems !
If I were a rainbow my home would be the sky
You would see my colors if mist were passing by
The sun must be behind if you’re to catch the glow
There through tiny raindrops it’s time to see the show.
Only seven colors the spectrum is complete
Oh what a sight to show majestic and so sweet
And such a great reminder that God is ever there
Keeping every promise that we were meant to share !
A little bird, you know the one
Invites me now to have some fun
Entreating me to hurry up
And try to fill my empty cup
With something more than wishes and
A hug, a kiss or joy’s glad hand.
But I’m afraid he’ll have to wait
For God and I, we have a date
And stuff, it just gets in the way
There’s no time left for aimless play !
Today I wish to say a prayer
For those who are no longer there
I miss you all and pray that you
Are in a place where dreams come true.
The good book says we rest in sleep
There are no memories we keep
Perhaps this is the best of all
As we must wait for God’s recall.
If I do get a message through
Remember please, I still love you !
If I were a snowflake where is it I would go
Me and my companions, into high piles of snow
But oh can you imagine what great sights we’d see
Drifting from the heights on each town or small city.
We are all different no two alike or same
There’s no way that heaven could give each one a name
I think it’s quite exciting gliding wide and far
Snowflakes must have visited even with the Tzar !
They fell on every mountain and covered all the trees
They whistled in the wind and crackled in the freeze
There is so much beauty in all this pristine white
I thank you God but now I’d like a brief respite !
I think the walls are tumbling down
I feel the trembling of the ground
Our world is crumbling bit by bit
I don’t know what to make of it.
There is a shifting in the thought
That we are in a morass caught
There’s no way out not up or down
All that we’ve known about to drown !
Oh powers that be how does it end
Will we survive without a friend ?
There is a song I used to sing
I hear its faint familiar ring
It echoes often in my mind
Recalling shadows that rewind
Of days that are forever gone
Though memory still lingers on.
If I should pass this way once more
I’m sure I’d walk through that same door
To visit what was yesterday
Once more to hear that tune replay !
Oh tiny one how sweet you are
You glow and shine, you’re mommy’s star
Oh little angel here on earth
There is no price could buy your worth !
Our God in heaven up above
Gifted each with unblemished love
There are so many ways to show
True love for Him as each does grow.
Remember how to thankful be
And grateful that His love is free !
Love cannot be life’s everything
It’s faith and hope and blossoming
It’s dreams and plans and mystery
Our spring and fall, our destiny !
It is the total of the scene
On this huge stage that’s in-between
Our days of nascence and demise
That learn to live with compromise !
The wind has wings you cannot see
It gathers leaves from every tree
It shuttles snow across the sky
And corrals the spores that soon fly.
Each bird that rises on the wing
Will travel on its whispering
While seeds that have in season dried
Must speed to fine some niche to hide.
This is the way God’s process works
Part of His scheme and all the perks !
Today I feel completely free
I pray there are no strings on me
Where e’er I go, what e’er I do
To my own self I shall be true !
I’m sure that God is by my side
He knows the truth and if I lied
I have been blessed in many ways
He loves me and accepts my praise.
I thank our Lord with all my heart
My life is His right from the start !
I never cease to be amazed
By all the heroes we have raised
Both men and women young and old
The weak, the strong, the meek, the bold.
They come in every color known
And range from small to overgrown
What makes a hero who can say
But they were there to save the day.
They risked their lives to do a deed
To help another in dire need
God loves us all, good, bad or worst
Let’s hope our heroes will rank first !
I do my exercise each day
It helps to keep doldrums away
I speak with God all of the time
He never tires of my rhyme
At least I think He’s not upset
I haven’t had an answer yet !
Oh what I’d give to stand up straight
To learn to circumnavigate
To use my limbs as others do
To climb a stair or dance a few.
Oh what a joy that it would be
To take a walk around to see
This neighborhood where I reside
Instead of staying safe inside.
I’m tired of disability
And eager dream of being free !
I had a dream the other day
I dreamt the winter washed away
Oh what a joy and sweet surprise
There’s no more snow to greet the eyes !
Let’s on with rain and flowers bright
In colors that astound the sight
The bounty that the winter brings
Are vistas where God’s beauty sings !
There are loud footsteps in the street
The frantic sound of running feet
Where are they going ever fast
What am I missing as they pass ?
There is some music I can hear
Midst growing din, hurrah and cheer
I’m sure I hear the bagpipes play
Can it be so it’s Saint Pat’s Day ?
Oh what a joy that fact will bring
A few days more until the spring !
Tred softly friend the world is wide
One cannot know what dwells inside
In faith we all have tales to tell
There is no mystery or spell.
Each dawn awakes to a new day
We’ll beg the night to fade away
Let’s close our eyes pretend to be
A world in perfect harmony !
Aroma wafts up to my nose
It is the smell of oreos
I never thought I’d halt to think
About an odor, smell or stink !
But now I know that this is true
Please take a whiff I beg of you
Incredible how sweet they seem
Care to share an oreo dream ?
( OREO BIRTHDAY NYC 3/6/1912 – 1st SOLD, HOBOKEN, NJ, USA )
I do remember very well
Tin soldiers and the tales they tell
So much of my own childhood play
Was spent imagining their day.
While soldiering was all the style
Accomplishments were well worthwhile
Real soldiers now make us take note
For soldiering can change the vote !
Most of our children have grown old
Served their nation with valor bold
The wars have come and slipt away
As mothers’ tears were in the way.
There is a lesson we need teach
The road to peace is in our reach
Tin soldiers are no longer seen
There’s Army, Navy and Marines !
Fantastic visions fill my head
As I lie here upon my bed
I feel as though I’m in between
The space that lives twixt wake and dream.
My visions are so truly clear
What e’er I see seems strangely near
My heart pales, I can’t catch my breath
What is it like so close to death ?
A simple sound defiles the air
And stills the gloom, be gone despair
I’ve things to do I can’t forget
This is too soon it’s not time yet !
A ballerina is so sweet
She dances on her magic feet
Her art intense her ache endures
For painful feet there are no cures
Perform she must that’s how it goes
It’s what she loves her twinkle toes !
We all owe her great empathy
She pirouettes much to our glee
Her graceful moves part of the dream
The jetes mark her dance supreme !
Open the door and come on in
God awaits all, forgiving sin
That day is coming very fast
Our problems have become so vast.
Where shall the hordes of fleeing go
To reach God’s arms before the woe
Keep calm and do not lose your place
He will remember every face !
Claire V. Bogdanos 