PRECIOUS POETRY: July 2020

Thank you Trees

Today

I breathe

In and out

And I want to thank you

Your green blades that blow in the wind are more than just beauty

Your strong branches are more than a resting place for the birds

Your trunk is more than just the lumber within

Your roots carry life giving water to those leaves of life

I breathe because you grow

For every tree cut down

Let me plant twenty more

I want to help others to breathe easier

So...

Thank you Willows

Thank you Cedar

Thank you Green Spruce

Thank you Blue Spruce

Thank you Lilacs

Thank you Maple

Thank you Saskatoons

Thank you Crabapple

For helping me to help others to breathe easier

Poet's Note: Written July 25, 2020.

I discovered that July 25, 2020 was the day that the world is Youtubing their day for a movie called "Life in a Day" . Ten years ago, a movie was created by Youtubers around the world submitting video clips of their day. Those videos were sifted through and a some were chosen for the movie. I saw the opportunity and thought I would do a video about trees. I wrote a poem and decided to video my trees and submit it. BUT... I watched the 2011 movie and decided that I would just make my own movie of my poem and post it on my Youtube channel and forgo the Ridley Scott version. It's a long story... I won't disgust you with the details.

Someone Else's Mother

You're someone else's mother

Someone else's mom

Someone else is crying today

Cause they lost their first and precious love

My mother hasn't died yet

So I really have no clue

Of the pain that they are feeling

Of what they have to do

They have to bury you, their mother

The woman who gave them life

The woman who wiped all their tears

Who tucked them in at night

I look at your picture and who you are

Is a precious family treasure

I adored you and loved you

And I will remember you with pleasure

But as I cry for you

It is hard for me, not to think of my own Mom

She still breathes and lives and loves me

And one day, I'll be the one

One day the tears they cry

Will be my very own

So how do I reach out today for them

To embrace what I don't want to know

The pain of losing my dad

Will not be the same as losing my mom

When he died, I still had her

When she goes, I'll then have none

You're someone else's mother

Someone else's Mom

I will cry for you today,

And embrace her hard when I am done

Poet's note: Written July 17, 2020

A few years ago, I wrote a poem called Someone Else's Father. This morning, I revised that poem to pour out my current feelings. Last night, my great aunt Verna passed away. I wondered if I had a poem to write for her, but all that came to my thoughts was this.

What grieves me about the timing is that I will not be able to embrace my Aunt Verna's family in their pain. As is with most memorials during Covid times, we can't gather and embrace each other in our sadness and grief. This was always important in my big extended family. I think of my Uncle Don who just lost his little sister. I want to give him a hug... but I can't.

I found a photo of my Aunt Verna and my Mom. How perfect a picture for this post of the two women on my heart and mind today.

EVERYTHING!

Four A M

On the deck

In the twilight

Of the morning

Surrounded

By the gentle rain

Caressed and purified

By each drop

Saying nothing

Feeling EVERYTHING!

In a holy moment

And

You

Intimate

The Earthly

Almost naked

And the

Divine

Almost present

Is this enough?

Is this real?

Is this everything?

YES

This is EVERYTHING!

POET'S NOTE:

Written July 1, 2020... shortly after 4 AM

Yesterday, my mom told me that she prays that I will know I am a "Child of God". And I ask myself. Is that really enough? I spend years in church and bible school and decades of wandering from denomination to denomination, searching for something… and all I need to be is a "Child of God"?

Boy, the anger in me wants to rise up yell…

"WHAT A DAMN WASTE OF TIME!"

This morning… around 4 am, after a short soak in the hot tub… I stood on the deck in my bathing suit, in the rain, in the semi darkness of the hour, only light coming from two distant lamp posts. There I stood, feeling free. Feeling something… NO… as the poem says… Feeling EVERYTHING!!!

Finally not restrained by a world of religious rules and expectations. I don't need to have words. Words are inadequate. Words are limited. Words can no longer contain EVERYTHING!