August

Start the month off with a bang!
Making memories all the time!
Followed a band up to LA,
Followed it up to SLO,
Fell in love with a fiddle,
A harmonica, a banjo.
Laughs on the open road,
Music, and a best friend,
Made everything else in the month
Pale by comparison.
Now the dog days of summer
Are coming to an end.
So bring on the harvest moon
And whatever's around the bend.

July

Motto of the month:
Work hard, play harder
Than I’ve ever done before.
Burning that candle bright
At both ends,
And watching the wax
Drip the hours away.
Dog days of summer,
Month of my birth,
Has filled my nights
With dancing and mirth,
But work gets me down
So we go a few rounds,
Just to start it all over again.

 

June

June brought on gloom,

Deeper than puddles

After a rain.

Broke down at home,

And at work,

Just the same.

Unable to hide all the pain

I’d had hid

Over the years,

Stored away in my head.

But it’s time to move on,

Rip myself from the past,

Learn how to love

And enjoy life at last.

Remember how to laugh

And smile again.

Hold on to what's good.

Hold on to what's true.

And hope that, in the end,
They'll hold on to you, too.

May

May brought humility,

Honor and strength,

Welcoming home

Our nation’s young men and women

Hell-bent on protecting our freedom.
Overwhelming and powerful,
Putting things in perspective,
Talking to veterans
About their experiences
And planting flags on graves,
Paying homage to the sacrifices made.
All else in May
Pales in compare
To Memorial Day,
And honoring those near, far, and everywhere.

April

Walking on pins and needles,

Afraid to upset anyone and anything.

Not succeeding, but always reaching.

Not finding that peace.

Work as hectic as can be.

Idiocy abounds.

Stressed about parents,

But gotta keep myself from getting down.

So burn that candle at both ends,

And hope that you can learn to bend.

Swallow your pride

Like the April showers

And wish for nothing in May

But happiness and flowers.

A Psalm of Life

What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
"Life is but an empty dream!"
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Finds us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,--act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

March

* I'm just going to say that I'm not feeling this one... it was a struggle to write and I do not feel like I encapsulated the events and the feelings of the month at all, but alas, the first week of the new month is over and I must post something before it gets any later... =/ Mreh.

Emotions ran rampant,

Ran out of control.

Sitting and waiting

Never did any good at all.

My dad pacing the floor,

Anxious to be at my mother’s side.

My sister talking non-stop,

And me just wanting to hide.

But some prayers are answered

And this one went through.

My mom came out okay,

Just lots of healing left to do.

And then to the east, I had to fly,

Off to a conference, where my liver did die.

Kindred spirits, I met,

Bared my soul to these guys,

Who, with their kind words,

Brought tears to my eyes.

And under the light of a neon moon,

I knew it would be over all too soon.

Back to California to help out at home,

Emotions raw and exhausted,

But holding my own.

Been pushed to the limit

Of things I can handle

But through all this,

For so much, I have to be thankful:

A mom getting better,

A safe trip to Raleigh

Old friends and new,

To support me

Through all the folly.