Release

Breathe in, long and slow

The fresh air, so long deprived

Fills my lungs and bathes my skin

I wonder that the natural world

Has not changed so much as I remember

The verdant grass in my yard

The leaves on the trees just filling out

Snapdragons poking up out of the earth

In reds and yellows among the mulch

Stones collecting at the base of the tree

A tempting toy for little hands

That grab too quickly to halt

And all around, the birds sing

Twenty-four hours a day

Much more than I remember before

This pandemic created such stigma

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The Gamblers

Who can tell the good from the bad

We think in terms of benefitting ourselves

What’s good for us, our lives, our wealth

Our indiscriminate culture of one

So what is good for ourselves, we do believe

Is good for all, as the home team wins

When the storm passes through

Its damages are awful 

Until the rebuilders come through

To make things new and fresh

Making money on the work they do

The thief, as he plies his trade

Sees his work as good for him

The losers are those who are taken from

Winners, losers, investors, cheats

Its all a gamble, yet in the end

Someone has to lose the game

We just hope that it will not be us

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From His Heart

*This poem is dedicated to Garry Marshall, whose work in the field of entertainment was an inspiration to many.

The man spent much of his life making laughter

In each of his viewers, he inspired joy

The little things that he did to create family

From among a group of strangers

From among remote people around the globe

Everyone felt welcome through his work, his job

Yet he never missed a beat of moving forward

He always kept his heart pure, his focus friendly

And he brought a thrill to the audience

His confidence swelled up in everything he did

And brought a rainbow over everything and everyone

We laughed with him and through him

And learned the meaning of integrity from his heart

First

Runners at their mark, focusing

On the goal some distance down the track

Will it be a sprint or a marathon

Depends upon the attitudes they hold

They have trained but not practiced

Their muscles are powerful, their minds not

If they seem to struggle it will be harder

Yet if they just stride along

It will be safer, it will be safer

The fans in the stands watch carefully

The man with the starting pistol steps out

He raises his arm, says, mark-set-go

He fires his shot into the air

And the runners spring to action

They push themselves to the limits

And one, filled with self-importance

Crosses the finish line first