Why Be Afraid

There are wars and rumors of wars,
natural disasters.
The government tries to hang on,
Many of us are afraid of Armageddon.
It's natural to fear the unknown.

In our current lives,
we feel illness, injury, battle wounds
heartaches and depression.
Lots of pain,
physical and mental
Some people feel confused.
Always enduring.

In the end
The unknown could not
be any worse. 
than things we
have already endured.

Besides,
The Savior will be there.
How glorious!

On Church Benches

In church,
as a child
between wooden benches
it's difficult to play.,
we're trying to be reverent anyway.

On the bench,
I watch Daddy.
His eyes are trying to close.
He tries to fight it,
but off to sleep he goes.

"It's OK, Daddy."
"Just please, don't snore."

Christmas

This is my silly effort to use rythm and rymn

I wrote this song myself.
Didn't buy it at the store.
A song about Christmas
and goodies galore.

Singing carols and jingles
in quartets and singles.
Seems we've forgotten
who Christmas is for.

It's cold, the wind blows.
The roof tops are covered
with ice and snow.
Santa's coming tonight
all the kids know.
His reindeer on roof tops.
Lined up in a row.

When Christmas is over,
Santa's emptied his sack.
He yells "Merry Christmas!"
On his way back.

Here's Looking at You

As the eyes on a painting watch me
wherever I am in the room,
so the eyes of the holy man,
in church,
The bishop watches me.
During sacrament
whatever ward I am in.
He has watched me
since I was a child.
I may be a sinner,
but not every week.
Why he watches me,
I do not know.
I have this to say,
"I am not guilty!"

He's Watching

Santa has  camera that is much llike a big eye.  He watches everything we do. He makes a note when we are selfish or hateful.  What's more important is that he watches the good things that people do, like making friends with someone who is lonely, cheering someone who is sad, giving to people who need things desperately or giving support to someone after a horrible tragedy.  Sometimes, just being concerned is a gift.  Be a friend.  Share the spirit of giving.

Merry Christmas.

Blaming

A child failed to speak and people wondered why.
She failed to cuddle, to react to those around her.
"Maybe she's deaf ." They wondered.
"What's wrong with our baby?" They cried.
"Sounds like autism." A doctor declared.
Bewildered parents prayed.

In a different place, a horrible tragedy happened.
Twenty children, murdered.
People all over the world felt the pain.
Angry people blamed mental illness.
autism, in particular.
They don't know autism.
I don't know autism,
but I know that we can't blame
these sweet people.

Fishing

Springtime in Redding
We lived in a little pink house
at the bottom of some yellow hills.
A creek rolled past us.
I was nine years old.
I ran throught the field
with it's crackly weeds,
chasing butterflies and collecting spiders
Wild flowers colored the field,
purple, yellow, pink and green.
I loved to pick them for my mother.

At the creek, I sat on a rock
with my feet dangling and splashing.
I watched the tadpoles.
Some of them were growing legs.

I spotted a fish in the middle of the creek.
Standing up slowly, I hung on to the
slipper rocks with my toes.
I stood above the fish
with my legs spread apart.,
I grabbed the fish.
It slipped through my hands
I kept grabbing and splashing.
Amazingly I kept my balance.
Finally, I caught him and
took him home to my mother.
She said, "That's just an old carp."
garbage fish."  We can't eat it."
I thought to myself,
"I risked my life to catch a garbage fish."

Pearl

Crocheted heirlooms

remind me of the aunt I never knew.

In her pictures, she is about twelfe years old.

It was probalby during the late 1920's

 She had white hair and

wore a white dress.

 
They say she had brain fever.

She stayed in her room,
.
according to my mother's memory.
 
My mom was 6 years old

Pearl, was 16,

She was taken

in a horse drawn ambulance,

To live with the mentally ill.

She died young.


I wonder what she suffered.