If God Were Human

Posted on July 30, 2019 by admin

 

If God Were Human

IF GOD WERE HUMAN

H. W. Bryce

If the world were worthy, I would give you love.

 

If God were human with his Godly powers,

He could still turn his wrath on us.

He could go Old Bible on us

And take a hand for a hand, an eye for an eye,

He could raze our crops and flood our world,

He could cause fire and damnation

Like a storied and vengeful old Greek god

Of storyland. If God were human.

 

How petty are we humans, next to God.
And if you say there be no God,

God still could smite you, if God were human.

 

Humans try to explain with science,

And science does a very good job.

Remember, though, that it was God who gave us

Humans free will; science agrees we have that,

Yet, in spite of that….

 

If you or I harmed our fellow,

God could give us thirty lashes, with his Godly powers.

If God were human.

 

If man administered lashes for some imagined wrong,

God could strike the whipping arm right off,

If God were human.

If someone chopped another’s head right off,

God could burn him at the stake right there, on site—

God could choose to do all that,

If God were human.

 

He could wither you with one godly look

Should you think dirty thoughts or do an evil thing.

He could burn all your possessions

In retribution if you stole another’s things.

He could destroy you with a pointed finger…

If God were human, and kept his Godly powers.

But God is God, and God is Love.

If a human ever became our God, would he be as kind?

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

 

Posted in A Voice in the Wilderness, Advocate, Alzheimer's, Hope, Love, Poem | Leave a comment

Blown Away

Posted on July 23, 2019 by admin

Blown Away cover

 

FEATURED SPOT

My feature spot yesterday went very well. That’s me introducing rough draft of my new book
BLOWN AWAY
at Poetic Justice/Poetry New West.

I will soon be ready to take pre orders.

Blown away features many of my most successful posts from Chasing a Butterfly with Ann, those with large numbers of responses and lots of shares.

It was a very warm and enthusiastic gathering. It blew me away.
BTW, fellow feature David Ferguson wowed the crowed with his readings, including Red and Crow.

Emcee Warren Dean Fulton kept the crowd on its toes with trivia quizzes and smashing intros.

Here are the opening verses of Blown Away. (Some of you may remember them from the blog.

It is the story of impossible love.

Blown Away

I am blown away by your beauty,
You’re a force of Nature.

I can but love you from afar, my star;
I am but human.

She was blown away when you mentioned love.
She hadn’t read you right.
And when you mentioned that commitment word,
She couldn’t see the light.

Posted in Blogging, Blown Away, Books, Guest, New Book, Poem, Poetry, Reflections, Remembering | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Call of the Keyboard

Posted on July 15, 2019 by admin

 

Call of the Keyboard

That early morning, sun in its mystic

Hue lightly egg-white washing

Streets with subtlety ahead

Of the morning stir of life,

There is a call to duty – to go

To school, to work, to provide

To serve, and to defend.

 

It is a clarion call, clear, resonant,

Demanding and authoritative,

It is to be heeded…

 

And then there is the call to the keyboard

My call, loud and clear, authoritative

And demanding, punishable by

Anguish, guilt and shame

Should I ignore it – lost time, lost

Opportunity, loss of inspiration,

Frustration, instability…

 

O Clarion, I heed your call

I obey, for the keyboard is my life,

My solace, my job – my voice!

 

To serve a different cause,

In fact, to serve many causes:

To boost morale, to please, to

Entertain, to perform, to

commiserate.

 

I have a poem for that

—

Posted in Blogging, Keyboard, Poem, Poetry, The Call | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

I Apologize

Posted on July 12, 2019 by admin

 

I Apologize bear

 

I APOLOGIZE

H. W. Bryce

 

I apologize. I cannot remember

your name.

You look so familiar but do I know you?

Yet?

Have we met before? I can’t recall,

At least for now.

You say that you love me, but what

Does that mean?

I’m so sorry for being so daft. Please

Remind me.

 

I apologize.  I don’t mean to be mean,

You know.

It’s just this lost feeling I have inside

Of me now.

Things aren’t what I remember.

Long time ago.

I must go now. I hear mother calling

For ME…

What’s that? A lifetime ago, you say.

Where did it all go?

 

I apologize, I do not have any money

For lunch;

I think Uncle Hubert took it all away

From me.

I have nowhere to go. They took me

Out of my house.

Where am I? Oh, a grand hotel here,

You say?

Show me to my room? All paid for?

Well, thank you.

 

I apologize. I have to go home,

Now!

Mother wants me to run an errand

To the store.

Where was that? I know the way.

It’s okay.

I apologize, we moved. I know…

Maida Vale…

Vancouver? Where is that? Mother

Lives in Maida Vale…

You know…

 

IMAGE: https://pixabay.com/photos/close-up-macro-teddy-bear-toy-1835598/

 

 

Posted in Advocate, Alzheimer's, Care Giving, Dementia, Memories, Poem, Remembering | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Trees and the Underbrush of Life

Posted on July 10, 2019 by admin

 

The Trees

THE TREES

and the underbrush of life

Today they came and cut out the underbrush,
The death knell has sounded and the bell has
Tolled for the squirrels, the raccoons, the crows,
jays, starlings, et al, who inhabit this little acre
soon to be gone, sold out to the highest
bidder, and gone with it all, the promised
park.

And gone, too, the shelter for the homeless
Ones who come and rest up there. Plus,
With it all, the view from my window.
Next, to be faced with a six-storey wall
Making way for Progress, but
Shutting out the people, the town, the
Sunrise – leaving me to live in its dark
And foreboding shadow.

Such a metaphor
For freedom
And life!
!
Progress…

–H. W. Bryce
—

Goodbye Nature, hello pavement…

So much more goes with it:

Memories, respect, promises, beauty, heritage,
All the aura, tranquility of this space and of this age.

Please excuse my indulgence. People need places to live, but they also need Nature, and I am assured that this land was dedicated as parkland.

The folks I talked to are so disappointed.

Image by junebab from Pixabay

Posted in Alzheimer's, Caring, Grieving, Lost, Poem | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Time

Posted on July 1, 2019 by admin

 

Time

TIME IS RELATIVE

 

Time is relative – it just isn’t mine.

Time just doesn’t love me.

Obviously we ain’t brothers.

He don’t look out for me.

 

When I want it to go fast, Time crawls.

When I want it to crawl, it breaks all speed limits.

Tempis fugit!

But what is time fugiting from?

What is it trying to escape?

And where will this fugitive go to hide?

What temper tantrum pushed Tempis to fugit?

 

They say that time is infinite

I cannot see infinity    nor do I belong there

I am in the now           and that’s all I can bear

 

And if time is relative, who are his relatives?

What strange mixed-up family does he belong to?

He isn’t in my family tree.

 

I guess he’s lost in space, you know,

They – the scientists – talk about time and space

And they say they are a continuum.

I guess they’re happily married.

Maybe that’s why Time ignores me.

They just go on and on about each other

Like a pair of Romeos and Juliets…

On their honeymoon.

And what is that? It thought

The moon was made of cheese.

And honey? Sticky substance,

I guess that’s what makes them

Stick together, mooning forever,

In each other’s eyes.

Heavenly skies!

 

—

So whose relative is Time’s?

Space, as in time and space?

But isn’t space the place where

You get lost; and so you are lost

In time? And what time is it,

Anyway? And whose time is it?

How much time is time?

Time for what? It’s out

Of my control. Tick Tock…

 

— Hey! Where are you going now? Hey!

I’m not finished. Hey! Wait!

Just give me a little time, eh?

Wait for me….Heyyyyyyyy…

 

Posted in Alzheimer's, Lost, Poem, Space, Time | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Snow Daze

Posted on June 25, 2019 by admin

mock me with your flowers

MOCK ME WITH YOUR FLOWERS

H. W. Bryce

You mock me with your flowers,

Your Yuccas and Aagapanthas,

While we at home here on the now

Dark side of the earth are chilled

By icy winds and sluggish rain and

Snow and sloppy slurry. Oh! To keep

The summer here to warm the heart

And soul. But our flowers are dead.

 

The leaves have deserted and still

We must smile and put a face on

To keep our spirits up.

 

And you mock us with your flowers!

You with your spectacular Silver Princess,

Your red kangaroo paws, your orchids!

And us with our dead dandelions and daisies,

And our freezing feet and can’t sleep.

 

If there be any justice left in this cruel

World, you would go colour blind in

Your garden of precious Aussie gem flowers.

 

But no! You have to send us pictures while

We struggle through the snow drifts, half

Blind from the single whiteness of our

Winter world. You mock us with your flowers!

— —

When I worked in Ontario at the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto, and at the Hamilton Spectator in, oddly enough, Hamilton, also in Ontario, British Columbia persistently sent us spectacular photos of fields of tulips in February and/or March while we trudged through six feet of snow to work every day. They mocked us with their flowers and snickered in their sleeves.

But we could cheer when BC got a rare blizzard and all their cars spun out. Ha Ha. I mock you with my laughter.

And now, here I am in holiday land and our Province’s orchard country gets snow. Two days before the first day of Spring. Hmmm.

Snow in our desert swath in the northern Okanagan Valley. Snow in Alberta, our neighbouring province to the East. Snow! Lots of snow. At the first day of Spring! Just at the end of our cherry blossom season! Snow!!

 

 

Image by Linus Schütz from Pixabay

Posted in author site, Flowers, Mocking, Snow, Winter | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment