I am but a vessel.
The basic clay from my parents.
Moulded by the genes of countless ancestors
Giving me basic shape and colour.
The glaze; the teachings of my parents,
The impurities coming from society.
Fired by the love and hope of them
Who wished to see me walk this world
With little or no prejudice.
Accepting people for who they are
Not the colour of their vessel,
Nor the decoration of their religion,
Nor the fanciness of wealth.
Nor what level they were placed.
I have traveled.
Seen wonders.
Stood with tears
Seeing the awe and beauty of the world
Sat with tears
Seeing the hate, anger and destruction;
Of the same world.
Life has filled and emptied the void within
Many times tho some of the contents stuck.
Age has chipped and cracked this vessel.
The network of fine crackling envelope
Showing age and time and learning.
The chips from the close calls,
Show the many ways,
Of breaking into many pieces.
This vessel is still strong however.
Searching for that one love that will fill it.
Making it whole as it should be.
Giving meanings to all that it has done.
Slowly view all those imperfect vessels that you see.
They show a strength of survival.
Chipped and crackled glaze the armour of belief.
There is character there if you seek to look.
A void that only you may be able to fill.
For each is made for that one they may never meet.
So don’t just pass these vessels by ...
They may be the one to fill the void....
You wish to have filled.

Dan Gray
2009

When I close my eyes
My mind can be
That secret world of fantasy.

It’s not youth I find
Not strength untold
Nor with the women, over bold.

With special friends
Small ecstasies,
This world of marvel, my fantasies.

I’m at that age
Where worries run
And soon pile up, sun to sun.

It’s time that’s different
Don’t you see?
Within my world of fantasy.

The rules don’t change
I know my way
Age and customs don’t hold sway.

With all these things
And a heart that’s free
You wonder why, my fantasies?

Some friends to close
For thoughts to stray
You hide them deep and far away.

Some may surface
But none shall see
For it’s private; in my fantasy.

If you see that look
And hear me sigh
You needn’t sit and wonder why.

I’ve crossed that line
To Fantasy
Or, are you, really here with me ?

Dan Gray
1996

Feeling empty and lost
Adrift in the void
The not knowing
The not caring
Lack of feeling
Lack of everything
It is truly amazing
How heavy nothing is
Only the strong strings
Of good friends
Keeps me in place.

Walk your life’s path, softly.
Always notice the minute beauty,
Those small things that so many miss.
When a youngster, you were close to the path,
Spotting everything along it.
As you grew older your outlook began to stretch
Farther and farther up the path yet to travel.
With your gaze being so distant,
Who and what was beside you went unseen.
You tread the path so hard as to make it everything.
Always expecting the better that is yet to come,
Sounds and tastes of life are not noticed.
Thereby missing the flavour of what is being lived.
As you beat down the path so hard, it became a road.
Walk the path softly yet again.
Soon the road will once more be as it was.
Becoming the welcoming path that you seek.
Its way will soften back to what you once knew.
Transforming to a journey that leaves
No notice of your travel except to those who care.
So step ever so lightly that those who follow
Will be able to find what you have discovered
About yourself and the joy you have found
While taking your journey along the path.

I hear you whisper.
Staring into a star lit sky,
I hear you whisper.
All is quiet this spring night
Infused only with sounds of peepers.
I hear you whisper.
My heart reaches out
Wanting to grab those words.
Pull them within,
To warm my soul.
I hear you whisper.
Memories stir
Expand in my mind
Enriching my very existence.
I hear you whisper.
Distance may taunt,
Time, it may hinder.
The fire within
The flame of my passion,
Burns steadily bright
Fed by love for you.
All this explains why,
I hear you whisper.

Dan Gray
April 30, 2018

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