Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

  • Christmas Story

    Christmas is a lodge decked out in light

    Twinkling on trees and wreaths so bright

    Sit around the hearth fire at night

    Christmas is a table set for four

    Full of food, candles, festive décor

    Gather round for holiday once more

    Christmas is a hike through a winter wood

    Tall trees have ice and storms withstood

    Join in the laughter, all is good

    Christmas is a porch view of the lake

    Plein air painting, memories to make

    Relax, breathe deep, and take a break

    Christmas is a late night with family

    Create a colorful Nativity

    Come remember, be part of the story

    ,

  • Christmas Light

    Gather round the cozy fire

    Mantle wreathed in points of light

    Hearth, Nativity, and gifts

    Treasure Christmas – what a sight

    Laughter echoes all around

    Christmas carols, sing along

    Notes of hope and joy and love

    Treasure Christmas – every song

    Build a house of gingerbread

    Sprinkles, icing, sticky cheer

    Dinner cooking, all come round

    Treasure Christmas – home is here

    Twinkling lights glitter outside

    Drifting snowflakes fill the air

    Friends and family celebrate

    Treasure Christmas – all we share

    ,

  • Misinterpretation

    I never had patience for puzzles

    Hunting and searching for every piece

    Thinking I knew what the image was

    It’s all wrong – my frustrations increase

    Finally getting the picture together

    It’s not at all what I thought it would be

    The good pieces I had discovered

    Are hidden and changed by reality

    I’ve spread out the pieces still trying

    To fix it but just made a mess

    This image has crumbled around me

    My misinterpretations now I confess

    Turns out this is not my puzzle

    And it’s time now to walk away

    It wasn’t a waste – it was worth it

    For now I am wiser today

    ,

  • Hurting Sure

    Feels like it’s all turned bitter now

    The sting of looking like a fool

    The burn of being tricked and used

    The pieces of each broken rule

    The absence of the web I built

    The hole where all my work has gone

    The yank of being on your string

    The frozen shock of being wrong

    I feel if I could make you pay

    To show that I was really right

    Then I could leave this hurt behind

    But really this is my own fight

    It’s okay, it just takes more time

    It hurts but slowly it will heal

    I’ve grown and learned and shared myself

    I know that what I did was real

    ,

  • Rising Tide

    Change moves like the rolling tide

    Slow but unstoppable force

    Pushing in or out to sea

    Inexorably from the source

    Moment’s glance can never tell

    What direction is its course

    Brilliant sky and blazing sun

    Paint the ocean aqua green

    Tempest winds and tall dark clouds

    Turn it to a stormy scene

    Sunset’s glowing reds and golds

    Calm the waves by evening

    Each molecule only turns

    Within the wave round and round

    But great ships are miles moved

    Out to sea or run aground

    Such subtle shifts with such great change

    Nowhere else on earth are found

    ,

  • Slippery

    Sometimes it seems that all my tires do is spin

    No matter how I go, I cannot ever win

    I’m accelerating on a bed of ice

    And get stuck even deeper however many tries

    I have zero traction when I try to make a turn

    Direction is not changeable until I crash and burn

    I press the brakes, there’s nothing there, the pedal hits the floor

    I’m skidding, sliding, swerving just to keep from hurting more

    I can see where I should go, I just can’t find out how

    There is too much snow and ice to leave where I am now

    Until I realize, it’s my tires, and get out of my car

    Can’t change the road but I can change what all my actions are

    On skis I learn to glide and ride together with the snow

    I can turn and steer with ease toward where I want to go

    I pick up speed, I slow and stop, I’m fully in control

    The snow and ice no longer block, but help me reach the goal

    ,