There’s a universal substance
And it’s moldable and smart
But it needs to have a pattern
For the shaping power to start

Yes, it needs to have a template
A kind of outline or design
For this thinking stuff to cling to
And build your world and mine

I’m glad the pattern I provide
By the thinking of my mind
Is the template that is needed
For my world to be designed

feels like you're floating at the universe
counting stars to prove your passion at first
all to know is to be like the light year;
hasty on safety!

Remember the sky even though
it won’t remember you.

Know the constellations tales
even as they know not yours.

Remember the moon’s pull
despite its denying your shadow.

Remember the sun, the dawn even
as its novas your sight,
singes your memories
in forgetfulness, grief and time.

Remember the sunset,
that yields to night
that hardly embraces you.

Remember not your birth,
the maternal pains,
the gasps to your first breath,
the silent cursing of your first form.

Remember not your life’s mistakes,
your mother’s and hers.

Disperse them in the wind,
awaiting angels to hurl
them into the sun.

Remember not
your father’s indifference,
the times he chose
not to be a part of your life.

Remember the earth in all its colors
even as  it entombs everything.
that skins it.

Remember every plant, animal eaten;
the fallen tree that is your house frame
and every book you have read-

for their death and your life
is the child of every poem written
and consumed in the soul.

Remember the howl of the wind
in its indifference,
the universe’s deafness
that seems not to listen
or know you.

Remember that language,
your scream is the retort
to the universe’s grudge.

Shout “I remember”
even as it whispers
“I remember you not.”

When feeling down, depressed, detached, isolated, or lonely, don’t forget everything you’re already a part of. Your family, your community, your country, the broader population of all humanity. Even if all of them leave you with a sense that you don’t belong, that you have no value, and that you are not worthy, remember that you’re not the first, nor the only, nor the last made to feel this suffering. Close your eyes for a moment, take a few deep breaths, and remember all that you do not see. Remember the all-pervading interdependence that weaves between all things. Remember the universe did not make an exception when bringing you to be, and you share an interconnected existence, same as everyone and everything. Remember that you are worthy and of value in the architecture of the universe and no one has the right nor the power to take that from you, not even you, and this is true, absolute, and forever it will be. Find yourself by knowing, feeling, observing, the others who smile in silent disdain, who wake up aching in their cores, rising to meet another day. Find yourself in those that have yet to come, for those that have yet to break, yet to despair. For it is there you’ll find yourself, in a place, in a time, preceded by all that is the past, amidst all that is current, so that you may find a way to ride the wave into the future and vibrate vibrantly for eternity. Find yourself in human history, the rise and fall of human societies, the historical human afflicted atrocities. Find yourself in the grand and universal architecture, for you are there, close your eyes, breath deeply, and may you see. May you find your strength, your will, your courage and let your heart be still. May you find it in yourself to take that torch, handed to you by those who battled doubt, were ostracized, those who before you, found a way out, to idealize, who against the darkened odds, kept on seeking better and brighter days. They’re waiting for you, but wish to see you flourish before you join them to perch upon eternity. Sometimes all they did was endure, and maintain dignity and grace. Or simply made attempts to change what many around them thought was just the way it would always be, who simply dreamed what those around them could not imagine, the ones who thought of you, who had yet to be, and your place in this universal scheme. Who found themselves in you and their hopes for all that you could be, who found themselves and let themselves believe. May you find yourself assured that simply being you is all you have to be and that it is okay, it is enough, and the universe will see. May you help carry forward the human legacy and bring forth humanity into a moralistic and heartfelt harmony.

There are so many ways to learn and grow,
to challenge one’s views of life, of death,
of the time in between.

At times, yes, there is a harshness to the wind,
a bite in your mother’s words and an unrelenting squirrel
emptying your bird feeder, but
know that there will be reward for your
continued generosity of thought,
and your assumption of the best in everything.

Given patience, the universe reaches out with gentle touches,
leaving offerings of love in the form of smooth pebbles,
pigeons and friends who offer to buy lunch.

We must learn to accept
the love we are offered,
no matter how unconventional.
Seek this love, be it in the form of a high five,
or in extra napkins for your glovebox,
in petting friendly stray cats.

Find love everywhere
and accept it, because those moments are the other half of the transaction.
Where you offer up time, the universe looks to compensate your loss.

Accept the spare dime in your cup holder, the acorn cap left on your windowsill
and the smiley face drawn on your cup,
as signs that the love you put out is equally
and fully returned by the world.

THE GOOD NEWS:  Our next World War will be our last.

THE BAD NEWS:  It will last only ten minutes.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

War has no warranties.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

If one is at an obstacle of an imposing sort
or with any other side step made, this state,
to find a way past each of these, in this life's
dangerous maze, somehow without mistake.

It's just that I've always stumbled
when I see that it's so **** far,
way beyond this side of the dark,
someone give me a way to find
the other side in the light,
if that is what it is, if this some
strange curse, a bad plight.

...or is it a greater truth?

Perhaps the "Gods are playing a trick
on me?" Or perhaps there is no way back
or forward. I look back at yesterdays
pain and see it's staring back.
Please.

Death is a visage we all put aside until
it is right there and there's no way
to avoid it. Just happen to be able
to keep running...unavoidable,
This and that. Stunning. I will write, I will
work, I will not hide. Eventually we all
have to face it, and sooner or later
we all have to try to fight it.
It's that stone cold that hangs over
you even with vices. They just happen to
be able to visualize a nicer tomb
than was waiting for you. I guess
that was worth all the human sacrifices.