First, a short poem for today, before the snow came this evening -

Warm sun Cold day –

The air is cold

A slight breeze pulls at my hair as it blows past

Clouds part

The sun radiates a beam upon me

My eyes close as I lift my chin to face it

Red and then yellow white penetrates into my soul

Thought yields to feeling in the warm bright embrace

I am engulfed in the warmth of a cold winter day sun

                                                                        JRC 2.8.12

Second - a poem at the end of this blog, but it is preceeded with a certain sadness and questioning.

Time and Passing -

This entry isn’t of the usual humor based blog post you may be hoping for or used to from me. That’s because not everything in life is funny and we all have times of struggle, sadness and sorrow. It is good to do our best to find humor and laugh in tough times and to find comfort and healing in the power of laughter, but too, it is important to the healing process and healthy to acknowledge and accept our emotions of sadness, fear, anxiety and anger. This past Saturday I attended the funeral of a co-worker. We were not close in the sense of good friendships or regular working situations. In fact he was a person I knew, would say hello to, occasionally discuss a work related matter, but I didn’t see him daily. He had battled illness and you could see the toll it took on him physically and emotionally. He died before he reached his fortieth birthday and he left three teen boys. He was a single father.

I went to the funeral service to pay my respects primarily to those boys and to help me to have perspective on the delicate nature of life, and all of life’s challenges. None of us knows when our time will come and that fact slips past us as we go about our daily routines and live the ups and downs of what our situation, our life, brings at each turn. In some cases the end of one’s life comes slowly and the awareness of an on-going illness may give a certain opportunity to “plan” for the end of life, but still that finality of death leaves a void and has an effect that no plan can truly account for. In other cases, death comes without warning and it has an abruptness that somehow leaves a broader void in those who mourn the loss.

Dwight’s message to us, to me, “life is short, treasure the moment”. It was a reminder, for me, since at a point in our lives when we first experience a death and begin to question mortality and experience that first loss, whether it be human or other, that loss, that void begs questions that can’t really be answered and the void has an emotional uniqueness for each us that is very individual.

Here is a personal reflection, a poem that came to me this week –

Time Passing –

I am dying

And it is a good thing

Years have passed and more hopefully will

But I am dying

At this moment it is not immediate or eminent

But I am dying

I strive to enjoy the moment, love and be loved

But I am dying

I look toward the future, reflect on the past, live and let live, do my best

But I am dying

Though I write about it here I do not dwell on it and I am not afraid

But I am dying

I am happy to be living the ups and downs along this life journey, yet it is not forever

As I am dying

I hope that my love sows seeds as I travel, that they grow fruitfully and abundant

As I am dying

That at my last breath, my love and souls spirit will go on and be with you

As I am dying

Know my love for you is true

As I am dying

I will be at peace

Dying

JRC  2.12

May peace be with you.