Am I suppose to sing praise of the clouds?
Only words of wisdom from my old lips?
Love long soured in my old heart.
Forgotten motion of days long past.
Tell the young to enjoy
What I no longer truly remember.
Sit in silent ponder of days.
Listen to music which raises thoughts
From ashes of days long gone.
Yet still there is beauty in the clouds.
The sweetness of love lingers
Softly on the edges of my heart.
My warning to the young is gentle advice.
My silence brings meditation and quiet with God.
The music gently surrenders the beauty of the past
to my forgetful mind.
Some wisdom does fall occasionally from my lips.

Weak with approaching death;
My body has slowly surrendered;
Strained with remembering;
All the love over all the years;
Gather my loved one's prayers;
My wife's tears of hope which
I can no longer take.
We had each other, my precious girl.
My lips want to form a smile.
It was a good run.
A valiant victory lap  for someone
who had legs that would no longer move.
The wreath is still upon my brow
and will be placed upon my coffin.
But it was a good run.
I stayed as long as I could.
I love you, Carolyn.

Things aren't always happy;
Tidy up the troubles;
Grateful for the good;
A loneliness in the crowd;
Wondering about place at life's table;
Surrounded by loved ones;
But feeling no attachment;
Others have so much to do;
Lost in chores;
Sweeping away thoughts of grief;
Searching for a reason;
Needing to appreciate where I am;
What I have done;
I just don't feel done.

Seeing the light in the crack;
The expectation rising with hushed murmur;
The lights lower;
The voices quiet;
The only sound is the curtain swinging open;
The light is on the stage;
People rest in shadows;
They await the story;
It is silence before the entrance;
A stage door opens and reveals the hero;
The hero walks to the end of the stage;
The hero stares into the shadows;
He delivers.
Only then people know who he is.

Water poured throughout the house;
You said I put you in the attic;
No rest all night;
I saved the goldens;
I swam to save the best;
You couldn't rest
As I collected the family
Pulling them from the depths
of flooding waters.
Yet we live in the woods.
There is no rain.
No water, only floods of loss
Which we fight each day.
Loss of memory.
Loss of movement.
Loss of employment.
Loss of liberty.
Pouring throughout our home.
Yet we pull each other out
and move to the next level.
Trying to rise above.

Skip past the difficult.
Don't let all life be wrung from you.
Taste the sweetness of blessings.
Struggle free of hardship.
Rainbows can be found
After most storms.

Truth rests better.
Numbed worries.
Forever blessings taking shape.
Living the best choices.
Ordered tenderness.
Releasing fear born pain.
Untold longings with no shame.
Sleeping mind gently settles.