I like to sing aloud and long
A sweet and joyous feel good song
All about the home of the brave
Where freedom’s free and must be saved !
This land where gold lines every street
That is if you will move your feet
Get out of bed and use your mind
There is a treasure you shall find !
While sloth may be the choice you make
And ignorance the path you take,
You won’t believe what joy it brings
Until success does give you wings !
There’s something lost where has it been
It made us this one great nation
With freedom of conversation.
Demosthenes spoke by the sea
While heroes like Marc Antony
Defended Caesar’s legacy !
There’s Thomas Paine and Nathan Hale
Great men whose words would never fail
While immigrants rough seas would sail.
They came for freedom their first choice
With speech that they might freely voice
And values that none could coerce.
How sad they’d be to see us now
Our children mute they can’t learn how
This government will not allow !
Those ships that rode the ocean waves
And carried freedmen, foes and slaves
To this wild land across the sea
Did in the end find liberty.
This journey took full many years
Filled with great loss, a trillion tears
When most began their hopeful trek
From faraway on wooden deck.
We here today may look about
And view their voyage with no doubt
It took true courage which they had
To build this nation, good and bad !
At times I wonder why it’s so
The ones we love must come and go
But ever live within our hearts
We miss them all as each departs.
I understand the reason why
The pain of loss gives cause to cry
Remaining still devout with care
Although they are no longer there.
Somehow we learn to be quite strong
To keep our tears where they belong
And paste a smile upon our face
Remembering that last embrace !
The days we knew and loved the best
Have disappeared with all the rest
Where have they gone I do not know
They faded in the afterglow.
Oh would that we might try again
To reach out for remember when
But life moves on with no return
No refund or deposit earned !
Sometimes the truth is hard to find
There is so much to rend us blind
How sad that most times we don’t see
That only truth can set us free !
Have you heard the angels sing
Their voices bear angelic ring
I know their choir is ultrafine
The chills run up and down my spine
I wish that I might join their ranks
So I could share my grateful thanks !
There is a river I have seen
Its waters flow and ebb and stream
Sometimes it trickles on the ground
Among loose pebbles all around
Reminding us of how God’s word
Spreads like those waters as it’s heard
Embracing all both far and near
Sharing His blessings through each year !
My nana was my special friend
She taught me how to sew and mend
To make my bed and hang my clothes
To fold my undies and my hose
We talked sometimes into the night
She made my problems turn out right
And helped me overcome my fears,
Oh she’s been gone these many years.
I wish that she could see me now
To know I made it through somehow
I want to thank her from my heart
She gave my life it’s special start !
Good morning Sun
How far you’ve come
Such a long trip
Without a ship
Across the skies
To bring sunrise
To everyone
Under the sun !
There was a place that kids could hide
When they did not feel safe inside
A pleasant place where they might be
Until the time that they felt free.
It used to be about their dreams
In which they would escape it seems
But since this world is upside down
There’s no replacement to be found.
They still can join in Games of War
That’s what these instruments are for
X – Box and IPhone, who knows when
Our children will be safe again ?
I wait here for the toll of the chimes
That signal welcome to latter times
And the days that we’ve been dreaming of
With much thought of peace and hope and love.
What must we do to earn this pleasure
Step by step and measure by measure
Remember to keep the Written Word
Learn to avoid the evils you’ve heard !
Perform the deeds that you know as just
To earn God’s love and eternal trust
Be slow to anger, answer with thought
Forsake not the morals you’ve been taught !
I left my heart high upon an ancient hill
Oerlooking wide and glist’ning portals of the past
Envisioned splendor though dead yet lingers still
As dreams that fade and hopes that could not last
There azure waves danced mildly on a white and sandy shore
Where echoes of a memory long to be heard forevermore !
Then as I gazed upon those fortresses of old
I trembled with the glory that once had been
Both proud and grand whilst steeped in purpose bold
Sad victim of time’s ravages then unforeseen
There scented breeze played softly through her waning twilight hours
Where shadows of desire lie dormant midst the fading flowers !
Sometimes when life seems turned around
I sense all that we’ve lost and found
Our longing for the loss is great
But finding God has sealed our fate
There is this hope discovery brings
While gaining faith that joyful rings !
Tis true I may be made of clay
I’m not descended from an ape
Nor am I here for just a day
There is for me but one escape !
EXCUSE me but I digress, wouldn’t you ?  I find myself musing among the words of Dr. Holmes, the senior Oliver Wendell of course !  If you have followed my DATELINES, then you will know how taken I am with his writing all these many years.  There is a line he wrote in a letter from Beverly Farms, 7/9/1885, that is exceedingly profound and I would like you to ponder its core meaning !  He ends his self critique with these words:  But the morning dew means little to the withered leaf !  Wow !  He repeats in a letter from same on 7/9/1894 noting that his opinion hasn’t changed.  May I ask you to search out these letters on WIKIPEDIA, nothing like authenticating.  Now what does this have to do with facing one’s own mortality, everything !  In our lives we calmly allow atrophy to overtake parts of our anatomy to stifle the most exciting contributions we are capable of making,  from actions to words !  This includes progeny to thought process, wisdom.  Why did God give us speech ?  Or the capacity to think, plan, dream, hope ?  And not the lions ?  For we are special in His image, not automatons, however we are perceived.  I for one wish to exercise my abilities until the day I bid adieu, knowing all the while that this is what  I was created for.  In Genesis 9:1 instructions to Noah, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.  Amen !      Sincerely,     Claire B.
“And if I should live to be……….That last leaf upon the tree……….In the spring,……….Let them smile, as I do now,…………At the old forsaken bough………..Where I cling”………….( final stanza). Â Â The Last Leaf by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Oh for the life that is no more
When hearts were young and kept no score
When all we knew was how to be
Afraid of abject poverty !
Our lives were so much simpler then
When girls were gals and guys were men
When unisex was still unknown
And being high meant airborne flown !
Songs had real words and melody
And marriage knew God’s sanctity
I wish we could turn back the clock
Oh what I’d give to join that flock !
My life becomes this crazy place
I feel I live in outer space
The worries of the world can be
Another notch upon life’s tree.
What does it mean to have a heart
When all about you falls apart
God never meant for so much pain
To punish dreams again, again !
Leaves have deserted all the trees
The smell of winter treads the breeze
The shadow of the sun soon fades
Beyond the hill there in the glades.
The early night now spreads its gloom
It creeps into each lonely room
And whispers softly in my ear
That wintertime will soon be here !
This barren place seems void of air
It’s empty breath reeks of despair
The silence grows as hours pass
Like shadows in a looking glass.
The emptiness this waiting brings
Is like a dirge the lonely sings
Sometimes it is out of distress
The helpless fight against redress,
They question if one ever wins
And what to do when calm begins !
It’s only in the arms of God
That true redemption will be found
Sometimes that task seems just so hard
And forces one into the ground !
How I do miss the candles’ Â light
That flickered silent in the night
Its flame once bright now fades to dim
Lights dancing on the glasses’ Â rim
Creating shadows on the lace
While brightness shimmers on the face.
The waxy smell sweetens the air
Reminding one of evening prayer.
Those aged candlesticks recall
The winding stairs where footsteps fall
There in the dim glow of each night
That sees the heart in candlelight !
Â
for those of us who never rest
and feel the world upon their chest
these are the words i say each night
before i hold my pillow tight
i ask my God for those to bless
to keep them safe and make redress
then one by one i say their name
forgive all things there is no blame
and last of all i bid adieu
to all my faults both old and new
i love you mom
for mom
those dear ones who knew them well
have not the voice for them to tell
and so we here behind locked door
will wait until tis locked no more
til then again with loved ones near
to tell those tales we hold so dear
and so it goes or so it seems
we are the stuff of hopes and dreams
Sometimes I wake when it is dark
And lie abed with vision stark
I hear the creak each structure makes
As wind and rain the silence breaks !
I note how trees do bend and sway
It seems that dawn is on her way
The day begins its morning song
As silent we will join the throng !
The senses soon repeat the flow
Who knows where each new day will go
Because today may bring surprise
God hear my prayers before I rise !
I’d like to think that we were friends
But that’s not where the story ends
We shared great times along the way
The path was straight, we did not stray.
When we were young each fell in love
What was it we were dreaming of
Our hearts were true and pure somehow
But things are not so simple now !
That golden hair has turned to white
With little will left here to fight
Mementos that we meant to keep
Got lost in some discarded heap,
The times long gone of used to be
Our friendship found eternity !
This little word  L – O – V – E
Is the true  link twixt thee and me
It cannot die or fade away
And is the rule for every day !
Love is the weapon children choose
To tease and taunt and to amuse,
Sometimes the word rolls off one’s tongue
Where wishes, hopes and dreams are hung
To promise nothing more or less
Thus from its meaning does digress !
Our God’s all knowing great and true
And won’t be fooled what e’er we do !
How sad it is for us to be
Hiding from life’s inequity
The question that’s been asked of me
Shall we survive the enemy ?
We surely know there will be cost
Our wisdom gone our valour lost
This tragedy which we maintain
Doth drown us all in grave disdain !
Evoking words we’ve heard before
Our future’s knocking on the door
Truth don’t you think that it’s too late
Barbarians are at the gate ?
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Claire V. Bogdanos 