Thursday, April 27, 2023

Bonhomme Richard


Do you see the face in the clouds, top centre?

Sometimes it feels like the beginning of my end.

Feelings lie.

It's not even the end of the beginning.

It's been bad and getting worse,
can't walk across the bloody room
without breath rasping as a curse
that paints a picture of my doom,
and nothing's helping anymore,
not cheap cigars nor beer nor wines,
and I see a swinging door
leading to my end of times.
But I remember what I was,
though I wasn't worth a lot.
I only mention this because
what I was is what I've got,
and in the fading of the light,
I've not yet begun to fight.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is PERSIST. Appropriate.

They ask me why do I persist,
and not give up and die?
I'll tell you, mate, if you insist:
love's the reason why.
I love all aspects of my life,
the fabric of my days,
my dogs, the cat, and my dear wife,
and, of course, the God I praise
by giving every day my all,
and giving every job my best.
Sometimes what I can do is small,
but I force myself to pass the test
to care more than I can afford
as a present to the Lord.

Four minutes fifteen. That'll do

Music from Sister Hazel (opening in a new window) with All For You.

Sylvia approves.


Thursday, April 20, 2023

When Your Platform Finds You


I don't like to recycle stuff, but what follows is an exception, a comment I wrote for a post written by Dan Balow for the Steve Laube Agency blog, Personal vs. Professional Social Media.

My personal and professional lives are, of necessity, thoroughly blended; my life has become my product.

Not something I wanted; all I really aimed at was being a Paperback Writer, but it seemed that God had other plans. No one in his right mind would choose an extended bout with pancreatic cancer, but I accept it without demur, because to do otherwise would be to question God’s mercy and goodness. “Not my will, but Thine” is what it comes down to, but it can be really hard to do.

And from that acceptance arises a calling and ministry, that life goes on and that there is a way to fully live, even when the experience becomes crushingly hopeless (like, say, right now, as I write this).

Though living in public, so to speak, can attract oddballs, I haven’t run across any, ’cause I can pretty much out-weird anyone.

It’s not something to despise,
but can be hard to understand,
and I wish that it were otherwise,
but my life has become my brand,
days passed to be an example
of how to reinvent a life
when it has been sorely trampled
and rearranged by cancer’s knife,
and it’s a legend I must live,
a full-time job and ministry
in which I am compelled to give
all the very best of me,
optimistic, laughing, light,
and more become that which I write.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is HAVE. Have I got what it takes? Guess we'll see.

They say you've got to have a platform,
all the agents say it's true.
Some are made and some are born,
and sometimes platform will find you
if you keep unfettered mind,
and heart open to God's breeze,
and beyond that don't be blind
to some time spent on your knees
asking for the Lord's direction
(getting that is really nice),
and when you get it, no reflection!,
just take that Divine advice
and let your newly burnished soul
achieve your brightest platform goal.

Four and a half minutes, with Strawberry the Mastiff barking in my ear.

Music (opening in a new window) from the score to Kenneth Brannagh's Henry V by Patrick Doyle, Non Nobis, Domine.

Sylvia thinks another kind of brand may be applied shortly, if I'm slow with the ice cream. 



Thursday, April 13, 2023

High Times


Things are really kind of rough, which is why I'm writing this in the middle of the night while listening to Joyce Meyer. Pain and nausea just preclude sleep.

Yes, medical marijuana had been suggested, is legal in my state (so is 'recreational' marijuana), and no, I don't use it.

Why not?

Read on...

Bigfoot arrived at the ball,
wearing a tuxedo,
and there he leaned against the wall,
smoking a torpedo.
Someone told him Cheech and Chong
described the best life to be had,
but it wasn't very long
'fore he got the munchies, really bad.
First the hors d'oeuvres disappeared,
and it wasn't that much later
(just as everyone had feared)
that he tried to eat the waiter,
and thus is learned the reason why
you don't get a mythic creature high.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is REALIZE.

Or maybe REAL EYES?

Whatever.

I once knew a stoner dude
who really should never have used,
because his once-sharp attitude
came to be dazed and confused.
He once forgot where he had left
his vital backpack and his bike,
and new-bought gear he had to heft
on his lengthy get-home hike,
only to find said Missing Schwinn
still parked in his living room,
and backpack (with all kept within)
resting in the shadowed gloom
of the closet, dark and cool
of a weed-besotted fool.

Three minutes for a true story, and this was a friend worth having.

Music from Brewer And Shipley (opening in a new tab) with One Toke Over The Line.

Sylvia's high is McDonald's ice cream. Mine, too.




Thursday, April 6, 2023

Thy Will


Please, God, let this cup pass from me,
c'mon, let's find another way!
There's got to be a path You see
to let me 'scape that fatal day.
I really do enjoy My time
walking 'round this dusty place.
Would it really be a crime
to extend a little grace
so I can ride back out again,
leave behind this sense of doom,
leave behind the coming pain,
the drama of the Upper Room,
and with my buds have some more fun?
But, yeah, OK, Thy will be done.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is OWN. Can I own it?

Just how did the Lord God own
that His Son would have to die
on the Cross, feeling alone
without a chance to say Goodbye?
What could have been worth so much
for that awful sacrifice?
What on Earth had moved Him such
that He turned His heart to ice?
Do you know it, can you speak
to the reason for Christ's death?
Or are you afraid to seek
the answer; it may steal your breath?
But we must face it, for it's true:
the Cross bore Christ for me and you.

Three minutes and just under fifty seconds.

Music from Jesus Christ Superstar (opening in a new window), Could We Start Again, Please?

 Sylvia understands.