When asked what I wish for, for those coming after me;
I reply, a sweeter passage, for those longing to be free.
I wish for freedom from without and wars that rage within,
and for courage with to find a voice in this world we live in.

My hope for a tomorrow lies within a better day;
a day when people are not hungry, and when skin does not betray.
I ask for kind compassion for those lesser in this world,
and a greater understanding from those of privileged from birth.

I’d pray for bullies banished, for their souls to fully see,
that the hate they are creating, is no place I’d wish to be.
I ask for leaders and for kings, remember where you’re from,
and be a shepherd for your flock, not fleece your lesser sons.

I’d ask religions of this world to live in love and peace,
and live according to their faith and that violence decrease.
I’d ask that all would come to know the joy we will receive,
when we treat all men like brothers and all women equally.

The last thing I would want for them is life without the pain,
of fearing what tomorrow brings within this pouring rain;
a life of bright tomorrows, without worry or hopeless fear,
and I will go in peace, if asked, behind my grateful tears.

The mundane day to day never spoke much to me,
with its voice, foreign, speaking in a language unknown.
It slept upon my porch and knocked at my bolted door,
but I swept it away in the morning with each dream I dreamt.

Dreams have carried me to far off lands,
reminding me to reach beyond what I knew,
and bade me to break free from the shackles of life;
to heed their vision as they beckoned on the wind.

Many times I’ve risked it all and left what I knew behind
to follow my heart, beyond the safety of my world,
each time I aspired to be more than I believed I could be
and run with the wind and risk to be free.

Once I snorkeled reefs so grand they made me gasp in silent awe,
their brilliant world painted with the hues of the seas,
Red and violet fans waved as fishes flitted beyond my touch,
while I passed their world from overhead.

Long ago I delighted in pristine and surreal seas of life;
coral fish and anemone, the sergeant majors and angels.
Their colors still vivid in my dreams, they flash by in prison suits
only in my memories now.

Long ago I swam the seas and witnessed sights beyond my realm;
the giant clams and tiny squid, with schools of fish all hues below.
But now I see a world of grey, devoid of color I once knew,
a sad lament for the great reefs.

Long ago, but just a breath, I swam amidst beauty few will know,
but now I grieve its passing and pray that soon we’ll see,
the future of our reefs, washed gray by human negligence,
as we disregard our world.

When I was young, I had no voice,
no wings with which to find my dreams;
to soar above my shackled youth,
to find what lay beyond my chains.

Ever hungry for more, I ached to share
my art and skills, what joy I’d found,
but I perceived too few who shared
what grew within my struggling.

But through life’s growing pains and trials,
a chrysalis began to form,
and life inside transformed to bless,
and free me from my earth bound state.

Now fully formed and freed from chains,
I spread my wings and take to flight,
and soar to heights I’d never dreamed,
inside my life without my wings.

You whisper your love song tenderly
upon the early morning breeze.
You tease me awake, as the wind
plays her melody through my open window

Tiny prisms of light above my head
perform their morning ballet on the ceiling
each reflected from shards of painted glass
that harmonize on the wind.

This hymn of childhood memories;
mornings of endless possibilities;
each melody a reminder of beauty
each day sings to us on the wind.

A lone leaf floats down on the breeze beside my bench
as the wind whispers an autumn song to all who listen.
Geese overhead answer in their throated honk in flight
as they herald the coming of an early frost.

Red-orange drip from maples and all of autumn hums
as grey squirrels and chipmunks scurry away,
cheeks bulging with acorns and other treats
to bury inside their hideaways.

Fall, so vibrant and bright, with contrasting hues,
beauty embraces me in this garden of fall delight.
I pull my jacket close in its sharp crispness.
as I savor this moment of peaceful bliss.

I sit beside your beloved pond,
filled with waterlilies of magenta and white,
painted on the water’s surface,
while dragonflies flit about its glassy face.

I walk the paths you gifted us;
your voice speaks to me within the trees
as you sing your great love song,
within this painted land and garden blooms.

Amidst the midday sun, stinging hot upon my neck,
I find shade beneath your willows,
as I gaze through tears of gratefulness,
at the quiet beauty you left behind.