Claire V. Bogdanos

Acceptance,Knowledge,Love,New Chapter,Process,Wisdom,

IDENTITY ( 1998 ) 2013/05/06

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 8:34 pm
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I am an empty seashell that waits beside the sea

To catch each impatient wave that washes over me,

Within the deeper crevice which is my inner part

There swells all the emptiness that drowns a heavy heart.

I am a frigid winter that never sees the  sun

Yet dreams to hold one sunbeam before its light is done.

I am a hollow nighttime wind crying out aloud

Embracing every vacant space stretching wide and proud,

Sheltering a burden while seeking that final cave

To echo trust and recapture all the love I gave.

 

I am deserted memory living in the past

Wherein all wind and waves and snow are forgotten fast.

I am a lonely stranger, timid, pale and lost, how sad,

Who for the sake of liberty committed all I had.

 

NOTHING IS FOREVER ( 1963 ) 2013/05/05

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:58 am
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Look up, look up, into the misting sky

And wistful, dreaming of the years gone by

For truth, and seeming as they never were

Provoking thoughts that heart and mind concur.

In life not even flowers linger long

And to the wind both stem and leaf belong

While bird and nest, too soon part company,

And thus with many leave only memory.

Unholy din to clamor in this sphere

Mark man and beast with recollection clear,

Like bookmarks in a span of life concern

Within orb, lasting memory discern.

Dusting shelves laden with rejected dreams,

A thankless task wasted as it now seems

That memory which has been tucked away

Till such a time perhaps as is this day.

Like one’s closed book of golden memory

Which only grasps the edge of destiny,

So thumb again the pages stained and worn,

Oft empty sheets both tired and torn.

A little knowledge with self-reflected view

Consuming hopes, for time that rings untrue,

Reason spurn Herculean endeavor

In assuming nothing lasts forever.

Leave wanting for the final recompense

And wishful hoping as the last defense,

At best that memory, if so inclined

Will flicker once or twice, across the mind.

 

SOLUTION ( 1991 ) 2013/05/02

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:37 pm
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I bound my hopes in role secure
And found myself in life obscure
No battle sought, no aimless race
This distant vacant waiting place
Where all my dreams were mauled and tossed,
Illusion gone and courage lost.
A hollowed shell and nameless ache
One heart that’s worn but will not break
And never was nor ever see
A yearning for what cannot be.
This weighted loss but whispered then
About the life that might have been
No sympathy, no anger meant
No subterfuge, no cross intent
A saddened time with too much space
Casts warmth aside like so much waste
Persisting still in careless fashion
This lonesome and elusive passion.

 

While madness played upon my mind
And futile sought its peace to find
As all the joy I might have sown
Lay wasting in some grave unknown
Be sure I’m wont to ever taste
This need of mine that has no face.

 

WEAK VICTORY ( 1974 ) 2013/05/01

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:49 pm
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Why did you take my dreams and brush them all away,

Like scattered ashes of some forgotten yesterday,

Blown with the biting dust of winds that swiftly glide,

Just drifters on life’s road, unwanted, cast aside?

I’ll mend the twisted fragments that have not been lost,

Time will veil some pieces and never count the cost,

A feckless sort of action, yet task worth knowing,

By simply standing tall, find endurance growing.

Wisdom laced with caution that loneliness will marry,

Gull’s nest on seaweed, though set adrift, may tarry,

A titmouse, in the thornbush, emerges, wings intact,

While dreams that died of neglect, often seem abstract.

 

IF I WERE GREAT ( 1998 ) 2013/04/28

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 9:14 pm
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At mornings there are times when I

Upon my couch, rejected lie,

And ponder o’er the many schemes

That filled my days and were my dreams.

I spied a bird that paused in flight,

He battled not with conscience‘ might.

I climbed a tree that was so tall

And cried because my aims were small.

I heard a song that had no tune

And wished upon some waning moon

To be a bird and restless fly

Against God’s canvas of the sky.

There, seek to find another day

Or mayhaps learn the  better way

To fill my life with keener zest,

Perform great deeds before my rest.

 

I will to you this last reply

To neither question nor deny

That days of man are wasted spent

To wonder where his lifetime went,

Whereas each bird doth leave behind

Abundant seed the rain will find.

 

JUDGEMENT ( 2013 ) 2013/04/23

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:13 am
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The swiftly graying darkly coursing sky

Does play upon my fickle inner eye

And bares a mystery both stark and bold

That speaks to me of long lost dreams untold.

These dreams I thought had flown so far away.

Yet seeming near, had somehow lost their way.

 

Some fringed and faded shadows left behind

Shedding aged reflection as they unwind

What had once been I recognised anew

And purpose wrought with aim and course so true.

The passion in my heart that won’t decline

A hungry yearning that I can’t define

The dreaming in my mind that cannot fade

A hard decision that I have not made

The longing in my soul that will not wane

A quest for meaning that I’ve failed to gain.

 

And there among the past that wastes away

Find sad remains of yet another day

One unknown force that placed the founding stone

Has willed this legacy to us alone.

There in the night with truth possessed and sown

Who by their fruits at last shall they be known.

 

MEMORY IS ( 1981 ) 2013/04/18

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 8:06 pm
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Sifting through the ashes of a

bitter burning ember

Of forgotten days that time is

dying to remember

Where winter thoughts demand their

silence softly to be heard

Like some feint storm that rages on

appearing now absurd,

To leave one faithful moment here

that truth can realize

There bearing in its icy grip

lost dreams of paradise,

An everlasting steadfast ghost

of hope that went astray

To carry on its battered wings

past thoughts of yesterday.

 

SUNRISE ( 1964 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 6:50 pm
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Gladly, this new day rises with a lemon-colored sun,

Spreading its fan with fingers of light, their journey begun

The early dawn painting water colors across the sky,

Running rampant in a kaleidoscope mornings apply.

Buds tumbling o’er each other in a circus of display

Assailing the senses with sights and sounds in bold array.

A blessing to have left behind the dark sadness of night,

Too full, with all its gloom pervading length and depth and height.

And life’s cycle begins again, its merry youth slender,

So clear and clean, healing breath, new hopes and dreams engender.

 

LIFE’S CHALLENGE ( 2005 ) 2013/04/17

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:26 pm
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When a flower drops its petals

and its seeds are blown away

And its dry stalks tremble, break

to drop and lie amidst decay,

When a tall tree bends its wide limbs

and its leaves are swept away

Seeking safe and sheltered haven

hence await another day,

When a dream still waits unbidden

as the years have caused delay

And the hopes that fill a young mind

through the years have gone astray

When a heart that’s old and mellow

beats its last and sad farewell

Searching for the final hospice

where the soul at peace may dwell,

When the aims of every lifetime

falter, tarry and dispel

Knowing soon the battle’s over

and its goals have too short fell,

There among these winter feelings

where the hurt will rise and swell,

Face that fleeting day of anger,

sally forth and chance rebel.

 

PATTERNS ( 1980 ) 2013/02/13

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 3:44 pm
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Castles in Spain fly on wings of a dream

Idle thoughts nought more than dulled reckless gleam,

Faint glimmer of hope one desire long inbred,

Time moulds each man’s dream into one fragile thread,

To leave but shadows of what he’d hoped to be

Like echoes of the words he wished he’d said.

Is this all that I am or will ever be

In patient pattern flowing until one drifts dead,

Ne’ermore to know the flight of the dream forlorn,

That dream  shining bright waits wasted and worn.

 

The fabric of life ’bout us vaguely closes

And weaving its web chains in cadence imposes,

While years swiftly flee as passionless dawn,

That heart which in hope  covets distant land,

Takes time to kindly glimpse the days long gone

When chance was his to leave or to command.

These years of mem’ry  like those past cloud worn

Instill not the fear but the value scorn,

The face of reality makes dream fantasy

While far castles in Spain mark man’s sad heresy.

 

MEMORY ( 2003 ) 2013/02/11

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 6:19 pm
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Just as the wind off the hill whispers to the trees

Just as the bird on the bough sings into the breeze,

Just so my friend as life begins its final fall

I must tell you how I feel ere this curtain’s call.

Some songs I’ve heard have no words, others have no tune

They swell and rise and float aloft in time festooned.

Some friends I‘ve known crossed my path nodding cold farewell

Others stayed close by my side though they kiss and tell,

Some who came to plead my cause lingered on too long,

I do remember most the good, the kind, the strong.

 

While simple ways and gentle thoughts and silence too

Are peace that age has brought to me in purpose true.

If I count beyond my fears, just one smiling day

I won’t need another dream or another stay.

 

SIMPLICITY ( 2001) 2013/02/06

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 8:07 pm
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Of all the dreams I’ve ever known

But one remains steadfast and clear.

Of all the seeds I’ve ever sown

That with the spring will reappear,

Of all the gifts I’ve ever bought

And cherished with a thought unreal,

Of all the hopes I’ve ever sought,

In faith, which to my mind appeal,

This simplest one, I’ve valued most,

Friendship sealed with kind helping hands,

A love that feels no need to boast,

A heart that cares and understands.