A Visit From Dad
As I look into the casket,
I see my reflection inside,
Around me I notice familiar faces weeping,
Then my father appeared at my side.
He takes me to moments
Through out my entire life,
Beginning with my 1st birthday,
Until the very moment in which I died.
Then he said "Son, I am disappointed,
For the things you have done and said,
You left your mother worried,
Praying that you were not dead."
"You seem to have taken for granted
The life that was so preciuosly given to you.
Look around you very carefully,
These are the people that you knew".
I asked with great confusion,
"What has happened to me?"
"Is there a reason that I am here?"
This I asked as I stood in disbelief.
He then replied,
"Now you will learn that there are people that care."
"I left you behind without saying I Love You,
I know that wasn�t fair."
"There was a fight between your mother and I,
One you did not happen to see,
But I pleaded with God to show my love
That I had so strongly for you,
That you would not die just like me."
"Things do happen for a reason,
This is true, but out of our reach.
So in return for my desperate plea,
This is the lesson I was sent to teach."
"Soon I�ll be gone and you will wake up in your bed,
Remember in your heart every word I�ve said."
"You�ve been fortunate enough to recieve another chance.
Now step back from the casket and take a second glance."
"The people you see gathered here
Are the ones that truly do care.
So appreciate them and show them your love.
For there is no promise that tomorrow will be there."
I see my reflection inside,
Around me I notice familiar faces weeping,
Then my father appeared at my side.
He takes me to moments
Through out my entire life,
Beginning with my 1st birthday,
Until the very moment in which I died.
Then he said "Son, I am disappointed,
For the things you have done and said,
You left your mother worried,
Praying that you were not dead."
"You seem to have taken for granted
The life that was so preciuosly given to you.
Look around you very carefully,
These are the people that you knew".
I asked with great confusion,
"What has happened to me?"
"Is there a reason that I am here?"
This I asked as I stood in disbelief.
He then replied,
"Now you will learn that there are people that care."
"I left you behind without saying I Love You,
I know that wasn�t fair."
"There was a fight between your mother and I,
One you did not happen to see,
But I pleaded with God to show my love
That I had so strongly for you,
That you would not die just like me."
"Things do happen for a reason,
This is true, but out of our reach.
So in return for my desperate plea,
This is the lesson I was sent to teach."
"Soon I�ll be gone and you will wake up in your bed,
Remember in your heart every word I�ve said."
"You�ve been fortunate enough to recieve another chance.
Now step back from the casket and take a second glance."
"The people you see gathered here
Are the ones that truly do care.
So appreciate them and show them your love.
For there is no promise that tomorrow will be there."
My Angel!
My angel has a heart so precious,
and sometimes her hair shines of gold.
She is full of love and kindness,
she makes my life meaningful and bold.
My angel is so smart,
always showing me the right way.
Without her I'd be lost,
I know she'll never lead me astray.
My angel is beautiful,
she is so special and like no other.
I love her,
for my angel is my mother.
and sometimes her hair shines of gold.
She is full of love and kindness,
she makes my life meaningful and bold.
My angel is so smart,
always showing me the right way.
Without her I'd be lost,
I know she'll never lead me astray.
My angel is beautiful,
she is so special and like no other.
I love her,
for my angel is my mother.
My Father My Son
As a son I lost a father,
As a father, a son -
If the choice was mine I'd rather
Had not lost either one.
I do not know where I come from
Or where I am to go.
True, this fate is less than some
And more than some can know.
My father, my son - you both I miss
But we shall meet someday
In the kingdom where angels kiss
To chase the clouds away.
As a father, a son -
If the choice was mine I'd rather
Had not lost either one.
I do not know where I come from
Or where I am to go.
True, this fate is less than some
And more than some can know.
My father, my son - you both I miss
But we shall meet someday
In the kingdom where angels kiss
To chase the clouds away.
Freedom!
I was fifteen when Grandfather died,
his twisted body vanquished by too many years,
his mind confused by too many diluted memories,
his spirit still as strong and indomitable
as the day he first killed another man
to protect the life he loved.
It was hard for me to see the war hero he had been
within the wasted remnants of a wispy old man,
his flesh sunken between fragile bones,
his smooth, soft skin bleached paler
than the sheets that wrapped him
like a premature burial shroud.
It was hard to see the war hero he had been
until Grandfather opened his rheumy eyes,
the blue as pale as a winter sky,
as hard and cold as tempered steel.
When he opened his eyes and looked into your soul,
only then could you see it. Then you would know.
Those eyes were a pool of profound strength,
with unwept tears of pain and death floating
just below their placid, unbroken surface,
like ocean debris trapped within swift currents
and forever forbidden to emerge,
forbidden to pollute the sea that was his life.
But, still, the soiled debris was a part of him.
Grandfather survived the German occupation of his land,
fought life and death struggles in an Underground
that would not, could not accept the domination of others.
And when it was over, when he had outlived the death,
he had moved to a new land, a land of new-found friends.
In America, Grandfather built a new life,
while never forgetting the lessons of the old.
His melodious French was replaced with broken English,
the rifles with shovels, the knives with hammers.
But nothing ever supplanted his implacable courage,
nothing ever usurped his enduring strength.
Grandfather was a warrior, but he was also a teacher.
I listened to his words, saw his examples,
learned from the stories and histories he shared.
He showed me that courage and strength aren't independent qualities,
but rather are the inevitable results of abiding love.
"What you truly love," he would say, "can never be surrendered."
And Grandfather, more than most, loved Freedom.
I have since learned there are many who say it,
but few who really feel it.
And fewer still who understand it.
Grandfather once told me he never fought for Freedom.
He said, instead, he fought against domination.
We were sitting in the old wooden swing,
its paint as wrinkled and weathered
as the skin of my grandfather's aged face,
the sound of the river flowing through his yard
a backdrop for a classroom
with neither desks nor chalk boards.
"A man can never take away your Freedom," he told me.
"They can only take power and make you pay a higher price
when you choose to exercise it.
Hitler wanted to make that price a man's death.
There is always a price to be paid for Freedom,
but when the price becomes too high, a man must fight."
I remember he paused then, his irregular breath
like a clipped whistle as it wheezed past swollen nostrils.
I was used to his long lulls, a habit so many found irritating.
Grandfather was giving me time, I knew,
to ponder, to absorb, to believe.
And I knew, too, in knowing him, there would be more.
When he finally continued,
Grandfather's voice was almost a whisper.
"It works both ways," he said, leaning closer,
his minty breath an envelope around my face.
"A man can never take away your freedom,
and a man never grant it either."
Grandfather's voice had many tones within it,
and I had learned them all through the years.
"The laws of this country are good ones, mostly,"
he said in a reverent tone, an awed tone
that spoke of important lessons
to be learned.
"But you must always remember that its Constitution,
and all the laws Congress has passed since then,
don't give you one bit more Freedom
than you already have.
Laws are made by men. Laws change.
Your Freedom is part of you. It's forever."
I remember nodding my understanding,
and I remember Grandfather's hand falling to my shoulder.
He squeezed briefly, and I can only assume he was pleased.
It would be another two years
before he would lay in a death bed of virgin white,
and another two decades before I would really understand his words.
The Freedoms written within our laws are always conditional.
Freedom of the Press is amended by libel statutes,
and Search and Seizure laws are cast aside for Probable Cause.
All the laws, all the guarantees,
exist only at the whim of the courts and Due Process.
Grandfather understood.
Any government based on unconditional Freedom
would necessarily be a government of unconditional anarchy.
Our laws don't grant people Freedom.
Our laws only set the price that must be paid
when a citizen chooses to exercise our Freedom.
But the Freedom comes from within.
Grandfather was not a religious man, but he was a Godly man.
And I think he knew.
Our Creator gave us not only our existence,
but he granted us Free Will,
that we might choose between good and evil.
And that power of choice is what Freedom is really all about.
There will always be a price to pay for Freedom.
The price is set by the hand of man, by the laws we make.
When we are wise and good, the price is one we can bear.
And when we are neither wise nor good,
there will always be men like Grandfather,
with the courage and strength to fight for what they love.
his twisted body vanquished by too many years,
his mind confused by too many diluted memories,
his spirit still as strong and indomitable
as the day he first killed another man
to protect the life he loved.
It was hard for me to see the war hero he had been
within the wasted remnants of a wispy old man,
his flesh sunken between fragile bones,
his smooth, soft skin bleached paler
than the sheets that wrapped him
like a premature burial shroud.
It was hard to see the war hero he had been
until Grandfather opened his rheumy eyes,
the blue as pale as a winter sky,
as hard and cold as tempered steel.
When he opened his eyes and looked into your soul,
only then could you see it. Then you would know.
Those eyes were a pool of profound strength,
with unwept tears of pain and death floating
just below their placid, unbroken surface,
like ocean debris trapped within swift currents
and forever forbidden to emerge,
forbidden to pollute the sea that was his life.
But, still, the soiled debris was a part of him.
Grandfather survived the German occupation of his land,
fought life and death struggles in an Underground
that would not, could not accept the domination of others.
And when it was over, when he had outlived the death,
he had moved to a new land, a land of new-found friends.
In America, Grandfather built a new life,
while never forgetting the lessons of the old.
His melodious French was replaced with broken English,
the rifles with shovels, the knives with hammers.
But nothing ever supplanted his implacable courage,
nothing ever usurped his enduring strength.
Grandfather was a warrior, but he was also a teacher.
I listened to his words, saw his examples,
learned from the stories and histories he shared.
He showed me that courage and strength aren't independent qualities,
but rather are the inevitable results of abiding love.
"What you truly love," he would say, "can never be surrendered."
And Grandfather, more than most, loved Freedom.
I have since learned there are many who say it,
but few who really feel it.
And fewer still who understand it.
Grandfather once told me he never fought for Freedom.
He said, instead, he fought against domination.
We were sitting in the old wooden swing,
its paint as wrinkled and weathered
as the skin of my grandfather's aged face,
the sound of the river flowing through his yard
a backdrop for a classroom
with neither desks nor chalk boards.
"A man can never take away your Freedom," he told me.
"They can only take power and make you pay a higher price
when you choose to exercise it.
Hitler wanted to make that price a man's death.
There is always a price to be paid for Freedom,
but when the price becomes too high, a man must fight."
I remember he paused then, his irregular breath
like a clipped whistle as it wheezed past swollen nostrils.
I was used to his long lulls, a habit so many found irritating.
Grandfather was giving me time, I knew,
to ponder, to absorb, to believe.
And I knew, too, in knowing him, there would be more.
When he finally continued,
Grandfather's voice was almost a whisper.
"It works both ways," he said, leaning closer,
his minty breath an envelope around my face.
"A man can never take away your freedom,
and a man never grant it either."
Grandfather's voice had many tones within it,
and I had learned them all through the years.
"The laws of this country are good ones, mostly,"
he said in a reverent tone, an awed tone
that spoke of important lessons
to be learned.
"But you must always remember that its Constitution,
and all the laws Congress has passed since then,
don't give you one bit more Freedom
than you already have.
Laws are made by men. Laws change.
Your Freedom is part of you. It's forever."
I remember nodding my understanding,
and I remember Grandfather's hand falling to my shoulder.
He squeezed briefly, and I can only assume he was pleased.
It would be another two years
before he would lay in a death bed of virgin white,
and another two decades before I would really understand his words.
The Freedoms written within our laws are always conditional.
Freedom of the Press is amended by libel statutes,
and Search and Seizure laws are cast aside for Probable Cause.
All the laws, all the guarantees,
exist only at the whim of the courts and Due Process.
Grandfather understood.
Any government based on unconditional Freedom
would necessarily be a government of unconditional anarchy.
Our laws don't grant people Freedom.
Our laws only set the price that must be paid
when a citizen chooses to exercise our Freedom.
But the Freedom comes from within.
Grandfather was not a religious man, but he was a Godly man.
And I think he knew.
Our Creator gave us not only our existence,
but he granted us Free Will,
that we might choose between good and evil.
And that power of choice is what Freedom is really all about.
There will always be a price to pay for Freedom.
The price is set by the hand of man, by the laws we make.
When we are wise and good, the price is one we can bear.
And when we are neither wise nor good,
there will always be men like Grandfather,
with the courage and strength to fight for what they love.
Family Face!
I am the family face;
Flesh perishes, I live on,
Projecting trait and trace
Through time to times anon,
And leaping from place to place
Over oblivion.
The years-heired feature that can
In curve and voice and eye
Despise the human span
Of durance -- that is I;
The eternal thing in man,
That heeds no call to die
Flesh perishes, I live on,
Projecting trait and trace
Through time to times anon,
And leaping from place to place
Over oblivion.
The years-heired feature that can
In curve and voice and eye
Despise the human span
Of durance -- that is I;
The eternal thing in man,
That heeds no call to die
JAMMY!
There once was a boy
Who played not with toys;
He liked weed eaters and cars.
He took them apart
Into small little parts
And put them
In small little jars.
His mother said, �Gee,
It does seem to me
That everything�s coming apart.�
�How about putting back
The bric and the brac,
Until we are back like the start�.
And so Jamie did
As mommy had bid
And made a shiny machine;
From all of the parts
Of all of his starts,
So mommy could sweep up and clean.
And when she was done,
Just for some fun,
Mommy turned that machine on.
It clickled and clackled
Made noises and grackled,
And all the sudden, Mommy was gone!
Who played not with toys;
He liked weed eaters and cars.
He took them apart
Into small little parts
And put them
In small little jars.
His mother said, �Gee,
It does seem to me
That everything�s coming apart.�
�How about putting back
The bric and the brac,
Until we are back like the start�.
And so Jamie did
As mommy had bid
And made a shiny machine;
From all of the parts
Of all of his starts,
So mommy could sweep up and clean.
And when she was done,
Just for some fun,
Mommy turned that machine on.
It clickled and clackled
Made noises and grackled,
And all the sudden, Mommy was gone!
A Visit From Dad
I have a stepmother
And also a father
And keeping track
Is sometimes a bother
Cause there's a half brother
Who isn't my father
And also a mother
Who isn't my brother
And also a father
Whose step but not quite
So its really quite hard
To keep it all right.
And did I mention
That I have a sister?
In all of the bother
I just may have missed her.
This naming of names
Is really a fright
and it may keep me up
for half of the night.
But this family�s my family
And I don't have to fake it
Cause a family is a family
No matter how you make it.
And also a father
And keeping track
Is sometimes a bother
Cause there's a half brother
Who isn't my father
And also a mother
Who isn't my brother
And also a father
Whose step but not quite
So its really quite hard
To keep it all right.
And did I mention
That I have a sister?
In all of the bother
I just may have missed her.
This naming of names
Is really a fright
and it may keep me up
for half of the night.
But this family�s my family
And I don't have to fake it
Cause a family is a family
No matter how you make it.
Travels.....
In South Dakota it was cold.
I froze my nose outside.
I thought that I would live there
Until I froze and died.
But then we moved to Kansas
It was so very flat
The wind kept blowing all the time
And blew away my hat.
And then we moved to Texas
It was so very dry
My tears dried up so very fast
I couldn't even cry.
I live in Massacheusetts now,
At least just for today.
My parents always seem to move.
They never seem to stay;
Cause now I'm off to Georgia
I hear it's very hot
My parents say I'll like it
But I think I will not.
I froze my nose outside.
I thought that I would live there
Until I froze and died.
But then we moved to Kansas
It was so very flat
The wind kept blowing all the time
And blew away my hat.
And then we moved to Texas
It was so very dry
My tears dried up so very fast
I couldn't even cry.
I live in Massacheusetts now,
At least just for today.
My parents always seem to move.
They never seem to stay;
Cause now I'm off to Georgia
I hear it's very hot
My parents say I'll like it
But I think I will not.
Twins!
My baby sisters
They are two
And also two they are
But they don't know
That they are two
Cause they can't count
That far.
They are two
And also two they are
But they don't know
That they are two
Cause they can't count
That far.
Step Brother!
I have a lovely step brother
The best I've ever had.
I step on him when things go wrong
And I don't feel so bad.
The best I've ever had.
I step on him when things go wrong
And I don't feel so bad.
Brothers!
I have a mean brother
And also another
They both are such a pain.
Why doesn't my mother
Sell one or the other
And send them away on a train?
And also another
They both are such a pain.
Why doesn't my mother
Sell one or the other
And send them away on a train?
Mom In Australia!
I only have my dad,
And that is really terrible
His cooking's very bad.
I wrote my mom to help me
When I didn't know what to do.
She sent my dad a recipe
For Australian kangaroo.
My daddy tried to cook it
But had to use a cat.
He thought it tasted really good
But I'm not getting fat.
I hope my mom comes home soon,
Before I have a fit
Cause daddy's making cooking
That would make a vulture sick.
A Family Is A Family!
I have a stepmother
And also a father
And keeping track
Is sometimes a bother
Cause there's a half brother
Who isn't my father
And also a mother
Who isn't my brother
And also a father
Whose step but not quite
So its really quite hard
To keep it all right.
And did I mention
That I have a sister?
In all of the bother
I just may have missed her.
This naming of names
Is really a fright
and it may keep me up
for half of the night.
But this family�s my family
And I don't have to fake it
Cause a family is a family
No matter how you make it.
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