Dennis S. Martin's Blog, page 95
February 18, 2023
Who Decides?
Decisions... Don't you hate them?
Choose me! Choose me! No! Me!
Competition runs amuck
Destroying subtlety.
Varied views with different hues of color,
Shades of gray.
Fine distinctions shattered truth
Mutated molds of clay.
Who's the liar?
Who can tell?
What difference does it make?
"Pay your money"..."take your chances"...
Pay for your mistakes.
Figuring the way to go...
The many or the few.
Choices come in different sizes.
Who decides?
You do.
February 17, 2023
Life's Little Wonders
The songbird at dawn fills the fresh morning air
With the nectar of music. He pridefully croons.
Rejecting submission, repeating with fervor,
It makes a soul wonder who taught him his tune.
He sings to the sun as it climbs the horizon
Sings to the moon as it floats through the clouds
Sings to the heavens as stars twinkle brightly
Sings for his lady alone in a crowd.
Life's little wonders so often forgotten
Or taken for granted... In sight yet unseen.
The scent of wild flowers, the burst of their colors
From pink to magenta and twelve shades of green.
Life is filled with wonders so subtle
That most pass us by as we hurry along.
It's only by stopping and waiting and listening
The songbird can lend us the joy of his song.
February 16, 2023
Nothing Lasts Forever
Nothing is forever except the earth and sky.
No one is eternal in this life game masquerade.
"Players on a stage" to quote the bard of days gone by
Waiting for a sunny sky to rain on our parade.
Life's a simple matter when it's meant to be enjoyed.
Optimism dwells in hearts of single-minded men.
It's only complicated when endeavor is employed
To try and circumvent its' fated end.
There's nothing wrong with hoping for a better deal tomorrow
With planning for the future as we go about our play.
The future will be there forever in the earth and sky
But we are here...
This time... This place... Today.
February 15, 2023
Amusing the Muse
Think of the songs on the airwaves today,
The street corner lyrics, the music they play.
Do you think that the muse would be slightly amused
Or highly insulted? Just what would she say?
The things we now think of as oldies were once
Just as wicked and frantic and wild in their way.
But now they're nostalgic, recalling a memory,
A moment, a scene from a happier day.
Let's not be dramatic, not too critical,
Not bitter to act or express to accuse.
Our music once spent its' due time on the treadmill
Growing up slowly amusing the muse.
February 14, 2023
Posers to Ponder
Questions come silently creeping to mind,
Queries come begging refined resolution,
Posers seek answers to life's little problems,
Processing logically to a conclusion.
But storm troopers break down the door of confusion,
Blitzkrieg, Gestapo, the secret police
Collide in a mind filled with thundering hooves
Of a stampede offering no inner peace.
Where do they come from?
What is their aim?
How do we handle the tirade, the flood?
Questions on queries on posers and more
Taking our breath away,
Drinking our blood.
We can't control our inquisitive nature.
Like curious cats, we simply must know.
No other creature on this big blue marble
Seeks out his future from eons ago.
Constantly seeking... Endlessly searching...
Longingly looking ahead and behind...
Pondering posers... Thrashing through logic...
Hoping beyond hope to find peace of mind.
We are but children, lost and abandoned
Making our way through an ocean of thought.
Sailing on seas froth with whitecaps of questions,
Searching for calm once the battle is fought.
February 13, 2023
Happy
In my life, and there’ve been lots of places
I’ve wanted to see.
Don’t mean to sound maudlin with
Vague rumination
Or overwrought sentimentality,
But as I’ve grown older, and
Hopefully wiser,
My mindset has changed by degree.
Of all the things I could do
With my life
There’s just one thing I want to be:
Happy.
Can’t think about all the things
That might have been
As Autumn leaves fall from my tree.
The past is behind, The future unknown.
Right now is the moment that
Sets my mind free.
And though the world taunts,
And teases and tempts
To seek out a new pedigree,
The answer remains in
A playful refrain.
There’s just one thing I want to be:
Happy.
February 12, 2023
Until It All Goes Away
All that infinite energy
Wasted on play.
Trashed and tired at the end of the day
To sleep without worries or cares.
Pity that time comes to shatter fond dreams,
To realize life’s
Not at all as it seems,
Filled with toil, stress and struggles
To disconnect schemes with
Recurrence that hardly seems fair.
Now, as I grow older, I seldom regret
All the blather and bother,
The fuss and the fret that
Once gave me to fury
When viewed as a threat and
Suffered this fool at his play.
I breathe a deep sigh,
Meet the foe eye to eye,
Find the calm and compassion that’s
Always nearby.
Let the madness dissolve
To a crystalline sky.
Mulling softly
Til it all goes away.
February 11, 2023
We Are Not Blood, But…
But we are still family
As surely as whimsy
Breathes life to our story.
We dare not deny or decry
Our connection,
Or hasten the pace
Of our grand allegory.
Brothers and sisters
To misses and misters
Through battles and blisters
Our shoulders have merged.
And though we may prattle
And even do battle,
Our swords never rattle
Save in common surge.
We search not for dragons
And dream not of peril.
We seek none of vengeance,
For it is not ours.
We live for the moment
Alive in each other
And in our alliance
We find our true powers.
February 10, 2023
Crossing Over
What’s on the other side,
Only that there must be someplace
Where the spirit can abide.
Far beyond this earthly plane is
A wonderous world we cannot see,
But know without disquiet,
Exists in perfect harmony.
The frets and fears of this life are
Not allowed to enter there.
There’ll be no pain or sorrow,
No heavy burden to bear.
Leaving at the dawn of Spring
As silent harps around you play,
I could not measure your last breath as,
In peace, you softly slipped away.
Your gentle voice, a memory now,
Your loving touch I’ll feel no more.
But solace comes with knowing that
I’ll see you on the other shore.
February 9, 2023
Be Nice
“If you can’t say something nice,
Then you shouldn’t say
A single thing at all.”
I have a small confession
When I hear this sage advice,
That I sometimes have a tendency
To stumble, slip and fall.
I try. I do. I really try
To keep my tongue in check,
Even when I’d like to
Wring somebody’s scrawny neck.
I try my best to hold it in
And not speak out in fury.
I tell myself I have no right
To act as judge and jury.
Stepping back and breathing deep,
I measure my reaction.
Is confrontation necessary?
Does my case have traction?
Anger is a fiery cake
Delivered by the slice.
Best to let the fire subside
To embers.
Just be nice.
