Poetry

SLOW DANCE
David L. Weatherford
Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s
erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the
fading night?
You better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his
sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,”Hi”
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get
somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting
there.
When you worry and hurry through
your day,
It is like an unopened gift….
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

JOURNEY OF LIFE
Author Unknown
Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others,
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.

Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life,
for without them, life is meaningless
Do not let your life slip through your fingers
By living in the past nor for the future.

By living your life one day at a time,
You live all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is a fragile thread that binds us to each other.

Do not be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Do not shut out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love;
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly.

In addition, the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Do not dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope;
To be without hope is to be without purpose.

Do not run through life so fast that you forget
not only where you have been, but also where you are going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

AROUND THE CORNER
Charles Hanson Towne
Around the corner I have a friend
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone

And I never see my old friend’s face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell,
And he rang mine..

We were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men..
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.

“Tomorrow” I say “I will call on Jim”
“Just to show that I’m thinking of him.”
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows..

Around the corner! .. yet miles away,
“Here’s a telegram sir-”
“Jim died today.”
And that’s what we get and deserve in the end..

Around the corner, a vanished friend…

YOU NEVER KNOW
Author unknown
You never know when someone
May catch a dream from you.
You never know when a little word,
Or something you may do
May open up a window
Of the mind that seeks the light
The way you live may not matter at all…
But you never know - it might.

And just in case it could be
That another’s life through you.
Might possibly change for the better
With a broader brighter view.
It seems it might be worth a try
At pointing the way to the right.
Of course, it may not matter at all,
But then again it might.

THE ARMFUL
Robert Frost
For every parcel I stoop down to seize
I lose some other off my arms and knees,
And the whole pile is slipping, bottles, buns,
Extremes too hard to comprehend at. once
Yet nothing I should care to leave behind.
With all I have to hold with hand and mind
And heart, if need be, I will do my best.
To keep their building balanced at my breast.
I crouch down to prevent them as they fall;
Then sit down in the middle of them all.
I had to drop the armful in the road
And try to stack them in a better load.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

LIFE?
Michael Bonham
Life, what is life? This question has, by so many and oft, been given an answer, so why do I ask? I ask because no matter how much I read it still goes unanswered what life really is. I read and I think and I listen and hear, but when life comes in question I find myself somewhat unsure. I feel confused as to my purpose here – what am I to do? Is it supposed to be hard to define and describe? Or is it simple and sweet as we fret too much with our minds? Is it the weeks made of days, the years made of months which are made up of those weeks filled with the days and their hours we occupy and call ours? Or is it the choices we make within those sweet hours not measured by tools and devices and things, rather being eternal – too great for a measure? Is it possibly both the time and the deeds? Than is he not robbed who died long before his life was lived? And what of the life that goes on after this? Is it the same kind of thing? Will our questions apply? Perhaps this life’s not defined till the moment we die, our choice always changing and moving our course. Perhaps unto each is his own life defined. Will he make it of time – a measurable thing? Or will his life be made of a substance of which man cannot know? Can’t we sense this of life that it goes beyond who we are? It’s greater than us, all we’ve done and can do. There is something to life that’s immeasurable and great, and perhaps looking back we’ll see what it was, but till then when we may know the mysteries of life, I can give this advice and stand firm with it too, determine in life – right now resolute – that regret will never be a product of a thing that you do. Don’t carelessly live in a dark cloud of your works blinding your judgment of next where to step, but carefully live with care just enough so the works of your actions won’t make happiness tough.

I’M TRAPPED
Michael Bonham
IM TRAPPED, MY SOUL, ITS HERE INSIDE,
IT’S LIVED THROUGH EONS, AND HATES TO HIDE,
MY EXTRINSIC SEMBLANCE IS JUDGED BY ALL,
THE WORLD LOOKS ON AGE, AND BRINGS ITS FALL,
MY SOUL HAS TAKEN HOLD OF ME,
AND TIMELESS EXPERIENCE IS WITH WHAT I SEE,
THESE EYES HAVE SEEN ENOUGH TO KNOW,
THAT WHEN YOUR MIND IS RUN BY YOUR SOUL,
THERE IS ANCIENT WISDOM IN THE WORDS YOU SPEAK, AND TIMELESS TRUTHS THAT OTHERS SEEK,
MY SOUL OF HEAVENLY WONDER IS ALWAYS MY GUIDE,
YET ALL THE WORLD WILL ONLY SEE IS THE OUTSIDE,
MY BRAIN HAS POWER ENOUGH TO CHANGE THE WORLD,
ARE WE ALL ONLY TWO DIMENSIONAL PEOPLE,
IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORLD?
IS LIFE SO HECTIC THAT WE CAN’T EVEN STEP BACK AND LISTEN?
OPEN OUR MINDS, BE FREE, AND SEE WHAT IS IN FRONT OF US?
THIS WORLD WILL NOT DAUNT ME,
FROM ALL ITS PRETENSES I CAN BE FREE,
THEY WILL HAVE NO POWER OVER THE WAY I FEEL,
MY LAST HUMAN FREEDOM THEY CAN NOT STEAL,
THE FREEDOM TO BE,
NO MATTER WHAT I SEE – HAPPY,
WHETHER INSIDE OR OUT,
INTERIOR OR EXTERIOR THEY INFLUENCE EACH OTHER NO DOUBT.

LOVE TO YOU
Michael Bonham
I love you.
I’ll teach you lessons until you get them right.
I’ll find a way for you to win the fight.
I’ll believe in you beyond all measure.
Every single effort you make brings me pleasure.
I see in you the person you could be
Because that’s who you really are to me,
And although I know what’s in your past,
Your potential now is immensely vast,
So just know that I love you,
And I’ll always be here too
Because a friend is needed in any strife,
And we all need help in bearing through life.
Every struggle we together endure
Strengthens our hearts with love so pure.
Whenever in doubt from the shadows your falls cast,
And you believe you have lost the desires of your past,
I will show to you what around and in you I can see,
And bring to light the fears that really should not be.
When you may ever fail to reach your aim,
I will bridge the gap of the end and where you came.
I’ll be an answer to your prayers and tool in God’s hand,
And be your saving hero wherever you shall stand.
So just know that I love you,
And I’ll always be here too
Because a friend is needed in any strife,
And we all need help in bearing through life.
Every struggle we together endure
Strengthens our hearts with love so pure.
I love you.

THE OMNIPOTENT HAND
Michael Bonham
It testifies of itself, in sweet simplicity, the power of the omnipotent hand.
Although thousands upon thousands have tried to transcend Him and His works,
They are, in comparison, as but the significance of a grain of sand.
Throughout all the attempts of mans designing,
The daffodil still blooms, and the birds chirp with glee.
The daisies still grow, and the sun is still shining.
If it were that all man should join against the omnipotent hand,
His power would still prevail, His glory in tact,
And all of nature would still supply its beauty throughout all the land.

AWAKE AND ARISE OH AMERICA!
Blayne Sukut
Oh America, I lament over thee,
for thou has embraced evil –
from the crime in the streets
to the cry of the unborn,
from the common laborer
to the highest echelons of government.
Why hast thou gone astray,
why has thou abandoned
the holy cause of freedom?
From the dawn of freedom
when are forefathers lit the torch of freedom
and shed their blood
and gave their lives
that we might stand long and tall,
it has been our duty
to keep the torch burning bright.
If the price of freedom
is eternal vigilance
then we are far past due
and owe interest on the debt.
May the Lord God of Host
have mercy on us,
may he forgive us,
may he again bless us,
may he help us.
Awake and arise, oh America.
Repent ye, repent ye,
and shake off the dust
of thy reproach.
Break the chains that shackle thee.
Put on the beautiful garments of thy heritage,
even the heritage of Liberty;
and the God of host shall
smile on thee again;
and the flames of freedom
shall fan again on thee.
Can ye think
to sit back in your ease
while the light of Liberty
grows ever dim?
Can you in the government
sit on your thrones
and think
that you can oppress the hireling
and make merry
while you live off the fruit
of an other’s labor?
Shall the Lord God of host sit back
and let you who claim
to be leaders of the people
extinguish the flames of Liberty?
Nay; but he will raise up
a mighty people,
a remnant, willing to die
for the cause of Liberty;
and he will smite you
except you repent.
I beseech you.
Repent and stand up
for Freedom and Liberty
and Honor and integrity,
or resign your posts
for you are not worthy to stand
as leaders of this great nation
except you repent.
Oh for a Patrick Henry.
Oh for a George Washington!
I invoke the Name of the God of heaven upon us
that he may pour out the spirit
of our forefathers upon us
even the Spirit of freedom and Liberty.
May the Patrick Henry’s
and George Washington’s among us
awake and arise
and step forward to their callings,
for the God of host hath called them
to the cause of Liberty,
for it is a holy and just cause.
We must step forward now.
Shall we grow stronger if we wait?
Have our cries been heard?
Have our petitions been granted?
Have our decrees been followed?
No.
They have been mired in the courts,
mocked and ridiculed in the medias,
and violently prevented
by those who have sworn to protect our liberty.
Will the time be better
if we let the encroachments continue?
Shall we wait
until there is a BATF agent stationed in every house,
or until we are completely disarmed?
Can we sit back in our ease
and expect that all will right itself?
Nay we must fight.
As Patrick Henry of old said
on the dawn of our freedom:
We must fight,
we must fight!!
We shall do it
PEACEFULLY IF WE CAN,
BUT BY FORCE IF WE MUST!!
Can any among us say
that we are returning to the paths
of freedom and Liberty?
Our chains are already forged.
Is Life so sweet
that we will accept it
in chains and slavery?
Then let us pledge ourselves
to the holy cause of Freedom and Liberty;
and that we shall never rest
until it is accomplished.
And if we must die in the cause,
then all is well;
and we shall go to our rests.
I call upon all good Americans
who believe in freedom
and love Liberty;
yet know its bounds –
who believe in honor
and virtue
and integrity.
We must do more than we ever have.
We must go forward in this just and holy cause.
We cannot sit back any longer;
for those who are not willing
to pledge their sacred honor
and sacrifice their all,
are not worthy
and shall not have their liberty.
Let us fight the good fight.
Let us go forward for our God,
for our Wives,
and for our Children
and our Country,
and for our Children’s future.
To those who know not the God of Host
I say to you:
if you believe in Freedom and Liberty
but know its bounds,
and believe in honor and virtue and integrity,
and know good from evil;
come and be one with us,
and we will protect your rights
if you will protect ours.
Let us not quibble over our differences.
Let us not dispute over our God;
for he is the God of us all.
Let us unite under him
who presides over the nations.
Let all who will come
enlist in the cause of preserving
and restoring our Liberty.
Let us honor
the sacred trust
of our forefathers.
Let us stand boldly
for the pursuit of life,
liberty,
and happiness.
Let us protect the weak
and the helpless
and the widows
and the unborn.
Let us turn from our ways
and cleans this nation
from the liars and the hypocrites,
and the murders and the whore mongers;
the thieves and the robbers.
Let us repent
and put down the hammer
that has forged our chains;
for every one walketh in his own way.
The adversary to all truth
has divided us
and enslaved us
and is ready to seal us his.
Oh God,
let us unite under thy banner once more,
even the banner of truth.
Arise oh America
and shake off the chains
that bind thee.
Take up the cause of freedom once more.
May we go
in the strength of the Lord of Host,
is the prayer of my soul.
Amen

TO MICHAEL
Judy Roundy
A more patriotic son in all the land you cannot find.
For Michael loves the Constitution, freedom, laws that bind.
He knows that the Founding Fathers were selected by our God
And the Promised Land is set apart to be what all can laud.
A testimony of the only true Gospel is his
Which he builds upon and testifies of, learning, sharing, ’tis
The soul of one who’s on the path to fight the battle string,
To keep the faith, hold to the rod, choose right and not wrong.
Michael’s loyal, true and loving in a deep and careful way
To mother, father, sisters, brothers. From them he’ll never stray.
For Michael knows the better part - eternal family.
And to that end lives like he does - and so that is the key.
To the kind of young man he’s become and striving more to be.
For all of us can look at Michael, with the Spirit see
That God loves and guides him, seeks his best and smiles down tenderly.
His future’s bright, his mind is strong, a leader he will be.
We, too, feel blessed to know you, and we’ll miss your handsome smile.
Please come back soon. Don’t wait too long. Come visit oft a while.

IN HIS STEPS
Unknown
“The road is rough,” I said.
“Dear Lord, there are stones that hurt me so,”
And He said, “Dear child, I understand,
I walked it long ago.”
“But there is a cool green path,” I said,
“Let me walk there for a time.”
“No child,” He gently answered me,
“The green road does not climb.”
“My burden,” I said, “is far too great,
How can I bear it so?”
“My child,” said He, “I remember its weight
I carried my cross, you know.”
“But,” I said, “I wish there were friends with me,
Who would make my way their own.”
“Ah, yes,” said He, “Gethsemane
Was hard to face alone.”
And so I climbed the stony path,
Content at last to know–
That where my master had not gone,
I would not need to go.
And strangely then I found new friends
The burden grew less sore,
And as I remembered–long ago,
He went that way before.

TWO BY TWO
Michael Bonham
Two by two is how we go,
Except those ones who are all alone,
And to those ones who hold their own,
Who think the world is cold as stone,
By Jesus Christ are your feelings known.
Our loving Father, God, indeed,
Knows every thought and want and need,
He worries about our smallest hair
And makes our life His greatest care.
He’s our Father, God, a perfect one
And wants what’s best for me, His son.

WORTH MORE THAN LIFE
Micheal Bonham
They fought, they bled, they suffered and died,
So many voices from the dust have screamed and cried,
They have begged us not to make their same mistakes,
To preserve our freedom whatever it takes.
It’s a shame how much we ignore their plea,
How little we can honestly say “we’re free!”
Oh how I pray, as I feel my heart break,
That those who love freedom would quickly awake.
To those who know freedom’s the essence of life,
Get in the struggle, the right side of the strife
And give it your everything, all that you’ve got,
So when it’s all said and done you’ll have in heaven a spot.