“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
I Lost My Friend in the Rain
I lost my friend under the rain.
She and I use to run long distances
when we were young.
We spoke of sweethearts and dreams,
sports and basketball.
We shared french fries,
Dr. Pepper and coke floats.
She held the record for the broad jump
in school. I played basketball,
I was a forward.
There were always tomorrows,
until I lost my friend in the rain.
She let go one day
leaning outside against her car in the rain,
it was suicide…
Copyrighted: February 2018 CMM
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
Christmas Story
I looked past the window pane and saw the gray bleak sky,
and felt the chill left in the house where all the quiet abides.
I’m not sure which bird I heard but off in distance it sings,
And I listen until the quiet resumes, then hear him once again.
Ice has passed and snow’s to come, blanketing frozen ground,
as I walked among the woods a breaking crunching sound
of frozen earth reminds me of the labored year has passed.
We look for good news to come, and hope that will surpass.
This hope was birthed among the timbers and quiet baby born,
yet the world goes on the same, even after Christmas morn.
Listen, even as the year ends, Father times bids us farewell,
while the story remains anew among the promised tale
of birth and baby, poverty persist and still it overcomes,
rage and war and even death as life brought by a son.
Copyrighted: CMM 2008
Christmas Day
Dark and bleak the days become
Mother and child still are one.
They seek a shelter for the night
against the cold weather’s fright
A shed, a stable they find by grace
In the night their stay finds pace
to labor pains inside the shed
Labor and love defies world’s dread
where infant cries break the sounds
all kings and shepherds seek to surround
as star reflects hope and the son
God enters the world among
on this our Christmas Day…
Copyrighted: 2016 CMM
Morning
flickering morning fire
quietly throws warmth
across the shadows
no sleep lifts me up
from my warm bed
to sit in the dark
thinking, weighted
yesterdays forge
into serenity
praying in resolution
knowing the day
will be full
copyright: 2017 CMM
Eagle and Child Inkling 