More frightening than Halloween

Halloween seems so much scarier this year: 

So many threats are looming 

For so many:

Hunger, and imprisonment; 

Joblessness and debt;

 Homelessness, and lack of medical care.

While those in power grow richer 

With each day. 

What happened to the principles 

 Our faith and nation were founded on: 

Truth, mercy, and equality, 

Life, liberty and justice for all?

Divided, we might fall

Though we’ve grown close over the years, 

We’re surely not identical, 

Yet still, despite our differences, 

We present a united front, 

 And understand that, divided, we might fall…

Pumpkins

Autumn, 

And the pumpkins begin to gather 

On paths and porches, 

In windows and in doorways, 

 Sometimes accompanied 

By gourds, or stalks of corn, 

Their robust, rotund fertility 

Stark contrast to the skeletons 

Of plants and humans 

Hovering nearby…

Prayers for the frightened

However beautiful our sunset was last night, 

It pales before the worry we feel 

 For our sister-in-law, alone in her home 

In Jamaica, with the hurricane 

Raging overhead. 

However sturdily their house was built, 

I remember the sound of a 90mph wind, 

And can only imagine how terrifying 

 That sound would be when doubled… 

Prayers are flying

For all the terror in the world.

Grief

Grief, we know, is not unique to humans: 

This little guy has lost two canine playmates 

In recent months, and it shows: 

He’s clearly grateful to his human companions, 

But something’s missing from his life, 

And it’ll never be the same. 

Looking at his eyes, we feel the echo 

Of all the sadness in our lives, 

And in the world.

Reaching for the clouds

Like trees, we long to reach out to the clouds 

As they race across the sky, 

Gleaming like foreign lands 

With invitations to explore 

What lies beyond their darkening silhouettes 

 And dress in warm peach-colored light,

 Constantly shape-shifting as we dance 

Into the deepening indigo of night.

Nostalgia

This time of year, I could so easily 

Imagine I am back in New England:

These buildings, so like those 

Of the campus we left behind; 

These trees and skies 

The colors of Indian Summer — 

A term I’ve not thought to to use 

For forty years or more — 

But oh, if I were there, 

I’d miss the mountains and the water — 

And the people, but then, wherever I am, 

There are people that I miss: 

 That’s the challenge of leaving friends behind…