The slowly sinking evening sun

sent light dancing

off the water

left by the burst

of sudden rain and lent an air

of magic to

an otherwise

average day.

Each tiny droplet hanging from

the trees seized our

eyes and asked that

we too join the dance.

                                                             JDG

” Have you tried being gentle? ” she

asked when she was

only seven,

and , of course, that

was exactly what I hadn’t

done. Over the

years, this oldest

granddaughter has

tried to soften my approach, yet

the going’s been

slow and the task

a daunting one.

                                                              JDG

We can’t compel compassion

any more than

we can compel

a plant to grow.

All we can do is prepare the

soil and tend

the seed and wait.

For those of us

conditioned to make things happen,

the waiting is

hard. Doing is

much easier.

                                             JDG

My granddaughter, Kali, swears I

told her a tale

in which Pedro,

the Mexican

Frog, went searching for his soul all

because he’d heard

that if he found

his soul, he could

have all the lima beans he’d want.

If true, I must

have been either

drunk or desperate.

                                                                             JDG

If it takes three hundred thousand

times of paying

attention to

what arises

before real freedom comes, I guess

at sixty-nine

I’d better get

started, for as

the saying goes, there’s no time like

the present and

the present is

just what I’ve got.

                                                                 JDG

The pink, cloud-enfolded sky leads

us west toward home

as flickering

fireflies bid

farewell to the departing sun.

Evening slowly

 wraps us in her

loose embrace and

softly sings our cares away while

gentling us

into the darkness

of that good night.

                                                             JDG

Our once gentle calico cat

must have gone and

attended an

assertiveness

class. She’ll no longer quietly

sit and wait  for

  empty laps, or

behind -the-ear

  scratches.  Now she just provokes  with

pesky meows,

pestering pokes,

 and huffy hisses.

                                                   JDG

Holding steady is not the same

as holding tight.

To stay a course

for any stretch

of time takes a certain relaxed

surety, a

willingness to

trust, adjust, and

realign when unexpected 

winds howl through and

toss about our

  uneasy craft.

                                                          JDG