Since some things remain

eternal and unchanging,

must we be more flexible?

~

Openness serves us

when dealing with certainties

of whatever kind.

On the darkest nights

do you know where the moon goes

or where the stars are hiding?

~

They’re still shining bright

even on the darkest night,

only hidden from our sight.

Where can we find light

enough to brighten the night

during our darkest hours?

~

Love, recollected

or present, casts light enough

to see us through such darkness.

What can each of us

do to insure hate does not

have the final victory?

~

Final victory

can only be assured when

each of us surrenders hate.

If now’s the winter

of our discontent, how can

we welcome a new springtime?

~

From the compost of

our discontent, new life can

take root, grow, and bloom.

How many right-wing

ideologues does it take

to design a Christmas cup?

~

Ideologies,

are a lot like Christmas Cups:

of dubious origins.

Does the old horse find

the longer blinders are off,

there’s much more out there to see?

~

From one old horse to

an old horse in training –  I’ll

simply say this –  “Wait and see.”

As you leave fifty

behind, my son, what will you

be taking with you?

~

Honorable scars;

tokens of well fought defeats

and banners of victories won.

Does the foreknowledge

that coming grimness will pass,

relieve or deepen the dread?

~

It all depends on

where we put our emphasis –

the coming or the going.

As the season turns

and the days grow cold, what will

keep you snug and warm?

~

Snug in the knowledge

winter’s a fleeting season

warms the cockles of my heart.

Does this universe

thrill and gush in its perverse

slowing when we feel most rushed?

~

Is the universe 

perverse or are we being

given a nudge to reverse?

Is it possible

that our dogs know more than we

about love and loyalty?

~

Have we not molded

them in our twisted image

to serve many purposes?

As another week

Draws to its whimpering close,

Do weekends bring peace or more pain?

~

Ah, my poet friend,

’tis we and we alone who

bring peace or pain to week’s end.

Time and again we’ve

been told love is the answer.

Did we forget the question?

~

Is this just pablum,

or could love be the answer

to more than just one question?

If it’s beyond us

to change the whole wide world,

can we affect any change?

~

Debra Engle says

miracles come when we ask for

our fear-based thoughts to be healed.

With so many folks

stirring the pot, what kind of

brew are they making?

~

With a dash of hate

and just a pinch discord,

somebody’s brewing trouble.

Do those deeper chords

persist even without fish

to dance about their rhythms?

~

Creation’s deep chords

persist whether fish or fowl

or we, hearing music, dance.

If a verse is born

in a troubled mind, without

a willing scribe, does it die?

~

Whether the mind is

troubled or not, an unshared

verse shrivels and dies.

If stormy weather

is as inevitable

as warm sun rising, what then?

~

Life, so full of storms

and sun,  goes on whether we

applaud or groan.