Give and Take For Heaven's Sake

How blessed I am to give,
how wonderful you can take.
I'm just glad someone can use
these things for heaven's sake.

It Would Have Been Easy

If I could have only seen
exactly what this year would bring
this would have been easy.
I could have locked myself behind a door
and written every poem beforehand.
It would have been easy.

But this hasn't been easy.
Have you seen how fast time passes?
And so now we have these glasses
but we still don't see twenty-twenty.
No, this hasn't been easy,
A year ago today
I sat just twenty paces away.
So I might not have gone far, but I have plenty.

If I could have known
what I would feel inside each poem
it would have been easy.
It would have felt more like a ride
and less like a black diamond
and it would have been easy.

If I had written every poem this past year
to publish them in the coming one,
I could have spaced them all out perfectly
but they never would have gotten done.
It would be just another idea I had
that never went either well or bad,
but only stale like a passing fad.
But it would have been easy.

And what if I had said "Enough!
Does anyone even read this stuff?"
It would have been easy.
But I had things to write about
just to breathe and get them out
because it wasn't easy.

No, this hasn't been easy.
Have you seen how fast time passes?
And so now we have these glasses
but we still don't see twenty-twenty.
No, this hasn't been easy,
A year ago today
I sat just twenty paces away.
So I might not have gone far, but I've done plenty.

Creative

I tell my husband my ideas; some are smart, some just wild.
He says "Don't quit your day job!" as he smiles at our child,
and "Go for it! You're home, so what are you afraid of?"
I get to be a mom and I get to be a creative.

Good One, Goodell

Pressing

With buckets of apples beginning to stack up,
the need to process them becomes pressing.
Freezing and thawing and mashing and pressing
that is, and then some clean-up-the-messing.

Wow

Your first word was "wow!"
Let's keep that going somehow.

Made It Happen

Thank you for coming and making me stick with it to the end.
Maybe I did it, but without you it wouldn't have happened.
Come anytime, yes, please come again.

Surprise

When you wake up in the morning with a list of things to do,
and a sleepy-headed husband says that there's a gift for you,
and that it's bigger than a breadbox and that it is upstairs,
and you look but cannot find an item waiting anywhere,
but you go outside to check if he forgot it in the car,
and you find a different car where you thought that you had parked…
well then jump up and down and turn around and quick run back inside
and run to the guest room and find your sleeping sister! That's a great surprise!

More Power

Somewhere, someone has a bigger home
and someone has a mattress with more high-tech foam
and someone wears rarer pearls round their neck,
and someone has more servants at their call and beck.
Somewhere, someone has a sweeter ride,
and someone has a safe box with more inside.
But no one can take a hotter shower,
and if they can, well, to them be more power.

Pleasantly Surprised

Pleasantly surprised to find
that you turned out to be someone
that I could agree to disagree with,
and that we could agree to disagree together.
What are the chances that
the tornado of life that came
between childhood and now
would pick us both up and set us both down
in the same different place,
sitting across the table from each other,
sipping coffee and talking on the level.

Creature Comfort

I'm glad to know I'm not my own
and that you're not mine either.
I'm glad my creator keeps us as his.
This comfort's made me a believer.

Get to Work

Let's get to work, 

remembering

we get  to work.

A Luka Luka Bluka

A luka luka bluka leh?
Yes, soon we will go out and play.
Ek koba kuba goba woo?
Yes, and daddy will come too.
Odak odook bolayaglo.
Oh, now that I didn't know.
A deeka deeka beeka nee.
I love it when you talk to me.

Good For Us

Being hungry is good for us.
For us, it means it's time to eat.
For us, it means we might lose something that we don't want anyway.
For us, it means the food will taste that much better.
For others, it means that there is not enough to eat.
Yes, being hungry is good, for us.

Forgiving

Well there's no such thing as free,
free lunch, free love, free living.
There's a cost for everything…
and a God who is forgiving.

Right Now

In the morning sun, when your shadow is long,

I see how you're growing, healthy and strong,

and how you will be so tall someday

and what a joy it will be to watch you play.

And when it is later, almost noon,

your shadow curls up, almost like a cocoon;

I remember when you were a baby just born

and I long to hold you like on your first morn.

And as the day goes, and the sun sets too fast,

I think of the present, the future and past,

and your shadow gets longer, and you're a day older

and a little voice whispers, "Right now– you should hold her."

Honors

Some are good at music,
and some are good at math.
Some people get a sentence,
and some a paragraph.
A name sounds good in honors,
a name sounds good in praise,
and a soul sounds best in sweet, still rest,
with humble hands upraised.

To Say Thank You

To say thank you
is to give up rights;
it means "You were under no obligation
to give me something so nice."
And so, to say thank you
is to open up and trust
that we won't cease to be cared for.
Yes, this is hard, but a must.

Liquid Heart

Your eyes are sparkling
like your mama's diamond ring,
one hand wrapped 'round my finger
and one hand in the air.
A giggle bubbles up
like an overflowing cup.
Smile like a work of art
makes for mama's liquid heart.

Feeling Young

Oh yes, there are days

when I ask, "What have I done?"

and the answer is so little,

but I'm still feeling young.

Oh yes, there are days

when I ask, "What are we doing?"

Like a midlife crisis,

except I'm feeling young.

I'm feeling like I've done enough for my age.

I'm feeling like I'm on the right track for this stage.

I'm feeling strengthened, though I stumble and fall.

Even youths do that, after all. 

Oh yes, there are years

I ask "What was that for?"

And I know that someday

I won't feel young anymore.

But I'm not discouraged.

When it's all said and done,

I've got a long ways to go 

and I'm still feeling young.