I Do

Don’t ask why I love you
only know that I do.
It does not need defined
to make it more true.
Suffice it to say
as the sky is blue
and the sunshine bright
and the grass is green
and the snow cover white
no need to know why
would they change if we knew.
It is enough to say – they are
It is enough to say – I do

--for the first 30 years together

Comet

His star burned bright
a comet flashing in the night
and all who saw could only stand in awe
and marvel at the sight.

Smiles were seen on every face
whose eyes beheld the comets race
And joy was felt in every heart
Graced by the miracle of his life

But when he left, for all, too soon
a sadness fell and life grew dark
and grief pervaded every heart
in lives the leaving tore apart.

But while we mourn his leaving us
Inside we'll always have a part
For all who saw the comet's quest
Are forever altered for the best.

For how much worse it would have been
never to have seen his light
to have never felt the joy he brought
that, truly, would have been the loss.

---For my nephew Joe, who died too young.

Sunday drives with Dad

I remember Sunday drives

Dad would call

“Everybody in the car!”

and off we would go

down the country roads

looking at the fall colors

or searching for walnut trees

to gather nuts from

We weren’t concerned

with seatbelts back then

Dad would let us sit on his lap

and steer the car.

And we all screamed

“Faster! Faster!”

when going up a hill

and gasp and giggle

when we lost our stomachs 

on the way down the other side

The open window

brings the fall breeze

and memories

of Sunday drives with Dad

Mask

That fair-skinned youth of yesterday is gone
and in his place this weathered face
with hair of grey
lines etched deep by time
remorseless, ever marching time.

And yet my mind sees still
the youth of yesterday
hiding yet behind the mask of lines.
Never really gone
just off around the corner

For wasn't it just yesterday
when we were young?

Thief

My heart has been stolen
I can't get it back.
though I can't say I've tried
very hard to at that.

My thief wears a fur coat
and soft fuzzy slippers
and can slip through the house
without even a whisper.

Bright alert eyes
with an innocent look
and a tiny pink nose
were all that it took.

I can't say I'm sorry
cause you see, I've been smitten
by a small loving creature
that is known as a kitten.