I Was Just a Kid
Grumpy To Be Made to Help
In My Dad’s Garden
I Did Not Know Then
That With All the Vegetables
He Gardened His Son
He’s Gone On Now, But
The Joy of Well Tended Earth
Blooms Softly in Me
Category: Love
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For Fran Nahabedian 1953-2024
Where to Start? Or How?
When All We Feel is the Loss
Endless and Numbing
Start With Her Story
Start With the Deep Kindness And
Maybe We Can Breathe
And Then Breathe Again
Her Delight in Friends Delight
Shining Bright And Warm
Yes, Start There, One Step
And Then Another, and Her
Full Of Care Watching
To Be Seen By Fran,
To Remember Being Seen
Lights A Forward Path.
So Yes, Pain And Grief
She’s Gone Ahead And We, We
Must Linger, Must Wait
Held In The Bright Light
The Enduring Warmth, The Care
And Love Undimmed By Time
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It’s No Special Day But I Think of You and Am Grateful and Amazed
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For my beloved cousin, Kathy
A Light of Kindness
Flickers Into Darkness And
I Can’t Catch My BreathThis Light Not Tended
But Not Forgotten, A Piece
Of My FoundationsBreathe I Tell Myself
Breathe. How Can This Hole Exist?
How Do I Go On?Breathe I Tell Myself
And All at Once, I Recall
All The Bright MomentsAnd I Know This Light
Of Kindness Will Burn On, A Bright
And Eternal Flame -
Dough From My Own Hands
Fresh Baked, Sliced and Buttered Tastes
of Generations
First My Mother’s Bread
Baked Each Friday, Fragrance Fills
The House After School
And My Father’s Rolls,
Cinnamon and Butter and
Dough, Fried and Frosted
And, Like a Story,
Grandma’s Cookies, Soft, Sweet and
Rationed, Sneak Cookies
So My Bread Tastes of
Generations, Leavened With
Love and Memory -
One Plus One, A Spark
Breathes Light and Warmth, Tone and Sense
Across All These Years -
This Day, First Things First
Surprise, Delight, Gratitude
For Our Connection -
Grief Unpacked Its Bags,
A Sudden and Unwanted Guest
With No Plans to LeaveLoss on Every Shelf
Sorrow in Every Drawer
Pain Beneath the BedWe Could Not Quite Breathe
Wondering if That Moment
Might Not Ever EndBut Time Does Still Pass
And Grief Turned Towards Us With
All Its Open HeartAnd We Also Found
Among the Sorrow and Loss
A Shining HonorThe Consolations
Of Shared Memories, the Breath
Of Persistent LoveSo It Turns Out That
This Life is not Perfect and
Grief is not a GuestBut Our Souls do Rise
To Every Occasion and
Our Hearts Will Reach OutAnd We Will Carry
Honor, Memory, and Love
As We Find Our Way -
In Memoriam, Joe DiJulio
He Has Gone Ahead
But You Must Tarry Here for
Some Little LongerBetween Now and Then
On That Long Bridge Between Loss
And RecoveryA Heavy Heart is
Still a Sacred Vessel Filled
With Enduring Love -
Allen Miller 1918-2015
An Old Photograph,
Tattered Edges, Creased and Scratched
Faded and FuzzyBut She’s Turned Towards You
Smiling, And Your Joy Shines Through
All the Time That’s PassedLighting Memories
That Float and Glow Like Fireflies
In the Late Evening -
Life is Wont to
Offer Compensations He
Said Thinking of You
-
As Time Burns Away
The Dross of Memory, You Shine
Brighter and Brighter
-
Blessed by Holy Light
Each Anniversary An
Eternal New Bloom
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I Was Not Quite Three
When This Day’s Path Opened to
My Greatest Blessing
-
Two owls perched, clear eyed
And quietly comfortable
Paired as thine and thou
-
Born in mid-winter,
a hearty lily, savvy
beauty warms my world.
-
The evening sparkles
With the trailing melody
Of your passing by
The artwork is “The Music Maker”
by Juliette Crane -
In a parking lot,
See your car when I drive in
Silly little glee
-
Like Aphrodite
Dressed with just your beauty
You start my true life
A Year in Haiku 