Little Anna

I frequented a coffee shop a few years ago that had live music on Friday and Saturday evenings. One of the groups who came played and sang with great gusto. Their families often came with them . One of the players had a little four year old daughter with long flowing ringlets who would dance in the middle of the floor as they would play. She held her arms straight out and twirled around to the music. It was one of the sweetest sights I have seen. I wrote this originally as a song as a tribute to Little Anna.

Dance Little Anna

Dance little Anna …sweet Cinderella

Spin and twirl and dance the night away

Close your eyes  …spin and smile

Feel your spirit swirling across the floor

Dance little Anna  … feel the music

Let the rhythm fill your very soul

One day soon you’ll grow up

Then you’ll have to slow up

But, don’t let them steal your spirit away

 

So Dance little Anna …sweet Cinderella

Spin and twirl and dance the night away

Close your eyes …spin and smile

Feel your spirit swirling across the floor

Dance little Anna …lost in the moment

Let your dreams come floating from your mind

I hope that when you grow up

Your dreams will never slow up

Don’t let them steal your spirit away

 

So Dance little Anna …sweet Cinderella

Spin and twirl and dance the night away

Close your eyes …spin and smile

Feel your spirit swirling across the floor

Dance little Anna … feel the music

Let the rhythm fill your very soul

One day soon you’ll grow up

Then you’ll have to slow up

But, don’t let them steal your spirit away

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A song written for the sweet little four year old girl who danced and swayed while here daddy played music at the

Via Cappuccino coffee house in Rocky Mount, NC

This is a reblog from earlier last summer.

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Opposites Attract

I heard that opposites attract. This was true of my Grandparents who died when I was six years old. Grandpa was strong and composed and Grandma was outgoing and full of energy. She tended to be impatient at times, but was a loving caring person. I am writing a biographical fiction about their life. Much of what was passed down is only a few sentence describing events in their life. I am taking those events and embellishing them with what I think might have occurred.  This poem is an example of one event, their courtship and marriage. The earlier poem, Goodbye Little Sister, is another event I decided to write about. I hope to have a book of stories for my grandchildren about their life  that are based on facts, but stories made up by me.

Opposites Attract

Strong young Christian a hard-working man

Living miles away with his Ohio clan

A concrete mason and veterinarian on the side

Tall and handsome with a smile you can’t hide

Folks from Pennsylvania traveled west to visit

Family and friends and church folks that fidget

Daughter Linda a young beauty vivacious

A smart young woman with smile infectious

Christian a reserved guy and not too forward

Found this outgoing girl not backward

She made her way to him through the mingle

Introducing herself her smile made him tingle

She told him her story of a valley so big

Between Jack’s and Stone Mountains where they all lived

Amish and Mennonites with red barns farmed the land

Dairy cows and alfalfa fields shocking corn by hand

She came back again on the train to be there

Anticipating the visits, he could not wait to see her

It didn’t take long for this smart young woman

To win his heart she didn’t have to woo him

They spent hours together each time that she came

He showed her his work marked with his name

A year of letters and visits to see him

He asked for her hand she didn’t refuse him

Plans were made for a big family wedding

Family and friends all celebrated their joining

They settled in a house at the edge of his town

Raised a family saw tragedy and spread joy all around

Grandpa’s fine concrete lasted a hundred years or more

Grandma’s good heart always looked out for the poor

They left a legacy we all can be proud of

And stories to tell from two opposites we all love

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

God of the Universe

God of the Universe

Did all this happen with one big bang

The sun the planets and the earth on which we live

Seems the only explanation available to some

To me it seems like a stretch of imagination

A Star Wars cataclysmic event of epic proportion

Assuming all this simply evolved in a blast from the past

From cosmic dust and random selection we emerged

No doubt big bangs happen throughout the universe

Splitting and joining of matter are a given constant

But what about you and me what do you see

Chemicals joining somehow coming to life in the sea

It all evolved without a plan or means to survive

When I look at my world and the stars above me

The shape of a flower or wings of a butterfly I wonder

Thinking there may be no architect behind this order

Those pieces just simply don’t fit together

Evolutionary changes take place that is obvious

We see it throughout the species

But how do you get Spirit from chemicals joining

How do you get Life from dust and ashes

How does one evolve the Breathe of God

Water itself doesn’t make it happen nor does chemical reaction

It takes a creator with Spirit Power and great imagination

Beyond what you or I can fathom or begin to comprehend

When we observe our world looking out into the heavens

Denying the existence of a divine creator

Takes a stretch of imaginative faith beyond compare

How do you explain that Spirit match igniting life

Takes much more faith than believing spiritual stories

Man has long created God in his own limited image

Metaphors of good and evil judgement and mercy

Personification explaining the unexplainable in people speak

Organization and design doesn’t just happen out of the blue

Neither does the spirit of mankind come without one greater

There is more we don’t know that makes this happen

I believe the God of the universe designed it all

Breathing life and breath into our ever evolving soul

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

 

Superficial

Call Me Superficial

Call me superficial when seeing a picture

Causes words to escape me

When beauty takes precedence over substance

And I am drawn by what my eyes behold

Call me superficial when a picture in a story

Catches my attention and sets my mind on the fire

My imagination soars and transports my soul

To realms beyond word or pen

Call me superficial when melody and harmony

Lift my spirit from the very first note

Only to be followed by words

Adding to or taking away my feeling of awe

Call me superficial when the background blurs

Seven layers deep

And the last brush stroke is the first I see

All that work labor and toil

Only to end in an accent of light against dark

Beauty against substance

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

 

Pain

Somewhere Above the Pain

Somewhere above the pain there is life

A place where one can live and function

Where hopes and dreams can still be achieved

Living above the pain does not make it go away

It only allows one to be in control

Pain lies rooted in one’s being

A constant reminder

Rearing its ugly head

Vying for control

Only to be suppressed once more

By hope determination and faith

Unwilling to resign oneself to fate

Knowing that above the pain

Above the pills

There is light and hope

It is a choice one must make

Every day all day long

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*A tribute to my wife Ruth, who makes this choice every day, all day long!

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

(Reposted from 2016)

 

 

First Impressions

First impressions are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. There is much you don’t see that only comes from learning to know someone. Listening and communicating takes you to a much deeper level than first your impression. In some cases, first impressions might not draw you to a person, but after learning to know them you find there is a whole other side to them that no one sees.  These photos are the other side of the guitar I repaired and painted. Yesterday you saw only the front first impression. Here it the other side!

First impressions

What you see is not always what you get

Surface images  just one-sided perception

Seeing superficially without depth

Judging quickly from first impressions

Assuming we know the whole by a part

First slide on our screen incomplete

Browse mind’s leaves to see hidden wonders

Images of beauty depth beyond our first impressions

Jewels of wonder amazement  and knowledge

Crystals buried deep in geodes of the mind

Waiting to be cracked open and beauty revealed

 

Knowing first impression’s  evoke invitations to delve deeper

Wonders and knowledge beyond imagination

Not ascertained at first impression

Guitar Painting and Photos: Dwight L. Roth

 

 

 

 

Restored

Broken

Perspective is everything in life. I have always been one to pick up objects that people put out on the street and take them home to fix.  I see treasures where others see junk. Today I finished a project given to me by a friend. This guitar was dropped and broken and about to be thrown in the dumpster when they remembered me. The fixer of broken things. I think of this in relation to life and my relationship with God. I am glad God does not trash us when we are broken. Read the poem to see how it turned out.

Broken

What do you see when something is broken

An object to discard

Or an object restored

Half-full or half-empty

Perspective is everything

Affects all of life

We all become broken

At some time in our life

Thinking we are beyond repair

But God sees us otherwise

And restores us with his grace

His perspective

His Love

Are always there

We always have our place

Photos and guitar repairs and painting: Dwight L. Roth

Note: (I published this when I first started my blog last summer. Only a few of my followers got to see it so I am reblogging it again. Hope you like it!)

Photos and guitar repair work: Dwight L.Roth

Truth

Chasing Truth 

I run toward truth

Arms wide open as a lover’s embrace

Breathless with anticipation

I move through the swamp’s fog

Heading for higher ground

 

I reach for truth 

Gathering it as bort on the diamond cutter’s floor

Only to find the chips

Are parts of a much larger facet

Shining as they may 

They are only the edges of a greater glory

 

I grasp truth

 As a child clings to his toy

Thinking no one else will possess it but me

Settling for sparkling dust on the cutting room floor

 And seeking no more

 

I find truth

Shining in all its faceted glory

Set in nature’s gold and love’s embrace

Only to tarnish it

With Id and Ego

Thinking it is I who makes it shine

 

I face truth

Dimmed by all its light

Surely if I change it some,

It will suit me much better when not so bright

 

So, I grind it

 With mortise and pestle

‘Till all it becomes is dust in the bowl

 Never again to be part of the whole

Perfection

Uniqueness is Perfection

It is not perfection that makes us special

It‘s uniqueness and character

It is not smooth faces that tells the story

The gray and the wrinkles are our glory

It’s the wrinkles of time that show who we are

 

Years of strain and years of pain

Bring out the character in everyone

Allows us to remember all the fun

 

Botox and silicone can stretch us tight

Filling up wrinkles and sags

It stretches us tight and we look a fright

When the make-up comes off each night

 

After years of work, play, and fun

The thing that makes us special

Is not perfection or a smooth complexion

Our uniqueness makes us the exception.

 

So why worry over what time has wrought

Thinking we can make it better

We create a mask with our aim for perfection

Hiding our uniqueness and losing our perception

That aging person in this vessel of clay

Is a reflection of His work

The unique image God created

In His eyes

We’re unique and highly rated

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Now That You’re Gone

Now That You’re Gone

Now that you’re gone what can I say

 That hasn’t already been said

The good and bad the sweet and sad

So why say more

No more questions No more excuses No more reasons

 Already mouthed a thousand times

Imprints on my heart

Hurricanes of emotion cutting deep

Sometimes pounding

Sometimes they gently creep

Like grains of sand on an evening beach

Ebbing flowing soothing all the footprints of time

Leaving only diamonds of light glistening on the sand

 Answers sifting through the fingers of my hand

The warm sun sends its healing rays

The only thing left to say

Is

I Love You!

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth