Whenever I buy cigarettes, my neighbor steals them.
I really hate thieves and a part of me wants to **** him.
He sneaks in my house when he catches my back turned.
I threatened to call the cops but he didn't seem concerned.
He doesn't just steal some of my cigarettes, he steals every pack.
He spits in my face when I go to his house to demand them back.
I've asked him time after time to stop but he won't
But the laugh is on him, he has lung cancer and I don't.

Let me tell you about a neighbor of mine.
He had been my neighbor since 1979.
He had a loving wife and two children.
He has died but we will see him again.
His death is hard for his friends and family to face.
He's in Heaven now which is a far better place.
It's tragic because his life came to an end.
He was a great neighbor and a friend.
When I learned that he died, it was very sad.
But now he's in Heaven with my mom and dad.

A teenage boy sat alone at a picnic bench along the river,
twirling the tip of a pocket knife on the table top.
He then flipped the knife a few inches in the air
and watched as the blade landed and
stuck perfectly straight into a table plank.
A slight smile of satisfaction
pulled across his face.

When the cops came to remove the boy
from society, they found him gently carving
the bark from a fallen tree limb.
He'd planned on crafting a walking stick
for an elderly neighbor.

A week later, after the tears,
after the news coverage,
the half-carved limb remained on the ground,
next to the picnic bench, alone.

Cool and breezy
My hands all greasy
Fixing my car, alright
Been busy since last night
A lot tired today
More work, what can I say
Worst of all this rain
Just had to pour again
I rather use my brain
Then to cause myself pain
I'll just call on a mechanic
So to fix my car without panic
All this greasy smell
Oh, **** this hell
I'll just let the experts handle
While I light a candle
Power just had to go off
And I hate this irritating cough
Am writing about my neighbor
Who was working alone, no labor
He was muttering and complaining
While talking to mechanic and explaining
Poor guy, gave me a theme to write
I wish his car gets fixed by tonight...


©sim

Thank you Lord for the gift of your love, and beauty, your power and your humility especially in the blessed sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist. It is here that you hide both in plain sight and reveal your divinity and humanity in a most profound and personal way. It is here that you meet us and here that you greet us as we fall on our knees to pray. You give us the sun to welcome us at dawn and send angels to guard at the end of the day. There is always something new and timely every time I am before you in this place. And every time I come away with a brand new look at your face. I look forward to the times we have together with such anticipation and afterwards am filled with jubilation! Help me cling to you, help me sing to you. In troubled seasons help me hold fast, and in stressful moments help me to relax. In sadness I ask for peace and the strength to rejoice, when I have a difficult decision help me to discern and make a good choice. We pray to you, we bring all we are to you. Our joys, sorrows, longings, praises and petitions. Give us eyes to see you, ears to hear you, a mind to seek you and a heart to love you. Help us also to see, hear, seek, and love others as you do for all of them and for each of us.

We ask this and all things in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen!