Table of Contents
Your touch brushes my cheek
At the sight of fresh mown grass.
I see your smile dancing in puffs of clouds
As they disappear into the blue sky.
The musky scent of you hangs
Over the almond blossoms.
Winter season and your absence
Had become so monotonous,
Everyday, together, they had faded away
Like the feel of an old winter coat.
I had worn the loss of you
Without so much as a thought.
Sometimes hints would try to remind me,
But I could easily set you aside,
For the light was dim and days were short.
But today was the first day of spring.
Time was all anew, and you were everywhere,
And still, you were gone.
The one time I tried to wash myself of you
Was the time you saturated my soul
Pushing you away
Made you draw nearer
I've hid behind my mother's skirt
And I've ridden on my daddy's shoulders
But I've never been surrounded
By such a safeness
You are my comfort
And my smoothness
Once, I told you I lost my heart
And when you asked where it was
I looked at your hands
He's short in black and white (just like me today)
He does the "Granny" and makesSmiles come and go with good and bad
a few, but not many.
shots taken every few times justRicky's a true guy. You can tell when a pretty gal
to warm up.
passes by and he wants to say, "Hi!",
but can't.
which is something to say since
others have to live "Come What May."
Angels don't fix us,
don't repair the broken bottle
or replace the broken part.
Nor do they, unlike the physician,
realign the musculature.
They just show up one fine day
and we know them deeper than
ever before we knew anyone.
Their healing touch finishes us somehow,
is perhaps the reason we became ill:
we needed the illness to find the angel.
We are drawn to them.
Crowd ahead to sit beside them in planes,
trains, busses, on committees, in school rooms
and instantaneously we feel the finer for it,
healthier, wiser, wealthier by far.
In the presence of angels,
we glow and vibrate
in response to their presence,
as a holiness sits there beside us.
And, to self and other,
we somehow become clearer,
more distinct and surely ourselves.
That's how we know they are angels:
because we love them so -- nonpossessively.
Yet we feel their departure deeply,
release the long held back tear
left crying at their loss.
Yes it's strange and it's frightening
How the world teeters on the brink of disaster
Whether nuclear winter, global warming, or a new plague
Why when so much is known and so many remedies exist
Do we persist in ignoring the obvious signs
There before us are facts and new possibilities
Yet we take the same old road to ultimate annihilation
Why are we such cowards, such plodding charlatans
Why do we go the way of the blind and the ignorant
Why I keep asking do we persist in being persistent
Believing that technology will save us
Computers and genetic engineering our saviors
Oh why do we persist in this nonsense
The US has 10,000 nuclear warheads and Russia likely the same
Yet we persist in wanting more
As if AIDS and HIV wasn't already enough we continue to ignore the signs
And the needles get shared and generations die
Does it take a whole continent of children to die before we say
Why why why are we so persistently stupid
Why do we not deal with the issues that threaten our very survival
Why are we hell bent on destroying our kind
O what will it take for us to use our heads
And follow the destinies that benefit mankind
Leaving hate and suspicion behind, going free
Oh why do we persist in believing persistence will save us
When the answers are written in our hearts
Oh why
Letter to the Editor: Cherie Staples (skyearth1@aol.com).