A bluebird’s morning,
a runner’s eye turning.
Just in time to see,
perched in the barren tree .
@ 2018 CMM
“My Apologies” — Rudyard Kipling 1932
Rudyard Kipling
"Master, pity they servant !
He is deaf and 3 parts blind.
He cannot catch thy commandments.
He cannot read Thy mind.
Oh, leave him not to his loneliness;
nor make him thy kitten scorn.
He hath none other God than Thee
since the year that he was born .
Lord look down on they servant!
Bad things have come to pass.
There is no heat in the mid-day sun,
nor health in the way side grass.
His bones are full of an old disease-
his torments run and increase.
Lord, make haste with thy lightenings
and grant him quick release."
—-Rudyard Kipling, ‘ His Apologies ‘ 1932
The Gift
I find myself (as I do every Christmas) thinking back to a
special lady who always made Christmas so loving. There was
one gift I always remember and treasure is the one from Grandma.
She was old and retired. She was living on a very limited
income. Each Christmas she would set up a tree no taller than
Two feet. It was artificial and set on a little table covered with cotton
from old boxes, replicating snow.
She would take the little money she had and buy each of her
grandchildren hose for the girls and socks for the boys.
Today I remember her going to the little tree. Her hands had
become old with swollen joints and trembled just a little as
she picked up the little gift wrapped in thin paper from the year
before. There was always a thin ribbon, usually red tied so carefully.
Handing me the little gift, she would say, “It’s not much.” I
would always smile to her and say, “Grandma, you have no idea
how much I needed hose.” She would smile and sit next to the
little tree.
Today that gift keeps giving back to me. It was love.
copyrighted: 2012 CMM
Missing Christmas
Christmas lights flicker
into colors, green and red.
The silence of the season
hangs in what is not said.
It is the knowing you are not here
your smile I miss the most,
The quiet way you made it so
a holiday Christmas toast.
I will miss our first Christmas
with you not around.
I will miss all the other Christmas’
in memory do resound.
Copyright: 2011 CMM
My Son and His First Performance on “Chicago Fire”
Only the Mother knows how hard he has worked,
How much his heart is in the arts.
These moments makes my cup run over…
copyrighted: 2017 CMM
Jon Matteson, Chicago Fire, Season 6 Episode 6, NBC
We Were There
We were there
quiet without notice.
I brought you along ,
we discovered each other
in my silent memory.
We smiled, we felt the sea.
The sunrise kissed us.
Sea played sounds crashing
into our souls.
We were there, you and me.
I took you with me
To the sea …
copyrighted; CMM 2017
Eagle and Child Inkling 