Christmas 2009 has come to pass. Meadville has been fortunate this year. Snow coming late and very little, not to many days below freezing. Christmas day we had the start of a warm spell with a rain that melted most of the snow on the ground around the town. A few customer have made the comment that this year it was a strange Christmas . It was a subdued spirit this year. The question is ...why?.

Angel Tears

.....

Christmas day

Hope is born

.....

Winter dreams beneath

White comforter

Play their stories

.....

Angel tears from

Heaven high

Brought to earth

.....

One by one

They grab a thread

....

Blanket

Is taken from the bed

.....

Dreans lay bare

The promise is life

......

Sleep in peace

Beneath Angel tears

....

ccd 2009

Five days until Christmas. shopping is not done. The things I would truly love to give can not be purchased. Friends and acquaintances, both, this year have had personal losses. I would not give them freedom from the pain of a loss. I would only wish to lessen it , to fill the empty spot This time of year is in celebration of a birth. In truth we could call it the two thousand tenth rebirth of love. We can not feel the touch of those that have passed We can not hear their voice.. In feeling the absence of the touch or the sound we acknowledge their presence. They lived, we live. They gave us love, we love. A rebirth, a new year , new beginnings. ......

The Rocking Chair

....

In the corner in silence

a rocking chair sits

Seating only of times

gone by

Memories carrying words

of wisdom

Comfort, laughter ,and tears

.....

I turn my head to speak

I pause

Choking back the emptiness.

The warm heart, silver hair

Knitting in hand

Sits there no more

.......

Chess board set

no move is made

Line and hook

on rods are strung.

No fish to share.

.......

I remember

....

ccd

Mom , Dad

Merry Christmas

Winter weather has finally arrived. Cold into the single digits. Christmas just weeks away and I have done no shopping. Leave it to a man to wait until the last minute.. Many feel as I, Christmas is to commercialized now. I too long ago fell into the trap of material things being given as gifts. With age came the truth. This time of year the days grow shorter, in a week the Winter's solstice. The days will again grow longer. A new Year begins, Light grows stronger. In the celebration of Christs' birth we celebrate a new beginning every year. New chances, new discoveries. New life. This week, in two that I know I have seen the sadness of losses. If I could, I would take that from them. All I can do is offer them a poem

........

Rose

....

I saw a petal upon the ground

Ruby stained red

....

Satin soft dreams

Feather light kisses

....

From ones heart

A name, a memory

....

In a single moment

No flower is stronger

....

But a single petal lays low

The strength of sorrows

.......

A fragrance that carries promises

Softens heavy memories

.......

ccd

..

It was a good week then Friday got here. I have learned another lesson. the second was in '98 ....there is a price to pay if you get what you ask for and it is not meant to be. The price I paid to get out of debt rising was a broken knee in a auto accident. The first was do not put time limits in my life. The price for having to loving Daughters in my life..... I asked for a woman to love me if only for 15 years. It was a good marriage that long. I did not pay attention to the first lesson.. ...I knew this bill was coming due it was a 3 year request to get one through school. This weekend I asked what now ? Which way shall I travel? How will this work out? The answers ,believe it or not came from the 2 fortune cookies I ate this morning. While the solution is there for me to find it will not be handed to me. Fortune # 1 You can make the best of a bad situation... they make diamonds from coal. Fortune #2 Everything is impossible until somebody does it. I may not attend any church but my faith is strong. I know what I know and I know enough to understand I know nothing of theology of man except there is a God. I need not know more.

Between My Hands

........

In, tear salted, rivers

My story flows by

.......

In salted rivers my soul is cleansed

.........

I look upon my up-turned hands

The strength of my father is

in my right

.........

The love of my mother

is in my left

.........

Between the two

There my heart stands

.........

I look upon my up-turned hands

The unspoken love of my father

in my right

The unspoken strength of my mother

in my left

........

Between the two

There my heart stands

........

Now at my side

Linked heart to heart

My blessed daughters stand

.......

My feet, on Mother Earth are planted

In Father Sky I hold my head

For love of two

Here my heart stands

.....

ccd