Good and Tired
in ways we understand
Sometimes adrenalin just plain soars
and we thrill to go for the ride
but other times we glide
Slowly
more slowly
til we want a place to hide
and sleep
No telephone a ringin
no one knocking at the door
Just some time to slip away
lights out
maybe even snore!
Then there’s times
when work is done
the clothes in the washing machine
the hot shower soothing oh so good
and we settle in somewhere
perhaps a book to read
We might even ‘Ahhhhhhhh’, and ‘ahhhhh’ again
as the good tired comes
Life has rhythms
to be sure
of soaring and of gliding
of rising up, and settling down
each one precious to enfold
For it is in the rest
our bodies rise, refreshed
and feeling oh so fine
Something in creation
surges in those cycles
and we are once again
left to ponder
the mysteries of creation.
Lin 08/08
A Long Long Time Ago
in place so far away
I sat ensconced
in a classroom large
and soaked up many thoughts
The professor grande
marked with chalk
almost made it smoke
as ideas unfolded
from his mind
and numbers flew like jets
He had these sayings
meant for life
so we took them down in ink
“Read the problem”
he’d tell us twice
or maybe ‘twas a thousand
“Do it the easy way!”
He’d say with a smile
knowing the miles it would save
One thought stood out
that I captured then
and thought since a million times:
“Systematic and Rational”
the fall back pattern
to look for in any problem.
“What’s that mean?”
the students pondered
including me, myself, and I.
All we got from him, I think,
was that ever puzzling smile.
and I asked him the other day.
“What’s that mean?”
“I dunno!” He answered.
There you have it!
My lifetime spent
pondering something imponderable!
So now I say it,
as a learned man
but when queried as to meaning
I simply smile
and leave the person
to ponder as I’ve done.
A million things surround us
above our best honed minds
we can learn a lot
but still far short
and ever will it be
You see,
I’ve come to know
that this is earth, not heaven
and I’m earth bound
for a little while
left with many questions
Smile….
Lin 08/08
Reflections on Professor Kenneth W. Perry
From a student’s seat
Fourth on Friday
these “Extra Days”
a trick in our calendar minds
This year
Fourth of July
lands on Friday
Saturday looms ‘The Extra Day”
All day Friday
seems like Saturday
Not a weekday lined by work
not a Sunday, lined by church
So, somehow, in our mind,
Saturday is gifted
an extra day!
Friday’s Saturday
but no, not really….
All day Friday
we parade and gather
families BBQ, swimmers flock
then darkness brings the Boom Boom Boys
Thunder rumbles as firecrackers pop
and colors shoot into the sky
for just a few seconds
long plumes of orange (my favorite)
sparkle and fall
and stars explode so bright
Then they’re gone
thousands spent
we watch the smoke clouds slip away
while little ones
nod their heads and snuggle
wrapped in loving arms
Next day, sun arising,
Saturday comes again!
We can do
all those things
waiting for ‘an extra day’
It’s Yours! It’s Mine!
Get some extra winks?
Read that book?
Take a nap? Get the fix it list
Enjoy your day!
It is a gift
(like all the others, really)
Hum the tune
you love to sing –
“This is the day,
this is the day
That the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it!”
Selah, Lin 07/08
The Prairie Floods
seems tucked away
bordered by nice beaches
across the broad expanse of blue
breezes blow and blow
absorbing moisture, by the bucket
As winds are bound to do
they circle round
and move on paths
ordained by some mysterious hand
On their way
the prairie greets them
and there they drop their load
Sometimes welcome
to salve the thirsts
of growing flower and fauna
and sometimes, yes
they get carried away
…the buckets are too many!
The dark clouds roll
the thunder booms and lightning flashes
as rain pounds the waiting soil
raining raining raining
it keeps coming coming coming
until rivers form
and hurry away
overflowing banks and flooding lowlands
the waters cover the earth
The prairie becomes
ten thousand lakes
with water rushing down
lifting soil, moving it too
and making seedlings drown
when nature calls
Not I, the farmer says
he does his best
to tune himself
to all nature has to offer
but sometimes, nature kicks back
and demands her way
the farmer’s bound to watch
helpless, for a time
Grandma offered wisdom
the history of a century
when it’s too wet
she said ‘Be patient”
we’ve always planted corn
and when too dry
she said the same:
“Be patient”
we’ve always harvested here
So, I wait.
I know
His eye is on the sparrow
I know he watches
me
Amazing love
how can it be
that thou my God
should die for me…*
Lin 06/08
*Charles Wesley, “And Can it Be”
Evolution
and reviewed what I knew upon it
Toes that helped me run
racing in the wind
around a cinder track
Toes that helped me jump
far across the sand
Toes that wiggled
at my command
toes are complex things…
I thought about a knee
seniors often do
how they work
what curious design
that they can grow
and do
so many different things
yes, knees are complex things
I thought about the muscles
from toes to wiggling ears
all around my body
the are bound and do their things
yes, muscles are complex things
I though about my bones
how strong they are yet growing
how ‘alive’ they are
in all their places
shaped in so many ways
yes, bones are complex things
bundled and working well
firing messages day and night
as long as life does last
ah, nerves are complex things
Eyes? I’ve studied them
and the many different cells
simply amazing
hooked to my brain
and working very well
The brain? Indeed so complex
computers compare in awe
of how it sifts and sorts and does its things
and yet there’s even more
Somewhere in me
there lives a soul
that lives and breathes with wants and wishes
to understand it all
Taken together
I’m a complex being
indeed unlike any other
so much I do not understand
But I know whom
I have believed
and am persuaded
to keep that
which I’ve committed
unto Him, against that day.*
Lin 06/08
*Daniel Whittle, based on 2 Tim 1:12
Fruits and Veggies
preparing the soil
planting the seeds
cultivating the crop
harvesting
…and placing the fruits in boxes
Hands unseen
along the way
some will bear some blisters
some a cut or bruise
But, be assured
someone bled for you
to have that fruit or veggie
They bless our bodies
help us grow
help us be a healthy bunch
Inside, the chemistry works
further in
a soul abides
there some hands have been
long time ago
he walked the earth
like you and me
But he was different
pure, you see
never a spot or blemish
then a crown came to be
thorns, a raucous halo
and lashes
upon his back
via de la rosa
and his hands were marked
nailed to compensate
bled for you and me
And we have life
our chemistry works
as long as we shall be
and evermore