No river bed rock ever
Kisses the same water
Twice.

Autumn opens her arms
To September, and I close
My window for the first

Time since May.
I have had better
Summers. Love left behind

In a deluge of tears and regret.
Doctors sharing bad news
With honest concern;

Waves upon sand castles,
Moments; memories, then
Nothing.

I rest beneath the
Cold stream, perhaps
Allowing new waters

To feel my face in time.
For now, the rain strokes
Nothing but the glass

Of a window shut
To the chill of a dying
Summer.

Gather up this new love
That was sent from above
Now it is ours to share

So to God send a thank you prayer

Give us inspiration to do for each other
What one could not do alone

Savor each moment as if it were the last
Live in the future, not in the past

Be prepared for sacrifice
Take heavenly advice

Don’t think once
Think twice !

So batten down the hatches
Tie up the mast

God is here at last

To help us ride out the storm
Of love brewing in our hearts

God is the Captain of our love at last

I saw
the other side
of nature
yesterday
A sparrow hawk
swooped down
and
took out
a pigeon
ate it all up
There were feathers
everywhere
That was the cruel side
of nature

She's wrapped herself on the wall
With her fragrant pink flowers
In bunches of disheveled disarray

And when the summer wind blows
It sends a gentle floral shower
Of blossoms and scents my way

At night, under the moon and stars
I inhale her. With her I love to be
And though I dally and play with words
There can never be a poem as she.

Because we are earth.
Because we are not here
And nature over there.
Because it is a dysfunctional mental habit
To conceive of ourselves as separate
From the flowing energy of the planet
- the air, water and nourishment -
That we transmute to our own energy.
Because we set aside a day to recall
How dangerously mistaken it is
To treat as a lowly inexhaustible slave
One that is both single-minded parent
   and sustaining comrade,
Worthy of love and respect.



- fr