poem

The Boat

Based on this painting by John Tunley

The tranquil water illustrates

The passing of a storm

The boat tells its story

The journey life’s sojourn

The picture is of stillness

The ocean calm serene

The clouds they look over

The sea that has no end

The boat is not perfect

The hull in need of work

The boat it seeks calm waters

The sand its final rest

The boat is at its journeys end

The boat has had its day

The boat seeks its place in heaven

The boat no longer sways

The people who have rowed her

The journey has an end

The resting place is near the shore

The waves they come and end

The boat will sail in heaven

The people will row on

The horizon meets the sunset

The work of God is done

Photography

A portraiture study in black and white of Beaumont Coleman Lord. Our eldest grandchild.

Quotation

“the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages… It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom or our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

Robert Kennedy 1968

Quotation

“At some time in the human narrative…..in our history, man declared himself superior to women. It must have been an accident, or at least an act of gross stupidity. But that’s men for you”

John Lord

Portrait

A self portrait painted on MDF Board coated with household spackle filler useing Acrylic paints.

The following portrait is of my wife Virginia.Painted in acrylics on canvas, size 500x600.

Portrait

Poem

Love

Even though I may express myself eloquently
And with divinity of thought
And my knowledge be full of profound enlightenment
When what I have learned is only surpassed by
what I am yet to
Does all this amount to wisdom?
When I want for nothing can it be said that I
Have everything
Alas no. For all these things are nothing without love
Without love my words become scrambled and incoherent
Without love life has no absolute truth, no purpose and ultimately fails
Love is the pregnancy
That gives birth to truth and faith
Nothing can be fully understood unless it is with love
So if I were to lose all my possessions, all that I own, but still retain love
Then I must be considered wealthy by whatever measure
If I cannot give of my love as one would a gift to another
If I cannot share my love and want of it in return
If I cannot plant it and water it so that it might mature and grow
Then in the end I may as well wither and die
For in the end I am nothing without love

Inspired by 1 COR. Chapt 13

My cup runneth over. Pastel drawing by Bev Palmer

Poetry

The Gift of Love

Frequently I ponder just what love is
And it’s part in the meaning of life
Is it different things to different people?
An accumulation of various experiences

You see I love my children but
Do I love them equally, I don’t know
It seems I do but in different ways
So I love them diffently, love allows it]

If love is given is it conditional on
Something in return or is it an
Individual experience and not
Dependent on a need to be shared

How does it happen, how do I feel it
Can it be forwarded like an email?
Is it just emotional or does it
Have a logical attachment

I confess at times I just don’t know
Sometimes when I forgive I get confused
If I still feel bitterness instead of love
So baffling love can be

Why did I meet my wife, who arranged it?
Why could I not live without her?
Is that how deep love runs
I don’t know I can’t explain it

Sometimes it makes me angry
How much in love I can be
With the wide screen TV, the DVD and
The surround sound with Dolby 5.3
Materialism, it makes me furious
But I love it

Indeed love can be so silly and
Illicit the strangest behavior
Or be sensually stunning, oh yes
You see sex is love, where there is love

I even love Oscar, He’s our dog
He barks so much, it get’s me angry
Then he looks at me with those big
Melancholy eyes, and I just fall in love, he’s our dog

I love men for their manliness
And I love women because they have
So much to teach us men
Extensive isn’t it….love I mean

Am I making any sense of it?
Well I don’t know that love does really
It’s just so mysterious, so deep, and so expansive
God can be like that, mysterious I mean

But let’s get serious, no one owns it
Well except God…. That’s it that’s the answer
You see it costs nothing, it’s wonderful
It’s a gift; he gives it to you for free

Exciting isn’t it, you have to experience
The intent of it, feel it explore it
Wonder at the beauty of it, its possibilities it’s
Dimensions, its endless variations, its grace
It’s wisdom, its truth and it’s compassion

Go for it, you can only know love when
The gift is taken freely with due consideration
Of the giver………and that’s God, feel worthy of it
Embrace it, place in the labyrinth of you heart

Pass it onto others, pass it around
Oh I’m not finished; you see I’m passionate about it
Thank God for his greatest gift
His love for us to share

Poetry

The Art of Quiet

Pray we do

Listen we must

Very still

Relaxed

In the stillness we grow

The mind

Insightful thoughts

From silence

Answers arrive

Responses unforeseen

When stillness prevails

Over the soul

Very still

You hear

His voice

In the serenity

Of silent prayer

The art of quiet

Poetry

The Fragrance of Life

When finally I saw the light

I found that all the things

I thought I needed

I didn’t need at all

That the joy and beauty of life

Was to be found most often in a quiet garden

Reclining in a chair with a book

Surrounded by the fragrance

And sounds of life itself