Butterfly falls on the beetle's head (by Fred Shahrabani)

Butterfly falls on the beetle's head
The hockey stick cracks the stony bed
Summer's swarms come swarming round
Swarming beneath street lights and the craggy ground
Glimmers of Sun filter through the leaves
It's a perfect day for the perfect kid
To run through lawns and dawns and summer fields
And the myriad tracks crossing summer's shield
V train hooting in the distance
Comes rattling around the bend
Why worry about summer's end
When you can stretch a moment to eternity?
A model airplane,  bear hugging monsters
Summer's lavish fertility and sweetness in the air
Your field across the road fills up with the sound of laughter
With bounding dogs and looping soccer balls
And once  I think I even saw
A baseball tossed
Across the darkened abandoned mound
Nights packed with cocoa sipping/breathing fire flies
Kids beaming with life's campground fires
Branches bending into the summer night
Love reclining with contented smile
on summery campstyle recliners
Dad's pulled his guitar out
Mom's sipping chamomile tea
Upright Piano by the balcony
Opens up a wholly toothy goofy smile
But you better hoard your goods little squirrels
Soon  it'll be winter's time to come around
Pale moon through the clouds
Lights up like a torch
Casts it's eyes upon the porch
Crayon-drawn steps lead outdoors
From the shadows an unseen cough
Alex Alex to where'd you run off?
Mom and Pop are straining
Life itself is detaining them
Lady bug hitches a ride
On the wings of a dove
Up past rows of electric wires
Into the rivers of gushing air
Night comes round to the ol' neighborhood
While Seasons on their journey come and go
It's summertime  once more
We'd be organizing our dreams for you just about now
With the weather beautiful and all
But lovely Alex you've  run off
With the sky-high promises that you held
I don't think I ever took another breath
But here and there we pick up what pieces of love to us you have  left

To my bubby on her birthday - March 5, 2011

What glory is there in growing old
Look around you and behold

A family filled with admiration
For your years of dedication

Strong children
Close to all your grandchildren
You even have great-grandchildren

What glory is there in growing old
Love and respect are in your hold

Memories good and bad
Together we live them, it's what we have

Always there when we call
Always ready to catch us if we fall

And fall is what we do
Because that's what life is
But getting up, that's what you give

What glory is there in growing old
Look around you and behold

Please remember

Don't speak to me today, I cannot hear you
Speak to my son

Don't think of me today, I cannot feel you
Think of my son

Don't look at me today, you will not see me
Look at my son

Today, if you really want to talk to me
Speak to my son

I only hear my son today...

(written June 22, 2010)

A future I never imagined

What happens to my mind
That I can't yet grasp the fact
You won't come back, you can't come back


Maybe you're protecting me from the inconceivable, the unbelievable
Thank you if that's true
It's good to think that you are by my side


Life exists in a time warp for me
The present is a future I never imagined
The past leaves me questioning if it ever happened
And the future?
It is not a vision of growth and prosperity
It is a hope I can carry on without your physical presence
And carry you with me always


It is an appreciation for every day that I can make it through
It is a love for the ones you loved
And for those who loved you, and remember you


I can't yet accept you're gone
I will never be over this
And for now, I will just be