Paper Beads

While emptying out the cardboard box
of contents lying there
she spied an object just beneath
a bottle she thought rare
Removing treasures one by one
with memories to share
she thought about her yesterdays
and living without a care
When children slammed the entry doors
and stomped from room to room
where crumbs were dropped in corners
and the TV seemed to boom
Where silence seemed to never be
and quietness was rare
and yet those days were happiness
which nothing can compare
But time like lightning seems to zip
away without a warning
and all too soon the emptying
of boxes and the planning
take precedence o’er other thoughts
until which time one sees
an object which sparks memories
a string of paper beads
Past and present seem to merge
as tears began to flow
Why does time do heartless things
Where did my lifetime go..
We can’t go back to other times
of gifts for Mother’s day
Where innocent children rolled with care
the beads she got that day.
Diamonds would not touch her heart
like simple paper beads
and as she tossed the empty box
she clung to memories.

©vrd 8/31/05

It's A Box

Any city, in the nation
proudly shows the world it’s wealth,
but look beyond the lighted fountains
in the shadows by themselves,
You will see lopsided boxes
weakened by the falling rain
They are ugly and appalling
where in many nights have lain
Those whose lives have all been shattered
and whose world’s become askew
And we scowl with vain revulsion,
Shame on me, shame on you.
This is not a nice safe haven
protected, keeping one secure.
It’s a box. ..used for a shelter
but the figure lying there..
Feels the cold sharp pangs of hunger
along with failure and of shame
but he’s a man, his mother bore him
He’s a man .. He has a name.
Now the question is inside us
What to do? What to do?
You can turn, try not to see him,
but what if he, were me or you?

©Vrd.9/9/99


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Barefoot

She danced in moonlights shadow
barefoot grace upon the clouds,
her feet caressed by softest cotton white.
Her music was from raindrops
a’pattering on the stars
blowing kisses with their twinklings of light.
And when the angels saw her
they knew it was their daughter
who was searching for her way one rainy night.
They kissed her eyes with dewdrops
sprinkled moondust while they sang,
"go back because the timing isn’t right."
And so she bowed to angels
danced away across the clouds,
while they watched until she wasn’t in their sight.
She awakened in the morning
to a room so strange and stark
and she saw her parents standing there in fright.
They had watched her with a worry
as she seemed so far away,
their thinking was she’d taken final flight.
Teardrops fell down on their faces
as relief was clearly shown
and the mood inside that room reversed to bright.
"I was dreaming I was barefoot
dancing round with lovely angels
on the streets of heaven lined in cotton white,
but they wouldn’t let me stay there
as the time was yet to be
but I loved it dancing barefoot in the night."

©vrd.5/98

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