Mother's Prayer

I lie here on my side

pouring over my day’s work in my mind,

you already sleeping next to me.

My thoughts flow out in cadence with your breath,

Taking inspiration in your depths,

there is confidence in rest.

I think about our children grown,

and pray they always do what is right.

I pray their lives will be good, and filled with

all good things as mothers always do.

These homely thoughts give comfort

lying in this bed so late at night

before sleep comes.

Memory of a Summer Romance

A million years from now

A wave is crashing on the shore

The beach ten billion shells

Crushed to form the pearly sands

The scent of sea air

Pure and washed in salty spray

Infused with lover’s kisses

Thousands stood in just the way

We did

eternal ocean, shore, and sky

ephemeral

you and I

My Birds!

I watch the size, markings, eyes,
I listen for their calls.
Whistles, chirps, trills, and warbles,
an alert expression says it all.
Fly from the feeder!
Or chase that raiding hawk
away from nested baby birds!
Flitting, fluttering, musical kites,
fly across an open field
between the house and lake.
Noisy devils at 6:30 a.m.,
so early awake!
Little birds peck at knots
in the maple tree,
knots darkened by rain and rot.
Woodpeckers have pierced a tribal scroll
around the pear tree’s trunk.
They peck and peck ,
at insects a la carte.
Bluebirds watch the ground below feeders,
searching for ants and other bugs.
Bobbing flight across the meadow,
they swoop to snare their prize,
guided by a dab of brain so agile
and ingrained with powers
greater than their size.
The winds of storms blow hard
and strong around the corner my house,
I wonder where the birds go then…..
when thunder rumbles
and lightening streaks the sky!
Leaves and branches stripped from trees,
and silence falls on the meadow dim…..
At 6:30 in the morning
the birds are at it once again!
Blessed with strength, and resilience
Beyond proportion to their size,
birds are miracles
to these eyes!

Habits

It seems, according to the latest research
our brains are easily programmed
to become addicted to almost anything
it just depends on how it's presented!
Well duh? I always heard
presentation is everything!
But seriously - and this is the truth,
the expectation of a reward
to the brain, is its own proof!
Just tell your brain
this is going to be good
before you start your task
this starts the dopamine rush -
like giving it the gas!
And how to overcome a bad habit -
willpower must be used!
It is much harder to undo than to do.
And if you are an addict
no amount of cutting back will do.
Abstinence is the only choice,
and if you slip,
just start over again.
Abstinence helps restore your brain.
Sure this is an over
simplification of
a complex set of bodily functions.
But it explains why it is so easy to
get hooked and so hard
to break this hold. The brain
is easier to train than to un train.
We'll need luck and perseverence, friend!

Midnight Rain

Waking up to the sound of hard rain
striking the patio outside the open window,
I lie there, coming to the realization
of what the sounds are.
Keening wind at the corner of the house
brings a clutch of alarm to my chest.
Walking as quickly as my drowsy state allows
I cross the room and flood the patio with light,
to see a curtain of flickering gray
with diamond-like flashes.
This is a good rain and just what we need
are my twin thoughts as I shuffle back to bed.
This time I dream of green roadsides
and rushing mountain streams.
Water dreams.

Smothered

We enter the home

subdued and smothered as the woman there

subdued and colorless

oatmeal beige everywhere

dry wood furniture covered in dust

two people sitting in a big dim room

a man and the woman we've come to see

she

pale, withdrawn

trying to disappear

she

barely dressed

in a thin nightgown

thin

with graying hair

our interview conducted

with the florid husband

looking on

sucking the air

right out of the room

steering the conversation

his voice loud,

strong

stridently he denies any abuse

the abuse he says she

accused him of

maybe the big lunk is innocent

but his overt actions say otherwise

his prominent occupation of the space

does not allow us to speak in peace

underscores his controlling ways

next time we'll go later in the day

hopefully she will be clothed

we'll take her out in an open place

out of the dusty coffin home

out in the clear, open air

we'll see if she can breathe on her own

next time

Discounted

Magazines show clothes

no one I know can afford.

Four hundred dollars for those boots,

not even on sale day

could I acquire,

when four hundred dollars may

be all that's earned

in two weeks time

at that part- time

job I work.

I'll have to wait ‘til that

boutique goes belly up

and those chic boots

surface in some other place,

consigned to a thrift shop

or a flea market,

where they'll seem a little

less proud somehow.

So what if I must wait!

Ten cents on the dollar

is how we’re living

now.