Seasons of green pass in the ocean breezes
Unattached to the palms
Waving hello … and goodbye
All at once though never lonely
Never wanting to cling
A warms sun shares her loving kindness
Beaming as if with pride
Sharing her glow of love
as a radiant dawn opening
painted in amber and orange watercolors
The flowers learn from the sky
They mimic the light
Creating their feast for the eyes
Wishing all of you the very best of health, happiness, and sharing joy with those you love this Mother’s Day. – gfs
Time is all I have to keep
And all now you’ve given up
Faded leaves are washed away
In snow melt seen turning to clay
Rivers run cold as the hills unfold
Letting down in their winter dreams
Maples will fill up-rushing again
For the sweetness of life to become
Was it hard to go with no hand to hold
at the crossroads when waking to dreams
I’ll wonder at this and a thousand things
In the days that are mine still ahead
For today you see I’ve no time to cry
No way to find all the tears
I’ll keep them for you to come when they’re due
In a place and a time left to find
how broken shall we find
ourselves, our spirit, and soul
before we come to understanding
the choice, the sense and reason
before the dreams awakening
unfolding flower scents in love
the color of a spring in bloom
alights around an after-noon
to sit in silence wondering
at the time we came to know
the weight of all our schemes
and things, our destiny revealing
these are days to try the soul
yet what’s uncovered melts
the ice that held the heart
within, without its reasoning
Image: https://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-shishkin/fallen-tree-siverskaya
Spoken for the wake of my beloved sister JoAnn –
In the conclusion of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell tells us it was Nietzsche who said “Live, as though the day were here.” He goes on to say; That every one of us shares the supreme ordeal – carries the cross of the redeemer – not in the bright moments of the tribe’s great victories, but in the silences of his personal despair.
Jo-Ann, today we hear your silence. A voice that speaks in our memories of your trials and your victories, as living proof of all we’ve seen you stand up to. Not only a disease, but your love of family, of life, and your voice for the law, equity and justice. A voice that will long echo your story … A young mother who knew, in her time, education would pay her the best dividend. You worked and attended Law School full time, not just chasing, but grabbing hold of your dreams … all the while knowing, as you often said, for a woman it was: “Another day, another 78 cents.”
You told me not long ago, in the midst all those therapies, that each day you had a choice; Stay in bed, or get up, put your feet on the floor and face the day. Gathered here, are many witnesses that every day you chose Nietzsche’s advice.
By God’s grace, you and I became brother and sister. We grew up in one of the best examples of a dysfunctional baby boomer family, and we remained lifelong friends. I have celebrated your joys, known your darkest fears, shared your remarkable dinner table, and felt your deepest sorrows. There are no regrets where love lives in the heart.
We laughed often, cried together, and yes, we argued a bit … I was blessed. Not with the quiet blessing at a dinner table, but a hard won blessing from all the bits and pieces of a lifetime of love that now lives forever in my soul.
Sis, you have opened my eyes to a truer understanding of our reason for being… To live every day as Spirit meant it to be … Full of breath, of heartbeats, and emotions. Seizing every day with a love for all life has to offer, always remembering that – “The sky would have no rainbow, if the eyes had no tears.”
I love you … and I will truly miss your voice …
Link to Remembrance of JoAnn R Sensale
What gates to hell were thrown open
East of Eden
Where serpents slithered in the grass
and branches of fruit trees
waiting to be picked
or bitten in return
What knowledge is so sacred
we should be forsaken its truth
the memory of longing runs deep
where blood stains the rivers
and essence is draining from life
Take all the laughter
children are playing
adult games and wishing they were
Then finding pretending
was more fun than the living
inside the mortgage of life
Eat of the fruit, drink all the wine
knowledge is not to be kept
Dreams so uncertain
are reasons for living
the days and nights as the stars
would fall to their ending
and beginning again
take a walk in the Garden of Earth
Filling the senses
with mem’ries of dreams
writing rings in the seasons
of life
Photo: Google Images – http://fineartamerica.com
Far away words have passed
below the surface of reason
skipping like a stone
over the frozen surface
of time
What was lost beneath the blue
the shattered crystal water
melting in the sun
rising with the moon
over mountains
Yours was not a memory
of autumn’s falling colors
of salt scent from the harbor
as nightfall settles in
along the bay
Rain reveals the heart
and sunlight warms our days
as sights we’ve come to know
Entering the gardens of our lives
and sacred places
Time does not forget the blooms
seasons rolling will remind
the willing to sustain
intentions spoken in the dream
forever still to be
Photo: Maui Sunset by gfs
Where are the hours
constantly moving from view
to erase all the traces
faded the light
of days forgotten
still haunting the ever
green shadows
dusty days rise
as roads unwind behind
to all the ways
we travel
long journeys
from our home
beneath the sky
what comfort would come
settled by our nakedness
sun on skin
wind and open water
the sands of time
pour through the glass
and touch our longing
these are the words
letters enduring
notes echoed in ages
bird songs and blooms
of flowers faded
in the sun
as memories of love
Photo by gfs
grandfathersky 