My main site can be seen at www.ganderpoems.org Thank you! Enjoy! ~louis
Showing posts with label memory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memory. Show all posts

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Twenty Angels 12-16-12


Pure evil smashed through fragile doors
at lives misunderstood -
fought cowardly in anger -
with twenty Angels, good.

Then hero's lives were sacrificed
as many children hid.
We cannot make the pieces fit -
but twenty Angels did.

So now there's something in my eyes
there's dampness on my cheek -
and I can feel the echo when
those twenty Angels speak.

The question that I struggle with -
is, "Where do Angels go?"
I'm not sure of the answer, but
our twenty Angels know.

In memory of the 20 children and 6 adults killed
at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, CT


©2012 louis gander ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Friday, June 8, 2012

Beneath His Willow Tree 6-8-12



So tell me, does God understand,
and can He really see,
a lonely widow on this bench
beneath His willow tree?

There were parents busy with,
their children running free,
but no one noticed I sat here
beneath His willow tree.

Of all the people in the park,
I thought of only me.
Could no one know my broken heart
beneath His willow tree?

My husband's recent passing adds
one more bad memory,
to all my pile of heartaches here
beneath His willow tree.

"Please take away my loneliness."
I prayed, "May sorrow flee" -
but felt a tear start rolling down,
beneath His willow tree.

I prayed for one small miracle,
just one drop from His sea -
then found a peace not felt before,
beneath His willow tree.

As Jesus kissed my tear away,
I noticed lovingly,
another weary woman rest,
beneath His willow tree.

So then she shared her loneliness.
A new friend she would be.
We talked and laughed and opened up
beneath His willow tree.

The sun came out and brightened us,
as we sipped green iced tea -
and reminisced together  here
beneath His willow tree.

So tell me, does God understand,
and can He really see,
a lonely widow on this bench
beneath His willow tree?

©2012 louis gander - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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John 13:34 (NASB)
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,
even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Apron Strings 5-19-11


When I was young,
I often clung,
to many little things.
I'd reach up high,
again retie,
my mama's apron strings.

I sometimes did,
what mom forbid,
although she'd make it clear.
Thoughts still linger.
I remember,
through each fleeting year.

Acquainted still,
her stories thrill,
with many left untold.
I can't go back,
though mem-ries track,
to years I'd rather hold.

I'm lost in thought,
it can't be caught,
despite my futile search -
mama singing,
mama bringing,
this small boy to church.

Though I was touched,
and changed so much,
through Christ, the perfect One -
I cannot stay,
time slips away,
from all that she had done.

I try to grasp,
and hands I clasp,
around those many things -
but mem-ry strands,
slip through my hands -
just like those apron strings.

I miss her so.
Emotions show.
There's moistness in my eyes.
I can't withhold,
though I am old,
my oft guilt-ridden cries.

Though sometimes sad,
I'm always glad,
whenever I think of -
my mama's cares,
my mama's prayers,
and her most precious love.

©2011 louis gander ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Sunday, October 10, 2010

My Grandma's Way 10-10-10

Above all things, above the sky -
like a balloon that's sailing high.
This perspective, Heaven's view -
and here above, God sees all too.

Over rainbows, cottony clouds -
and back a-ways too, I think out loud -
to greener times, to early days -
to simpler life and better ways.

Far down below in memory etched,
at grandma's house, her clothes line stretched.
I saw clothes hung in certain space,
as clothes pins held each one in place.

In standard form, no wind could jilt -
the smallest sock or largest quilt.
Though Grandma's clothes would often dance,
that wicked wind had ne'r a chance.

It all was simple, very fine,
when grandma took clothes off her line.
And though were dried in simple care,
today her words just wouldn't dare.

Some green-enviro talking heads,
(while separating whites and reds),
might brag while more pollutions spew,
while leaning on their dryers, new.

Though grandma's tongue was as a whip -
"just like a bee sting" we would quip -
her honest, tight and sanctioned deeds,
had filled a life, fulfilling needs.

Her winter canned goods kept us fed,
and she had extra, neighbors said.
Her flower bed received great care,
with colored roses everywhere.

She had no debt, (no card for sure),
worked very hard, had character.
She saved her pennies, saved her dimes -
but lost it all (inflated times...)

....

I soon descend. Balloon deflates,
to current times, to current dates -
and see a truth of future dim,
while looking out where life is grim.

A time of envy, want and fist,
a time when freedoms can't exist.
A time and place that makes man sweat -
where deeds go limp and eyes go wet.

All mortgaged off - Miss Liberty,
Mount Rushmore too, as I can see.
And also mortgaged, please discern -
the parks and trees. Too late we'll learn.

Each public asset, private too,
will all be seized when overdue.
Our current assets we have bled -
and future income 'til we're dead.

Simmering slowly, each tax rate -
will come to boil when it's too late.
Our blood will cover how much ground,
for basic freedoms, next time 'round?

Lust and envy, pride and greed -
raw love of money, root and seed.
While we're sold off, piece after piece -
in massive debt, our freedoms cease.

This Nation's great and standing tall,
of people proud, before their fall.
Piece after piece, we each are cursed -
and this is slavery at its worst.

These newer ways got out of line,
and of the times, this is the sign.
While grandma's way was always fair -
but try her way? They wouldn't dare!

Now all alone with assets few -
her farm is gone, the fields too.
Her bank bankrupt. A brand new dawn -
with neighbors and her savings gone.

Though once so blind, I couldn't see.
She had her ways - now her ways, me.
At times a quiet tear she shed,
remembering her loved rose bed.

The shirt they took was really mine,
that once hung there on grandma's line.
Soon lost forever, I do say -
if we can't live my grandma's way.

©2010 louis gander - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
http://www.ganderpoems.org/

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