The Swiss watch is the world’s finest time piece.  
A magnificently delicate device of considerable strength,
Held together perfectly in a handsome gold casing.

Its silky-smooth gears swish forever a perfect beat.
While the gentle power of the capable inner mechanism,
Produces without question, a flawless dependability.

This timekeeper never misses a beat, not a millisecond.
A classic instrument designed by expert human hands;
Hands once crafted and forever formed in the Cosmos.

A most faithful tempo holder, honest as the day is long.
Steadfast thus trustworthy throughout its lifetime;
No shirk of mission, no need of reward, no what’s in it for me.

Truly a dependable presence inside a solid durable structure.
A calm humility, on an open face, never an expectation of reward,
Merely genuine recognition by a gentle spirit on a simple mission.

To offer help, to care deeply, to live humbly, to turn to God.
With only a modest wish for kindly remembrance, the Swiss watch;
Ticks on eternally, into eternity, within the hearts of all who loved him.

First, I spotted the gaggle sagging innocently enough,
One might say blissfully reflected in the laptop screen.
Then out of nowhere came the phrase, "whodunit?”
And from the hanging sag, a sly, silky, voice whispered,
"Ahhh, don't stop before the good part."

Clearly a few clues were left behind, wispy hair strands,
Scattered age spots, skin tags, a few moles, posed upon a
Pale listless, crinkly, lightly pimpled, surface, and from a
Wrinkly, shallow crevasse a voice teased,
"Ahhh, don't stop before the good part."

Totally hooked, curiosity piqued, southward I spied,
A once upon a time perky, treasure chest, half hidden,
Now two solemn, empty grain sacks laid east to west,
And close to death but not quite, lazily they muttered,
"Ahhh, don't stop before the good part."

The final chapter, an ancient, untold mystery solved,
No crime, no villain, nothing stolen, only flesh alchemy,
Where a plateau of supple, touchable, skin once resided,
A lumpy, bumpy, flabby flesh pillow lolled, and it murmured,
“Ahhh, Boston cream pie, a quick nap, that's the ticket."

As they walked along after the matinee, the older brother teased his sister, “Hey, guess what, Frankenstein lives in the attic and he’s goin’ get you.”  With a flushed face the little sister responded, "Nah-ah, besides the attic door is locked."  And her brother smirked, “Think Frankenstein cares about locked doors?"

Throughout their childhood, the brother jumped out behind closed doors, terrifying his little sister, and with each fright he gave his own fear seemed to lessen.  After a startle the sister thought, ‘Does my brother love me, like I love him?’, and she concluded, “He must, why else would he try to scare me to death?’

Within the decade, a sudden brain hemorrhage took their dearly loved mother.  Now, untethered in their mother’s love, the siblings changed, tightened, within,  While their father, a traumatized, war veteran, swiftly fell off the wagon, and the brother and sister cast off, rudderless, uprooted into troubled waters.

And with their hearts snapped shut, immersed in relentless grief, they parted ways.  Some years later, their father died, bequeathed them both his unhealed pain. The brother, the sister, slid secretively into alcoholism, conceded the family custom, invested deeply in their despair, the two went on, married, raised families, conformed.

And time went by, as alcohol soothed the pain until the brother breathed his last, his belly taut with fluid, his liver destroyed, a life sentence ended.  While she, the lone survivor, mysteriously yielded unto Grace and was pardoned, recovered, she finally understood, she knew deep inside; everyone did the best they could, even her.

…and within a circle of one; I loved them all forever and ever.

They meet once again,
One teary, one leery, both weary,
Daughter, mother, cut from the same cloth.

They meet once again,
Sense one another's desire to be,
Forgiven, understood, loved.

They meet once again,
To talk, to listen, to avoid,
Mistaken, misunderstood, miscommunication.

They meet once again,
Shuttered down, boarded up, fear within resides,
Mother, daughter, cut from the same cloth.

No known solution for a cast down, complex, generational formula, each one adding a bitter part of this, or that, practiced, rehearsed the diatribe, what she said, he said, I said, around again over and over once again, our legacy of unhealed conflict, a contagion, like a blunt needle stuck in a worn-out groove, Billie Holiday sings the blues, ad infinitum.

In our family, we give in many ways but with some stuff, we’re really stingy, like with trust, forgiveness, openness, and eventually, we stick our anger, our disappointments, our pain, especially our pain, on an old, dusty shelf; we learn early on to keep hidden our feelings, never will we discuss, process, pardon, our pain, we know only the back burner on a long, slow, simmer.

And at times the old shelf, grows weary, tires of our resentment, our fear, our grief, our unyielding self-righteousness, still it manages until death beckons; and with a silent shiver and our final breath, we push off into eternal darkness, our painfilled DNA, our infectious, internal, indignation intact, leaving yet another broken heart held fast, in the dust, on the shelf.

My Dad built a whoopee room in the basement of our house, that's what we called it back in the fifties, basically it was a free barroom; he worked tirelessly, tiled the floor, knotty-pined the walls, built a Formica-topped bar, with foot rail, and a pool table center stage.

At one end, he pasted and framed with the utmost care, a life-like mural, a bucolic scene of mountains, pines trees, some guy canoeing across a deep blue lake, right underneath an eight foot, padded bench to sit, toss a beer, gab Red Sox, Pats, Bruins, Celts.

The guy could make anything, fix anything in his neat as a pin workshop, totally in control, competent, a rack of tools, his innate ability to figure out, you name it, he’d fix it, in hands-on kingdom this man did it right, measured twice, cut once.

In the Mr. Fix-it realm my father welcomed me, drew me in, shared his man in the know ways, I fetched his tools a quick study daughter, I observed knew ahead of time, like an operating room nurse ready to assist the famous surgeon at his work.

But then without prior notice he’d grow silent, retreat, drink copious whiskey shots, get mean, angry, tried to outrun the never good enough farm boy he once was, this love starved kid would engulf my honest, hardworking, overly sensitive, insecure father, then we all suffered his childhood trauma all over again.

Life *****, then you die; we all know, right?
Back in the day, that's what I’d tell myself,
Before a night of drinking and carousing.

Yup, women carouse just like men,
Only they're better at it, less obvious,
In their pursuit of understanding and/or love.

Back then, Something gnawed inside of me,
Told me to **** it up, get real for once,
Find yourself, within yourself, what the heck?

Ever watch a spider weave lace on a drainpipe,
And wonder why a daddy long legs knows,
Better than you do, what this life is all about?

And the humdrum becomes you and you it.
Tells you what you need but will never have,
Something missing, like smarts, or grace or wisdom.

Until your fragile faith awaits your next footfall,
On a worn-out rope bridge nearly rotted through,
Sending you straight into the arms of God.

And God mutters, it takes what it takes.