Claire V. Bogdanos

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

TIMING (1968 ) 2013/05/23

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:51 am
Tags: , , ,

 

When I have watched ten thousand clouds pass

overhead and seen

Them pass again this way no more in

splendor’s show serene,

When I have held the dearest heart close

to my breast once more

And known a love without a fear I

never knew before,

When I have filled my wildest dreams and

spent my sweetest day,

When there is nothing left to learn and

nothing left to say,

When all of time continues on as

if it faced no end

And I have told my last farewell to

lover and to friend,

When all my tears and hopes are gone and

life wills no delay

Then may I close my eyes in sleep and

blow my breath away.

 

DARK SHADOWS ( 2001 ) 2013/05/22

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 2:24 pm
Tags: , , , ,

 

The shadows dark do cloud my mind

And as a serpent slowly wind

Into a river rife with fear

Where floats one vision most unclear,

Too strange that as I wend my way

My feet seem slow and mired in clay.

From dusk till dawn these shadows keep

My restless self foreign to sleep,

Then with the wakeful hours of morn

My eyelids shut in careless scorn

Upon this world which might just be

A lesson in civility.

 

PEACE ( 2013 ) 2013/05/21

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:38 pm
Tags: , , , ,

 

I don’t know what you are thinking

And if it affects my life

Only God knows where your heart is

If it’s filled with peace or strife.

I can pray that you’ll remember

To uplift and aid the weak

Most are the Lord’s helpless children

Lacking voice to beg or speak.

In this life we are mistaken

To believe we’re all alone

No one knows our destination

Is the path of grass or stone?

I can wait another lifetime

Hoping soon to find release

In pursuit of God and wisdom

Seeking His eternal peace.

 

DATELINE : Hoboken, New Jersey, USA ” HERO ” ( 2013 )

Filed under: MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:16 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,

 

Am I correct in believing that Brokaw called my era the “ Greatest Generation” ?  ( My mother bought me that book.)  I spent more than 76 years of my life in “ incredibly “ close proximity to my mom, she was my “hero” !  I miss her everyday and live by the simple rules she valued.  In German it was : Kirche, Kinder, Kochin, “loosely”  translated into … God, family, duty !  Not a bad goal.

Sincerely,

Claire B.

 

LOVE ( 2013 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:15 am
Tags: , , , ,

 

I’m mesmerized by falling rain

It splatters on my window pane

And sings a tune I need to hear

It sounds like music on my ear,

It means my garden now can thrive

And soon God’s blessings will arrive.

You cannot know the joy I feel

Or how much ache this show will heal,

The beauty that a garden brings

With scented breath on fragile wings,

In truth this vision states somehow

God loves me, thats enough for now!

 

ANTICIPATION ( 1983 ) 2013/05/20

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:01 am
Tags: , , , , , ,

 

A wretched mass we lonely be

We draw our lots of destiny

And fearful though our days may seem

We’ll not forsake the growing dream

That time has furrowed on our brow

And hope can only but allow

To breathe and swell within our soul

And make it seem but one more goal

For man to grasp the will to live

And every moment courage give.

The wind blows wild across the plain

Another soul to seek acclaim

Like shipwrecks shoaled on foreign shore

Their voices raised, God’s grace implore.

As trees their arms do upward sway

The whole world kneels , her prayer to say

Where ancient Moorish castles rise

Their towers reaching for the skies.

 

This prayer of man that heaven sent

Begs only for his heart’s content,

Bold edifice of legendry

Now stirs the soul to poetry

And wills the weak to stronger be

And make fast friends of you and me.

 

HYPOTHESIS ( 1977 ) 2013/05/19

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 7:44 pm
Tags: , , , ,

Oh, foolish dreamer, you lonely child,

They gave you a hope, and you ran wild

In fields of joy and gardens of laughter,

Simple girl, you forgot what comes after

The rain of a late summer’s discontent,

However much meaningful or well meant

He will return to the world of his past,

Deserting you first, remembering last

That you held his hand through the troubled days

And you kissed his tears, through your misted gaze,

But in their flight, most men are little boys,

And gentle girls become discarded toys.

 

THE CLOWN ( 1946 ) 2013/05/18

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 10:14 pm
Tags: , , , ,

 

Ah, Pierrot, what pale tear doth rest upon thy cheek

And lingers there while thou hast not the tongue to speak

To quell this agony within thy breast that swells

Not either strength to leave nor voice to thy love tell?

Hence thou dost act each night a role that hath no end

To veil thy life without one lover or one friend.

T’would be the love for whom you’ve pined yet been denied

Dost sense not hour , day nor year through which thou hast cried.

Thus as this force continued on in weary grief

Thou garnered not the halting grace it must to leave.

But made thyself a servant silent to her will

And like some mindless fool forever loved her still.

 

SUNDOWN ( 1949 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:27 pm
Tags: , , , ,

 

The tide has gone, how cool the night

It’s ebb has passed, now dims the light

Drift wood alone remains for me

The single task which must now be

To build again this life to share

With splintered fragments of repair.

Lost memories like shattered dreams

Fill water into running streams

Receding tides, crumbling castles

Consuming waves leave only ashes. 

 

HOLLOW ( 1949 ) 2013/05/17

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 10:56 pm
Tags: , ,

 

A star has brushed my heart

and left it maime

A wind rushed past my ear

 whis’pring you name.

 

FAITH ( 2013 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 8:53 pm
Tags: , ,

 

I’d gather up the courage to stand so very tall

And pray that God would be there to catch me if I fall,

And if I can’t remember exactly every word

I’m sure that He will see my unspoken thoughts are heard.

 

LEGACY ( 2006 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:25 am
Tags: , , , ,

 

If today should be my last to keep

I’d deed to you, before I sleep

Those treasures which I’ll leave behind

To seek the rest that I will find.

There are these gifts to give away,

One is the peace youth will delay.

While I have many dreams to share

I also have some love to spare,

I’d pledge that love to fill your heart

Next to the wish your fears depart.

I’d bid you learn to live like me,

With courage, truth and dignity.

 

If this day were my last to spend

I’d will to you before its end,

The glow of joy and calm of mind

That through our destinies must wind,

And pray then as we say goodbye

There will be ventures you will try,

Perhaps a mountain you will dare

Because your future may be there

And if you fail, shed not a tear,

I leave you cause and faith sincere.

I can but beg your grief will see

The wisdom in my legacy.

 

OUTGROWN ( 1979 ) 2013/05/16

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:02 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

 

What is there above stripped limbs that I can spy

Wedged between those spiny arms that reach too high?

One browned and muddy shelter grown obsolete

That time ago, to some bird, was world complete,

With its leafy covert fallen to the ground

Where it lies in lifeless and decaying mound.

Now empty and deserted this wasting nest

That in prime, to brooding chicks gave healthy rest.

Poor lonely home of use no more, bleak and bare,

Lost legacy of one transient flying pair

Struggling in that tangled sea of life’s morass.

Thus observed, swiftly it is, through age we pass,

To leave behind this remnant of what had been

Some message of deep concern to kith and kin.

 

Consider lessons now sealed within those walls,

In its girth, did gift the heart and cushion falls.

Then build our nests for each youth, both sleek and trim,

Though we guide them well, the rest is left to Him.

 

LITTLE BIRD ( 2013 ) 2013/05/14

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 3:05 am
Tags: , , ,

 

Who is there upon my window sill?

What is your need or your will?

Who’s that tapping on my pane
?

Have you come to call again?

Do you wish to enter in
?

Or to share my space herein?

Oh little one as you think

And tremble there on the brink

I cannot do what you wish

Since we share a varied dish.

Will you rest upon my sill

And chirp your song as you will

Can you stay and live with me?

It’s your nature to be free.

Oh small creature once again

Tapping there upon my pane

I can pray that you may stay

I beg please don’t fly away.

Oh little bird of swift flight

Keep love in your patient sight,

Winter winds will too soon come

With hoar’d breath and lack of sun

Keep my heart and mind alive

We may both with care survive.

 

There’s the tap upon my glass

Tell me what it is you ask

Can it be that we both know

Secrets great that must not show.

I won’t beg you to delay

Will you come another day?

Perhaps show me how to live

Teaching me what I must give

By courage and moral stand

To comprehend God’s vast plan,

Make me glad to be alive

With His help we shall survive.

 

TO MY CHILDREN. ( 1978 ) 2013/05/11

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 3:12 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

From a mother to her son, and I write singularly,

because you are all the same, one finger of a hand, it

matters not which one, because all are indispensible

to me.   You are all an integral part of me, not even

death can truly separate us.  We are eternally one flesh.

I know with great clarity that you wish that our family

problems could be, with mysterious and magical alacrity,

whisked away on some fortuitous wind.  But you must now

understand that this is impossible, for many reasons,

honor not the least.

 

Perhaps with foolish vanity, I say to you that I have

sincerely tried to mend a constantly crumbling relationship

in the best manner that I was capable of, and perhaps my

efforts were misconstrued; and then again, perhaps my

vision and my ability were clouded by my own personal

pain and disappointment.   Perhaps, I too, was weak and

selfish.  My God, I hope not.

 

It must be that you profit from my experience in that

you do not err as I did, but rather that you see my errors,

tucking the memory of them away in some far corner of your

mind, using them as a guide in your lives to avoid similar

misfortune.  Each of you must make your own mistakes, hoping

only that every one teaches you a valuable lesson.  I love

you all as I love my life, you have each given me memories

and joys to last a lonely lifetime.   I pray that I have done

the same for you.   I apologise deeply for having brought you

to your present pain, and whatever decisions you individually

reach,  I will accept as being just and honorable, for this is the

manner in which I have tried to raise you.

Love, Your mother.

 

TIMES VISION ( 2001 ) 2013/05/08

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 11:01 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

Of all the chains the years have forged I’ve born with charity

One timeless and external torch can light no way for me

And darkens still this foolish path that will not set me free,

Igniting every shallow thought that clouds my destiny.

There is a time that shall impound

The freedom once that I had found

Which must with force my life surround

Until that day my breath’s unbound.

While madness round me all about pursues a course that’s weak

There is no simple answer to the honest end I seek,

Foolish aims that restless be have no mind nor tongue to speak

And bind my heart to olden dreams with courage often meek.

Brief chance has come and too soon passed

To rend my days with currents fast

Faith binds my hopes with vision vast,

Time leads my sight to grace at last.

 

TOO OFTEN ( 2001 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:55 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 

Oft I have heard a stranger say

That home is but a mile away,

And oft I’ve heard a comic say

That laughter’s but a smile away.

Oft I have heard a suitor say

That love is but a kiss away

And oft I’ve heard the preacher say

That God is just a prayer away.

Oft have I heard the wounded say

That help is but a cry away

And oft I’ve heard a soldier say

Peace is just one battle away.

Oft have I heard an artist say

Achievement’s just a task away

And oft I’ve heard the dying say

Salvation’s but a breath away.

 

Oft have I heard my own heart say

Tomorrow’s but a day away,

More oft I’ve heard a wiseman say

The truth is but a lie away.

 

ACHIEVEMENT ( 1976 ) 2013/05/07

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:06 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 

Oh, bright hope and trembling aspiration,

Threatened by reality’s confrontation,

Fertile dreams that skirt the realm of success

With thoughts that magnitude in deed possess,

Coerced by conscience ofttimes seized by doubt,

Bold in fervor and brave façade without.

 

Schemes that reek with brass determination

And beg aloud for joint cooperation,

Now restricted by society’s concept,

Whilst confined by past attitudes inept,

For this is woman, born to serve not lead

With scant concern that she fulfill her need.

 

Supple arms and quivering femininity

Promising passion with whispered divinity,

The striking blow of vanity to find

This fragile one conceals an agile mind.

 

IDENTITY ( 1998 ) 2013/05/06

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 8:34 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 

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.

 

THE DAISY ( 1991 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:58 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

 

Yellow eye in a crown of white

Boldly laughs as the day dawns bright.

Daisies wild in a garden grow

With petals soft as the drifted snow.

See how they bob in morning’s breeze

Nodding greetings to whom they please.

“ Hi there bee, have a busy day

Kindly be silent brash bluejay!”

 

A jolly bunch these daisies be

Who’d want for grander company?

The world might much improve itself

If man would seek a diff’rent wealth.

Among the blooms there’s never heard

A lying tongue or unkind word.

In all the fields where daisies breed

There’s always room for one more seed.

 

Somehow they thrive without complaint

Hardy species bright pictures paint

And gift mankind with brief respite

Indulge his rest with sheer delight.

Boundless joy mute blossoms shower

I’m sure God dwells in each flower.

I’d like to think that heaven’s plowed

With daisies glowing on each cloud.

 

MATURING ( 1999 ) 2013/05/05

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 10:50 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

 

I thought I saw the budding trees all sprout anew

I dreamt I touched each summer bloom all spread with dew,

And yet today I walked about and lonesome felt

An autumn breeze with chilling breath where sunbeams knelt.

Too fast these days have flickered by, the time has come

For lusty wind that plays beneath the winter sun.

Where then have these precious hours flown in vapid haste

To leave behind the faded hope a fool may waste?

 

Seems life’s composed of moments falling, one on one,

Like threads of gold into a lasting mem’ry spun

In sequence, weaving wisdom’s waning tragic spell

Of laughing tears and weeping smiles which credence tell.

These seasons constant changing that each flower knows

Are cycles in the life of man that patience grows.

 

CYCLE ( 1965 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:56 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 

Yesterday, a leaf fell from my favorite tree,

In silence, all alone, I watched it slip and slide,

Turning somersaults, drifting, so melodically,

Graceful, with nought other passage than downward glide.

For one fleet second, thoughts of revolution grew

And cast themselves across the windows of my mind,

Where fragments of one’s journey weigh for times,untrue,

Inciting spasms of questing doubt, life doth blind.

 

We are, each soul of us, mediocre in our way,

Endowed with talents born long ago, yesterday.

Skills that we erringly believe to be unique

Consume other needs, while that special praise we seek.

Observed through private mirrors which the mind collects.

And colored by the ego that our pride reflects,

Images, much gilded by vision clouded, seen,

And silvered by the hope that we are as we dream.

Mankind, foolish, now wanting, thinking what will be,

Wastes his days midst effort veiled by futility.

That cycle, which in youth, had its first beginning,

Will end in age, with neither losing or winning.

 

NOTHING IS FOREVER ( 1963 )

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:58 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,

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.

 

THE GULL, ( 2013 ) 2013/05/04

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 6:08 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

 

there is no one to call my own

I have nowhere to call my home

there is no one to hold me tight

not morning, noon or vast twilight

there is no place or person there

can show me peace, or love or care

i have no place to rest my head

there is no comfort in my bed

and this I notice and it’s true

we’re all alone when day is thru

and so I go from shore to shore

as my friend the gull, fore’ermore.

( My son Mark, sent this poem yesterday with the message,  ” JUST RAN THROUGH MY BRAIN” )

 

POPPIES ( 1990 ) 2013/05/03

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 1:30 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

 

The poppies in my garden grow with tissue paper arms

Among the weeds they flourish ever bright  and without  scent

Swaying in the nighttime breeze with somewhat seductive charms,

( Such casual beauty, I query where that fragrance went.)

Each petal appearing etched seeming darker at the rim,

A silken floss, I think it’s spun upon a fairy loom.

When every other blossom nods its head in evening’s dim

I find it odd that poppies never sleep or fold their bloom.

The poppy is a special gift full of artful design

Crafted much like the angel’s wings fluttering as they fly,

Woven and wrought by care and love with pageant in each line

Grafted by some magic skill from God’s greenhouse in the sky.

 

SOLUTION ( 1991 ) 2013/05/02

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 12:37 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

 

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
Tags: , , , , , ,

 

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.

 

SAFE ( 2013 ) 2013/04/30

Filed under: POEMS.....THOUGHTS.....MEMORIES — bogdanosclaire @ 10:28 pm
Tags: , , , , , , ,

 

The dark of night envelopes me in clouds of pain I

cannot bear

Pain that’s like an old companion whose ugly fashion

I won’t wear

Or bow beneath its will to tame me or yoke me

in its wide scope

I’m not a hostage in its grasp who’s doomed

to suffer without hope

I’ll fight the way that God has shown

with prayers of faith that my lips sing

While angel arms save and guard me

and carry me upon their wing.