Wishing all of you blessed Easter!
Enjoy this gorgeous piece of music.
Video: Youtube… the Calahan sisters
celebration
My Most Shining Moment
In June of 2007, my two sons and I drove from North Carolina and Virginia to visit my mom in Eastern Pennsylvania. She was celebrating her 93rd, and last birthday. She passed away in August of that year. It was a wonderful visit. She was so happy to see her grandsons, and the love was felt all around. Though our visit was short, it was a very meaningful time for all of us.
My mother’s love shared
Summer’s most shining moment ,,,
August she was gone
***
Photo: Chris Roth
Photo: Don Ziegler
Lillian at d’Verse, asked us to think about our most shining moment. She referred to the end of March Madness when they shoe clips of the most shinning moments of the tournament! Our assignment was to write a Haibun of prose, followed by a traditional Haiku, describing our most shining moment. There are several that I could have chosen, such as our wedding, births of our boys, our 50th, etc. , but I decided to choose my last visit with my mother.
Join us at: https://dversepoets.com
When It’s My Time
When it’s my time // let it be a celebration
Not down and sorrowful;
A reminder of all the good things life offered
And the things I chose to accept.
Let it be filled with music and guitars
Singing the old songs that stirred my soul.
Make it a time to remember the good times;
Stories shared that warm the heart.
Celebrate my passing with joy and happiness;
Friends and family coming together as one
Finding strength, joy, and hope.
Let tears mingle with laughter and song;
Knowing that I had a great life
Filled with great family and friends.
As my spirit rises to join the Spirit of God, my creator,
Know that life goes on // both here and there.
*****
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Happy Lights
Some people seem to never get enough of Christmas. They love to decorate and put up lights everywhere. I took this photo in my neighborhood on my way home this evening. My neighbors up the street really get a lot of happiness from decorating and from knowing others love to drive by and see them as well. Of course, there are always a few Grinches who think they have gone to extreme. What do you think!??
Christmas lights shining
Bringing joy and happiness
For me… I believe
***********
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Heart Perspective
Appreciating the blessings of life reminds us that it is not the things we have but the people around us who bring out the love in our hearts. As our families gather, let us celebrate those in our life who have made a difference, both those present and those who have passed.
Thanksgiving
A heart perspective of love
Gratitude follows
**************
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!
Fourth of July
When I was growing up the Fourth of July was our time to go visit grandparents and relatives who lived four hours away. It included an extended family picnic in a field along the back mountain, where wonderful dishes of food were spread down the extended table. Home-made ice cream, hand cranked in a wooden bucket filled with ice and rock salt, topped off the meal. A softball game in the pasture field included young and old. It was always a grand time.
A few years ago it occurred to me that Independence may not mean the same thing to all Americans. In America’s past, all men were not created equal in spite of what the was written in the Declaration of Independence. Amazingly, people are resilient and rise up from slavery, hardship, bigotry, and pain to become the people we are today. There is no going back to fix the wrongs that have been done. But we can determine how we will live from here on into the future. It is an ongoing lesson for all of us. This poem originated from those insights.
Fourth of July
When all the fireworks fade into ashes
And the Bar-B-Que grills have cooled
When the wide eyes of the children close in blissful sleep
Do you ever wonder
what Independence Day really means
to the ancestors of African slaves
brought here in the holds of ships
who look back at our forefathers
who bought and sold them
Forefathers who wrote “all men are created equal”
And realize the dark ones were not included
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “less than human”
Or perhaps to the Native Americans
Who loved the free and open spaces
Only to be run off their lands
Herded like cattle into the desert
Left where summer heat scorched them
and winter snows chilled them to the bone
Where animals were few and crops refused to grow
Were they a part of “All men are created equal?”
No, in the words of our former Presidents
“They are just savages… they were less than human”
Or perhaps to the “Illegal Aliens” who scrub our floors
Pick our fruits and vegetables build our houses
Mow our lawns and mulch our shrubs
Are they part of “All men are created equal?”
No, in the words of many of us
“They are just ‘wetbacks”
“Nameless illegals”
“Who should be sent back where they came from”
Though we may not say it some of us think
They too are less than human
How quickly we forget the dark side…
How soon we lay aside our guilt insult or pain…
We rise as a flower in the sidewalk crack
Stepped on over and over again
Yet we rise and bloom from the strength of our roots
Independence Day is a time to “Bloom”
To draw from the strength of our roots
Not to forget but to move on
To all that we can become
In a land where in God’s eyes
“All men are truly created equal!”
