The turbulent storms
have all been cleared
No more dark clouds
bringing us tears

The sun is shining through
no frowns on our faces
Instead bright smiles
have taken their places

Simple smiles
are what he wants to see
Lovingly exchanged amongst all of us,
his family

We, we shall carry on
with his mission of caring
By the example he left us
of kindness and sharing

Keep standing fast for the downtrodden,
no matter how hard life seems
And please, please
never give up your dreams

The stormy dark clouds
will one day reappear
But because he watches over us
there is no reason to fear

You and I will meet again

I will never forget you my baby
or the fine man you have become
You are a saver of lives
Where was your savior when you needed one?

It is so like you to leave this world
on your own terms during the rains
But you leave us in turmoil
and me in nearly unbearable pain

It is so hard to come to see you
but now I know you are at peace
Soon I set sail on the sea of light
after I pick up the pieces you leave

Why does it take your final act
to give my life a greater sense of purpose?
People ask me if I feel your spirit
I answer yes! This inspiration is yours!

Someday our ships will cross at sea
so you and I can meet again
It may be soon, it may be later
until then I await the rains

She has a yearning for travel
and a thirst for knowledge
But she doesn’t have the grades
or the money for college
When you don’t have many options
you can surely use a mentor
Tina found hers
at the local recruitment center

He told her she could make
Mechanic 1st class
If she made it through basic
and worked her ass
So Tina enlisted and got her orders
she bunked down in the army training barracks
and made fast friends
among the whites, blacks, asians and hispanics

Give them a gun
teach them to shoot straight
and how to clear the buildings
of people filled with hate
Bind their hands behind the back
and interrogate
Throw the terrorists in the Stryker
behind the iron grates

Now with her best friends ever
Tina braves the mean streets of Iraq
Serving her country
but barely armored for flak
When the real bullets start to fly
she wonders how she will react
Patrolling the mean streets in the searing heat
her convoy comes under attack

Lightweight Humvee
stopped by a RPG
Then it’s blown to bits
by an IED

From uncleared buildings bullets rain down
Tina runs from the safety of the Stryker
To pull her bloody dismembered friends
from the devastation of the blast crater   

With an honorable discharge
back in the states
Tina has trouble
just thinking straight

RPG
IED
how do you prove …
PTSD?

Give them a gun
teach them to shoot straight
If you can’t clear the buildings
of people filled with hate
Blow them to bloody hell
call in the bombers
There won’t be many left
after they drop the 2000 pounders

~

Mental toll of war hitting female servicemembers – USA Today.com

Photo dated 13 June 2003 a female US soldier manning a machine gun on a vehicle during clashes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The war in Iraq, which has killed or wounded more US women in combat than any other conflict, has redefined their role in the military and triggered a rethink of their place on the front line. Women who serve in the US army are barred from engaging in combat under rules drawn up by the Pentagon a decade ago. But the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, where the US is fighting an insurgency and no front line exists as such, have been proving grounds for the women soldiers. Image by AFP/Getty Images

 

Driving down a dark highway
with no known destination
I’m following a double yellow line
it’s my only road to salvation

No straight lines no telltale signs
no directions to follow
but I got to find a way back to you
to put an end to my sorrow

Out of cruise control
running low on gas
rear view suicides
are looking to pass

On the other side
of a double yellow line
unbroken strings of oncoming headlights
promising an end to my miserable mind

Strobe lights flashing
for those already crossed over
crash victims’ siren songs
beckoning me to follow

Freed from broken bodies
ghosts flushing through a funnel
drawn to the white light
at the end of the tunnel

To get to where you are
somehow I got to find
the will to cross over
a double yellow line 

===>===>===>===>===>===>===↓

It was the summer of ’69 I first saw her
from across a deep pool of river water
where I was resting after a morning swim

She was perched atop a rock tower
in her golden brown hair she wore wildflowers
she stood at the edge as if to jump in

High on the cliff she took no notice of me
down below I watched from under a tree
as she removed her blouse then her jeans

She looked down so proudly
at God’s gift of a perfect body
tanned all over so firm and lean

She leapt off the cliff in a graceful dive
like a winged angel from my dreams come alive
emerged with water streaming off glistening skin

Then I lost her as if awakened from a dream
only the wildflowers left floating in the stream
hopeless adoration for my angel there to begin

One day in Golden Gate Park
Santana was playing a free concert
I saw my angel dancing gaily
in a long white flowing skirt

Dangling from her swan like neck
long strings of brightly colored beads
Oye Como Va
twirling circles endlessly

To the beat of Afro-Cuban rhythms
she kept an impossible pace
Flowing hair and colorful beads
encircling her radiant face

I picked a wildflower
from a nearby field growing
Would she wear it in her hair?
I was helplessly hoping

I approached quite slowly
adoration plainly showing
Her piercing blue eyes knowing
angelic aura glowing

Behind her ear she put my flower
I looked longingly into her lovely face
As the beat of the music grew slower
we came together in a dancing embrace

I held my angel so tightly
my heart fluttered with love’s pang
Carlos’ guitar sang Samba Pa Ti
yin matched perfectly with yang

Summer of Love photo by Robert Altman

Our new home world has good air
there is plenty of oxygen to spare
planet Qi vibrates with intense energy
landing here we found new vitality

It was a bitter struggle at first to survive
but we discovered a way to thrive
we seized the labor of the native sentients
who have lived here since times ancient

Enslaved them to satisfy our endless needs
we cleverly justified our unjust deeds
inventing a religion by means of a book
we stuck them on a line with a fisherman’s hook

We harnessed them to till the soil 
and gather our harvests in endless toil
building a paradise where pure waters flow
so bountifully our fruit and grains can grow

Now I have left my home world behind
on a voyage of discovery hoping to find
a virgin world of pure waters and good air
where I can tend my own crops with loving care

On a quest to start a life of harmony
and end the cycle of inequality
a lonely traverse of the galactic plane
the never ending cosmos keeps me quite sane

My people send messages to ask of me
when am I coming home to Qi
I tell them when they let the sentients go
and there are no more worlds for me to explore

I am now way beyond the planetary race
my questions are asked of interstellar space
I know the answers are waiting in my mind
but the harmonious world I will never find

Homing on a signal I sail the galactic gulf

to the source of a message of kindness and love

By aid of this beacon I find the celestial body

beaming the greeting of her desire to know me

Attracting my ship with irresistible gravity

I see that her star system is binary

My long lonely voyage from Qi nearly completed

I am hungered thirsted and thoroughly depleted

Between her twin suns I come to a rest

and she envelopes me in her perfect breast

Now recuperated nursing from her Milky Way

from this heaven I never ever want to stray

I want you more than for just one night

for far more than an act of mere physical delight

Making never ending love to you under starry light
is the eternity I pray for with all my might

likewise we have harnessed
the labor of legions
of lower caste denizens

they satisfy our endless needs
they do the work
we consider dirty deeds

they bring in our crops, put food on our table
and clean up our crumbs
because we are unable

they come to my country to find a better life
instead they live a life invisible
afraid we will raid to set an example

they dream to become citizens
but they can’t
because we label them …

illegal immigrants

the grasshopper sparrow is protected
moms push their babes in the swings
a loud crack of the bat is heard
in the distance the meadowlark sings

kids scamper over the jungle gym
the ball escapes the glove
a small snake slithers through tall grasses
nearby there are little girls in love

the runner is rounding the bases
a vole peeks out from his hole
merry go round and round
home plate is his ultimate goal

the red tail hawk circles up yonder
a boy climbs up a rope
the throw to home plate is too late
and there will always be reason to hope

in memory of SARAH JEAN ROY

~

The other day I visited one of my favorite parks and I found myself inspired.
The park is called “Cemetary Fields” because it is the site of a future cemetary.
Now it is used for recreational purposes; youth sports such as soccer, la crosse and baseball are played on the fields. There is also a large area of native grasslands set aside to protect the endangered “grasshopper sparrow”.

Additionally the parents of a little girl who died of a rare illness built a wonderful kid’s playground at the park as a memorial to their daughter, Sarah Jean Roy.