Rhyme and Reason

Behind the Wire

2009-02-25T00:57:00.000-08:00

Behind the wire beauty lies

I see children at play skipping rope

Their mother looks down from the window above

Her heart filled with love and hope

The garden is green, full of flowers,

The birds frequent there every day,

The neighbourhood is bustling and the sun shines upon,

The children, innocent, at play

The building is painted bright colours,

Bright murals adorn the stone wall

Painted with love by those who live there,

The children had painted them all

Music is heard through the open window,

Followed by the mother in song,

The children who know every word,

Begin to sing along

On the surface the song sounds uplifting,

On the surface the words appear glad,

But if you listen closely you will notice,

That the message conveyed's in fact sad

I no longer can see children playing,

Hear singing, or see walls coloured bright,

Instead I can only hear a mother's praying,

For her children who died in the fight

The garden is taken over by weed and rubble,

And through the wire graffiti is splayed

As cold as the cold stone walls

Where once, happiness was displayed

But amidst the trail of destruction,

Behind the wire three red poppies stand tall,

Restoring hope to a new generation,

And love, within its walls

This poem was inspired by a photo taken by a very talented friend of mine, Robyn Carter

For Nia Glassie

2009-02-25T00:41:00.000-08:00

I did not know you, but I love you
I could not hold you, shield you from pain
I know that God can now protect you
And that you did not die in vain

Those who hurt you, can no longer
No more shall you be at harm
Those who love shall not forget you
Safe within the good Lord’s arms

Baby girl you’re now an angel
And you now have wings to fly
Spread them, peace is waiting for you
In the heavens of the skies

The Marksman

2008-04-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Eyes darken, narrow, intense
Muscles quiver, stance rigid and tense
Slowly, quietly he moves in
And approaches the unsuspecting

Heartbeat quickens, breathing shallow
Choreographed movement as momentum builds
The marksman focuses on his prey
As he approaches the unsuspecting

Swiftly, boldly, all enduring
With one foul swoop the deed is done
The hunted lies at the feet of the marksman
As in this here battle, the marksman won

THANKSGIVING

2008-03-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

Many people go through life wishing
Always wanting more than they possess
When we see how others are forced to live,
Why is it so few people feel blessed?

You do not live in a war zone,
With fighting and killing close-by
Afraid that this day might just be your last
That this is the day that you’ll die

You do not live in a barren land
Complaining of hunger and thirst
The rain, storms, heat and the sunshine
You are sheltered from the elements worst

You have friends and family who love you
A loving husband and son at your side
So many out there have no-one
As all their friends and their loved ones have died

So don’t waste your life wishing and wanting
Or you’ll miss out on what you possess
A life so many only dream of
So many, unlike you, who aren’t blessed.

Love

2008-03-01T01:11:00.000-08:00

To Zac...

I love the way you smile with your eyes
I love the sound of your laughter
I love to hold you as you sleep in my arms
And to watch the expression of wonder
Upon your face

I love to watch you experience new things
I love to tuck you down to sleep
I love to see the sheer joy
brought by the simple things
Upon your face

I love to love you and call you my son
I love that you are loved by everyone
I love to see the joy you bring to others
Brought to others through the smile
Upon your face

I love you Zac, that always know
I love you, Daddy loves you so,
We all love you, and as you grow,
Please always keep that smile
Upon your face

... Love Mummy

Weather

2008-02-23T03:40:00.000-08:00

I don't know whether I can weather this weather
Or whether this weather will last
Or whether this weather will keep getting better
Or whether this weather will pass

But come rain, hail, or shine I'll have a good time
Whatever the weather will do
Because whether the weather gets worse or gets better
I will weather the weather with you

Dreams

2008-02-23T03:36:00.001-08:00

In my dreams I am a dancer
And I dance with style and grace
In my dreams I am a runner
And I win the longest race

In my dreams I am a skier
And I ski the steepest slope
In my dreams I am a climber
And my lifeline is a rope

But when morning comes and I'm awake
I see this cannot be
As what I dream and who I am
Are very different things

The dancer has no music
The runner has no track
The skier has no mountain
And the climber's rope no slack

So instead I play the music
And instead I walk the track
Each day I climb a mountain
And dare not to look back

For when I hear the music
So beatuiful, I see
That I am doing all this and more
Not only in my dreams

The Sound of Silence

2008-02-23T03:29:00.001-08:00

The sound of silence echoes in her mind
Like a new day beginning to dawn
Like a rainbow of colours to a blind eye
And the crisp air of a winter's morn

The silence so still, yet so piercing
Awakens her from a deep sleep
Thoughts form, in her mind many pictures
Some to discard, and many to keep

The sound of silence echoes in her mind
Like the stars shining in the night sky
Like a droplet of water in an ocean deep
And a new babe beginning to cry

She embraces, and treasues the silence
That encourages and helps her to hear
The very words that she had been avoiding
The very thoughts she had started to fear

The sound of silence is broken
As from within is drawn a deep sigh
As she pours out her thoughts kept so long within
To the angel who sits at her side

The angel, he listens intently
To her outpouring of anxiety and grief
Thoughts swollen inside, she'd so desperately hide
Now voiced, have given relief

The sound of silence that once echoed in her mind
Has given way to the pictures in dreams
She'll paint every night, on her canvas, - her life
What the angel, he taught her to see

The sound of music now echoes in her mind
Like a new day beginning to dawn
Like a rainbow of colours to a blind eye
And the crisp air of a winter's morn

To Nana

2008-02-23T03:24:00.000-08:00

When I see a bird fly in the sky
I think of you so free
Laughter, walking in the park
All the fond memories
I see your smile in photographs
That are so dear to me
I feel your love etched forever
In my memory

Let nothing ever come between us
Neither time nor space
For nothing we have ever shared
Shall ever be replaced
The love we shared no-one else felt
As it was just teh two of us
I know I miss the love we shared
But know it is not lost

For God has taken you home with HIm
And from there you can see
Forever how I love you
And what you mean to me
So look down on me from Heaven
And guide me through each day
And let us share our love once more
When I close my eyes and pray

Old Man

2008-02-23T03:18:00.000-08:00

On cracked grey concrete

The old man sits

Teh lines of his face

Show hardship and pain

Torn shoes adorn his feet

A black plastic bag

Shelters him from the rain

The street is his home

He has no place to go

No family or friends

No-one wants to know

Just how did he get here,

Where is he from?

there has to be someone

Somewhere to belong

The rain eases up

And he's out on the street

His cap now off his head

Is placed at his feet

His eyes cast low

Having just woken from slep

He begs for some money

For something to eat

People walk past

With shopping in hand

Their own eyes downcast

As they approach the man

So many walk past

Look at him, then away

Some people look sad

And throw coins his way

With money in hand

And cap back on his had

He walks into a shop

To purchase some bread

Today is a good day

A whole loaf he can buy

It will last a few days

for now he'll get by

He lifts his gaze

To the skies overhead

Black velvet clouds bring rain

He walks slowly back

To his home on the street

The plastic bag gives him shelter

Again

Storm

2008-02-23T03:15:00.000-08:00

Thunder - like bomb blasts, rains through
The sky - blackened clouds, velvet clouds bring
Rain - pelting from the heavens and blown by the
Wind - blazing gusts chill to the bone

Sheet lightning, fork lightning - like searchlights of
The night - follows the beat of
The drum - rubling thunder, percussive, consistent, brings
The promise - of lightning to come

Life's Web

2008-02-23T03:12:00.000-08:00

The spider's web so intricate
Like the threads of a human life
Break just one thread and the pattern will change
To something new

The spider's web so unique
Like a fingerprint
With each turn
The path of one's life
Is written

The spider's web so delicate
Like the first breath of a baby newborn
The utmost care is needed
For it to grow

The spider's web a work of art
Like a dream realised
Paints a picture
Of the soul

Georgia

2008-02-23T03:07:00.000-08:00

Spinning in circles

Piercing eyes

Innocence of youth

Radiant smile

Uninhibited laughter

I catch you glance

And keep it

Sitting beside me

You hold my hand

We communicate

Through touch

Through Love

I watch you play

Your dolls in a line

So carefully placed

Specifically timed

Each has it's turn

Each has it's place

As do you

Like your name

A flower, a rose

you are so special

A gift from God

You grow

We learn from eachother

As each day shines

A new light

With endless

Possibilities

Insight

2008-02-23T03:04:00.000-08:00

I hear what you see, and I taste every sight
I touch every vision, and I sense every light
For vision is not what is seen with the eye
But rather, a sense carried with you inside

The next time you can't focus, just close both your eyes
And the pictures will come to you clear in your mind
The colours more vibrant in the images you find
As you experience the world through the eyes of the blind

Guardian of the Skies

2008-02-23T03:01:00.000-08:00

The light of the moon
The torch of the night
The stars in their billions
A wondrous sight
Peirce through black velvet
The diamonds shine through
The jewels of the night
Watching over you

Church Bell

2008-02-23T02:59:00.001-08:00

The church bell rings a solemn tone
To all the kinfolk here be known
The Master, He has taken home
An angel

Gather here, ye all to see
In death, hath life restored to thee
With God the soul shall rise to be
An angel

Hope

2008-02-23T02:51:00.000-08:00

Hope is a rainbow after a storm
Hope is a lighthouse guiding you home
Hope is a diamond in the night sky
Hope is an angel learning to fly
Hope is the sun, hope is your heart
Hope is love - a good place to start
Hope is a feeling, hope is for life
Hope is eternal, and hope heals all strife
Hope is your essence, your future, your past
Hope is your first thought and hope is your last
Hope is your mother, your father, your friends
Hope has a beginning and hope has no end
Hope IS

Return to the Lighthouse

2008-02-23T02:27:00.000-08:00

It was as she had remembered
Left unchanged, an image unseen
The lighthouse on the hill
The ocean so still
The source of many a dream

Many decades had passed since her sighting
At the beach on that cold winter's night
But the image she saw would still haunt her
Of the boat being tracked by the light

Looking for answers to questions
She visits the lighthouse once more
Thoughts race through her mind
Of what she might find
As she turns the old latch on the door

An eerie feeling becomes her
As she navigates her way up the stairs
With each step that she climbs
She comes closer to find
The answers she's searched for, for years

But now at the landing there's silence
No chilling whisper she hears
So she enters the room
Where what she sees will consume
The very essence of all of her fears

She notices a shadow before her
A silhouette by the house's bright light
But all around her is calm
As she reaches her arm
To a switch that will turn on a light

Now plain as day before her
The once silhouette is no more
Now a ghost of a man
The bones of a man
Left sitting, on a chair, by the door

The light in the room tells a story
As her eyes dart around at the scene
This man was the lighthouse keeper
And his charges were the lives on the sea

She notices a book by his body
Open, with a scrawled note inside
A note written it seems
The very night that she'd been
At the lighthouse, the night that he'd died

It told that the man once a sailor
Had once witnessed a drowning at sea
Such a terrible sight
He was drawn to the light
Of the lighthouse to watch over the sea

On this night, the night of his passing
The black sea was unusually still
The man saw a boat sail before him
A boat that he'd seen once before

Emotions boiled up inside him
And with tears welling up in his eyes
He sat down in his chair
In the silence, hung his head,
The old man he began to cry

Just then, he heard a voice softly spoken
A whisper, directed at him
The voice was that of his young charge at sea
Who had died having not known how to swim

The boy had come to find him
To take the keeper home
The old man's live was devoted to protecting
Other sailors and guiding them home

So too, this sailor was guided
On a sailboat across the sea that cold night
Guided home to the angels in Heaven
Guided home by the lighthouse's bright light

The sailboat the young girl saw passing
Was the final journey of a man
Who watched over her father
And guided him home
In a storm that had battered the land

It was by chance that, that night she was sitting
Alone on the beach by the sea
And it was by chance that she had seen the sailboat
That was meant for the keeper to see

Though perhaps the message was simple
She was meant to be witness that night
To watch as a man who helped guide sailors home
Was himself guided home to the light

The Lighthouse

2008-02-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

She sits by the sea, the cold black sea,
Under the clear night sky
And gazing to sea, she sees what might be
A sailboat passing by

A flicker of light catches her sight
As it shimmers on the water still
Coming not from the boat on the water afloat
But a lighthouse on a hill

She now shifts her sight to the source of the light
And curious, gets to her feet
She follows the gleam of the powerful beam
Right up to the hilltop retreat

Looking for more she opens the door
And quietly creeps up the stairs
Once at the top she comes to a stop
As a whisper, she suddenly hears

Bowing her head to hear what is said
She is told that it was meant to be
That she was sitting this night and drawn to the light
That was meant for her only to see

The sailboat she saw was neither out there no more
Nor a trace of where it had been
Just the sea lit up far from the billions of stars
Had its presence simply been a dream?

She sits by the sea, the cold black sea
Having returned from the previous night
And gazing to sea what does she see
But the same boat being tracked by the light

She watches it sail until her eyes fail
And camouflaged in darkness it seems
And to this very day she still cannot say
If it was real or all was a dream