Before Ancient Temples Fall

Before ancient temples fall
I just want to say:
You gave it your all--
There was no other way.

It's not that you fell
Out of fashion, out of mode,
It's just that they don't understand
How much you know.

They always think
What is new is what is best
But, for one, I must say
Looking back is the test

Of what is real,
What holds its worth,
And, of course, what is true.
'til one considers this
All else is forgotten, too.




(Liz Ciampa; March, 2016).

Cottage by the Sea, A Prelude

By Law Hamilton

She looked out the window as the snow started to fall. The sounds of other people’s day swirled around her like the snow being blown by the wind. She looked at the clock. He still had half an hour to arrive. Her gaze goes back to the window. The storm was not too dark, as the street lights had not come on.  She rolled the wheelchair to the window and raised the blinds for a better view. She did not hear her son enter the room.The hearing aids emitted high pitched frequencies too much for her to wear them, currently they are on the nightstand.

Unaware that her son had said hello, she demands “Take me to the cottage by the sea.” when she sees him enter the room.

“I’m glad to see you too, let me get you your ears,” he replies.

“I want to watch the snow fall into the waves.”

* * *

One Wednesday a month, Doug would take his mother on an outing - away from the nursing home and spend time with her beyond his caretaker role. She was not bound to the wheelchair, yet. But it was easier for her to use for any distance and she was in it more often. She could still stand up and get into his car. But he knew the day was coming when that would not happen. Sometimes they would take a “Sunday drive” to see the foliage change or holiday decorations in neighborhoods that were not familiar.

He liked to take her out to lunch, to give her a change of scenery and a good meal. He loved to hear her reminisce about the Thanksgivings of her childhood and other familial tales that she remembered so clearly.  The stories that were now decades old, he could recite them by heart, seemed new and fun now as she retold them with renewed life in her eyes.The hijinx of kids skipping school to go for a swim on a nice day sounds like something his son would do today.  Well, not in the snow - they would be getting out early or so Doug suspected.

“Mom, how about a nice lunch in front of a warm fire?” Doug asks. He and his wife had found a charming restaurant with a wood fireplace, not something his Mom would experience at the nursing home.

“No. We must go to the cottage,” she replied.

The Poinsettia and the Easter Lily

by Mary Higgins

They sat on the window sill, side by side.

one loved the sun, the other from it shied.

One being red, the other was white

one sat from December, night after night.

From two different worlds, they arrived at my door

each one wrapped in its season’s decor.

Poinsettia and lily, next to each other

carefully cared for by my mother.

Just seeing the two intrigued everyone

wedged between ivy in bright morning sun.

Lending color and cheer to a bare sitting room

and chasing away, the rain’s gray and gloom.

Only one would survive a summer sky to see

the other, wither, remembered by you and me

So which would it be that would fade first from sight?

I expected the red, turns out, ‘twas the white.

all rights reserved Ⓒ Mary Higgins 2016

Hurry Summer

by Lauraine Alberetti Lombara

Wrinkly and crabby

Lazy and edgy

Oh! How I long for the sun.

I strive to be happy and giving and caring

Not be the witch I’ve become.

Thus I try not to linger

 While stretching my finger

 Which points to the truth

That I know….

I’m here and I’m living

And God make me willing

To get up, get ready and go.