Thank God For Good Friends!

Thank God for good friends,
With patience aplenty
Because as to talent
I’m not sure I have any.

My rhymes do not
Lift sweet songs to the sphere
My jingles more often cause
pain to the ear.

Still when I get started
I can’t seem to stop
Words tumble around
Like a fast moving top.

It’s as if the poem knows
What needs to be said
It simply has to get the lines
into my head.

When finished, the poem demands to be free,
It wants to meet you, it's tired of me.
Singing in cyberspace is what it would do
And so, reluctantly I email to you.

Of course, once released from my PC
That poem can easily make a fool out of me.

Dreaming

Caught in the maze
I cannot sleep
My worries confound me
I try not to weep

2 o’clock, 3 o’clock
Then it is four
My thoughts circle round
I am sad to the core.

I decide to try a trick known to work
Focus my thoughts where pain doesn’t lurk
One moment of joy, a time free of care
When hope made me smile and vistas were fair.

But caught in my maze
Each path I pursue
Leads me right back
To my sorrowful view.

When I am worried, I’m not good at prayer
It seems indecent somehow to bring up God’s error
To gently suggest he needs to correct a mistake
That allowed so much trouble on us to break
To ask him to fix things, make everything right
So that sorrow will flee and I can sleep through the night.

I awakened at 6, so I did sleep it seems
And managed to have a quite happy dream.
I was at a gathering of the old DS gang
Willy and Kathy and Mary, Mary Anne too
Some strangers were there, but most folks I knew.

We sat at a table to review a software brand new,
designed to help youth and those older too
It's creator had credentials unmatched
planets and goldfish were his ideas hatched.
Mankind had challenged his wits to the end
but he was determined to achieve what he'd planned from the start
make them the kind of children to warm a dad's heart.

Vision 2007 would not need a PC
Just a current of love between you and me.
Also important would be a faith firewall
So when viruses attack, your system won’t fall.

In my dream, we had neither question or doubt
This software would work, we were ready to shout.
But when I awakened, I was still caught
with worries aplenty and unhappy thoughts.

Then I remembered, it was as clear as a flute,
When new software's installed, you need to reboot.
Take some time out, a fresh breath or two
Then let the new program take charge of you.

If everything doesn't work well at first,
I'll try not to worry, nor let my faith burst.
With patience, I should be able to figure it out
After all the folks in my dream had not a doubt.

Mystery on Mason Street

You have to admit it’s certainly weird
How that woman on Mason Street just disappeared.

On Thursday morning she was seen mowing her lawn
After that she simply was gone.

The garage door was up, the car in its place
Her purse on the table, but she was gone without trace.

The doors were unlocked, so foul play was suspected,
But after careful search, no clue was detected.

Despite all the efforts, she never was found
It was as if she’d been swallowed into the ground.

And that is just about what happened. While mowing my lawn, I stepped into a sink-hole and had to hoist myself out with my hands and feet. It was above an old cesspool that had been closed over 20 years ago. I was muddy, but no worse for wear. Still, I thought how funny it would be to disappear like Alice down the rabbit’s hole.

CHANGING PARTNERS

My Olympus was tired,
It’s motor was sprung
After thousands of photos,
it’s work days were done.
I hated to see our relationship end
That battered old camera had been like friend.

Whenever someone blew out a candle
Or rode up on a bike,
waved from the stage,
or climbed high on a hike
Whenever my granddaughter built a castle in sand -- all those times and more I had my camera in hand.

Finding a new partner is a hard thing to do
How do you know the one right for you?
I searched the internet,
Read every review,
Compared feature by feature
But wasn’t sure what to do.

Finally I decided to go to a store
Sure enough there were cameras galore.
I picked each one up, trying to see
Which one might be the right one for me.
But not one seemed to welcome
The touch of my hand
Each bore encryptions
As from some alien land.

I knew not their language,
And I’d about given up hope
I could find a new camera
I was such a dope.

Just then approached a lad about 22,
He could read the symbols
And explained what to do.

Soon, he assured me,
I could be taking photos with ease
Using this camera would be a breeze.
But I saw him hide a smile
As he watched me reach for the camera
And turn each dial.

I brought the camera home
And opened up the box
Once we were alone
That camera eyed me like a fox.

It knew I could not handle
Such a clever fellow
The more I tried, the worse I felt
My nerves had turned to jello.

Still I persisted,
Returning only twice
To seek out the young man
For a just bit more advice.

Finally I had a bit of luck
A little part inside the camera
Managed to get stuck.

I packed up the fox
In its small littered box
and hunted for the receipt,
Hoping as I held my breath
it had not been dropped upon the street.

But, no, there it was right in my purse
When I read what it said, I had no need to curse.

Within 14 days of purchase, it was OK to return
Ordinarily there would be a 15% restocking fee
But since my camera broke, I could return it for free.

When I found the red-vested lad
I told him his wonderful camera had been very bad
I demanded my money back from the store
And head held high, stormed out the door.

Of course, I had to keep on searching
I could not let it be
Surely somewhere out there
Was a camera meant for me.......

And one day I found one
just waiting for my touch
We’ve had no trouble so far
And like each other very much.

Now when a seagull
Flaps his wings to settle on the sea
I can catch his image in my lens
and keep him part of me.

Lift Me Up....

Lift me up, so I can see
That cave up there
Beside the tree
The one with the stone rolled aside
Let me look, see what’s inside.

Mary says he’s no longer there
but how can that be?
I saw him crucified
I heard him cry out upon the cross
Saw his bloodied hands and side,
I felt the thunder and saw the flash
The moment that he died.

I watched them take him down
and wrap him in a cloth of white
I saw them lay him in the tomb
Just before the fall of night.

Life is cruel,
We are filled with despair
Lost is our hope
We have no strength for prayer.

So lift me up, I need to see
That an empty tomb is no place for me.
I can cast off my worries,
And walk in the “Son”
Knowing the battle is already won.