Poem for Trina written in 1974 when times were difficult at home. My heart in this current season of my life (45 years later) is one of love and forgiveness. Trina and I share a bond as if we were life long best friends. I love you with all my soul and heart, Trina.

A Poem for Trina, circa 1974

Our not writing has nothing to do with lost love and forgetfulness,

It is because since you leaving us has left us to ponder those reasons,

We’ve scanned ever beach in which you used to run and dance;

Seeking those messages that you have hidden.

We have climbed those mountains and hills, the ones you have climbed in your spoken dreams with the anticipation of a poet in the endless search for a poem that will be both light and day as night and dark. Bittersweet.

To properly decipher your words and thoughts is hard.

We can only interpret them as we get them.

We can’t pass through the tangled webs you have spun between us.

We can only tale an occasion to call through and wait patiently for a reply.

Yes, times are bad, but we are trying to piece together that elusive puzzle to harmony between us.

At times, we do get tangled in each other’s webs, but we can be awarded for the struggle to happiness..

We won’t quit living now that you are away; we have to do our best with what we have, and only pray for things we don’t have.

And yes, we do have hope for your new life away from us, and we do have faith in you too.

We are happy to hear of your happiness and success.

In the future we hope that as adults we could be friends that are able to laugh and cry together about the life we did have as children.

Be thankful that we have you in our most pleasant memories.

We are always around to help bridge that gap that we all made.

As you know, some are glad to be rid of their relatives when frustrations that are long hidden come into the light.

Maybe those frustrations that come to light in the future could bring us together as adults when we can help each other through those mazes in life.

Will we grow to admire each other, or will we constantly antagonize each other?

Will our reunions be ones of pleasure or obligations?

Sometimes, even most of the times we think of those gifts you have given our lives that made times more tolerable even brighter.

I often think of those times we bond like friends and not like sister, and the times we built bridges instead of walls.

Will your poetry be filled with lush flowery country, covered in fall leaves or snow covered mountains mirrored in clear, clear icy lakes filled with shining hopes and dreams?

Will the children be dancing? Or will there be mourning?

Our letters are sometimes joyous and sometimes angry, sometimes filled with merriments that we had in our separate lives.

Your homecomings carry the same emotions as a college girl just coming home for a visit.

Sometimes you flower us with your joys, your triumphs,  but there are those visits that you shower us with your anger, anxieties, and sometimes hostility.

The reason for this poem is to bring out those things we normally can not talk about unless we all want to wage each of our individual wars with each other.

We understand that sometimes when you read our letters and on you occasional visits home we all feel like strangers.

Yes, things have changed, like the changing of the tides, our separate lives too, have changed and continue to be works in progress along this season of our lives.

You may not have recognized it, but we too feel like strangers. We have all grown, our potentials and meanings in life have grown too.

Your life, will hopefully go beyond that door to self-assurance and determination to the spring seasons of our lives with forgiveness and peace in our hearts as a beacon guiding our way.

We hope that your life has grown to the wise and curious of a poet and the creative naturalist and artist that you are becoming.

You, like us can’t hide our wounds of our past pain, and cover those scars to our sorrows.

But we can open our doors to our past gaieties .

We cannot be false friends, it is less painful to be good enemies.

We cannot determine each other’s feelings and come out with the right answer like a simple math problem.

But, we can recognize and forgive each other’s issues and problems and lend a helping hand when needed.

If we shouldn’t meet again may we be right in our decisions.

But if we should meet again may it be as friends and not strangers.

Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,
enwrought with golden and silver light,
the blue and the dim and the dark cloths
of night and light ant the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet,
But I being poor, have only my dreams,
I have spread my dreams under your fee,
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
~William Butler Yeats

He asked me for charity

He asked me for charity
God came to my house and asked for charity;
And I fell on my knees and cried,
"Beloved, what may I give?"
"Just love," He said, "Just love."

 ~St Francis of Assisi