Oh little birds you crowd my door
What is it you are waiting for
A bit of bread or cracker crumbs
That from my kitchen table comes
Leftovers from a berry tart
I meant for you right from the start ?
I want to share my feast with you
The way most thoughtful persons do
The Lord above has taught us this
Some joys in life we must not miss.
Perhaps one day when I am old
And all my senses have grown cold
You’ll sing to me your old time song
Reminding me that I belonged !
AMEN.
This day to me is just so real
I can’t explain quite how I feel
My heart so full I think t’will break
There was so very much at stake.
Ten thousand lost upon that shore
Who t’were not seen forevermore
My heart cries out, I cannot bear
The deprivation we did share.
How many dreams were lost that day
How many hopes were snatched away
Oh God above, please hear this plea
Vouchsafe this day of infamy !
Oh dearest friend, I feel your grief
I wish to proffer some relief
You close your eyes to bar the strife
That’s happening within your life.
An agile mind that used to be
Now chained by its infirmity
Oh dearest one, you’ve come this far
Try to remember who you are !
I really don’t know how to hide
This sadness that I feel inside
I’ve tried so hard to do it right
E’en though I’m lost, night after night.
The ache is there and won’t subside
And all because my child has died
Love’s all we’ve got no matter what
The grief remains though we may not.
I love you now, I always will
Until my heart at last is still !
Memory is a powerful tool
Not governed by sets of standard rule
A list of items hidden away
To safely keep for another day,
The human mind, a knowledge beyond
May save the secrets of which we’re fond,
A shadow here or a whisper there
Moments in time we chose not to share
These are the treasures that we may find
When we have courage to speak our mind !
Sometimes the heart is more inclined
To seek respite and courage find
Among the days of lesser times
When this world bode in older climes.
For where we are, not where we’ve been,
Is caught in chance and grief and sin
There’s scant honor left, we may find
In all the hours to still unwind.
Oh blessed Lord, take care that we
Escape this time of infamy !
Oh for the road not traveled along
And the memory of an old song
With a tune that cuts right to the core
And melodies of forgotten score,
Like a fragile view of times long past
With all of those things that could not last
On this lonely road exclusively
That leads one to an eternity !
One thing I’ve learned and must never forget
That here in my path is a challenge yet
There is too much to see and much to do
Before my turn here on this earth is through !
There are those thoughts that slip away
Into the realm of yesterday
Deep hidden midst one’s memory
Like moments caught in reverie
At times drawn from the saddened past
To seek those dreams that did not last !
Too often in the twilight as day begins to fold
And all of life’s real stories prepare to be retold
There rises intermission when nighttime hushes all
As somewhere in the distance a vision is recalled.
Now we are brought again to the stories of the past
Where tales of our commission were never meant to last
And in these final moments as life does fade away
We’re left with the decision of what we have to say.
Farewell to all our colleagues, both family and friend
And if we’ve ever hurt you, please know it is the end
There will be no tomorrow this is a last goodbye
One final wish we ask for, remember do not cry !
There’s a wall rises by the sea
That resonates past treachery
With fountains, trees and marble cold
And names to last through eons old.
Remembering this is our choice
Our dead shall never lose their voice
But cry aloud so all should hear
There’ll be no tyrant here to fear
This is our home twill ever be
Land of the brave forever free !
. ( TO HONOR THIS DAY )
I’d like to think where e’er you are, you hear the bugle’s call
And know we’re missing you from mid-November through next fall
I see you in the twilight just before the even’s pall
It’s with morning sunlight rising I miss you most of all !
There is a place we all yearn to be
It’s not across some far-widened sea
Nor over hills or great mountainsides
And not where malice or anger hides.
It’s not under trees that reach for sky
Or where the eagles and buzzards fly
It’s just a place around the last bend
Of a lonesome road that seeks its end,
To that spot where most lives got their start
And have left behind their lonely heart !
I find myself enchanted by
The way all days just seem to fly
How weeks and months now quickly pass
Like shadows in a looking glass.
I wish that I might halt the clock
And silence all of time’s tick-tock
Before my life does pass away
And I should lose my yesterday !
How fleet and swift our lives pass by
With minutes lost, the hours fly
There is no time called used to be
What we once knew did rapid flee
And left us there in life’s abyss
Our hopes awash, our love unkissed !
There is a day that I recall
It happened early in the fall
As we were riding in the car
To visit someone not too far.
We came upon a crossroads stop
I felt my mind spin like a top
For there before my very eyes
Was the most wonderful surprise.
A country church its spires high
They stretched to reach into the sky
This ancient brown wood edifice
That seemed to speak of heaven’s bliss.
The beauty of the grounds about
Spoke loudly for its faith devout
The sight of that old wooden spire
Breaching heaven sets hearts afire.
It’s been so long since I was there
I think I can’t remember where
But this I know when I am sad
The thought of it makes me feel glad !
There is a garden in the mist
Where hopes and dreams by chance exist
Just close your eyes and be prepared
Perhaps one day you’ll visit there
And if you do, remember me
Say one small prayer in memory !
There are those times that I can’t help but wander back
To those wartime years after Pearl Harbor’s attack
Now as our numbers winnow down to disappear
Gone the values we had that triumphed over fear.
Too many forget those stark days we learned to bear
Almost as though the bulk of us were never there
Memories so hard to crush, dormant in the mind
Whence hides the greater part of courage each did find !
There is a longing in my heart
That has been forever there
I don’t know how it got its start
I can only guess from where.
I’ve begged the Lord to help me out
As oftentimes I feel lost
I find myself quite full of doubt
No way now to count the cost.
I am the sum of all my fears
In truth I possess a few
I’ve laughed and cried a million tears
All of them seemed overdue.
There was a town I used to know
I was so small, it’s long ago
It bordered by the river there
The land was flat, sandy and bare
The pines, they grew so tall and strong
The nights were cool, the days were long.
And there beside the water’s edge
I made myself a solemn pledge
That one day when I was all grown
After my foolish deeds were sown
I would return to this sweet place
And once again true life embrace,
Alas for me now bides no chance
There’s no time left for this last dance !
Sometimes a special sound will bring to mind
Forgotten memories we’ve left behind
Or carry on the fragile scented air
Images of those times no longer there.
Reminders rising from some hidden past
Into this world unfeeling and aghast
And there without our understanding why
Refusing still to fade or say goodbye !
I haven’t seen a cowboy of late upon the scene
There are no cowboy idols as cool as Steve McQueen
There used to be Gene Autry his horse was Champion
Or what about Hopalong with Topper on the run ?
Dale Evans rode Buttermilk, they were the best of buds
While Roy was fond of Trigger along with other studs
Silver was so beautiful, Lone Ranger was top gun
Jay Silverheels on Scout played Tonto, Mohawk “injun”.
If there’s a cowboy heaven full of remembering
I’d love to be a cowgirl, I just refuse to sing !
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 !
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 !
There is a quilt upon my bed
With snippets of the life I’ve led
It’s made of patches bright and bold
And meant to save me from the cold.
This quilt has kept me warm for years
It’s shared my dreams, my hopes, my fears
And every piece of fabric sewn
Does have a story of its own !
Blind-stitched it is and all by me
Each patch contains a memory
My hands are old and gnarled a bit
Still they have shaped each square to fit.
I wish these rules would all apply
To life we know before we die
With needle, thread and sharpened shears
We’d patch the world and scrap our tears !
My memories are haunted by
Some faces seen with my mind’s eye
These persons from the distant past
True images that ever last
They’re so clear now I want to touch
I’m sad because I’ve missed them much !
How can it be aft all these years
That my heart’s full of unshed tears
What I would give for just once more
Their oldtime step at my front door !
My heart would pace a million miles
To catch one glimpse of your sweet smiles
And wait for days upon a line
To learn that you were doing fine !
I miss you still and always will
Like all the plans we can’t fulfill
Until the sun deserts the sky
The moon and I bid sweet goodbye !
Oh how I miss each Sunday morn
Sounds echoing since I was born
Those happy tunes or plaintive hymns
From early on till evening dims.
Their voices raised with one accord
The hopeful sing and praise the Lord,
My mother’s voice so sweet and strong
Would sound aloud the whole week long.
She loved to sing each olden tune
About romance, lost love or moon,
I wish I knew if heaven rings
With hymns and songs an angel sings !
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
Claire V. Bogdanos 