POETRY PAGE FOUR

"Sands Of Time"

I live inside the hour glass

Searching through the shadows past

Images real, and ghosts invented

Sometimes happy, but often tormented

I’m ill at ease while I’m contented . . .

Oh what a bog it is in here

Smiles and frowns, an occasional tear

Looking for things that used to be

Break the glass and set me free!

I’m biding time to launder the stain

Here comes a memory I’d not retained

. . . Vaguely I recall a cold driving rain

Oh God they've turned it upside down

The sand's begun another round

Break this glass and let me out

How many eons must I shout?

Oh yes, I know this is absurd

But what is written is the permanent word!

I’m not afraid, nor by myself

I see many others upon this shelf

And while I try to be patient and mild

This brain of mine is running wild

But wait! I see a friend of mine

Forgotten in these sands of time

Oh blissful now, I’ll seize the day

An inner voice showed me the way

I’ll wait in here for my name to shine

And laugh about the Sands of Time . . . .

"A Riddle Within This Rhyme"

Daddy, I wish you’d come back home

just for an hour or two,

There’s so much running through my mind-

I can’t tell anybody but you.

Just as you said, I finally grew up,

and I’m not so sure that it’s well

Like you foretold me so long ago,

"Life can be rougher than Hell."

I guess I thought I’d learned a lot

but now the joke’s on me

Why don’t you just come on back

and tell me the way that you see?

I have a feeling deep in my heart,

I wonder what it can be?

It keeps me wide awake sometimes

and my spirit is speaking to me

There’s a lot of guys out there

who want a piece of my time;

Daddy, what do they really want?

There’s a riddle within this rhyme . . .

I think I’ve got it all worked out

or am I really blind?

Should I give up all of myself

even the depth of my mind?

I guess there’s nothing I wouldn’t do

to sit and talk with you now

I’d do anything in this old world

But no one can tell me how

Things are confused and so am I

although I work and travail

But you planted the seed of faith in my soul

And I know that I will prevail

I just can’t help it, I’m all shook up

and running around in a whirl

OK, Daddy , I’ve got a grip

for I am still your strong little girl

You raised me with such Dignity

and "tough as nails" you said,

I took upon your character

and my shoulders carry my head

Now my back is straight and my head is high

and there is nothing to fear

I can’t see your physical form

but I know your essence is here

I’ll try to make you proud of me

just like I always did

Though I am such a woman

acting like a kid

I’ll be all right, you know I will

I’ll be the best inside

You’ll smile when you look down from There

and look upon me with pride . . . .

I’ve said all this, but even still

I want that you should know

I’ll carry all you taught me

every place I go . . . .

"Gone With The Wind"

Back in the Sixties, a song was wrote

about political baggage we were made to tote,

War going on, and shoved down our throat ---

No one and everyone was a suitable scapegoat . . .

No logical answers could seem to be found,

and the Revolution did hover around---

None in The White House, nor on the ground,

Was there anywhere, a mind that was sound?

I’ve searched for the answers, just glance at my boots,

There’s holes in the soles, and I’ve lost all my roots.

Now thirty years later, we’re not on the mend

My long hair is blowin’ along in the wind. . . .

Here comes The Millennium, Oh! What will we do-

Are religions and philosophies tried and true?

Well frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,

As long as I’m certain of what I am . . .

That’s all that matters, and I trust myself;

My sins and errors are displayed on the shelves.

I’ll keep on walkin’ and I’ll never bend,

and let my long hair be gone with the wind . . . .

"LITTLE GEM"

 

WHERE DID YOU GO, LITTLE JIM, LITTLE GEM?

WHY DID YOU GO, WERE YOU FOLLOWING THEM?

WHY ON EARTH COULD YOU NEVER FIND PEACE?

DID YOU FIND THE RIGHT DOOR, DID YOU FIND SWEET RELEASE?

YOU HAD EVERYTHING GOING FOR YOU, PEOPLE THOUGHT,

BUT I KNEW THAT YOUR HAPPINESS COULD NEVER BE BOUGHT.

YOU WERE MY FRIEND IF I EVER NEEDED

AND I KNEW YOU WERE SAD, I SHOULD HAVE HEEDED.

YOU ACTUALLY GAVE ME THE SHIRT OFF YOUR BACK,

GENEROUS AND SWEET, YOU HAD QUITE THE KNACK.

YOUR SO CALLED FRIENDS THAT YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD,

CAN'T GET TO YOU NOW, AREN’T YOU GLAD?

THEY WERE COLD AND OBSCURE WHEN YOU NEEDED THEM,

IS THAT WHY YOU'VE GONE, LITTLE GEM, LITTLE JIM?

I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU WHILE HAPPY OR SAD,

NEVER WILL I FORGET THE TIME WE HAD.

YOU ARE ONE I WILL NEVER FORGET,

WONDERFUL MEMORIES WITHOUT REGRET.

I JUST CANNOT EXPLAIN THE SORROW AND PAIN,

THE BEAUTY OF YOU, IN YOUR SONS REMAIN;

IN THEIR LOVELY FACES I SEE TINY TRACES OF DISDAIN,

CRY, I WILL NOT... FROM THIS I ABSTAIN.

IF I HAD KNOWN THAT YOU NEEDED A MINUTE,

I WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE AND JUMPED RIGHT ON IN IT.

I WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO SOFTEN THE BLOW,

I WOULD HAVE REFUSED TO LET YOU GO.

A DIAMOND WAS YOUR BIRTHSTONE,

THE ROAD WAS YOUR HOME, FOLKS ALL AROUND,

AND YET YOU WERE ALONE.

YOU ENDED UP IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES,

IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT, IT WAS PAINTED FACES.

I THINK I KNOW WHAT IT WAS YOU SOUGHT, MY FRIEND,

YOU HAD A BROKEN HEART THAT NEEDED TO MEND.

I KNOW WHERE YOU WENT LITTLE GEM, LITTLE JIM,

YOU WENT TO REST IN PEACE, AND TO FOLLOW HIM.

I HAVE TOLD MY FEELINGS AS BEST AS I COULD,

AND I KNOW FOR SURE THAT THE YOUNG DIE GOOD.

LOVE, CATHY

WRITTEN LOVINGLY FOR JIM ROBINSON, MY FRIEND.

"Imaginings"

 

These are the imaginings of Caitie,

A lady from the times of old---

Often she did wonder

If her tales would ever unfold. . .

At the time of her conception,

She was ancient with age;

Born far ahead yet way behind,

And held Wisdom as a vise in a cage.

Years have come and years have went,

Many lives within one, rent.

She will dwell a million longer;

What did not kill her made her stronger . . .

"Big Holiday"

 

I’m gonna have a Big Holiday

Send desolation far away

I’ll laugh and jest by the light of the moon

Big Holiday will be here soon . . .

I’ll play near the river and jump on in

Live my fancy --- I won’t pretend

Around the campfire, I shall twirl

I'm a Dance on fire, I’ll swing & swirl . . .

Seems so long since I felt such glee

To a Big Holiday, I’m gonna flee

I’ll take a bite of the honeysuckle bloom

There’s just no telling what I’ll consume . . .

I’ll lay upon the earth so fair

And let wild wind run through my hair

When I gaze up to the star studded sky

I’ll know all answers to the question why . . .

Off on the Holiday I now go,

I’ll fathom the things I want to know

I've learned a lesson that was given to me

I found the Truth and it set me free. . . .

© 2001 by Cathlyn Cross- Leming (All rights reserved) All material written here is my sole original work