“The Key of Life” #Poem

Acrostic on C Major Scale

Creative living is the key to life

Delighting in the special path you take

Emotions, effort, energy, or strife

Fulfillment of your goals despite mistakes

Go on, in grace and gratitude to strive

Amazing, awesome gifts are all your own

Bring balance with the best you have inside

Creating body, mind, and soul a home!

“Coffee Conundrum” #Poem

I’ve had so many bad cups of coffee;
That would surely put most people off it.
I’m accepting the fact,
For I now drink it black.
And the up-side? That makes it less costly!

This Limerick makes up for the poem I didn’t write yesterday. Why didn’t I? Because I was trying to get a supermarket delivery time before the 14th! Yes, a time less than 2 weeks from now! This wasn’t possible, and the 14th it is. I thought one benefit of having delivery service was timeliness. Apparently not!

This is on top of the other restrictions. Two cases of water per customer. A third of the items I usually order (not extras, mind you, but my usual items in usual quantities) are out of stock. Item substitutions are suspended until further notice. I.e. if the brand you chose isn’t in stock, instead of receiving a price-equivalent item, you get nothing. But you don’t know that until the delivery day, and can’t modify the order to choose something else. There’s also holiday time in between when there are no deliveries at all.

Now add explaining all this several times to my husband, and hearing him complain for the next two weeks. So, this is my life now?

Anyway, if you have coffee, food, and other essentials, and/or you can get what you need in a reasonable and timely manner, please be grateful! And help someone else if you have the nerve. Because it still takes some of us several hours to accomplish (if you can call it that) a seemingly simple, everyday task.

And do I really have to say this? Please, please don’t buy in excess! I guarantee you at some future time, the news will be broadcasting how much food people threw away because, guess what? they hoarded more than they needed, when they could have been sharing it with someone less equipped than they are!

“Drink to Me Only” #Love #Music #Mp3

“Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes” is a
poem
written by English playwright Ben Johnson. First published in 1616, it is addressed “To Celia.” Johnson’s poem has been published in many poetry collections, as well as song books. The tune may have been a folk song, or may have been written to specifically set the poem to music–no one knows. We may never know who wrote the tune, or who Celia was, but we have a classic song in any case.

I first played this song as a young violinist (no, you don’t want to hear that!) and then on recorder (much better!) Here it is on zither, in a contemplative arrangement.

Enjoy, and share if you like!
Click here to download mp3.

“In the Bleak Midwinter” #Music

Several melodies have been written setting the poem,
“In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rossetti
to music. Hear I play the music by Gustav Holst on zither. Reading the poem, you’ll notice it has a Christmas/Nativity theme. But the other stanzas are a great reminder of God’s power at any time of year, and of the truest gift we can give Him – our heart.

Where I live Winter is still in full swing, so I thought I would share this beautiful piece.

I hope you enjoy this arrangement. If you like, feel free to download and share the mp3:
“In the Bleak Midwinter” Mp3

A Veteran’s Poem

United we Stand, Divided we Fall

by Frederick Douglass Grimes, III

A veteran is a veteran,
No matter which branch they serve.
Fighting for your country,
Boy! That takes some nerve.

Men and women take the oath
To serve their country well,
Leaving behind families.
The hardships only they can tell.

With one thought in mind: To complete their mission.
Come home safe.
The training and experience
For years to come would serve them well.

Countless soldiers have given their lives
To protect us, one and all.
Let us hope and pray
That not one more soldier will ever have to fall!

God bless America!
–The Blind Poet, Freddy G.
A proud Navy veteran

Related

Service Means Everything

Space Education

I’m taking a ride in a hot air balloon!
I left in September to come back in June.
I learn a whole lot, and I don’t go to school!
It’s fun and it’s awesome, so totally cool!

I fly through the sunshine, the wind, and the frost.
I sing with the birds, and I know all the flocks.
I float everywhere, but I’m paying the cost,
Because: I am free! And that is why I am lost.*

*–Franz Kafka

—
Amaya hosts “Kafka for Kids” at
dVerse.

Positive Extinction

Pain and sorrow,
Bleak tomorrows,
Loneliness, depression deep…
You believe it,
Think you see it:
You’re not worthy of your dreams…

In this world of churning changes,
Couldn’t these become extinct?

Likely no,
So may we grow
In all the good we can perceive!

—
My Quadrille in response to Linda’s “extinction” prompt at
dVerse.