Face Time.

I showed her her face.
She wouldn't look. I said.
Look.
See how beautiful you are.

It took days.
It took months.
She looked.
She could not. But finally did.

I said. Please say hi to yourself.
Say "Hi Leslie". It took a while.
So many tears.
She finally started to look and say hi.

This went on and on.

There were so many slips.
Falling back down to despair.
Oh our love seemed so desparate.
So unfair.

I started saying we won't sleep,
Each night
Until we resolve it.
So we did, we sat in the bathtub.

Talking and talking 'til resolve, came.

More years.
Building and building.
Life became our family.
Alone, then two children. Finally seven.

It seemed like climbing from hell to heaven.

Sure it was hard.
Sometimes it was fun.
Rolling back down.
when trouble would come.

Disease came. Physical. Mental.
Both sides of the coin.
Through weakness and trouble.
We shared in our pain.

The children grew up
at least they could see
Love.
That was shared by Leslie and me.

Now that we are old.
Grandchildren and dogs.
I'm so far away from it all
For income from the desert.

She.
Lives by the sea.
Near where it all took place.
We share through computer
Face to Face.

She looks at mine.
I look at hers.
A little relection of each.
Each day when we say.
Hi.
With Face Time.

8 Jan. 2016
Dr.mgm

When I thought of A Home.
I thought Where shall it set?
And its geography be?
In America or at home in Britain
Could it ever someday be?

A place to lay my head.
To be, what I thought I wanted,
With some kind of bed,
Where books would be written and read,
Maybe with a back garden shed.

When I was a kid,
I did not dream of a home,
At least not one of my own.
So many others had shown,
Procurement of one's own
often only makes them groan.

Maintenance of one took  
seasons of work,
used up all of their time,
Something for them,
but surely not mine.

Time passed away, hundreds of thousands spent.
Of dollars, or pounds, for taxes and rent.
Angry old bankers made denial of loans to me
Via something called the credit score
A sport made to block home buying
Just to prevent life for oneself and one's friends.

Pain and despair all came from the homes,
Most never realized their dream which is to own.
The thing they are slaved to and serve,
Day and night.  Where they might,
Get moments of joy in darkness and light.

Power shut off, paint always spread, taxes based on
How well developed it was, house, hearth and place
Home where it stood and it fell. Where we walked
and we crawled into and out of holes
in the walls.

Finally.
All of your family dies when you're old.
Like my family left cash and a house I did
buy. No mortgage, no debt, no payments to forget.
But family all left. So alone to I set.
In this home which is useless though new.

It was supposed to be for me and for you.
But that is now a dream that has fled.
We never put up a small shed.
In the back grarden. The bed, is only
for me now since you left.

I was told by those who should have held.
Their evil words all to themselves.  

That I'm weird and old but I don't dwell
On words of haters' speech very well.

Most folks have little self control.
Of their words, or of their hateful soul.

Since Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street
Taught them to always vent and weep.

On to sports their tongues developed
Cursed their opponents and crushed each other

It is all a part of the American way
Using hate as the basis for what they say.

I  wish they'd be quiet and in retrospect
Plan their thoughts with love and respect.

Till then I hear the bad words and speech,
They want something like some ******* leech.

And when I sleep it all goes away.
The two more hours holds their spite at bay.

Friend, try silence on for just a day.
And when you speak, think before you say.

Sometimes, I’ll hear a song,
like diamonds and rust by Joan Baez,

and I’ll wonder about the different women I loved, so much.
I always believe that now, if they ever think of me,
It’s only strong hatred they feel.

The men, who were friends are all dead.
So they don’t think anything of me.
Like a fool, all I ever wanted was one very loyal,
Very loving and close friend.
I guess I messed it all up. Over and Over.