Lost In Real Life

2007-09-04T13:30:00.001-04:00

There are no great people in this world only ordinary people who rise to meet great challenges.

The power to tempt

2007-06-01T12:43:00.000-04:00

Temptation unlike opportunity will always give you a second chance.

Random 8

2007-06-01T12:29:00.000-04:00

Players start with 8 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them that they have been tagged.So here are 8 random facts about yours truly:

1.I take pictures of my feet when I visit somewhere new or if my feet are in or near something disgusting or interesting.
2.I don’t believe in a divine being/”god”
3.being on rivers and/or trails occasionally moves me to tears
4.I love sleeping on cool sand around a driftwood fire (even though you get the occasional bug bite)
5.My second marriage is much better than my first
6.My son has slowly become my most trusted companion and counterpart
7.I have four webbed toes two on each foot
8.I sometimes fantasize about having my own harem

2007-05-04T11:06:00.000-04:00

Remeber, that not to be Happy is to not to be gratful.

It's all or nothing now

2007-05-04T10:35:00.001-04:00

I watch the two of them be foolish
I watch them displace blame
I watch them make fools of them selves
I watch them aspire to the unattainable
I watch them expect the unacceptable
I watch them act out
I watch them make excuses
I watch them pretend to know
I watch them and I remember

I remember when I was foolish
When I displaced blame
When I made a fool of myself
When I did not reach my aspirations
When I behaved unacceptably
When I acted out
When I made excuses
When I pretended to know

I watch the two of them and my heart breaks with the inevitable.
I watch them and my heart swells with hope.

What does for better or for worse mean?
What does in sickness and in health mean?
What does for richer or poorer mean?

Your lives will never be what you expect.
The dreams and goals that were never attained
can not be blamed on anyone but yourselves

You may be looking for inspirational words
Words of peace and complacency
Words of kindness and charity

I do not have those words for you
Because the journey you are contemplating starting
Has nothing to do with all things great and wonderful

To the male, I ask:
Is this divine order?

To the female, I ask:
Do you have a right?

Good luck on your tumble I hope you both land on your feet.

The hike of life

2007-04-27T11:59:00.000-04:00

The trail is more than simply a path.
It is a metaphor for life.
It has all the ingredients

A beginning
Painful challenges
Ecstatic accomplishments
Rocky up hill struggles
Flat smooth strolls
Controlled descents
Unfortunate mishaps
Exercise and down time
Opportunities for enlightenment
Hard won drudgery
Long-term goals
Short-term goals
Successes
Failures
An Ending

I felt my heart’s blood
Slam
Into all four chambers
So loud
I heard nothing else

I rested in stillness
So calm
My skin responded
With the goose bumps
Of a ghost’s presences

I revel in companionship
Of shared experiences
All of us repeating
It is only pain
There to be overcome

I became an observer
To my thoughts
Moving in and out
Of conversations
With myself

I explored answers
And questions
Hidden in the chaos
And monotony
Of real life

I sang songs
Real and made-up
Created completely new lives
For myself
My friends
My family

I let the wild places
Surround me
With unpredictable circumstances
Centered its potential to kill

I found answers out there
I recharged my spirit out there
I felt worthy out there
I felt powerful out there
I felt vulnerable out there
Most of all
I felt ALIVE out there

The trail is more than simply a path
It is a metaphor for life

The emptying

2006-12-19T10:06:00.000-05:00

We emptied my Grandmother’s room today
Her heart
Mended and still

Her things:
A towel
Hand lotion
Dirty Clothes

Slowly disappeared into bags

Her wheel chair
Her walker
Silent and lonely
Sat illuminated
In a soft shaft of light
Tiny flakes of her skin
Suspended and only visible
Within the beam
Drifts in the tiny space

Her things:
Tissues
Creamers
Fake sweeteners

Make my chest hurt

Our sad dance
Of forced laughter
And restrained heart ache
The room becomes vacant

Her Things:
An old photo of Grandma and Grandpa
Fifty-seven cups of vanilla pudding
A cordless phone

All her life
Sits within this room
It was her stuff
But it has been transformed
Into temporary artifacts
That quietly announce

“I was here once and now I am gone.”

An Irish past is home

2006-08-28T15:12:00.000-04:00

So easily did we meld
Our families
Whole at last
Finding the past
We did not know
Was missing

He cried for the joy
Our patriarch
Tom
He cried for the loss
Of hundred years
He cried for time
That blows from his home
Ireland

Pregnant with hope
Two mothers
Met
As modern day immigrants
Finding our truth
In the haze of our Pasts

He cried for the joy
Our patriarch
Tom
He cried for his life
As it turns into fall
He cried for the beauty
That he creates in us all

I drifted away
as I listened to his songs
Of sadness and warriors
And life over all
I cried for the joy
Of meeting this soul
A heritage found
In an old Irish man

So easily did we meld
Our families
Whole at last
Finding the past
We did not know
Was missing

A Communal Death March

2006-07-26T10:29:00.000-04:00

And so the song of death steeps into our lives
A privileged opportunity to touch immortality

A life spent
Is never wasted
It holds us
In check
Like judges
Of
Human Kind
A grand jury
Quietly conveying
From generation to generation
The truth
Of our
Existence

“We're all in this thing together
Walking the line between faith and fear
This life don’t last forever
Many cry and no one tasted the salt of their tears
It’s slow road to freedom”
(Inspired by the song “were all in this together”
By Old Crow Medicine Show)

Cultivated Chaos

2006-07-11T14:26:00.000-04:00

They wait
Patient and confident
In their swallowing tombs

Whispers of confidence
Caressing
Whimpers of despair

“Be brave.”
“God, help us.”

Huddled, frightened, cold
Subordinates to the cause
Accepting deeply, what they say
Led, unwittingly, through mortar and stone

Whispers of hope
Reassuring
Whimpers of acceptance

“It will be over soon.”
“It will be over soon.”

Fear rimmed eyes
In night shirts and slippers
Running, dragged, falling
Lost to us
In a child’s nightmare
Come true

For Pop, now that Im grown

2006-06-12T14:29:00.000-04:00

I see you now,
With my grown-up eyes

I understand your sacrifices now,
With my paternal mind

I recognize your strengths now,
In the lines of my face
And
In the build of my son

I accept your weaknesses now,
As I would a friend’s

I empathize with you now,
For the endless frustrations
I unleashed upon you

I believe in you now,
Just as I always have

I thank you
From the reservoir
Of my heart
For raising me
Into the man I have become
And
For the knowledge
To raise my son
Just as you did me

You are the leader
Of our pack
Of our clan
Of our pride
Of our family

And we love you.

When will you die?

2006-06-05T15:13:00.000-04:00

A layman's take on now

2006-05-08T15:08:00.000-04:00

Here is my take on my life; I do not presume this will work for anyone else and I truly believe everyone has a right and must live within their own ramifications.(Hell, if we were all the same, life would be #$@%&*^ boring.)

I do not wonder on the “getting it” I simply react to life. I feel that if I truly understood life, it would not be near as fun as it is. There is only the “here and now.” Of course, the future does come it’s as unstoppable as the tides or the Laurel Creek. But it’s the “here and now” that determines the future. For example, if it rains in the high country there may be a flood in the low country or when oceans’ temperatures change, it changes weather patterns all over the world. Again there is no need to “get it” only a need to be a part of it.

Stillness is an unattainable goal, life, like our world, is kinetic. Of course, there are times of calm where we can relax and reflect, (just as there is in nature), but these times will always be limited. Eventually, things have to change. (Again just as it is in nature)

I know many people will disagree with me, but there is nothing “out there” to find; it’s all right in front us. Life is the “here and now.” Also, I understand that my views flow from the belief that there is no divine anything, that in life, we are simply on a conveyer belt that we’re half sunk into headed for oblivion. To some this may sound morbid. On the contrary, for me, it makes life that much more precious, fun, exciting, valuable, enlightening etc., etc.

Maybe I am different. Maybe I am wrong. But, my belief system allows me to be free of the bonds of wanting more. If more comes then so be it. If things are taken away I’ll fight to keep them.

Finally, when on the rare occasions, that I find myself wanting I always refer to this poem by Wendell Berry.

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives my be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake rests

in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into peace of the wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind star

waiting with their light.

For a time I rest in the grace of the world,

and I am free.

Remember Nature Has No Remorse or Love. It is indifferent. And, within that neutrality there is the greatest potential for enlightenment. (What ever that may be)

The Road to Hell is Paved with Best Intentions

2006-05-08T14:15:00.000-04:00

Enshrined with good intentions
Man is on a constant search

The Christians pray
The Buddhists hope
The Muslims suffer
The Jews lament
The Pagans worship
The Agnostics wonder
The Atheists tempt

Religion, in all its facets
Has cut the skin of humanity
Tortured and bleeding
Society slowly dies

Within the searching
Justification is found
And arrogance, hate, contempt, and evil
Feed on it

Enshrined with good intentions
And cloaked in justification
Mankind
Through
Religion
Slowly
Commits suicide

(Question: Has Religion done more good or bad for the advancement of mankind?)

The Meaning Of Life

2005-11-22T14:55:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of almost one year of blogging I have reposted my very first post

The meaning of life, for me is a constant wonder. Life ebbs and flows much like the ocean. Some days calm prevails, while other days the sea is rough and dangerous, as is life.

Yet, even with the unpredictability of the ocean, humans will still set forth across its surface.

Therefore, if life can be paralleled with the ocean, then that means that all living beings have set out across its surface. Hence, making us all explorers, first meaning of life is to EXPLORE.

Now, if were all explorers, traveling across the surface of life, sooner or later someone is bound to get into somebody else’s way. So now, to keep things running smoothly, we explorers must, at some point, compromise. Second meaning of life is to COMPRIMISE.

So we’re exploring, we’re compromising across life.

Well, as is human nature, from time to time, when the random bump- ups that occur on the surface of life happen, two explorers often decide to explore together and they love. Third meaning of life is to LOVE.

And, also, as is human nature, two explorers sometimes are forced to decide to take separate courses. Sometimes they never pass ways again therefore they must accept. Fourth meaning of life is to ACCEPT.

And, as is in all things out here on the surface of life, there are things not known to any explorer. This fact makes us wonder. Fifth meaning of life is to WONDER.

So here we are EXPLORING, COMPROMISING, LOVING, ACCEPTING, and WONDERING. Where does it get us after all is said and done?

As we explorers head toward the end of our journey, what do we have to show from all our wonderings? Well a LIFE.

So with that, I say, the true meaning of life is just to LIVE.

By: James Berry

Winter’s patient wait

2005-11-22T13:15:00.000-05:00

I wandered in the woods today

Until my thoughts slowed down
Until my ears felt frozen
Until my heart was at peace

I wandered in the woods today
Until my spirit demanded that, I stop

I sat on a rock today and looked……

At crisp blues and blinding whites
That filtered through the canopy
Mildly warming me
In a patch work of sunlight

I leaned on a tree today and heard…..

The mournful sigh
Of gentle winds as they
Navigated through pine boughs
Passing me,
On an endless migration

I relaxed in the leaves today and felt….

The melancholy silence
Found in a bright winters day
That hangs on our hearts
And Insulates us
As we lament autumn’s passing

I looked around me today and breathed…..

In the sent of patience
As it sits and waits
In a cocoon of dormancy
Its presence only revealed
In the unnoticed twirl
Of a leaf
Drifting to the ground
To wait
For Spring

Drowning Into Life

2005-11-17T12:37:00.000-05:00

I see the light, fractured and bent
As it pierces down from the surface
The surface, far above me
Oscillating with life’s unseen flow

Still the light is so far away
Seemingly, as unattainable, as the stars

I jumped through the surface
Of my own accord
I jumped and was immersed

Panicked for breath
Panicked for survival
I raged in frustration

I struggled to reach the light
Thrashing and grasping
For a safety line

Finding only an ethereal strand

I became angry
And lost control
I became defeated
And began to sink

I prepared for my last defeated breath
And glared towards the surface
And realized
I could breath……………………..

“Thoughts from the yin….. and the yang”

2005-09-28T22:41:00.000-04:00

We are more than we are.
We are only what we are.

Aspiring to greatness
Descending to greatness.

Descending to weakness.
Aspiring to weakness.

Were stuck.
Were loose.

Is thought evolving too fast?
Can our bodies keep up?

The age of knowledge has begun.
It Surpasses our animal heritage.

We are become more.
We are becoming something else.

Is it time to break the mold?
Is it now that the evolutionary clock...

TICKS!?

I am ready.
We are ready.

Aspirer to greatness.
We are more than we are.
Cherish our weakness.
Stay loose.
Evolution is uncontrollable.
The mold has been broken.

TICK!

We are more than we are.

“As the season’s Change”

2005-09-16T19:19:00.000-04:00

I paddled my boat today

Until my heart felt it would burst
Until my arms trembled like a newborn
Until my temples pounded in disapproval

I paddled my boat today
Until my body demanded that I stop.

I sat on a rock today and looked……

At deep blues and pale grays
That rippled across the water
Reflected back at me and
Streaming from the sky

I strolled along the bank today and heard……

The constant static
Of water slipping over rocks
Blended with
The chirps and whispers
As nature conversed

I relaxed on an island today and felt…..

The sharp sting of an
Early fall wind as it
Battled the persistent haze
From the summer’s memories

I looked up today and breathed…..

In the scent of change
As it drifted by
Its passage marked
Only by white
Fluffy seed pods
Sentinels
Heralding in
The new season

“For the love of nature”

2005-09-16T19:14:00.000-04:00

I am enchanted by nature; it calls to me.

In a voice, filled with uncertainty.

A voice that embodies balance.

Delicate and sturdy

Weak and strong

I do not even try to withstand its allure.

For it is sweet as my passage

Through

Time

Space

And maybe even

My soul

“Epiphanies with a nine year old”

2005-09-16T19:10:00.000-04:00

Blue on the horizon, the majestic Smokey’s, showed their resilient slopes.
Dim at first, in the haze that always seems to permeate these mountains.
I drove on ever closer pointing this and that out to my son.

My prodigy, my offspring, my little man

I was filled with pride by his eagerness to learn, to know, to question.
I answered every question (as best I could).
I explained every detail every subtlety.
His eyes switched from the window to me.

Listening, learning, growing

I finished my soliloquy with a sincere, “Do you understand?”
I prepared for his inevitable “yes!”
He turned to me, his little mouth smiling.
And said, “What?”
I smiled back and said, “Chicken butt.”

The Gem Revealed

2005-08-16T13:56:00.000-04:00

The thunder has rolled;
across our lives.

The storm is in the distance;
moving away from us.

The cleansing rain of truth
has exposed a treasure.

A many faceted gem;
that I have always loved..

A beautiful, sparkling, gem
that I can finally hold.

I will embed this gem
into my heart never to let it go.

I will treasure this gem
for all of my days.

and one fine day
this beautiful, sparkling, faceted gem
will shine back at me
and know that I love her.

For Danielle (my friend, my lover, my wife)

2005-07-01T14:51:00.000-04:00

With grace and beauty
You knocked gently
On the door to my soul

With power and charm
You navigated through
my emotional barbwire

Leaving a path
So others may follow

With a smile and your hands
You led me to you
Forever patient
Of my shifting whims

With love and compassion
You entered my heart
Cleansing the dust and clutter
Of the past

You entered my heart
And made it your home

Together, we are a structure
Wonderful to behold
Dependent on each other
For support and stability

Together, we are a tapestry of hope
stitched
With our lives experiences

Together, we are a beacon
Shining through despair
Reflected outward
By our joy of each other

Together, we are a force
All our own
Created in the alchemy
Of our love.

I love you

For Raeen and her family (You are not alone)

2005-06-28T16:18:00.000-04:00

I hope for you.

I hope for him.

As I sit
On this rain drenched day
And feel your sadness

I feel soft loss
For a man I never knew

I feel tender empathy
For a young women becoming old

I feel the harsh reality
Of a boy…lost.

I feel true kinship
For a woman
A mother
A mom
A wife
An ex-wife
My friend

I feel connected to a family
In the throes of tragedy

Your hope and sadness
Drift down to me….

To a stranger that shares

To a friend that cares

I embrace you all.

A river trip rhyme

2005-06-23T11:31:00.000-04:00

We load the boats up; to the river we go
With paddles and beer; we hope all will show

Just make it down river; is a common lament
We just need to get there; and pitch up our tents

Down the rapids we float; with its white caps and swirls
Keep your paddle-a-pumpin’; or you’ll go for a twirl

We stop on the sandbar; for beer and for rest
Drink one down fast; and start with the jests

Safely on the island; we made it un-scathed
We pop out our chairs; and relax in the shade

With friendships a-plenty; we pass-round and drink
With smiles and laughter; we verbally think

The sunset begins; with orange, red, and gold
We could watch here forever; and it never gets old

Now nighttime descends; with dark moon or bright
Heads all-a-spinning; we click off our lights

The sunrise revealed; all fog drenched and damp
We emerge from our tents; well rested; not cramped

We pack up to leave; and set out once more
Put paddles to water; and drift from the shore

Down in the creeks; so narrow and fast
We try to slow down; to make the time last

Were here at the take out; our shoulder all sag
The hike to the car; is a full-blown drag

We load the boats up; were dirty but fine
We will be back again soon; to drop out of time

A Skeleton in the closet(Awakens)

2005-06-08T15:48:00.000-04:00

The skeleton never died

Hidden and preserved

In a coffin of lies

For years it waited

A forgotten landmine

Wanting to explode

In the shifting of time

With anticipation

Of its inevitable reveal

We hold onto the peace

That we must steal

Soon the truth

Will raise its hand

To pierce the lies

We have covered in sand

For when the skeleton

Is revealed

Not a single soul

Will have a shield

And as it tears

Our lies asunder

So many families

Will shatter in the thunder

“As the Young Ones Fall In Love”

2005-05-30T15:08:00.000-04:00

They stand in the obscuring foliage

Searching each other………

Her fragrant breath seeps into his lungs.

Much like a drug.

The melody of the birds……

The murmur of the bees……

With fingers touching fingers;

His anticipation ascends……..

Tension in her chest;

evoked by the slight resistance in her soul.

Exploring her inner depths…….

with explosion of his potential.

Drifting, she closes her eye.

Both unfamiliarly relieved.

With fingers touching finger;

The melody of the birds clearer now;

The murmur of the bees softer now;

The scented winds more generous now;

As they stand in the obscuring foliage…..

Loving each other…..

“The Lament of Loving”

2005-05-30T10:35:00.000-04:00

I have a picture in my memory of a river trip,
with white fog flowing down
the Catawba river, as if even the air ran to the sea.

I wanted her to lie in the tent pressed against me;
breathing the air that drifts from the river at night;
dense with the smell of sweet maples and river algae.

I wanted her to inhale the smoke of a driftwood fire
in fog to thick to carry any sound,
but the rushing of water over rocks and the shrill cries of ospreys.

I wanted the musty smell of the tent
to mix with the breath of warm, wet, wool
and flood through her mind.
Until the river ran in her blood
and she could not help but to return.

Yet now, I lie face down on the round rocks and cry
until the drips from my tears steep down
into the dried mud and algae,
and the hot breath of the river
rises steaming and sweet around my face.

“An Abstract Painting of Life”

2005-05-30T10:33:00.000-04:00

A loving couple embraces on the night of their wedding.

An area of white dripping on black,

A shattered couple stands back to back on the night of their divorce.

Slowly a design occurs.

A husband and wife are crying in joy for the birth of their child.

Black and white, so different as one,

A husband and wife are crying in sorrow for the death of their newborn child.

yet the two become unified when blended.

A dream home is completed.

Now blended, they swirl into grey,

A dream home is destroyed.

obscuring the original design.

Love and Hate

Slowly the grey begins to drip.

Happiness and Sadness

Again, a design takes place that is constantly swirling and changing.

All that is pure and all that is corrupt are interwoven.

Finally, a complete picture is formed,
only to be splattered by the blacks, whites, and colors of life.

2005-05-23T21:09:00.000-04:00

The photo

Jeb

The reality of the photo

2005-05-23T21:07:00.000-04:00

The realty of the photo

Jeb

2005-05-22T19:53:00.000-04:00

Reflected Son II

2005-05-22T19:51:00.000-04:00

Reflected son

2005-05-22T19:46:00.000-04:00

Fun with photo shop

2005-05-22T19:44:00.000-04:00

A Spider lily

A driving lesson

2005-05-20T16:35:00.000-04:00

(For Tommy)

The screech of change rings loud
over the road of life.

Every moment brings us closer and closer
too inevitable change.

A sudden curve!!……

Tip toe through it,
keep control,
for the turns are the most dangerous.

It is in the curves,
that we control our fates the most.

Hold tight and stay the course,
as every option is so important.

Because after all the curves,
There is anther straight away.

Hope for the poet.(By Buford)

2005-05-11T10:23:00.000-04:00

Sweet daughters muses
Apollo’s charges.

Fly around me Goddesses in your usual style.

I want not, to defy or contest you.

For I fear your reprisal,
Of magpies and goldfinches
Of blindness and Hades.

Fly around me Goddesses in your usual style.

I want your letters,
So I my combine them.
“To hold all things in memory.”

I run with the Sphinx and her riddle.
I run with Airstaeus and her healing and prophecies.
I run with the nymph Echo and her alluring music.

I run as a disciple,
To your feminine hearts.

So please, sweet violet eyed muses,
“Tell me a tale” and “Sing Goddesses sing.”

Give to me your gift of inspiration.

For you are the daughters of memory,
and I am dependent on you.

Fly around me sweet goddesses in your usual style.

Take me now,
to Mt Olympus.

So I my dance in the glow of a fantasy

Untitled By Wendell Berry

2005-05-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

(I posted this poem because it explains well, how i go through life.)

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives my be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake rests

in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into peace of the wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind star

waiting with their light.

For a time I rest in the grace of the world,

and I am free.

Enticing Melpomene (By Buford)

2005-05-11T10:19:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the poem “Sweet Erato” By Raeen)

He the sot, in darkened ally,
Lie in rags o’er his shoulders.

Empty of fire, yet full of hope;
flask in hand, quivering in the early morning.

She the Muse, Melpomene crept into the rabble.
Revealed in cold contempt,
to his red and stinging eyes.

The sot in sudden fury,
bares his yellow teeth.
His anger guided by
self imposed tragedy.

“Speak ye not of woes , of loss.
Pour your flask onto the stones.
Cleanse your soul of lingering hate,
for tragedy visits you.”

She spoke in chanting tones,
and he lie before her.
Stretched hands to feet,
skin cold and clammy.

Now her hands upon his chest,
she chants her haunting song.

Through his quickening breaths
and fluttering eyes.

she leans down to his ear
“I take from you your pain and addiction,
to inspire from your tragedy.
So quit this life and all of its ravages.”

As tragedy lived
and death descended,
the Muse wondered
into the early morning streets.

The sot, lie dead, cold, and smiling
o’er streets of rot, filth, and tragedy.

Falling Backwards (By Buford)

2005-05-11T10:12:00.000-04:00

Falling Backwards
(out of youth)

Oh what a day!
Long ago.

Sun, Wind, Water, Time.

“I would go,”
I utter under my breath.

Once when worry was limited by youthful bliss.

Once when fear was held at bay by delusions of granger.

“I would go.”
I say louder and more pronounced.

Yet my character hears and screams,
“NO!”

It pulls in both directions.

Like tug-of-war,
back and forth
side to side.

Or maybe.

Like tic-tac-toe
I can only win by
actions and patterns of others.

So I scream back.

“I want to go!”

But my character is strong,
and I am toppled by its persistence.

So instead I whimper.
“But I want to go.”

As my character pushes me,
out of my youth.

For Raeen (Reflected)

2005-04-28T12:45:00.000-04:00

For Raeen
(Reflected)

I hear her voice
Through a smoothing haze.

She hangs on

Simultaneously calling
“Help!”
“I’m OK.”

A kindred spirits voice whispers,
“Your not alone.”

I hear her need
Through her created smoke screen.

She finds her voice
In the search for oneness

I hear her loneliness,
Drifting from her decorated cell.

Screaming
“Let me out!”

Again the whisper.
“I care.”

I can see her now!
Piercing the haze.

Dropping the smoke screen.

Escaping her beautiful cell.

She turns to the light,
And finds,

She is shining back.

Quote of the day

2005-01-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings a happy death.

Like Smoke, or a Flower By Emmy Arnold

2005-01-02T13:09:00.000-05:00

By Emmy Arnold

It dawns on me more and more how trivial and short our lifespan is. It is like smoke; it is like a flower, it is like grass, it is like a butterfly—for it passes so quickly, flying away. Nobody, no one can bring back wasted years. One wishes that one would have always lived with Eternity in mind.

Each of them died this year - yet each lives on.

2005-01-02T11:45:00.000-05:00

My work space.

Damaged goods

2004-12-31T13:56:00.000-05:00

The smell of smoke
The youthful rebellion
“School? What ever!”
“Let me hit that.”

Worry free school days,
Alcohol induced car rides,
Fun in the sun.
“This is the shit”
“Let me hit that”

Ambitious beginnings,
New friends,
New love,
Death of a friend on an alcohol induced car ride
“Sad about Chad.”
“Let me hit that”

New pad
Kick ass parties
Sex
Fired
“Wow! This sucks”
“Let me hit that”

Rugged recovery
New place
New girl
New life
“My plant looks good”
“Let me hit that
Blissful wonder
21st birthday
Love
Marriage
Peace
“For better or for worse. I do.”
“Do you have a beer?”

Drunken fights
Broken feelings
Distrustful accusations
“Bitch!”
“Let me hit that”

Uncontrolled freedom
Sex
Solid fun
Forgotten tears
Lonely nights
“It’s all her fault”
“Do you have a beer?”

Slow awakening
A soft taste of love
Silent reflecting
“I was such an asshole”
“Let me hit that”

True understanding
Controlled freedom
Willful rebellion
True love
“I wasted so much time”
“Let me hit that”

Peace
Lustful companionship
Sex
Trustful exchanges
“Will you marry me?”
“Wow! I need a beer”

Contented sharing
Heightened Ideas of understanding
Acceptance
Here
Now

“I’m glad I’m damaged!”

2004-12-31T09:35:00.000-05:00

current in peach

2004-12-31T09:14:00.000-05:00

rollin' waters

2004-12-31T09:10:00.000-05:00

Me and Will

2004-12-31T09:07:00.000-05:00

Boating the catawba with my boy.

Quote of the day

2004-12-31T08:47:00.000-05:00

The greatest danger, that of losing one's own self, may pass off quitly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, etc., is sure to be noticed.(Soren Kierkegaard)

Driftwood

2004-12-31T08:41:00.000-05:00

Bobbing and twisting,

In a current to big to know.

We float.

Near, caressing, touching.

Then away.

To private places where knowledge cannot be shared.

Sculpted and ravaged by,

Sun
Wind
Current
Tide
Storm

To be tossed, finally,

to solid ground.

To lie in the coarse, soft sand.

That covers us

in time.

Together.

For Danielle

2004-12-30T19:14:00.000-05:00

My soul escapes me
"Ecstasy!"
When you embrace me lovingly.
It soars through the air,
exclaiming with joy.
That life has begun.

Quote of the day

2004-12-30T09:44:00.000-05:00

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. (Oscar Wilde 1854-1900)

We all wait in nature

2004-12-30T07:40:00.000-05:00

The first time I recognized myself.

The sun hung gigantic in the sky, leaves stired in the chilled spring breeze. While shrill cries of love and hate resounded from the numerous birds.

The first time I ascertained myself.

The sun was filtering through the dense canopy, sewing a patchwork of distorted shapes on the forest floor. While tiny insects appeared and disappeared through the columns of shafted light.

The first time I happened upon myself.

A grasshopper cocked its wings and flew, noisily, from one stalk to another. A bee hovered over a glistening red flower. A small frog vaulted franticly, into a shallow gurgling stream. The cloying sounds and smells of nature floated through out my world.

That was when I finally met myself.

Waiting relaxed and content,
in the arms of Mother Nature.

(Written at age 14 and age 32.)

2004-12-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

Morning my favorite time(when im doing what i want.

2004-12-29T21:30:00.000-05:00

proof nature wants us to be happy!

2004-12-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

Our Lighthouse

Beautiful and Prominent
She stands.

In the calm sea of life,
she is accommodating.

A place to relax and glow, in the joy of a safe passage.

In the foggy and distorted sea of life,
she is true.

A place that is real and solid, as we drift through obscurity.

In the rough and dangerous sea of life,
she is safe.

A place of relief,
from our pain.

A place of hope,
from our despair.

A place of home,
from our wanderings.

A place of love,
from our fears.

She is our lighthouse.

You are our mother.

Beyond And Within

2004-12-28T19:26:00.000-05:00

Through a looking glass of longing,
We see ourselves looking back.
Smiling and waving,
At each other and ourselves.

Like a slow meandering current that is nonobtrusive and easily over looked.

We drift closer.
Pulled from opposite banks by the images in our looking glass.
Coming together.
Swirling, spinning, pooling behind ledges in small eddies,
dancing and curling back up stream.
We drift away.

The float determined by the rate of the flow.

To inevitably spill us over fast falling riffles,
depositing us on opposite banks.

Peering through our looking glass waiting for the river to rise.

2004-12-28T18:51:00.000-05:00

some of the gang

2004-12-28T18:46:00.000-05:00

colorful winter

2004-12-28T18:41:00.000-05:00

Sunset on the catawba

French Broad river Hot Springs NC.

2004-12-28T18:39:00.000-05:00

The Meaning Of Life

2004-12-28T18:23:00.000-05:00

The meaning of life for me is a constant wonder. Life ebbs and flows like the ocean. Some days calm prevails, other days the sea is rough and dangerous, as is life.

Yet even with the unpredictability of the ocean people still set forth across her surface.

So if life can be paralleled with the ocean then that means that all living beings have set out across its surface. Hence, making us all explorers, first meaning of life is to EXPLORE.

Now, if were all explorers, moving about across the surface of life sooner or later someone is bound to get into somebody else’s way. So now, to keep things running smoothly all of us explorers have to compromise. Second meaning of life is to COMPRIMISE.

So we’re exploring, we’re compromising across life.

Well, as is human nature, from time to time. The random bump up on the surface of life. Two explorers decide to explore together and they love. Third meaning of life is to LOVE.

And also; as is human nature the two explorers decide to take separate courses. Sometimes they never pass ways again so they accept. Fourth meaning of life is to ACCEPT.

And as is in all things out here on the surface of life, there are things not known to any explorer. This fact makes them wonder. Fifth meaning of life is to WONDER.

So here we are EXPLORING, COMPROMISING, LOVING, ACCEPTING, and WONDERING. Where does it get us after all is said and done?

As we explorers head toward the end of our journey what do we have to show from all our wonderings. Well a LIFE.

So with that I say the true meaning of life is just to LIVE.

By: James Berry