That there lightning bug

I walked out through the garden
on a dark and moonless night
A thousand golden candles
flickered there within my sight.

With a graceful flowing motion
they were dancing all around
Ever silently, softly, glowing
from the tree tops to the ground

Like embers from a fire
they shot into the air
No pattern to their movement
just darting here to there

As falling stars that travel
through the darkness of the night
Nothing seems to bother
the capers of their flight.

When the show was over
and the candles ceased to glow
It surely made me wonder
how it could be so.

The magnitude of energy
that each little body must hold
Is a story that's written in Heaven
and by humans cannot be told.

It is here I sit in solitude
content to gaze in space
Thankful of the privilege
for this hour of grace.

The katydids kept singing
and the crickets held their beat
As I walked from out of the garden
on slow and dragging feet.

The Old Fisherman
(My Favorite)

Think Before You Speak

A seed is planted
A vine grows there
Shall it be flowers
or ever be bare?
As a word is spoken
A thought grows there
Shall it be one of kindness
Or cause some one to despair?

Choose well your seed
When your vine grows there
It shall ever have flowers
It shall never be bare
Choose well your words
ANd as thoughts grow there
Let there always be kindness
And cause no one to despair.

The Old Fisherman

The Changing Year

With the worst winter of the century
but a thing of the past
For neither the good or the bad
for ever shall last

Now the return of all life
with a God given birth
Shall spread across the land
from a seemingly barren earth

The birds with their songs
will fill the spring air
To gladden our hearts
driving away all despair

One more cycle of life
with a year has passed by
Which may shall never change
though it is certain he will try.

The Old Fisherman

Nature

A glorious summer is passing
Fall days will soon be here
The parting song of the birds
is ever loud and clear

The majestic Monarch Butterfly
migrating to a far off place
Skips across the meadow
at a seemingly lazy pace

Long cobweb streamers
October breezes put to sail
Soft lacy and as white
as a pretty June bride's veil

Milkweed pods are bursting
cattails have all turned brown
The red haws in the pasture
are falling to the ground

Trees splashed in rainbow colors
line the lakes and river shore
For Jack Frost has done his painting
while in our beds we humans snore

Mother Nature is ever wonderful
if we will but look to see
Heralding in the seasons of change
she gives warnings all for free.

The Old Fisherman

The Skeleton of Life

We creep, we laugh and we walk
We love, we dance and we talk
We work, we play and we cry
We sing, we pray and we die

What we add to this skeleton is up to us
Goodwill, cheer and happiness to all
Our lives are just what we make them
Nothing more or nothing less


The Old Fisherman

The Birds

The winter has been rough
on we humans I know
But please let's not forget
the birds and this snow.

Their food has been covered
or frozen in ice
While we have ours
inside where it's nice.

The fuel that is needed
for their body to heat
Comes just from everything
that they find to eat.

The scraps from your table
can mean songs in the spring
So kind people
do the right thing!


The Old Fisherman

Coffee Time

Never was there an alarm
In our time or in the past

That aroused you more gently
From a long night of fast

That old coffee grinder
Singing it's first tune of the day

Roll out - roll out
Let us be up and away

The aroma of coffee
Boiling in the pot

Flap-jacks and sausage
All piping hot

All this like sweet music
Runs through my head

It's time to get up
But I'd rather stay in bed

The Old Fisherman