Tag Archives: Memory

December 3, 2014 · 5:37 am

WWII – in memorial

Once upon a battlefield
I stood where heroes fell,
where brothers, sons and lovers paused
to hear death’s tolling knell.

Once upon an open sea
I sailed where deep remain
the bodies of courageous men
who, by war were sadly slain.

Once upon the azure blue
I drifted through the crimson cloud
where valiant fighters dealt with death
to die alone in sullen shroud.

I’ve felt the moments summoned.
I’ve seen the grave despair.
I’ve witnessed every breath so gained
and every soul laid bare.

I’ve shed a tear not meant for me,
but for the uncaressed
that ne’er again felt warmth of love
before their final rest.

To their souls my prayer,
my honor and my truth,
that they be blessed eternal,
and blessed in memory’s youth!

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September 3, 2014 · 4:22 am

For Those I’ve Lost

This time in life is granted only excerpts from the greater toll
that beckons in its rhythm, moments for a wanting soul,
to live, to gain, to give through pain,
to know the love of those who love and in it never feel the drain
of moments bound to dust.

For time is short in living, our pleasures mount our memory,
that in the end at final breath we count them all in reverie.

The souls we touch are here for us, each blessing granted in return,
that when we give of what we know we share the things we most must learn.

Some I’ve known have slipped beyond the current’s blood of beating heart,
yet each in turn gave gracefully a blessing sweet, instilled as art
in loving what their time did grant, in knowing kindness true,
in setting place for time again to sit and talk a few.

I know in true reflection that my silence seems quite empty now,
but grief is for the living, yet through it, all I see is how
they touched me with their gentle hands, and smiled form their truest source,
so granted me a piece of God in whispers held along my course.

Yet still the echoes’ silence rings when by their empty home I pass,
and sadness fills the emptiness that I must hold for them, alas…
it is my purpose rent for them, recalling all the times we knew,
recalling conversations long, now seeming much too few.

God grant them peace and blessings, grant the love for them I show,
hold them close in comfort knowing that the best in them is what I know.

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August 19, 2014 · 4:22 am

The Rose, The Table, The Love, The Time

In ageless hesitation,
the pedals of the rose caress
the lines of time held sweet to rhyme
there poised across the oak’s duress,
that hold this ancient table
as art above its form
and echoes sweet the whispered times
when love engaged it, warm.

Now ‘tween the grains are softened waves
whose crests form black and knurled,
midst stains of life and living spilt
across an age unfurled.

Sweet the musky rose entreats
the golden oak with peace,
dripped from fallen “love me nots”
and broken heart’s release.

Silent stands the aged stem
whose vase has dried and browned
to contrast kind the porcelain
in fissures where life’s time has drowned,
and left the finest web enwrapped
about the fading glaze once white,
now aged and thin as are the hands
that nearby hold one pedal tight.

Held quiet in reflection,
dreams of love entwine her thoughts
as lines of time held sweet to rhyme
drape long across this moment sought,
as oak and rose sustain her
and hold her saddened form,
while echoes sweet in whispered words
enrobe and keep her warm.

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February 25, 2014 · 4:02 am

Grandfather Clock

Silence drones the space between
the ticking of the clock,
grants eternal patience
swept in pendulum’s play to mock.

The tension of the winding spring
stands the air to crème,
as hopeful hesitation calms
the pensive chimes to dream.

Built to serve a purpose.
Left to witness life.
Counting every breaking hour
twixt sweeps of joy and strife.

Dusted here in tender care
by shaking grey and lucid hands,
in hopes to hear its chimes once more
and toll this hall’s passing, grand,
for yet another hour.

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February 25, 2014 · 3:33 am

Surrender – an elegy

Surrender to the evening shade
that creeps from blind to blind.
Surrender to the deepest fade
that grants sweet peace in kind.
Surrender with each aching bone
drawn tight through day’s duress.
Surrender to this moment lone,
and to your soul confess –

For deep the shadows filter long
as silence stirs the mist,
where whispers in this aging song
breathe the gift of day’s end kiss.

Release to time eternal
that immortal may your soul become.
Transcend in blossoms vernal
through waves of thought where dreams do run.
Grant the ether heart’s release
from all that’s earthly bound.
Rise to home in sweetest peace
that there in love your soul may drown.

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January 29, 2014 · 5:54 am

Faithfully

My pen stirs slowly ‘cross the page,
searching, longing, reaching,
in hopes to find the worldly sage
to calm the word’s beseeching
this moment’s hopeful pause,
a chance to turn back time,
one fleeting glimpse before the dawn
‘midst crossroads held in rhyme.

Alas the ink bleeds fatter
where stuttered, grasping strokes belie
the struggle toward a good phrase turned
to sing this last goodbye.

~ for Debbie ~

She held us cherished in her heart
as brother, sister, child and friend.
She stoked our inspiration’s fire
and to our effort, kindness lend;
a point of hope’s reflection,
a tender smile in “dear”,
a spark to poet’s self-inflection
to boldly stroke the ink, less fear.

She echoed, full, life’s lessons,
inspired by Abuela’s love.
She carried true her value’s strength
and whispered thoughts from God’s own dove.

Her life steeped rich in courage,
her words and songs on waves still send
her fruits of truth, “I Have a Voice”,
from The Girl With the Pen.

Faithfully, my friend.

J. Blue
28-Jan-2014
In memory of Debbie Avila  – http://girlwiththepen1118.wordpress.com

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January 29, 2014 · 5:52 am

In Loving Memory of Debbie Avila

The girl with the pen – http://girlwiththepen1118.wordpress.com (aka “I Have a Voice“)

It’s hard to believe that Debbie is gone. I know that for so many of us, she was not only our dear friend, but also a constant inspiration and source of continued motivation.

Her writing was always inspired and usually pointed toward helping us rise above, toward asking us to live life in its fullest.

Underneath her eloquence was a very kind humor. I once made a crack to her about a comment she made on one of poems where she likened me to Walt Whitman. I said something along the lines of “yeah, that’d be me, scraggly long haired bearded guy”, to which she replied, “ah, but you are much more handsome”… I will miss her.

Her wordpress page was entitled “Ye Shall Know Me by My Fruits”. I think we can all resoundingly echo that her fruits were many and her gifts true, through which we all came to know her well. And I personally like the subtle small warning of her page that states “Words Make a Difference. Use Wisely”

Her most recent post, 8-Jan-2014, “Squeeze Tight!” echoes the truth of Debbie’s soul.
http://girlwiththepen1118.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/squeeze-tight/

an excerpt worth keeping –
I do not believe that life was designed to DO or BE everything in this life span, not for one-self or anyone. (Thank goodness, or I’d never want to see another dawn!) Can you conjure how sweet and fulfilling an individual hug can penetrate your whole being? We all like, need, and deserve individual hugs, don’t we? Why…? Because we are only ONE; that singular moment should be fully experienced, claimed and LIVED in all its glory as our FIRST kiss! What do you think, my friend?

Take my word, you are farther ahead on your desired journey than you can see! I applaud you and urge you onward and upward!

So, my friends, gather your ageless dreams enthusiastically and happily, pick those sparkling stars that have been calling your name, take a handful of moon dust, and add a few cheery cherubs to keep you dreaming and aiming UPWARD.

In September of last year she posted “I’m Not Dead, Only Waiting to Sing”…
http://girlwiththepen1118.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/im-not-dead-only-waiting-to-sing/

Oh my dear friend, how I know you are singing now!  God bless you!

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December 30, 2013 · 11:49 pm

Year’s End

Amidst these tolling temporal bells
I pause to point’s reflection,
stir my ether’s constant frame
and search at length through recollection
of moments past the marker’s knot,
for pleasures granted and instilled,
for smiles brought of challenges
and what the strength of spirit willed.

Echoes gently flutter by,
stolen ‘neath a sacred tending
that holds each fixed to point in time
as if there stayed for mending.
But slowly in procession,
in recounting all the rights and wrongs,
entreat I each as specter’d witness,
relive I every moment gone.

What points of purpose rent here,
twixt ignorance and learning’s way?
What broken ties of prejudice
softened in compassion’s play?
What fits of anger cast to air
that quickly time did mend?
What tender moments loving shared
that through this life did sweetly blend?

By symphony’s silent sweeping roll
imbibe these portents of the year,
as sharing all their luscious steps
in bowed and curtseyed waltzing near.
Their smiles kindly greet me
as they pass in memories golden glow,
enrobed in holly season’s mirth
with winter’s rosy cheeks to show.

So I in temporal witness,
last station ‘tween the poles of years,
regard no hesitation in
tomorrow’s subtle unknown fears.
But at this point’s enlightenment
I gather wholly what I’ve known,
count each memory sacred,
blessed by what their dance has shown,
and what of me I’ve come to own
amidst the bells in tolling here.

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September 25, 2013 · 12:24 am

Bone White

Chattanooga National Military Cemetery

Chattanooga National Military Cemetery

Atop the knoll where cannons keep
a watch for those here lain,
I cast my eyes ‘cross this expanse
of hills where once stood grain.

In aging testimony,
this hallowed ground is turned bone white,
an endless sea of crosses roll
through oaks and summer’s light.

A gentle whisper calls a tune
in timeless, ageless memories,
thus stirs the oak and ash to grant
a moment’s cooling breeze.

The summer’s heat peaks weariness
across my furrowed brow,
yet begs I cross the distance
to feel the hearts around me, now.

To count the rows and call the names
through every battle fought,
to share the living knowledge gained
these wounded hearts have wrought.

Bone white and worn, fading names,
others only numbered souls
lost to season’s secret,
held here ‘tween the oaks and knolls.

‘Tis sad, this lengthened journey,
when reach the distant rows,
many hearts and souls here,
many that I feel I’d know
if only for this fleeting glance
between these steps of mine,
graced to sense their wounded hearts,
touched but for a moment’s time.

Contoured to this hallowed ground
across this rolling distance,
blessed in blood through those who gave,
these crosses bear true witness
that gratitude and honor
are distilled from hearts that fell in fight.
To them this simple blessing,
“God bless these souls beneath bone white”.

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August 13, 2013 · 2:14 am

Family Memory – a Prayer

How quiet is the lonely wood
where ‘midst these markers lay –
How lonely are the steps between
the graves of those I walk today –
How peaceful is the summer corn
around this church’s graveyard stands.
How steadfast this emotion seems
When pen’d from living hands –

At rest and peace I find thee,
silent ‘neath the clustered trees –
With truth and love I bless thee,
while praying from my knees!

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