PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Today I’m grateful to understand how love is universal…

I can’t believe there’s anyone in this world who would doubt it…

It is so universal I believe…no one should ever be left out of it

or have to live without it.

As I see human flowers dying from lack of love all across this world

I wish more people would give more thought 

to something  Oscar Wilde said:

Keep love in your heart.

A life without it 

is like a sunless garden

when the flowers are all dead.

On our way up to the cabin this year…thinking about our partnership

we wondered in all our years together…how many times have we made this trip.

When you decide to build a life together…you’re usually busy building it…

and like the construction of a quilt…

you don’t often have time to think about what you’re building 

until it has been built.

But once it is…

You have a chance to sit back and think about what brought you to this day…

and all the many pieces you have stitched together along the way.

You start to wonder how many years have we been together

How many times have we sat down to talk…

How many times have we laughed or cried

How many miles have we walked.

How many babies have we held, how many words and moments have we rhymed,

How many sunsets have we watched, how mountains have we climbed.

How many times have we been happy…how many times have we been scared

How many meals have we eaten together, how many holidays have we shared.

How many times have we talked about our dreams, our wishes hopes and fears

How many touches, whispers, hugs and kisses…how many smiles and tears 

Of course these questions cannot be answered…

One…because they are only meant to bring a smile

as we think about our life…from the moment we first met

And two…for an even simpler reason…

we’re not done counting yet.`

Vincent Van Gogh, an artist who through his art and life pulled on our heartstrings,

said the best way to know God…is…to love many things…

I like that…I like to think that God is love…and that Vincent Van Gogh was right…

So I will list a few things that I love…and I’ll start with his Starry Night.

These are in no particular order….besides Van Gogh…I love Monet 

I love rabbits, sunrises, chocolate…I love the night…I love the day

I love to read a good book, I love my wife, my friends…my family….

I love toasting marshmallows over a campfire…I love games and poetry.

I love strolling along the beach, donuts, holidays, walking in the rain.

I love trees and birds and sunsets…I love the whistle of a train.

I love love dogs and cats, I love to travel…I love that one time we flew first class!

I love kindness, pizza, art, music, I love the smell of new mown grass.

I love when our house is full of people laughing, I love taking naps

I love cookies, bookstores, clouds and stars…I love looking at a map.

I love the silence of the morning…I love a good road trip

I love hugs and babies and candy bars…I love tall sailing ships.

I like to think with each thing I love I name…this never-ending list I am compiling…

That, if Vincent’s right and God is love…then somewhere he is smiling.

Could this be what she intended….the way he operates….

Because the more time I spend loving things…the less time I have to hate.

Hmmmm the more I love…the closer I am to God…

I love that I finally understand it…

and I love that I also know why God is smiling…

Because…that’s just the way she planned it.

Today I’m grateful for all the people seated next to me

who accompany me on my journey every day…

And I’m grateful to be saving seats for the those

who will be joining me along the way.

We’ve al witnessed the ripple effect of tossing a stone into a pond…

How the ripples from the point where that stone hit’s the water…

extend far out…beyond.

Ripples of love have the same effect…

once love is tossed into the waters of our heart…

we never really know how long those ripples will extend…

how far out they will go.

And just like the pond…once love is tossed into the waters of our heart

and it’s ripples find their way beyond our shore…. 

everyone those ripples touch…is changed forevermore.

We know couples…friends of ours who fell in love…and thus

the ripples of their love and joy extended out to us.

For therein lies the beauty of love…

we need not be present once we’ve seen it soar.

We feel it every time their ripples wash upon our shore.

There is a paradox, however, for that same love

which brings us so much joy, so much comfort…so much relief…

when tragedy strikes can lead to so much pain, so much suffering…so much grief.

And even though it is a tragedy we know with the help of friends and family

we will weather….

from that moment until the end of time…

ripples of love and grief will ride ashore together.

I suppose one consolation to the sorrow and grief

we try desperately to rid ourselves of…

is knowing we would never feel these painful ripples of grief…

If we hadn’t first….felt those wonderful ripples of love.

And knowing for the rest of our life those are the ripples

that will continue our heart and soul to fill…

because ripples of grief will recede over time…

while ripples of love…they never will.

May you be blessed even if you don’t believe in a God

an entity who’s up there…somewhere…looking after you…. 

to believe in kindness, 

generosity 

acceptance

compassion 

sharing

friendship

and love

after all…when you stop to think about it….

isn’t that what any God would be asking you to do?

Today I’m grateful for having eyes

that as I walk in nature or just along the street

Look for the beauty in everything I see

and everyone I meet

We’ve all lost or will lose someone we love…a family member, a friend

and we all know when that person dies…our love for them will never end.

We’re lucky our creators and Mother Nature have chosen to be kind…

as they remind us every day of their memories and the love they left behind.

Because our memories never sleep…because they flow like and endless stream.

they may visit us at anytime…why, they can show up in our dreams.

They may show up as we look out on a gleaming ocean or a field of glistening snow…

They may float into our minds as on a summer breeze they blow.

They may show up in the springtime…as the sunrise meets the plain…

They may land upon our shoulder in a gentle autumn rain.

Their memory may rise when we hear the wind whistling in the trees

or from a flock of birds in flight…

We may find a memory of them as we watch the clouds or on a moonlit starry night.

Yes, thinking when they die they are gone…would be a huge mistake…

for their memories stay with us…in our dreams and every moment we’re awake.

It’s a comforting thought…knowing we will always have memories of their love…

that we will always feel joy because our paths have intertwined… 

And comforting to think someone will smile

as they’re reminded of our love…

and by a memory we’ve left behind