In the distance I hear them,
Under the silence I see them,
The drums of beating hearts,
Past, present and future,
They thunder over the memories of our ancestors,
They roar through the veins of our young,
They are the drums of truth,
Beating timelessly and in rhythm,
With the stars,
Your universe,
Your very being,
Be the drum,  
Be the loudest drum,
Because I can hear your beat already.

Out in the back forty
There's a tree and underneath
Is a lonely wooden marker
All it says is "Heath"

Not many really knew him
He just hung around the ranch
I remember when I found him
Hanging from that branch

He never really said much
Kept quiet most the time
Always had a smile
And he had his lucky dime

Heath was slightly slower
Not in step, but in his brain
But, that didn't really matter
For folks loved him all the same

I remember back in school
When Heath was getting teased
The only one defended him
was me...and Heath was pleased

We were bonded from that moment
We were brothers you might say
Where I was, you would find him
Until that fateful day

Folks say that the Johnson boys
Caught him down by Crindle creek
They girls were down there swimming
And they'd gone to have a peek

Heath was down there fishing
Saw the boys and gave a shout
The girls went off a runnin'
And then Heath was set about

The story gets all muddled
Since no one was around
There were six conflicting stories
On how he got hung up off the ground

The truth will be deep buried
Since only four folks know for sure
And three of them aren't telling
And Heath was number four

I rode out after supper
No one knew where Heath was at
I took out for the creek bed
And there I found his hat

From there I took off westward
Toward the tree, to spend the night
I'd head home in the morning
I'd leave at the first light

But, there was where I found him
Hanging, dead from that old tree
From what ever demons ailed him
Heath had been set free

His folks has left for Tulsa
Leaving him back at our ranch
That's where he will stay now
In the ground beneath that branch

I made a simple marker
Painted white with just his name
And even though nobody goes there
I had to let folks know he came

So out on the back forty
By the tree, yep..underneath
Sits a little, simple marker
painted white,....it just says Heath.

The girl with the kite
Didn't have a care
She'd run on the beach
With the wind in her hair
She'd run up hills
Lie in fields of wild flowers
Gazing at the ever changing sky
She would dream for hours

The girl with the kite
Saw faces in the sky
Angels looking down on her
From clouds floating by
She'd hold on so tight
As her kite took flight
She said she'd never let go
Of her beautiful kite

The girl with the kite
Would make daisy chains
She'd pick clover and butter cups
As she walked country lanes
Life was simple
Or it seemed that way
The sun was always shining
When she went out to play

The girl with the kite
Started to grow
She felt under pressure
To let her kite go
Demands were made
For her to achieve and perform
Make her way in the world
Please other people and conform

The girl with the kite
Felt things were going wrong
It was hard growing up
Then a man came along
He played his guitar
He brought a bouquet
As he sang his sweet song
Her kite drifted away

The girl with the kite
Heard his sweet song turn sour
His true colours were shown
As the man used his power,
Manipulation and aggression
To clip her wings
To crush her spirit
To pull her strings

The girl with the kite
Felt she was to blame
For her bad choices
She hid her shame
Kept her sadness a secret
Tried to make things right
Trapped in her world
She lost her self in the fight

The girl with the kite
Wanted to die
She couldn't live any more
She had no kite to fly
She went to the Doctor
Who gave her some pills
They just made her numb
Didn't cure her ills

The girl with the kite
Slept for a decade, or more
Life went on around her
Each day was a chore
She had to wake from the inertia
She had become bereft
When she woke from the dark sleep
She had nothing left

The girl with the kite
Had to start anew
Like a Phoenix from the ashes
She knew she'd pull through
She's found her kite
Found a beach for it to blow
Up to the angels on their clouds
This time, she won't let go

The girl with the kite
Is now a woman, strong and proud
Content to live her life alone
Independent and unbowed
She flies her kite sedately
Life is not a race
She's free to fly it when she wants to
It flies at her own pace

Nicki Tilston.

She looks in the mirror
At the age on her face
"I wonder what he thinks
of me this way?"

She considers her weight
and the pores on her skin
She thinks out loud
"I don't deserve him."

She picks apart
the woman he loves
Separating her worth
from all that she does
              
He looks in her eyes
and caresses her face
He sees it glowing with love
and full of grace

 The lines on her face
  he views with pride
  Recounting the victories
  each time they've been tried

The weight that she carries
 is that of a mom
 Nothing's too heavy
 She just marches on

These bodies will perish
 and mirrors offer no truth
True love abides
 beyond the corridors of youth

  No, she doesn't deserve me
  Perhaps God can see
  Conceivably, one day
  I'll be as worthy as she