Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Hope

Over Their Shoulders

Audio Recordings, Family, Ranch Life / tagged Expectations, Fear, Hope / July 19, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

He came of age in the twenties
Bumper crops and a big new house

She came of age in the thirties
Dust and alkali in you pie and eye

When things started looking good he'd buy a big new shiny car

Those times are coming back

When things started looking good she'd can a bunch more fruit
Those times might be coming back

Angels in Texas

Audio Recordings / tagged Death, Faith, Hope / May 31, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Some may die
in a state of grace
and some in a state of Texas

Be borne aloft
on the white wings of angels

Or carried as carrion
on the black wings of buzzards

And arrive at the same God safe

Jerusalem and Other Travels

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth / tagged Despair, Faith, Hope / April 16, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I wake in the night
in a prison of my making
rattling the bars of might have been
and should and should not have done

Unable to escape I pace and I wait

For Buddha to melt the illusion

Or for Jesus to open the door
with sweet forgiveness

Or God to at least send along
a minor prophet with
a file in a cake

Poets in Springtime

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Easter, Hope / April 12, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is not the job of the poet
to speak of spring in the springtime

The task is to gather
the cool winds of April
to freshen your face in July

And all through the fallings of fall
and all through the dying of winter

And all through the long days of lent
all through the pain of the Friday
reminding us always of Sunday

A Garden Blessing

Audio Recordings, Nature / tagged Faith, Hope, Spring, War / April 1, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Today all day the loving rain
has fallen on the new set plants

There are no
atheists in the trenches
and none watching from this window

Spring 2022

Audio Recordings, Nature, News / tagged Covid19, Flowers, Hope, Trees, War / March 20, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Unaware of war
redbuds are budding, bluebells blooming

Unaware of Covid
they smile their unmasked smiles

Not kept awake by fear all night
shining examples in the morning light

1 Reply

After the Service

Audio Recordings, Family, Relationships / tagged Death, Hope, Love / February 18, 2022 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

After my mother’s funeral
I take a long quiet drive
across her beloved prairie

then fly across the country
to the home of my grandchildren

It is one thing to say that “life goes on”
something else entirely to hold it

Christmas Truce 1914

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Covid19, Hope, Peace, War / December 25, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Five score and seven years ago
in the war that was to end all wars
a miracle occurred on the battlefield

German helmets may have looked
very much like a protein spike
but they had hearts and mothers
and hymns learned at their knee
and many of the hymns the same
as the ones taught to you and me

So covid covid if only you could care
and please stop killing for just one day
there are some hymns we’d like to share

During the 1914 Christmas Truce the Austrian Hymn Stille Nacht was sung by German speaking troops and joined in by the English speaking troops with the Silent Night words, creating an ascending chorus.

Every Poem is a Poem of Hope

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Hope / January 25, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Your head may be in the oven tomorrow
today you are still writing
Hear me! Help me!
with some belief the bottle will get to shore in time

Kamala and Amanda

Audio Recordings, Poems about Poetry / tagged Civil Rights, Hope, Inauguration, Women / January 21, 2021 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Every little girl

and every little boy
that ain’t scared of them
had quite a day yesterday

And quite a few to come — Painting of Ruby Bridges by Norman Rockwell

Kamala Harris and Amanda Gorman

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Sandi Hebley on How Fallen AngelsAugust 17, 2025
Indeed!
Nancy Fierstien on Unremember ThatAugust 16, 2025
Gonna be inclined to share this one at my Poets' Tea reading tomorrow afternoon. Thanks, Neil!
Sandi Hebley on Memory Lane JoggingAugust 5, 2025
Lovely!
Sandi Hebley on Dad and Death at WarAugust 4, 2025
😢
Sandi Hebley on One for the AuntiesAugust 3, 2025
Wow!

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