You speak and I hear
A voice like music spoke
If morning is beginning
I loved you ere I woke

You speak and I hear
A song in perfect tune
If mid-day is our time together
I'll treasure afternoon

You speak and I hear
A laugh so sweet and true
If evening is eternal
I'll spend the night with you

if someone is absolutely convinced
that the sky is plaid
and you try to tell them
that it is in fact blue
and you point up at the blue sky above
and you ask them to just look at it
try not to be too surprised
at what they see.

A long time drawn line
Now who will go first
With a stiffened spine
We who are well versed
How do we now cross
That line in the sand
Can we suffer loss
Within our proud land
We all know we're right
We just can't be wrong
It's better to fight
Than sing the same song
If we're to survive
Then we'd better learn
That music will thrive
When each takes a turn

What does the aching world now hear
With each new turning of its sphere
Now passed unto another year
We creatures of primordial fear
The gun and fist and pen and spear
Words that burn and hate and sear
Will only come the last shed tear
When throes of rage at last does clear

There once was a broadcast debate
That for Trump was too little too late
Because of the COVID
He'll soon be out voted
For women will determine his fate

In this old world as I grow older
When my old watch forgets the time
There's much less for me to shoulder
And so much smaller hills to climb

I look to once my future past
I forget if I remember
But if my footprint is to last
I must walk before December

"See that up there?"

"Up where, Daddy?"

"Right there," he said, pointing at the moon that had

risen high above the silhouetted trees.

"That's the moon," said the little girl.

The chilly, early autumn night was such a warm welcome

from an endless summer of tropical, stiflingly humid New

England heat.

"That moon," he said, as he put his arm around her,

and drew her close to him, "belongs to everybody

in the world. Everyone, as soon as they're born,

gets a piece of that moon."

"It's very pretty," she said.

"Well, here's the thing, my darling sweet Daughter. I'm

giving you my piece."

"What?...Why?"

He smiled, and told her, "If I give you my piece,

the moon will be yours."

"How can that be?"

"Because you'll own two pieces of the moon, and

that's more than anyone else has."

"But what if someone else gives their piece away?"

He laughed, kissed her on the cheek, and

said, "That's impossible. Everyone loves their

piece of the moon so much that they would never

give it away...unless they love someone as much

as I love you...and so...that's impossible."

The moon shone brightly in the autumn sky, as

brightly as it ever, and always will.

"It belongs to you."