Dennis S. Martin's Blog, page 189
May 25, 2020
Cousin Arthur – A Pain in the…
You cause me so much pain,
Vile bane of age
And foe of innocence,
You slave me to a curse
Of limitations I can scarce abide.
What once was snap
And quickly cinched
Is now a labor for the young
As I need only wait and watch
As though my hands were tied.
At least my mind maintains its bloom,
Though not as quick in raillery,
My inner sage has lost its rage
In favor of profundity.
But Arthur and his cousins foul:
Tendon, Bursa and Fasci,
Along with their accomplices
Breed deep and low and nasty.
I yield not to this terrorist
Nor any of his lot,
And if the bane resides in pain,
I’ll take all that he’s got.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
Vile bane of age
And foe of innocence,
You slave me to a curse
Of limitations I can scarce abide.
What once was snap
And quickly cinched
Is now a labor for the young
As I need only wait and watch
As though my hands were tied.
At least my mind maintains its bloom,
Though not as quick in raillery,
My inner sage has lost its rage
In favor of profundity.
But Arthur and his cousins foul:
Tendon, Bursa and Fasci,
Along with their accomplices
Breed deep and low and nasty.
I yield not to this terrorist
Nor any of his lot,
And if the bane resides in pain,
I’ll take all that he’s got.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 24, 2020
Bingo Wednesday
Many, plenty, busy battles brew
To fuel a hectic week.
Often chiming, seldom rhyming,
Finding the right words to speak.
Washday Thursday,
Friday’s fury,
Shopping waits for Saturday.
Sunday worship, family dinners,
Monday morning bills to pay.
Tuesday finds no time for respite
Even though one seeks release.
Only Wednesday offers solace.
Bingo Wednesday
Brings sweet peace.
How can chaos bring such pleasure?
How can aggravation serve to
Soothe and salvage frantic frenzy,
Knowing dwindling vim and verve?
Hard to say where peace might muster.
It’s temporary anyway.
All I know is bingo Wednesday
Was born to chase all cares away.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
To fuel a hectic week.
Often chiming, seldom rhyming,
Finding the right words to speak.
Washday Thursday,
Friday’s fury,
Shopping waits for Saturday.
Sunday worship, family dinners,
Monday morning bills to pay.
Tuesday finds no time for respite
Even though one seeks release.
Only Wednesday offers solace.
Bingo Wednesday
Brings sweet peace.
How can chaos bring such pleasure?
How can aggravation serve to
Soothe and salvage frantic frenzy,
Knowing dwindling vim and verve?
Hard to say where peace might muster.
It’s temporary anyway.
All I know is bingo Wednesday
Was born to chase all cares away.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 23, 2020
A Senior Moment – or Two
There are no words,
No understated understanding,
No common sense or rule of reason
Lets me know the reason why
Such fits of memory, or its lack,
Should hack my often-pristine thoughts
To cause a fatal gap so long and wide.
I see, and yet my eyes are blind.
I hear but echoes in my mind.
I feel with fingers disinclined.
I taste the waste of bitter wine.
The favored savors I once knew
That graced the air with such ado
Are faded like the morning dew
To places I may ne’er pursue.
Oh, angst of age,
Where peace should dwell,
Sad gnawing, nagging beast from Hell,
Lost logic bids a bold adieu
To have a moment, maybe two.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
No understated understanding,
No common sense or rule of reason
Lets me know the reason why
Such fits of memory, or its lack,
Should hack my often-pristine thoughts
To cause a fatal gap so long and wide.
I see, and yet my eyes are blind.
I hear but echoes in my mind.
I feel with fingers disinclined.
I taste the waste of bitter wine.
The favored savors I once knew
That graced the air with such ado
Are faded like the morning dew
To places I may ne’er pursue.
Oh, angst of age,
Where peace should dwell,
Sad gnawing, nagging beast from Hell,
Lost logic bids a bold adieu
To have a moment, maybe two.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 22, 2020
Distinguished Gentleman
“I love that little touch of gray,”
Her eyes would speak much more than words.
Her pouty lips would curl to kiss,
“You know, I gave you every one.”
And as she ran her fingers through the
Thinning curls, her eyes’ embrace
Was more than meager tenderness.
It was our song, as yet unsung.
She, my humble lady fair,
Aware of all my faults and flaws,
My better equal in all tasks,
My conscience when decisions weigh.
And I, her knight in dusty armor,
Laying roses at her feet,
Praying that tomorrow grants this
Happiness for one more day.
Bold distinguished gentleman that I
Aspire to always be,
Smoldering embers in my heart
Keep her in my memory.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
Her eyes would speak much more than words.
Her pouty lips would curl to kiss,
“You know, I gave you every one.”
And as she ran her fingers through the
Thinning curls, her eyes’ embrace
Was more than meager tenderness.
It was our song, as yet unsung.
She, my humble lady fair,
Aware of all my faults and flaws,
My better equal in all tasks,
My conscience when decisions weigh.
And I, her knight in dusty armor,
Laying roses at her feet,
Praying that tomorrow grants this
Happiness for one more day.
Bold distinguished gentleman that I
Aspire to always be,
Smoldering embers in my heart
Keep her in my memory.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 21, 2020
Old Photos
Old photos are the best,
Especially when they bring back memories
Long forgotten, tucked away
In golden vaults like precious jewels.
Thirty-fives and Polaroids
Passed around to aging eyes
Filling hearts with happy tears
Of days before we learned the rules.
Grandpa’s ’57 Ford of unknown color.
Who can tell? Aunt Nellie shot in
Black and white.
She hadn’t switched to color yet.
But Grandpop’s pride was evident
As he put many happy smiles
On gleeful faces, windblown traces,
Fleeting times with no regrets.
Taking just a modicum of
Time and space to reminisce
Bygone days bereft of sorrow,
No time or tears to second guess.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
Especially when they bring back memories
Long forgotten, tucked away
In golden vaults like precious jewels.
Thirty-fives and Polaroids
Passed around to aging eyes
Filling hearts with happy tears
Of days before we learned the rules.
Grandpa’s ’57 Ford of unknown color.
Who can tell? Aunt Nellie shot in
Black and white.
She hadn’t switched to color yet.
But Grandpop’s pride was evident
As he put many happy smiles
On gleeful faces, windblown traces,
Fleeting times with no regrets.
Taking just a modicum of
Time and space to reminisce
Bygone days bereft of sorrow,
No time or tears to second guess.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 20, 2020
Going Home
They say you can’t go home again after
Time has stolen all your
Childhood memories from bygone days.
Replacing them instead with whiffs of
Progress and regression,
Finding old familiar haunts
Lost within a maze.
Old friends, some still treading there,
(Others long and far away)
Flashing forlorn withered faces
Painted with synthetic smiles.
Slapping thighs as they remember
Youthful tanned exuberance of
How they got from there to here.
“Won’t you sit and stay a while.”
Sorry that I cannot tarry,
Tempting as the thought may be.
But I have other worlds to conquer,
Other realms to search and roam.
Chance that when my trek is over
And my feet need firmer ground
Time proclaims my travels finished
And will find me going home.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
Time has stolen all your
Childhood memories from bygone days.
Replacing them instead with whiffs of
Progress and regression,
Finding old familiar haunts
Lost within a maze.
Old friends, some still treading there,
(Others long and far away)
Flashing forlorn withered faces
Painted with synthetic smiles.
Slapping thighs as they remember
Youthful tanned exuberance of
How they got from there to here.
“Won’t you sit and stay a while.”
Sorry that I cannot tarry,
Tempting as the thought may be.
But I have other worlds to conquer,
Other realms to search and roam.
Chance that when my trek is over
And my feet need firmer ground
Time proclaims my travels finished
And will find me going home.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 19, 2020
I Love you. Did I Say I love you?
Sweet, yet bittersweet the words
Whispered, almost breathless with
Devotion and assurance.
Searching for response in kind that
She knew was sure to come as does
An echo in an empty hallway tenderly return.
She didn’t even realize those
Same three words had passed her lips
But moments since
And I had reassured her that
I loved her, too.
What I said, but had not said,
That I would run through raging fire
If that was what she asked of me,
That I would stand beside her
If the plagues of Hell rained on our heads.
What she said, but had not said,
That she would walk me hand in hand
Down every pathway to the end,
To guide me with her shining star
And be my rainbow’s pot of gold.
“I love you. Did I say I love you?”
Yes, my love.
You did.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
Whispered, almost breathless with
Devotion and assurance.
Searching for response in kind that
She knew was sure to come as does
An echo in an empty hallway tenderly return.
She didn’t even realize those
Same three words had passed her lips
But moments since
And I had reassured her that
I loved her, too.
What I said, but had not said,
That I would run through raging fire
If that was what she asked of me,
That I would stand beside her
If the plagues of Hell rained on our heads.
What she said, but had not said,
That she would walk me hand in hand
Down every pathway to the end,
To guide me with her shining star
And be my rainbow’s pot of gold.
“I love you. Did I say I love you?”
Yes, my love.
You did.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 18, 2020
Short-Term Memory
I walked in here for something, I swear.
Now, wait. Just give me a moment.
I was sitting in there when
A thought pierced the air
Like the stealth clamor from an informant.
It seems like a plot from
A gaslight adventure,
Some frivolous misguided scam,
That I should make haste
And my time be a waste when
I’m not even sure where I am.
It plagues me no end
That my mind is no friend
When the details elude and evade.
And I wonder how long
I can keep going wrong
Til the piper at last must be paid.
This short-term failure, it comes and it goes,
Fading in, fading out, fade away.
So, I think A to Z
Til it comes back to me
And I can get on with my day.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
Now, wait. Just give me a moment.
I was sitting in there when
A thought pierced the air
Like the stealth clamor from an informant.
It seems like a plot from
A gaslight adventure,
Some frivolous misguided scam,
That I should make haste
And my time be a waste when
I’m not even sure where I am.
It plagues me no end
That my mind is no friend
When the details elude and evade.
And I wonder how long
I can keep going wrong
Til the piper at last must be paid.
This short-term failure, it comes and it goes,
Fading in, fading out, fade away.
So, I think A to Z
Til it comes back to me
And I can get on with my day.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 17, 2020
I’m Not Ready to Let Go
How many memories can one heart hold?
How many years are enough?
Why must the ending be so bittersweet?
To where does the time disappear?
There are no limits on memories, I’m told,
As Father Time teases his bluff,
And endings lay treasures of gold at out feet
As life gently soothes every tear.
At least that’s the theory.
It’s what we are bid to believe
As we grieve day by day.
But deep down inside
Where the soul shrinks to hide
There’s an aching that won’t go away.
And I must admit
That the mantle won’t fit
As I sit in a stuporous throe
And stumble and pray
Someone shows me the way.
So unready to let you go.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
How many years are enough?
Why must the ending be so bittersweet?
To where does the time disappear?
There are no limits on memories, I’m told,
As Father Time teases his bluff,
And endings lay treasures of gold at out feet
As life gently soothes every tear.
At least that’s the theory.
It’s what we are bid to believe
As we grieve day by day.
But deep down inside
Where the soul shrinks to hide
There’s an aching that won’t go away.
And I must admit
That the mantle won’t fit
As I sit in a stuporous throe
And stumble and pray
Someone shows me the way.
So unready to let you go.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
May 16, 2020
Honey Do
There’s no need to badger on
With such incessant urgency
About the “oh, so many” tasks
That plague to steal my precious time.
“Don’t worry, Hon. I’ll get it done,”
My good intentions always say.
But I’ve had odd priorities,
Other hills to scout and climb.
But don’t you fret,
I’ll get to it, Babe.
Though time may slide and slip away.
No need to rush.
I have the list right here.
Just let me sit and rock a bit
And then I’ll get right on it
And finish in a flash,
So, don’t you fear.
But this old chair is comfy and my nap is overdue.
So, the numbers just keep growing
On my list of “honey-do”.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
With such incessant urgency
About the “oh, so many” tasks
That plague to steal my precious time.
“Don’t worry, Hon. I’ll get it done,”
My good intentions always say.
But I’ve had odd priorities,
Other hills to scout and climb.
But don’t you fret,
I’ll get to it, Babe.
Though time may slide and slip away.
No need to rush.
I have the list right here.
Just let me sit and rock a bit
And then I’ll get right on it
And finish in a flash,
So, don’t you fear.
But this old chair is comfy and my nap is overdue.
So, the numbers just keep growing
On my list of “honey-do”.
Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin
