I laid asleep in the deepest dream
Till the alarm shattered my mind
How quickly came the mornings sounds
Get Up! Is it really time?

I look and see I'm started late
The clock it must be broke
How can it be. Did I set it wrong?
Is someone playing a joke

I quickly arise to meet the day
Prepared for a shower that's hot
Then I recieve a shocking surprise
As I find the hot water is not

I begin to dress in double time manner
It was time to be headed out
Then I turned around and took a step
And my cat shrieked out a shout!!

My heart now racing along with me
I find myself in the kitchen
At first it was eggs and bacon
But due to time now I'm switchin

I'll now have toast from the toaster
I'll make it a double stack
Up it pops in its alloted time
Crispy and burnt and black

Forget the toast I have no time
But caffeine is a must
I find no sugar no creamer no spoon
Looks like coffee is also a bust

Out the door at last I go
Coffee! Man I NEEDED that!
Then low and behold I look to see
Out of the four one is flat

Can you believe because I cannot
BLEEP and BLEEP and BLEEP!!
I call the boss ,"Sorry I'm sick"
And I go back to sleep.

RLB

Gazing down from the mountains top
Across the valleys depth below
I feel a certain peace within
That Only God could bestow

Looking across the vast wilderness
Into the place that I had been
Never thinking that I could rise
To the place where I now stand

Traveling through the valleys low
And through the rivers deep
I kept my eyes lifted up
Fixed on the mountains peak

The valley at last came to end
Then the rock I had to climb
So I began my journey up
With victory in my mind

The mountains side seemed unclimbable
And the climb it took its toll
When I at last had reached the top
There was a renewed strength within my soul

I could not have made the journey
But for the strength of God alone
For when I am weak and want to stop
God helps me to carry on

Now descending the mountains other side
And through its valley I shall not stop
For in the distance is another mountain
And I shall reach its top

RLB

Granite stones above the ground
With name and date engraved
One tells of when one was born
The other of when beneath he laid

Stones that stand in straightened rows
As soldiers on a march
Upon a ground set aside
Protected by a gated arch

Stones that stand as sentinels
Guarding those that sleep
As if to protect the ones
Who lie beneath so deep

Stones that stand to mark the place
Where a loved one last was seen
Who is covered now with darkened earth
Blanketed with grass now green

Stones that stand solid and firm
In snow and sleet and rain
Call out to the living who pass
Come and read my name

We wish not to leave behind
Those here we love
But we each will one day lay beneath
Where the stone now stands above

In the town where I grew up
You still can hear the chime
Of the old courthouse clock
As it counts away the time

Uncountable are the days
That too this place have come and gone
Causing so much here to change
In this town that I call home

The passing of the time
Has taken loved ones dear
And nothing is the same
Without their presence here

Time changes everything
It doesn't slow nor stop
So continues the counting chime
Of the old courthouse clock

RLB

The strength of love by God is given
It is placed within the soul
There it grows deep and strong and firm
Where it's roots forever hold

Love cannot be broken in pieces
Though the storm rages all around
Love holds true as a mighty oak
Planted firmly in the ground

Love reaches far beyond our sight
To places we have never seen
Above the mountains and into the sky
Even to the heavenly scene

Our love can touch a loved ones heart
Who now walks upon the golden streets
It gives s promise of joy true
And it gives a peace so sweet

The greatest love ever given
Came down from heavens throne
The son of God came in love
And now counts us as his own

RLB

The kind of words I love to read
Are words that inspire
Words that spark an ember
That flashes into a fire

Words that encourage
And words that edify
Are easy on the mind
And pleasing to the eye

Words that are motivating
Within their ebb and flow
Can be to someone transformative
As they forward go

A word of optimisim
Can bring forth a clearer view
And be so very refreshing
When you think it could be true

We should always guard our mind
Against negative word intrusion
Allowing only what builds up
To have in our mind inclusion

Every word we read affects our life
In the context of its composition
For all words read hold the power
For mind and thought transition

A canopy of gray covers all that lies below,
The trees are leafless and barren,
I can hear the bitter cold raindrops
As they crash into the leaves,
That lie dead upon the muddy ground,
I see colors of only dark gray and brown and black,
As I look into the woods beyond my window,
It is a peaceful scene,
Yet,mysterious and ancient ,
For some unknown reason,
I am taken back to another time,
A much harder time in mankinds life,
But a much simpler time for his soul,
A time when it was more quiet,
Man was more thoughtful ,
The world more serene,
Man more connected to nature,
Nature in all her forms,
Reveals to us such beauty,
Such overpowering serenity ,
If we will acknowledge it,
This scene that at this moment my eyes behold,
May be cold and gray and portray despair,
But it is as beautiful as a sunny mountain meadow in the spring,
For just as the meadow is,
This scene is a picture painted,
By the master of all nature,
GOD.
In the beginning God...........
Genesis1:1

RLB

Many a night have I gazed
Looking up from a mountain high
Admiring the stars of heaven
That hang like candles in the sky

Each star specifically placed
Just where in the heavens it should be
Shining like a friendly campfire
There to help guide you and me

The skies of the north the south the east the west
All are filled with light
And at each star I am amazed
At how they shine so bright

The Big Trail Boss knew what he was doing
When he created the stars
And placed them out of the reach of man
In a place so very far

To shine as he intended
Untouched by human hand
To guide us through the great open prairie of heaven
When we journey home to the promised land

The sun shines today,
I smile ,
And thank God ,
Above.

Time cannot be measured
For we know not its length
Time gives to us our weakness
As it takes from us our strength

Time in its passing brings so much joy and sorrow,
Sleeping dreams are awakened and come true,
Loved ones you hoped would always be, die,
But such is the truth of the passing of time.

RLB

Can we as men comprehend
The value of time
Or is time a commodity much to rare
To be assessed by our feeble mind

Can time be bought for gain
Or for wealth be bought or sold
Does time posses a value
Such as diamonds or as gold

Is time it's self a currency
To be saved as an investment
Should a return be expected
As we prepare for retirement

Could time be a hidden treasure
An object we seek to posses
To add to what time we think we have
Do we over this thought obsess

We as men want so much
Of what we cannot see
For we men know not how much time
Is alloted to you and me

While we are breathing life
Unseen time is always appearing
And at the very same moment
Unseen time is disappearing

So,what is the value of time?
Will the answer by man be ever revealed
Or will this mystery that plaques mans mind
From his knowledge forever be sealed.

RLB

The touching of pen to paper
The writing of the word
The sound of the flowing ink
By the readers ear is heard

Thoughts are written down
Upon a pages empty lines
To be forever kept
Till the end of time

The stories they are many
For there are many hands that write
The words travel from mind to pen
As the writer puts the words to flight

Words are written to be enjoyed
Through the readers eyes
To lift his thoughts up higher
Far beyond the azure skies

Books are an adventure to write
As along with the characters you join
But writing has no pleasure
Such as the writing of a poem

Why is it we strive so hard
To increase our earthly possessions
We see we want we buy
It seems to be an obsession

Of the many things we have
How many of them do we truly need
Do we just try to obtain
To satisfy our greed

These many things we own
They may glitter they may shine
But soon they lose their luster
As quickly turns the hands of time

Then we become dissatisfied
With the previous things we got
And seek to fill that empty place
With some new thing we've  bought

The years they pass, time comes and goes
We are surrounded by our wealth
But among the many things we own
We find no love no family no health

To late we discover we have laid up treasure
Treasure of an earthly kind
Of things that have no meaning
How could we have been so blind

Gazing out the window
On this beautiful winters morn
Under sky's of gray
Where the flakes of snow are born

It is a peaceful scene
Snow silently crashing to the ground
All that was so dark
Is covered in white all around

The branches of the trees
Glimmer with a diamond coating
As from above up higher
The white keeps downward floating

So peaceful, beautiful, serene
Is this morning to my sight
As I watch God slowly paint
The earth in purest white

RLB

Sin can never reach
Up to heavens priceless worth
It is condemned forever
To live upon this earth

Sin can never touch
The heights where heavens bound
It can only rise so high
Then falls back to the ground

Never can it climb
From this world to which it's chained
It can never leave
So here it will remain

Sin binds us to this world
Upon which the devil freely roams
Creating pain and hurt and sorrow
In the realm he calls his own

It is and always will be
Satan and his demons din
Since it has no place to go
This world will always be ruled by sin

But this world here is not my home
By the chain of sin I am not bound
The chain was broken I am set free
When the blood of Christ fell to the ground

He gave his life that I might live
Both crucified and risen
And when I reach where sin cannot
I will be safe at home in heaven

From the tomorrow we hope to come
We can never borrow time
And from its minutes we cannot take
From the day that lays behind

Each day given holds its own
A measured amount of alloted hours
We cannot add or detract from one
This task is not within our power

We only have what time is given
There is no time within the past
And the time that is yet to come
Is fleeting quickly and will not last

The time now that we posses
Is the greatest gift we have been given
It cannot be bought with gold or silver
And it's value cannot be written

Will you spend your time as a fool will do
Upon temporary and fleeing pleasure
Or will you spend it on things eternal
And lay up for yourself  in heaven , treasure

Hours marked upon the clock
Are but measured spans of time
Where minutes between the hours die
And seconds cease behind

I have within my house
A clock that rest upon a shelf
Tic tock tic tock tic tock
This clock sings all by itself

As upon its numbered face
Turn three slow moving hands
Ever forward each one moves
But someday still each will stand

Each movement of every hand
Takes me farther away
From this world here that I know
And the troubles of its way

The clock takes me to a point in time
When the clocks work will cease
It's hands stopped in stillness
As my soul is then released

Yes,the singing of the clock
Is ever with me while here I roam
I will sing with joy when the clock is silent
For then I will at last be home

RLB

Time it can't be seen
It travels as the wind
One moment it is upon you
Then it is gone again

Time it glides so freely
As on life's rails it rolls on by
It moves as sound so quickly
As it passes through our lives

Then the day is quickly come
When time for you is stopped
You find that day has come upon you
Though you had hoped it not

Our time on earth is but a vapor
It is seen then it is gone
Our bodies then laid to rest
But time, it travels on

As time goes on it is bringing
After all life's bitter tears
A time when a thousand shall be as a day
And a day as a thousand years

So place your faith in Christ
Let Jesus rest your mind
For in your home in heaven
There is no such thing as time

James 4:14-15

Today the words I speak
Will lift up and edify
I will listen to the words you say
And not become angry without a reason why

RLB
James 1:19

Yesterday now is passed
It silently rest behind
All of it that now remains
Are the memories within my mind

Precious memories that I recall
Of precious friends and loved ones dear
They fill my thoughts of yesterday
My memories hold them near

It is hard to understand why time
So quickly passes by
Takes the ones we dearly love
And leaves us with tear dimmed eye

Yet I look to tomorrow in faith
Holding to the promise that Jesus told
You shall meet those you love again
In heaven on streets of gold

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The wind so ever gentle blows
It is all around though we cannot see
Yet we know that it is there
By the joyous dancing of the leaves

The touch of the wind we can feel
It's presence to us is proven
And since the days of long ago
Wind through the life of man has woven

We can hear the unseen winds
As they from the four directions rise
But the winds that today we hear
Will they fill tomorrow's skies ?

For unlike this'moments unseen wind
Tomorrows winds may not blow
And like an unseen wind we have never felt
Tomorrows winds we may never know

O what heights you have reached
Green  little Leaf
But soon the seasons change
And you will fall to me

Now, I cannot touch you
I can only look and see
It is sad that you must die
Before you will come to me

You know not I watch
In the summers breeze I have seen you dance
There high upon your stage
You sway and you prance

You posses such beauty
Up there close to heavens stars
Just a simple little Leaf
But I love you as you are

I want to hold you , Leaf
But out of reach you reside
I long to gently touch you
Before it is you die.

At the time we never give much thought
To folks we touch with our hands
We put our arms around them
Then we take it back again

In a quickly passing moment
Our hands will touch the ones we cherish
Then just as quickly as we feel them
The touch we gave will perish

Time, it passes soon upon the wind
And those we love we now long to touch
We wish once more to feel them here
Knowing now it meant so much

Treasure the way a loved one feels
Cherish them each passing day
Hug them close and hold their hand
And you will have a memory made

My
Heart
Is
Dark
And
Empty
And
Cold,
As
Death.

The
More
Why's
Life
Presents
Tighter
Too
Jesus
I
Hold

RLD

Trust in Jesus
Have no fear
He is your courage
He is always near

RLB

Within these once war torn fields,
Now peaceful ,serene and undisturbed,
Soldiers of blue and gray lie in unknown graves,
Under the grass of Gettysburg.

RLB

Jackson! Jackson!Dear General Jackson!
Can Stonewall be forever stilled?
Horrific war and chaotic gun,
Dreadful this night is Chancelorsville.

RLB

The moon tonight shines from the eastern sky
Through the trees crooked and barren limb
And as I look upon this mysterious beauty
I can only think of him

He who placed the moon so high
So that all human eyes might see
Is the same who changed the seasons
That in turn changed the tree

He who gives the moon
It's bright and brilliant light
Is the same who holds the stars
Above the darkened night

He holds in perfect place
Each shining light under heavens floor
With an unseen and a mighty hand
GOD!
To you be praise forevermore .

RLB

There is cast among us each day
Such garbage and filth and trash
Things that need to be burnt, destroyed
And turned forever into ash

We walk each day among the filth
It blocks our path upon every side
Sometimes it seems to overwhelm
And causes me to seek to hide

It repulses the senses as rotted flesh
Clouding up my mind
A path not littered is what I seek
But that path it seems I cannot find

This rotted filth of which I speak
Floats all around unseen
Near the ground and n the air
And is unto our ear a fiend

The trash the filth the rot
Is mankinds spoken word
In songs and speech and poetry
Are uttered things that never should be heard

Matthew 12:36-37

I am so unthankful
Lord within my heart
I don't mean to be
But Lord please help me start

Help me Lord be thankful
For all I have received
You have given me much
Beyond my ability to conceive

From the sunrise in the morning
Till the moon shows its light
Your blessings are daily shown
Help my eyes to have the sight

Have mercy on me Lord
For my forgetfulness
I ask my heart be filled
My Lord, with thankfulness

Goodmorning to you everyone
May only good come your way
As you go out into
The gift that's called Today

Thank you Lord for your love
Shown to one unworthy as me
Thank you Lord for your shed blood
Upon the cross of Calvary


A thank you to my Lord that I wanted to share.

Birth
Life
Death
Eternity
Eternity
Eternity
Eternity
Eternity
Ete­rnity
Eternity
.....

Today,my memory has taken me back
To a time when all was good
Back to when I was just a boy so young
Playing cowboy in my old neighborhood

I suppose there is not enough ink and paper
To record this young cowboys dreams
If I were to settle down and write
And record each cherished scene

Of days that are so distant now
And of images that are fading fast
When I begin to recall how it was I wish
These days could forever last

The hand of time changes all it touches
A childhood lingers for only a while
But the hand of time cannot take from me
Childhood memories that cause me to smile

At the old home place I see a simpler time
And I hear old familiar sounds
There dwell the voices and faces I used to know
I see my footprints embedded upon the ground

These old memories I hold so dear
To recall them I shall always endeavor
I carry them deep within my heart
These days that I  wish would last forever.

RLB

I've always been one to stand and wave goodbye
When a loved one leaves my home
Stand and wave and watch till they are out of sight
It's just something I've always done

Like when mom and dad came to visit
I think it was in the spring
When the temperature was starting to warm
And the birds were beginning to sing

We would gather around the supper table
I'd get my Moma to laughing at me
Then she'd look outside and say "It's getting dark"
Then tell dad it's time to leave

I'd walk them both out to their car
Moma always had a few last words to say
I'd hug and kiss her tender cheek
Then I'd stand and wave as they drove away

I'd stand there and wave goodbye
Till mom and dad were out of sight
I only wish I could remember though
The date that marked that night

Moma always waved right back
Till in the distance behind she could no longer see
I waved goodbye see you soon
And Moma waved the same to me

That day I never thought that never again
Would Moma visit my home on a spring time day
I never knew that would be the last time I waved
Goodbye as they drove away

Moma if you can hear look down from heaven
See me as I wave
It's not a wave goodbye but see you soon
For I to am on my way.

RLB

Recalling the last time my mother came to my house to visit.
Someday we will never again wave goodbye.
Love you Moma .

We are born into this world
We laugh we breathe we cry
Then in the span of a few short years
Within a grave we lie

Life comes to us so quickly
As God gives to us his living breath
Then just as quickly we are gone
And our heart is stilled in death

We go to sleep each night
As visions and dreams of life fill our head
Never thinking we shall no more rise
For in the morning we are dead

Where will our life take us?
What treasure will we  reap?
Will our souls reward be hell?
Or eternity in heaven sweet.

Today comes new,
Untouched.
I hope it leaves,
Well used.

Heavy on my mind
Is the thought of what might have been
As I look back on the days
The days of what could have been

At this moment I am breathing
Breaths of what I wish had been
Pondering the thoughts I have
Of what I had hoped would have been

These images plaque my mind
Of what If what I desired had been
What might my life be today
If what I desired had truly been

But what I had hoped is not
I realize now it has never been
And as I have grown much older
I know it never will;
Have been.

What is a photograph worth
With its edges bent and worn
Faded and yellowed with age
A picture that is cracked and worn

An image of a moment so dear
A smile in a second of time
The comfort of a loved ones face
That you shall never more find

Is the face upon your photograph
Worth more than all earthly gain
An image of one you loved so dear
One who now in a grave is lain

What is this little squares value
To pay, what is the price
Is there an amount or profit
That for its value would suffice

Some might offer you gold
For an image your finger can touch
Would you even then refuse
And find no hope in such

Does the image your eyes now mirror
Hold more value than the earth could bring forth
Tha many stories and memories so dear
Tell me, what is a photograph worth

The home in which I grew
Where I was taught to do that which I should
Was held together by love
And everything that's good

It's floors were supported strong
By tenderness and caring
And it's roof was held in place
By the gentle act of sharing

It's walls stood strong and firm
Never were they shaken
Strength is gained by what you give
Not by what you have taken

A home is so much more
Than wood and nails and stone
It is made of truth, love, caring and sharing
These things , they make a house a home

Gods
Very
Breath,
Breathed
Into
Your
Body,
Lives
For
Eternity.

What makes us dream?
Is it thoughts and memories
Plans that we once had
That are now fading entity's

Could it be our past?
The faces that then we knew
A love we felt so long ago
A hope we believe in our heart is true

Could it be the present?
Our troubles our joys our tears
Maybe our strengths and courage
Or possibly our worries and fears

Could it be the future?
The unknowns that remain unseen
The distant mystery that lies before us
Do these make up our dreams?

RLB

Why do we grieve the heart of God
With the things that we men do
If God audibly spoke
He might say these words to you

Men talk about intolerance
Yet I still give mercy and grace
Men change the definition of marriage
And slap me in the face

Men bicker and argue and fight
About a waving flag
With all that's still to be done
About enough I've had

Men **** unborn babies
Yet I hardly hear a prayer
But the pleas of the unborn
They rise to me through the air

Men have taken me out of school
No longer there am I allowed within
Men have left me at the door
Of a place where once I had been

This list goes on and on
Men know the things I mean
Why can man not read my word
And from its pages wisdom glean

There is on the horizon a day
When every man will understand
When I come down from heaven
To give justice unto men

So go upon your merry way
Push the truths of God aside
Your guilt is not upon me
For to gain your obedience I tried

I will give unto men more time
I've an abundance of mercy and grace
But know within your heart o man
You will someday see my face

RLB

Each day individually ,
And the days that constitute the span
of your life,
Become what you decide they will be,
What you determine to make of them,
Each one forming and taking shape,
Into what you envision for each moment,
Of each day,
Of your entire life.