Too late I rose.
Too soon you left.
Farewell forever hangs
unsaid
between us.
11 May 2011
Swiss International Airlines Flight 022
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Regret
Filed under Poem
Tomato
Tomato,
though juice or soup or exactly what type,
I could not tell,
must have caused the large red stain
on the back of his shirt.
How it got there, I cannot guess.
Nor do I choose to imagined
what might have caused
the crusted stains
that covered
the sweat pants
sagging below his waist,
revealing his buttocks.
I avert my gaze
and plod on.
Slowly as I walk,
he shuffles even more slowly up the ramp toward forty-deuce.
But as I pass him,
it’s like a neon light appears –
words flashing over and over:
some mother’s child
some mother’s child
some mother’s child.
At the station door, I turn,
face him,
smile.
Making eye contact for a moment,
he nods.
Observed in Grand Central Station
May 2011
Written
11 May 2011
Swiss International Air Lines 022
Filed under Poem
Hearts
Is it any wonder we
so often die
of heart attacks;
when
so often life
stomps
tugs
breaks
our hearts?
11 May 2011
Swiss International Airlines Flight 022
Inspired by any one of a number of news stories involving the killing or violation of God’s precious children or similar events that do not make the news. Such tragedies happen every day.
Filed under Poem
C-16, GVA
Walking down the jetway,
the long, long jetway,
that led, not to Tipperary,
but to Gate C-16, GVA,
I watched my fellow travelers
and I noticed –
could not help but notice –
colorful bags, clutched with care,
clearly filled with souvenirs,
reminders of what was done and
memories of what had happened
while in Switzerland.
Sometimes I wondered what they carried;
sometimes I knew;
and sometimes, even knowing, I still pondered:
how much more nearly Geneva
would I remember,
how much more clearly events and experiences
would I call to mind,
how much more dearly images of friends
would fill my heart,
had I but been wise enough
to purchase
M&M’s.
11 May 2011
Boarding Swiss International Airlines Flight 022
in Geneva
And in the end
And in the end
God gives a song.
When death has come,
and pain aches deep,
it’s all we have,
it is enough.
For in the end,
God gives a song.
And in the end,
God gives us hope.
When all seems lost,
despair runs high,
it’s all we have,
it is enough,
For in the end,
God gives us hope.
And in the end,
God gives us love,
when hate reigns strong,
when fear looms large,
it’s all we have,
it is enough.
For in the end,
God gives us love.
And in the end,
God gives justice.
When systems wound,
exclude, exploit,
it’s all we have,
it is enough.
For in the end,
God gives justice.
And in the end,
God gives us peace,
when wars rage hot,
violence strikes,
it’s all we have,
it is enough.
For in the end,
God gives us peace.
And in the end,
God gives us Christ,
when all is done,
and all is said,
Christ’s all we have,
Christ is enough.
Give thanks to God,
God gives us Christ.
25 May 2011
Jet Blue 868
KIN – JFK
Filed under Poem
Customs form conundrum
The question has been faced before,
but never can I recall my answer,
so every time it looms anew,
I pause to deeply ponder:
is coffee food?
25 May 2011
Jet Blue 868
KIN – JFK
Filed under Poem
Jet Blue Flight 868 – Random observations
The complimentary head set really isn’t that sweet of a deal when you sit in the row where the monitors don’t work.
For a good time, nothing quite beats riding for 3.5 hours with a strange dude’s elbow embedded in your rib cage.
Of course he may well be thinking that it is truly a joy and delight to sit by a dude whose shirt smells like it has been used to rub down the winner of the Kentucky Derby.
They actually are charging for pillows and blankets on this flight. I have heard of such, but this is the first time I have seen it.
Duh, should have read the fine print. It’s a “never-been slept on pillow” and a blanket that’s “mine, just mine.” If only I had seen that sooner – I have been experiencing such an overwhelming desire to own a miniature pillow.
One flight attendant wore rubber gloves to stow our bags and no gloves to pass out customs forms. Another flight attendant did the exact opposite. What’s the deal with that.
I have seen things on this airplane that I have had no desire to see. Ever. There really should be fashion police for those people who wear too few clothes.
See you along the Trail.
25 May 2011
KIN – JFK
Filed under Travel
Outline
Like a tooth peeking through gums,
stone walls work their way
through the hard-backed earth,
revealing an outline,
posing a mystery:
what secrets lie buried in this ground?
22 May 2011
University of the West Indies
Kingston, Jamaica
Filed under Poem
The big blue truck
Sweat plasters his bright red shirt to his back,
sweat rolls out from under his doo-rag, stinging his eyes.
Heat rises from the macadam
to greet the sun’s hot rays.
Along the roadside he trudges,
keeping pace with the big blue truck.
The sickly smell of decomposition
rises from a pile of plastic bags –
refuse, scraps, detritus of consumption –
that blocks his path.
He stops, stoops,
futilely tries to shoo some flies,
then slowly, deliberately
one
by
one
picks up each bag
and throws it into the truck bed.
While the final bag is in his hand,
gears engage,
the truck slips slowly away.
As that last bag hangs suspended in the air,
he shifts his shoulders,
kicks the dirt,
and starts toward the next pile,
following the big, blue truck.
25 May 2011
Norman Manley International Airport
Kingston, Jamaica
Filed under Poem
The Fighter
I am not much for boxing.
I don’t turn off boxing when it comes on during the Olympics; I don’t pay close attention, either.
I am certain I have never watched a professional match from beginning to end. I am fairly certain I have not watched enough individual rounds combined to constitute a whole fight – unless that fight was a first-round knockout.
But on today’s return plane from Geneva, I choose to watch The Fighter. I had heard much about the film. And what I heard was good. And I have always liked Christian Bale. So when it appeared as one of the choices, I decided to give it a go.
I am glad I did. It did not disappoint. It did not convert, I won’t be buying the DVD (a similar experience took place years ago: I watched The Boxer because it featured Daniel-Day Lewis), but it definitely did not disappoint. And is worthy of the praise and nominations it received.
Boxing may be the presence, but the film is about family, loyalty, courage, and redemption. And you can’t go too far wrong with those themes when you have a good story and strong cast. The Fighter does.
And it has Christian Bale. And Christian Bale can act. The others in the cast also perform quite well. Melissa Leo is amazing. Mark Wahlberg gets top billing and delivers.
But this is Bales’ movie. And Christian Bale can act.
The boxing is a bit violent – the language a tad rough (but hey, Christian Bale’s character was a crack addict) – but it is well worth a look.
See you along the Trail.
11 May 2011
Swiss International Air Lines 022
Filed under Movie
Along the Graybeard Trail 