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- 04/10/2025
- 1,073 Words
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- 36 Comments
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
For Every Season - 1. Chapter 1 Companions
For Every Season
With each dawn a new surprise
Gifts from a stronger sun,
benevolent in its warmth
as it awakens our earthly plain
Lily shoots weren’t there yesterday
Nor were buds on dogwoods looking fatter,
awaited proof a fresh kaleidoscope is coming,
it’s wondrous pattern as yet unknown
We are blessed to bear witness
to this endless, everchanging array
and I chafe at the promise
of what we might receive this year
What will the Mother do with her paint
What new brushstrokes will she use
to decorate her latest season
on this cusp of riotous reveals
So much to look forward to
and so much to be thankful for
I beseech her for the blue violets to come back
as I wait with bated breath for varied signs of life
poking through a solid carpet of last fall’s leaves,
their colors forever diminished by the pristine layer
once shimmering like magic crystals
when a colder sun was active
We are blessed by Her limitless wealth,
Her endless palette of hues and shades,
and Her exquisite adaptions to the changing landscape
which can serve to take this mortal’s breath away
My contributions to my fluid garden
change and evolve like Hers
Will the startling mini orange roses make a return?
I have not yet decided, but blue flowers might be nice
The Fight for Inclusion
Born in the fifties, I observed those defined roles
entrenched like the roots of a vicious vine,
trapping my mother within the confines
of a patriarchal structure built on cowardly fear
Women weren’t allowed to be smarter in that prison,
so careers were mostly about hairnets, aprons, and typing
And only if there wasn’t a man around to say no
was a woman allowed to reach for something more
Wartime efforts forgotten, independence became a threat
and ‘June Cleavers’ became the approved role models
for many little girls spanning two decades
The system pretended to work, while a movement seethed
Change was swift for some, though not so for others
Divorced or single women did what was necessary
while others craved that independence once tasted
And so, that suffocating power of men got gently steamrolled
A sweeping social revolution fanned the flames
as ‘the fairer sex’ clawed rightly for their space,
and the world was better for it, and men were better for it
whether they acknowledged that truth or not
Fast forward decades, and oh how we have failed to learn
The audacity of trying to curtail and confine once more,
with a counter-revolution of pathetic insecurity weaving its tenuous net
and proclaiming once again women are not as capable
Taking away their rights and owning their bodies
Is supposed to put them back in the kitchen and under thumb
while pushing out babies of a particular color
so weak men can thump their chests and insist it’s God’s way
How foolish this movement is, attacking mothers and daughters
while some women run countries despite a far harder path
I remember when wives were beaten under blind eyes and turned heads
Bore witness myself to such travesty as a child and a teen
It was shameful then and is shameful now, yet still goes on,
and anyone who thinks it makes them a man
is a fool of the highest order, bereft of sense and sensibility
For women really are the smarter ones, deserving inclusion
They did it once, and they will do it again
And many of us men will be where we should be,
at their backs, voting the right way,
while acknowledging their special mix of courage and compassion
Companions
First there was Patches, a red and white spaniel pup
He slept with me, and I cried for days when he left,
a casualty of my aunt’s limited patience for his bark
I never forgot him, or that pain
Next was Tiny, the pint-sized Romeo impossible to contain,
who spread abundant love across the neighborhood
He returned every evening, smug and hungry
Until one night he didn’t
Scarlett was a revelation, an Irish Water Spaniel
Queenly, scary smart and ball-crazy
It took two interviews to procure her from a reluctant family,
and I grieved when cancer took her away from me
Dinah was the only female in the litter
A Bouvier who stared at me while the seven boys clamored
My choice was destined, until a speeding car took her many years later
Only one mistake did she ever make, and it cost me my heart
Her daughters, Aylah and Becca, were my consolers
They missed her terribly, morose for weeks
And when their time came, I mourned their passing
as I had so many before
I wanted no dogs after that, certainly not such a high-priced one,
but Mallory, an American Bull Dog climbing into my lap said differently
The kids and I adored her for twelve wonderful years
But the second bout of cancer proved too much
And then came Cookie, my sedately rambunctious Border Collie
Perfect in every way, though needy for attention
She gives my life daily purpose
As we roam the farm and explore our world
Each companion unique, none can live forever
no matter how we might hope
But they pack so much love into the years we have them
Family members all, they are touchstones of my existence
Haiku
#1
Our world has changed
High crimes and misdemeanors
have lost their import
#2
In a world gone mad
why are children sacrificed
because of their skin
#3
Do you really care
what color a person is
or who they might love?
#4
In my fantasies
opportunity exists
not just on paper
#5
In God we may trust
But people must not use him
to justify hate
#6
I could spend all day
In a meadow of flowers
with you by my side
#7
With age comes pity
for ourselves and for others,
this special kinship
#8
Love one another
Despite our differences
For hate darkens souls
#9
My heart bears its aches
because it means I have loved
and would love again
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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