Watching the fireflies
in the woods, from our back porch,
enlightens each dusk

Marriage, once I came
to know you well, ceased to be
a step to avoid

Listening to birds
our doves and all the wildlings
brightens my mornings

If only I knew
now, as much as I did when
I was seventeen

All I ever learned
of nobility I learned from
my first Newfoundland

Frustration is having a government
that was created of, by
and for the People
that's been hijacked by money,
holding We the People in contempt.

Cats are Nature's way
of ensuring we wake up
early and often

Thunderstorms - inevitable proof
of the awesome power of Nature's God

If Dog is best friend
then Cat, my sweet little love,
is my soul’s tonic

When I lived on Venice Beach
my nickname was “Smiley”
because I smiled at everyone

When I lived in Luxembourg
I was not understood
because I smiled at everyone

When I was a child
my mother made a game of smiling
and when she saw someone unhappy
on the street or in their car
she would smile at them
until they finally smiled back
and only rarely did her efforts fail

I have been considered shallow
by those who never knew me
because I smile at everyone

but those people have no clue
how much inner strength
those smiles represent

More folk need to learn
About Cause and Effect
Respecting others
Is fundamentally what earns respect

My dad was raised Christian
Episcopalian
But left
No disrespect
He just wasn't convinced

So when I was a child
Our attendance at church was
sporadic
Sometimes a source of contention
And, usually, more pain than joy

The summer of 1969
Men walked on the Moon
And my parents
Split
My dad moved across town
I saw him one day each weekend
The most time we had ever spent together.

When I was twelve the earth moved
Sixty-four people died
And my father embraced Buddhism
And Buddhism embraced him
In a way nothing else ever had
and he learned moderation
Regaining his freedom

What got him was the Law of Causation
Cause and Effect
What goes around comes around
The Golden Rule
Unencumbered
With the baggage from his past
The philosophy of common sense
His pianist's artist's teacher's mind
Could comprehend
Grasp and hold for good

My twelve-year-old mouth
Would not be denied
And so I one day announced
That chanting
Was simply another form of prayer
A fact he acknowledged
reluctantly
but ultimately
with humor and grace

And was it my father's turn to Buddhism
That sparked my own
Journey into Spirit?

In 1972
With Godspell on the radio
I saw Jesus Christ Superstar
At the Universal Amphitheatre
Twice
And when my sister joked
"Let there be light"
And all the lights came on
Then she genuflected
Before taking her seat
It was only partly in jest
For there was reverence in the air
And a sense of the Eternal
The foundation of the story
Of every story
Cause and Effect

Later that year I was baptized
Before I realized
That no church held the key
For the key was within me
As it resides within us all

More folk need to learn
About Cause and Effect
We are here on earth to Love.
And respecting others
Is fundamentally what earns respect.

6/7 July 2005 Approx. 2 AM

Babies - of what do they dream?
What thoughts play behind those closed eyes,
Those eyes so like others before
Unfocused and newly revealed?

What is it in holding a child
That brings such a tranquility?
That puts the world's problems at bay
And shows what is truly at stake?

Perhaps when they dream they become
The person they one day shall be
In full philosophical garb
So leading us to what will come

Or maybe it simply is shapes
And colors so formless and free
A way to make sense of the world
They sample with unfocused eyes

2Apr2002

Bonnie, Bonnie Burning Bright
Patrols the wilds of her yard
Where frogs and lizards live in fear
And fearsome squirrels must ever guard

They shrink from Clydesdale for her size
Though Bonnie is the faster
Perceiving her as less a threat
Unknowing, court disaster

When Bonnie gives in to the chase
A shining blur of black and white
Yet in the sun stretched eyes half-closed
Seems farthest possible from flight

For Bonnie's vices stem entire
From being fully cat
As clearly all her virtues do
And Clydesdale's too, at that

My Bonnie is my wayward child
My friend belonging not to me
For even purring in my lap
Her tyger soul is wild and free

14Apr99

Not all babies are meant to live
No matter the reason why
No matter the life we long to give
Some babies are born to die

Some say such a short life holds no worth
But disagree I must
For the lessons they impart from birth
By example teaching us

22 Dec 2000

Memories
can erase the past
and bring dead to life

The man who makes me laugh,
love, think, consider, strive

Nestled purring 'neath my chin
the only cat who hugs

Irony; moving
Sun Belt woman to Zone 6b
decrying each freeze

Gorgeous,
verdant,
with more waterfalls
than any other state

Spring
that lovely season of planting
and praying they'll grow

Memories
can keep you hostage
to inaccurate and painful illusion

A Moment in Life Twice Lost to Time
The Swiss watch is my paradigm
Residing now ‘neath Tampa Bay
A moment in life twice lost to time

The gift, from a wall of ice to climb
In Luxembourg where I did stay
The Swiss watch becomes my paradigm

Research belaying the banker's crime
Through valleys green, o'er bridges grey
A moment in life twice lost to time

While belching diesels share their grime
And church bells call all souls to pray
This watch, my truest paradigm

In this city from another time
In Europe's heart I found my way
A moment in life twice lost to time

Returning from this land sublime
My walls and battlements fell away
Rodania watch, my paradigm
A moment in life twice lost to time

2 March 2000

Awakened by cannonfire,
unmistakable,
LOUD.
Today is Luxembourg National Day

Being childless
has its benefits
especially while channeling Peter Pan

Goats are Nature's own
ambulating Demolition Derby
in hilarious miniature

Wisdom is the culmination
of a lifetime
learning from mistakes

Gallows humor
is far better
than no humor at all

If "increasing knowledge increases sorrow,"
depression culminates from seeing clearly.

Dogs offer unconditional love
we,
if intelligent,
strive to emulate

Cats are here
to love
and to teach us humility

A vote for most candidates
is a vote for Monsanto

Gene splicing recombinant E. coli:
What could possibly go wrong?

Between the Navy or Whales
I'll choose Whales EVERY TIME

A century-long killing spree
(Still pales next to Religion)

Love, alone,
can inspire us
into our own best selves

Love, Intention and mindfulness
change the world for the better

I,
deep in sublime meditation,
become One with the Universe

Why won’t you just die?
It’s past time you know
To give up the ghost and move on
The strength of your spirit
The fight for each breath
Inspiring and wrenching as one

Why won’t you give up
Your struggle to live?
It’s hard to both love you and see
The length you will go to
To take one more breath
Prolonging your own misery

Why don’t you just die?
You’ve nothing to fear
An end to your pain is at hand
Your time here has ended
A door has been closed
But another awaits your command.

20Dec2000

Happy Father's Day to my dad, Horace Edwin Donaldson, known to one and all as Eddie, who was born 26 July 1917, and died 21 Dec 2000.  
I love you and miss you.

I am sorry for your pain
but I am not the cause
and seeing how you've treated me
I think I know what was

Dishonest in your ranting
as you're girlfriend and not wife
no wonder why he shies away
from unrelenting strife

Accusing without evidence
eschewing private mail
you castigate me publicly
as illogically you rail

Behaving with much cruelty
demonstrating zero class
you couldn't solve a mystery
if it bit you in the ***.

18 Jun 2015

Leaping light
Flashing fire
One moment he is gone
But to return
Suspended
Hanging
Then with a splash
Delightful play
He dives
And disappears
And we are left alone
And longing

1982

Sky Afire

It started as a tendril snaked
And quickly caught my eye
That beckoned me to come partake
The bright majestic sky

From turquoise into indigo
And all the shades between
With molten lava spreading slow
As far as could be seen

With orange and corals juxtaposed
Against the deeper blues
And silhouetted trees in pose
Amid the great bamboos

The clouds were piled in tumbling flow
And darkened as they fell
To charcoal black, blood red aglow
At meeting with the swell

And as the skyflow met the sea
And seemed to melt within
The sea took on its vibrancy
And flow began again

And as the skyflood reached its peak
Engulfing and aflame
It seemed directly to retreat
As quickly as it came

The ashen grey began above
And slowly spread below
Till all was left in pumice drifts
Within its final glow

And now the show has ended
With the sky once more a sky
And the clouds and sea appended
For a witness such as I

3 Oct 2000

Oh Lord, Take my Potential
And do with it what you will
For I squander opportunity
And fear I always will

I seek to love and honor you
And some days find my way
Yet the next will find me wanting
As myself do I betray

I seek to know and understand
The purpose I am serving
The thing that I most fear
Is that you find me undeserving

So I study and I scramble
For the tiniest attainment
And take solace in the truth
I am providing entertainment

1999

Perhaps I am simple
I love simple things
Glass, blown or slubbed
Crystal or colored
Cobalt
Emerald
Cranberry
Rose
Sparkling in sunlight
Catching the flame
These simple pleasures
Bring me joy
As much as any gem

Exception, the Opal
Begins life as water
Seeps into stone
Becomes over time
Fire within water
Shadow of aeons
Life within stone
Water gone solid
As solid as glass,
and as fragile

4Apr2002

Oh what of the demon cat
Foul tauntress in my sight
Whose reputation for ratting
Far exceeds her deeds this night

Far more likely she, to play
Than upon that one to pounce
She tolerates the evil rat
Within this very house

25Apr2002

If I only had a daughter
I would pass along to her
All the things I've learned in life
The things that are and those that were

I would try to smooth her way
When everything was getting rough
Still, to have me for her mother
Might be handicap enough

1999

You asked me to say what I believe
What do I hold precious and why
I believe in the Glory of life on Earth
I believe it essential to fly

We live in a Universe unto itself
Its diversity not fully known
As we tread in the pathways of those gone before
Where in truth we are never alone

I believe that each enemy might be a friend
For their circumstance comes of a need
I believe that all people are One in the end
No matter their color or creed

I believe in humanity deep in the soul
Which enlightens the Spirit to see
I believe that creation was born out of love
And enables the soul to be free

30 Sept 2000

I cannot believe
in a God of the Few
Condemning the souls of the Many
My reason insists
That this cannot be true
For His love is eternal in plenty

Hate is the ruse
Of the faithless man
Believing himself undeserving
And holding below him
The countless souls
With faith neither strong nor unswerving

But I hold before me
Compassionate God
Amused at my fumblings apparent
Loving and kind
In the tenderest way
Forgiving me when I am errant

For all His creation
Must something destroy
Destruction can be a thing grand
Consider volcanoes
Destroying themselves
In process creating new land

My soul is consumed
With the fires of love
Which leaves my heart painful and raw
Yet as the ash settles
And soon falls away
What's left is the love of God's law

God's law can be summed up
In one single word
And Love is the word that is meant
His law is but Love
In its purest form
The Original Element

I cannot believe
There is only one way
To honor and worship God
If that were the truth
We would all be the same
And this world unspeakably odd

But God in His wisdom
Made each one unique
Both in how we view Him above
And in our great challenge
That noblest of quests
Creating yet new ways to Love.

1999

Language
is one of my favorite things
for which I displayed
an early facility
I toyed with foreign languages
but went no further
it wasn’t where I wanted
to spend my time

I wanted to save the whales
improve education
fight poverty
protect our environment
a whole host of causes
I visited in a repeating cycle
whirling faster and faster until

I created my own vortex
and then found myself
at the far end of a wormhole
with no idea how I got there
much less how to return
and found myself observing
every time I behaved badly
in excruciating detail

A tactless comment
a thoughtless act
each small transgression
building stone by stone
until I created a fortress
walling myself within
this invisible shield

When we touch
is it you or me
who feels remotely?

All dissolves into Oneness.

17 July 2005

Waves unfurled like the backs of whales
Rolling in a tempestuous sea
With cresting foam like the heads of sails
Straining to break away free

The clouds bow down to touch the waves
The waves ****** high above
The wind whips up a howling dance
As sea and sky make love

Cori MacNaughton
25Mar2000

I have a poem, a wandering wraith
to capture you I tried
in putting pen to paper
of my feelings when you died

But feelings are elusive things
especially when acute
and I have felt my words betray
my heart and leave it mute

Someday the poem may finished be
and then it will be known
of gifts you oft conferred to me
of love not said, but shown

But still my mind my heart betrays
eschews my fervent call
your dwelling place my heart these days
as tears unbidden fall

28 Dec 2002