Day 311 - Thank You

Thank You

Merci

Danke

תודה

Having never heard a bomb drop, I thank you.

You who lost her leg when the explosion hit,

You who pulled your friends from beneath the rubble,

You who kept the bombs away,

Thank you.

As someone who is not scarred with bullet marks, I thank you.

You who walked through deserts and tundras,

You who gave your lives so I may keep mine,

You the veterans of every war, every where,

Thank you.

As a care free young girl, I thank you.

I who may dance never fearing land mines,

I who can shout at the top of my lungs my freedoms,

I who dares to dream of peace one day,

I thank you.

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Note from the Poet & Photographer:

The photographs demonstrate the sign language sign for "thank you".

Day 289 - Purple Tree

Blooming in the brightest of spirits

Behind the ordinary tree it sits

Let's plant a tree like this everywhere

To show the hurting how much we care

Purple joy on every single leaf

To prove our faith in our belief

That equality will be found for all

As surely as tree colors change in the fall

Day 232 - Only Paper

I am disappearing

But no one seems to notice

Even I cannot truly feel it

As though I never existed

It is not how they describe death

No, rather just air being

In a place untraditional it seems

But after all

I am only made of paper

To slice up and throw away

Leaving nothing more than vapor

Or so I wish they would say

I hold on to what is staying

Sort of waiting until I fade

Even more, because it happens

And that is just fine

For ordinary history

Such as mine, always leaving

In portals through our heads

That memory claims to control

I am only made of paper

To slice up and throw away

Leaving nothing more than vapor

Or so I wish they would say

But they will not, say anything

Just watch me, wash me, away

That is what I meant in the end

As I am disappearing

Day 174 - Remembering

In the lights too bright for soft eyes

Remember me

In the dark of many a hidden surprise

Remember me

I lived happily true

Remember me

Still I lived close to you

Remember me

I brighten shadows into truth

I remember you

I embody the age of youth

I remember you

I live with joy in my every vein

I remember you

I am set to begin once again

Day 169 - Days We’re Supposed to Remember

Walking through the traditional processional that swells

Cheering and noble marches are the dominant sound

Flowers in the arms of girls and on boys in the lapels

Smiles and the flashing of cameras all around

But what will you remember of the crowd

The voices that call out from families so proud

The time will come when you will look back

At these photographs with laughing eyes

There is nothing that the moment will lack

And in it you may even discover a surprise

That someone younger, yet wiser will note

And in your reminiscing you will joyfully dote

You see the days we are meant to remember

They stay in extraordinary ways, without reason

Some with the faintest glow of a dying ember

But often more like the one forgotten season

Of our life that is only in the taste of the air

Or in the color of the blossoms once everywhere

Day 165 - Princess of Memory

Within golden locks of yesteryear

Sit the quiet mystery of joys gone by

Shadowed in melodies we no longer hear

Breathing the final eternal sigh

Out into the ethers of the the sky's eternity

In the blue of your eyes it is all that I see

Speaking upon moments that fade into time

In swirling mists and pale soft skin

As white and gentle as the powdered mime

Who in the box must always begin

Yet somehow she spins him out and far away

Upon the winds of things they have yet to say

Many a story was created in her light

That once never meant quite the same thing

All beyond our own far too human sight

She to the center of all life must bring

The imaginary moments she holds in a chest

Of gold and medallions and all of the best

Day 147 - Memorial - anything to help preserve the memory of a person or event

The red is your old best friends dress

The last time you were back home

Maybe it reminds you when your troop was in duress

And yet all you could do was as a survivor roam

I wish the wreath was for the wintry Christmas holiday

All of those when you could not be here

But instead it represents things you can no longer say

Because they sent you straight to heaven my dear

I like to see the blue as the car you used to drive

Laughing with your hands in the air, so free

Memories like those, when we felt most alive

That is what the blue helps me to see

The ribbons would match your brand new bike

That we took turns on when we were young

Remember when we took them on that hike?

Can you still hear the topmost bell that we rung?

Finally the white comes easiest to me

It is the shade of the perfect dove

It speaks of peace so simply

It sings out my heart's love

That keeps your memory fresh even now

With the stone in place that begins to show wear

A long time ago we stopped asking how

Now I put these flowers to show I remember and care

Day 118 - One Life Ago

One Life Ago

That cozy little place you see just there?

One life ago it was filled with love and care,

But now it is empty and hollow

Always waiting for a better tomorrow.

I entered that house in my dreams.

One life ago, envisioning the golden sun's beams

But soon it was shuttered up, harsh and cold

And such visions seem now, creaking and old.

One life ago it was your favorite place

It lit the shadows upon your fair face.

One life ago, we would stand together

That seems to be happening now, never.

One life ago that is all I ask for now

If only we could travel back then, but how?

One life ago is one much too far

Best to stay where it is that we are.

Day 91 - At Last Gone

At Last Gone

Broken memories falling down

All the lives from this small town

Are now forgotten here

No one lasts to shed a tear

When do you at last no longer live?

When you have no more left to give

And no more is given for you

It is then that your life is through

But the light shed down from heaven

Brightening the bluest of sky

Proves that not all is broken

There are still those souls soaring high