Today my thoughts turned to the past,
to a time when
I was often
scolded by my
mother for infractions both large
and small. Grandpop
would invite me
to sit beside
him on the stoop, and tucking me
beneath his arm,
he’d say, as we
peered together
at the ground, ” Let’s just look at this,
Joanie.” Beyond
feeling accepted
and held, I have
no memory. I know only
that I felt safe
enough to look.
Now, years later,
I realize it’s no accident
that I came to
name this first blog
“A Holding Place”.
JDG
Everywhere I turn
the roads seem too steep. I must
find another way.
These endless detours drive me
nuts until I pause
and ask,”What would Toby do?”
I know he wouldn’t
be barking up the wrong tree
’cause for him every
tree’s the right tree whether there’s
a bird there or not.
Could every road be the right
road if I just shifted gears?
JDG
The hills lay pale with frost.
Trees shiver in the wind.
Overhead a hawk circles,
silently searching for unsuspecting prey.
A distant train sounds its lengthy call.
A lone dog answers in the cold morning light.
I choose to linger by the softly burning fire.
JDG
How I envy those
with an even temperament.
I grow impatient
with my own impatience. My
anger really stirs
me up. What if I began
to look at all this
differently, sat back, viewed it
as life flowing fast through me?
JDG
The focus of life’s
mathematics has changed from
multiplication
to division, addition
to subtraction as
I slowly make my way back
to the zero from
which I came and discover
how full emptiness can be.
JDG
“Doggone it !” I said
as I looked around the room.
Sofa? Dog on it.
Chair? Dog there. I guess I’ll go
and rest on the only
spot that’s left – that warm and comfy
dog bed on the floor. Woops! Cat’s there.
JDG
Tires rotated,
headlights replaced, and oil
changed, my car is road
ready again. I wish it
were as easy to
set my weary self right and
get back on the road
once more. Yellow leaves shimmer
as blue birds fly through
sun-lit sky. That’s enough. I’m
up and running once again.
JDG
It’s one of those days when even
the sun has lost
its glow and hangs
there, round and pale,
in an indifferent sky. Though
I may yearn for
another sun
in another
kind of sky, I’ve learned, at last, not to
lose myself in
wishing for other
suns and skies.
JDG
The holly berries
start their slow passage to red
as I prepare to
say goodbye. Those berries and
those trees have helped me
through some tight passages of
my own. Their ever –
changing constancy has held
firm and true. To them I bow.
JDG
There was a moment
when the world was alive with
gold. Now the splendor
is in the remembering,
in slowly letting
go, learning to find at last
beauty in all that’s laid bare.
JDG
