I Want to Believe

Friends, I am going away for a while. In my absence, I leave you with this poem, the first in my book Peace on the Journey. For, despite unremitting life challenges, I still want to believe ...

Life is a blessing.
Joy reigns as a birthright gift.
Gentleness is mine.

Discord and sorrow
oppressive and enduring
can be overcome.

Love will seek a way
to salve even the deepest
open wounds of loss.

Kicked Out in the Cold

Oh, the safety net
beneath the infirm, the poor,
leaves some in the cold.

When those most in need
find protection deficient,
we all become poor.

Kicked out on the street,
the promise of liberty
falls short of ideal.


"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
- Emma Lazarus

for Diane and Karen Lee

Nature's Portent

Calm breezes pass through.
Leaves drift down from tall branches.
A lazy descent.

This cozy moment
fools one into believing
one can rest at ease.

Heavy rain clouds loom.
Darkness on the horizon
augurs force unleashed?