I sit and feel the wheel of time; slip.
Luck has been with me over time.
I have worn green, played silly ******
Jumped off tanks for weeks on end.
Wearing my body till the future tells.
Blue worn next
Chasing those that didn’t want to be caught
Weighed down with kit
Wearing out my form.
Worn black and ****** hose
Stressing limb and muscle to save homes.
Ran to wrecks
Pulled out the living to survive
Gas pouring down my leg.
I don’t complain.
I ran to the guns,
I rushed to burning buildings.
Protect my village and those within.
I never complained.
It was what I did.
But now the wheel slips.
I have worn me out.
I have lost my youth.
What I have done is natural
All was done without thought.
I never expected to reach this age.
So if I am a little slower.
Rub my joints and muscles.
Seems like I am an old man.
Don’t feel bad.
I’ve lived my life doing what I want

April 2017                      Dan Gray

Sitting in the shade under the trees.
Seeing how nature changes the stage for her seasons.
Colours in leaves painted from a different pallet
As to enrich the world for our eyes
Their texture stiffened to alter their tone
So to change the tune received by our ears.
Different birds rest in their travels
Leaving exotic overtones that perk up ones day.  
Bright warm sunshine envelopes and comforts,
While the cool fall breezes tell of coming change.
The lack of most insects, comforting.
Enabling one to sit outside and enjoy words
Others have put to paper.
A *** of tea,
Or cup of coffee,
Perhaps a glass good wine.
Feeling good to relax and enjoy.
Expectations of harvest and plenty.
A time to review the past seasons of growth
And to contemplate the coming season of cold.
The sun is setting earlier and darkness falls sooner.
The skies are clear and open,
The stars should be shining in their glory tonight.
Perhaps a good evening to put on a sweater,
Light a small fire,
Pull up a chair,
Sip on a good drink
Extending such a beautiful day into the lengthening night.
Capturing more of this day
To store in ones soul for later remembrance.

Dan Gray
Sept. 23, 2006

Distance is such a terrible thing.
I hear pain in a loved ones voice.
Fear of the unknown
Their spouse suffers dementia.
The history of ones mind
Disappearing slowly,
As a sweet disappears in your mouth.
Bit by bit, dissolving.
As history leaves,
Character leaves.
All dated in time.
Slowly becoming a stranger
To spouse, family, friends.
Random thoughts speaking pain.
A different person inhabits the mind
Slowly, so very slowly
The past leaving.
Like pixels failing on a screen
Darkness slowly overcoming
The light that was there fading
Making death slow,
Trickling to oblivion
Then slowly to nothing.


Dan Gray
2016

I sit here at night
Feeling a little lonely.
I know my twin flame.
We have spent a lifetime
Finding each other.
She needs my love
She needs my hugs
As I need hers.
All the support I can give her.
She has been hurt
Unable to function to her peak
All I wish is to be there for her
To hold, love and encourage.
I feel so ineffective.
Having been a protector
All my life.
Trained to run towards the guns.
One of those fools who;
Run into burning buildings.
But in this case I'm helpless.
All I can do is send out my love.
Tell her my pride in how she does.
Enforce I will always be there.
But with all that,
At times I feel alone.

D. Gray
2017

Between my head and my heart
Thoughts fight to escape from my mind
I find a disconnect to my hands.

Dan Gray

As a writer, you have sat with words bouncing in your mind
Thoughts and ideas ricocheting around
Words colliding with words
Splitting off pieces of the alphabet
Letters attracting and coagulating into new words
A collective style of thinking
That places you somewhere else
Multi thoughts workings that correlates
To new ideas on a page
Always observing
Truly collecting
Feelings, emotions, life
Forming, the coalescence of all
Trickling in your mind
Until, through your fingers and computer
Your thoughts take life
Pictures  you present
Coloured by others thinking
Images started by your thoughts
Expanding and rippling through readers
They reaching within to acknowledge the words
All seeing different
But all triggered by your ricocheting words.
                      
                                  Dan Gray
                                     2014

On one very still night.
In the midst of midwinter,
At the ending of one of those thaws.
It seemed as if all the wee people
Crept throughout the land,
Artistically spreading a white flocking
Inches deep on everything.
As dawn displayed this magic to the world,
Even those that hated winter,
Could see the beauty spread upon the land.
But beauty, being ever so fleeting
Should be enjoyed while one can.
For upon the first breath of wind
Moving an upper branch of a tree.
Shifting the ever so light snow
Till it slipped onto the next branch,
Collecting more of itself as it tumbled,
Growing into a micro avalanche,
Enough hitting the snow covered ground
With a muffled thump
Loud enough to startle a small dog by the trunk.
Leaving the tree standing naked against the sky
And winter shivering in ones sight.
                                                         Dan Gray
                                                      Januar­y 19, 2014