Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A dream is just a dream

I walked beside the leader,
A man of erudition,
Poised as if for battle
A fight for life itself:
Toward the group assembling
Right out in the open
On a gritty tarmac
In chairs of sturdy metal
Made specially for this purpose.

That's when I saw my father,
My mother marching with him,
In clean and solemn clothing,
Solemn but not somber.
His face was slightly smiling.
She looked drawn and worn,
From bearing not just children
But the burdens of his goodness,
The demands of his god.

Far away, yet very close
They looked right in my eyes.
But never did they see me.
Expectations can deny
The reality around us,
Even truth laid bare.
Closer, they came closer
Nodding to their friends,
To those for whom they cared.

I said they must not see me
So I'll go in and hide.
The leader said to sit up front
I'd be quite safe up there.
No, I want to be surprising
They don't know that I'm here.
I'll kneel down by a window
Until the coast is clear.
Then I'll reappear.

But those who were assembled
Saw me hiding there.
They pointed and made faces
And asked what are you doing?
I told them please be quiet
Pretend I wasn't where
Anyone could find me
'Cause in the open air
Is where I knew I'd die.


I wakened then, to friendly sounds -
Of neighbors, birds, the breeze.
It was, of course, just a dream
But whatever did it mean?
My parents have been gone so long
And if I saw them now
I'd never hide for a surprise
I'd run, I'd sing a song
And throw my arms around them!

That's the trouble, you know:
No matter what you think it means,
A dream is just a dream!

© 2008 by Jacob Anson.
Image copyright © 2008 by Jacob Anson and its licensors.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Leadership

If you
have
someone
following
you...
do not
lead
that one
into
temptation
or into
anything
else...
do you
think
you are
a
god?

(Copyright © 2006 by Anson; 2008 by Jacob Anson. All Rights Reserved)





Wednesday, April 16, 2008

A New Perspective


Some things
can be
seen
only from
a certain
angle;
as in life's
dreams
where
dangling bones
of possibility
take on
flesh
mainly
from a
new
perspective.

Copyright © 2006 and 2008 by Jacob Anson. All Rights Reserved.
Photograph © 2008 by Lois Anne Anderson

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Eating Crow


It isn't hard
To not eat
Meat
If you're a
Vegetarian.

Unless, of course...

You must eat
Crow
'Cause you
Were wrong
Again!


Copyright © 2006 by Ansohn & 2008 by Jacob Anson

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The Ghosts of Mine Shaft #9


You can hear them in the wind,
A whisper in the trees.
You can hear them as the canyon
Echoes on the breeze.

Breathless voices hush the night
Clinging to the dimming light.
Living now between the times
The ghosts of mine shaft #9.

Solid mountain burst and cracked.
Tumbled stones fell and stacked.
They sought but they could never find
The miners working #9.

Today old-timers tell the tale
Of miners gone beyond the pale -
Who come around from time to time;
The ghosts of mine shaft #9.

One old boy swears he was saved
When hunted by a hungry cat.
They scared off that mountain lion;
Those ghosts of mine shaft #9.

Sometimes in the mist of morn,
Just before a coming storm,
A song will flutter through the leaves;
A paean to those spirits free -

The ghosts of mine shaft #9;
How they scared that mountain lion!
And now they do it all the time;
The ghosts of mine shaft #9.

(Dedicated to Denise, a hunter of ghosts and abandoned mines.)

Copyright © 2008 by Jacob Anson. All rights reserved.