Today's poet

[Mountain Goatess]

Found this one quite amusing!

WHEN I'M AN OLD LADY

When I'm an old lady, I'll live with each kid,
and bring so much happiness, just as they did.
I want to pay back all the joy they've provided.
Returning each deed! Oh, they'll be so excited!


I'll write on the wall with reds, whites and blues,
and I'll bounce on the furniture wearing my shoes.
I'll drink from the carton and then leave it out.
I'll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they'll shout!

When they're on the phone and just out of reach,
I'll get into things like sugar and bleach.
Oh, they'll snap their fingers and then shake their head,
and when that is done, I'll hide under the bed!


When they cook dinner and call me to eat,
I'll not eat my green beans or salad or meat,
I'll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table,
And when they get angry. I'll run. if I'm able!


I'll sit close to the TV, through the channels I'll click,
I'll cross both eyes just to see if they stick.
I'll take off my socks and throw one away,
and play in the mud till the end of the day!


And later in bed, I'll lay back and sigh,
I'll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes.
My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping,
and say with a groan, "She's so sweet when she's sleeping!"

-- Author Joanne Bailey Baxter, Lorain, OH

[stevefoster]

Very good MG, you've got all that to come yet

[Mountain Goatess]

THE CANDLE


A candle casts a flickering light
Upon my empty page of white
A lonely trembling paper stage
Where phantoms dance across the page

My eyes are drawn, not to the flame
But images within a frame
of shadow dancing silhouettes,
Small figurines in pirouettes

As long as candle wick will last
The wavering flame will kindly cast
these ballet ghosts as they rehearse
on stage intended for a verse

To silent music shadows prance
To silent dreams the spirits dance
in quivering light of candle's glow
they spin and waver to and fro

I've become like one of them
A twisting figure with a pen
A lonely heart in midnight moon
Twirling to a silent tune

My eye in hypnotizing stare
At dancing feet that aren't there
Enchanted with the swirling caper
Staged upon my sheet of paper

A tragic figure I must be
To think these shadows part of me
My own dilusions place the blame
On dancing glimmers of a flame

It's but a dreamer's vivid mind
Imagination's stewing brine
that stirs the melting taper's tears
into a dance that now appears

When fire consumed the waxy wick
the phantoms of the candlestick
vanished into midnight's dark
'til dawning sound of meadow lark

In early glow of rising sun
I saw what dancing flames had done
In every spot a foot was placed
a ballerina's slipper traced
her swirling marks across the stage
and etched this poem upon my page

[freckle]

Top of the morning to ya! some nice choices last night MG....well after a bit off going to attempt a long run this morning....going to need lost of hope and luck....

Hope abides; therefore I abide.
Countless frustrations have not cowed me.
I am still alive, vibrant with life.
The black cloud will disappear,
The morning sun will appear once again
In all its supernal glory.

Sri Chinmoy

[XRunner]

going to need lost of hope and luck...

Here is a poem about lost hope to ponder...good luck, Freckle

Lost Hope

I'm so tired of being lost in a world,
Where no one can find me.
I want to break free of the cage,
That has been enclosing me for too long.
I know that I am alone and no one will save me,
So I am to escape for myself.
I wander down a path,
That will go on for eternity.
I shall never reach the end,
I am trapped no matter where I go.
Though I finally manage to reach the end,
I must fight the monster inside of me to pass.
It is filled with so much anger, hate, and despair,
The only antidote is love, courage, and hope.
The three things I do not have,
And never will.
It is there that I give up,
I have nothing left but myself.
So I lay down forever,
Never going to get up again...as I fade away from all existence.

(Amanda Harris)

[Mountain Goatess]

Top of the morning to ya! some nice choices last night MG....well after a bit off going to attempt a long run this morning....going to need lost of hope and luck....

Hope abides; therefore I abide.
Countless frustrations have not cowed me.
I am still alive, vibrant with life.
The black cloud will disappear,
The morning sun will appear once again
In all its supernal glory.

Sri Chinmoy

Get out, get out,
Come on, seize the day,
No clouds, no rain to dull your way,
Take your heart and spirit and soul,
Come on young lady, reach that goal!

[Hes]

Hi honeys...I'm home! Three days of travelling and I am finally ensconced in my chilly cottage. I'm so excited about the snow. Just a quick post and then I'm off to dig about in my shed and find the raw materials to build a sledge. Tobaganning for one...there is a poem in that!

touchdown in blizzard
nestling in the snow, my home
echoes with silence


It's quiet here!

[Mountain Goatess]

Welcome Hes to winter wonderland
Good luck with the sledge
You could do with a hand
Wrap up warm
You're not used to this cold
A hot toddy works well
Or so I am told!

[Hes]

two haikus from Maxence Fermine's gorgeous book entitled snow. The second I have posted before but I think repeats are ok if it is appropriate and fits the mood.

virgin snow
a pathway of silence
and beauty

the creak of snow
in my footsteps
- the cicada of winter

[Hes]

Welcome Hes to winter wonderland
Good luck with the sledge
You could do with a hand
Wrap up warm
You're not used to this cold
A hot toddy works well
Or so I am told!

This is great! Thanks MG, I appreciate it and a hot toddy would be the perfect way to finish my sledging activities...I am now torn between those and a run but I'll get out there and see which way the wind blows me!