BIBLICAL
I would like to know you biblically
With all the power and passion
of the old testament
All the love and forgiveness
of the new
Tag Archives: Love
YOU ARE THE U IN HOUSTON TO ME
YOU ARE THE U IN HOUSTON TO ME
How could I ever leave you love
if you didn’t live in Houston
If it wasn’t for the humid swamp
and the trash along the bayou
how could I say good-bye to you
You know I love you dearly
and it ain’t you that makes me run
but Houston traffic’s far from fun
and every Bubba’s got a gun
Yet even with all of that
and the country’s worst damn air
you know that I’ll keep coming back
as long as you are there
And I’ll keep leaving Houston too
after a muggy smoggy day or two
One of these days I hope you know
I’ll take you with me when I go
LOUIS AND SUZANNE
LOUIS AND SUZANNE
Suzanne gets cancer
she gets cancer real bad
The doctors get out their big guns
They wage war with everything they’ve got
The cancer laughs at the doctors
It breaks out on many new fronts
The doctors, defeated, suggest surrender
Louis and Suzanne go to Mexico instead
Suzanne drinks fresh juices and does cleanses
Louis quits his job and takes care of Suzanne
Suzanne gets well
Louis takes care of many people
He took care of people in asbestos mines
For years he has not slept well
and he does not breathe well in the mornings
The doctors are treating him for sleep apnoea
Early this year he has a bad cough
The doctors do X-rays, Louis has cancer
Too much asbestos, ten years growing
It is too late for the doctors, or Mexico
Louis dies, life is funny
FOR DEBBIE AND DAD
FOR DEBBIE AND DAD
– by Carolyn Meili
As America reeled
in its new found vulnerability
Its myths exploding over and over
on wide-screen TV
You found a friend
perhaps the only one I have ever seen
who demanded your best
but not your sympathy
Now, in her absence
we discover our own vulnerability
and the strength in it
I watched the moon tonight
and she is full
Beaming among us
(written by my daughter Carolyn Meili, who met Debbie a week before Debbie’s death. Said she had never made and lost a friend so fast)
DEBBIE OH DEBBIE
DEBBIE OH DEBBIE
Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because no one ever asked you
hard enough to stay
Debbie oh Debbie
were you always so beautiful strong
that no one ever thought to carry you along
Debbie oh Debbie
the brave wolf that still shows its throat
and bleeds inside of its coat
Debbie oh Debbie had we but loved
less wisely, but more well
who can tell who can tell
Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because I never asked you hard enough to stay
FEEDING THE SOUL AT VARGOS
FEEDING THE SOUL AT VARGOS
(for Debbie)
The soul is fed in many ways
Walking
on a sunny Easter Sunday
in Vargos gardens with the one you love
Marveling as peacocks surround us
and salute that love
Meeting by chance
your surgeon ally in the cancer fight
Sitting by the window
breaking bread in gratitude for it all
JUDY
JUDY
Judy was a beauty
tall and blonde and shy
early this month she decided to die
The soft wise eyes, the curling lashes
all now ashes
We have been friends for twenty years
hugs and coffee when in town, cards when far away
And always the latest poetry
She said it was important, and it touched her
in places nothing and no one else could reach
Three years ago
I put my neck in a green eyed noose
I sent no cards, I did not call
I do not know if I could have saved her
though touch and poetry have been known to
I only know I hate what I did and didn’t do
I only know that she drowned out there alone
I only know it was a long time since I had thrown her a line
THE TWINKLE
THE TWINKLE
(Eulogy at Father’s funeral)
There is a thing about light
no matter where it starts it never stops
even if it takes a million years
to get from the twinkling stars to here
There was a twinkle in the eyes of this man
A twinkle of innocent mischief and inner joy
greeting every man and woman
every girl and boy
When you saw it you knew that he liked you
and never doubted that you’d like him too
AND HE WAS RIGHT
Because there is a thing about light
A million years from now
and no one knows how far
they will see it on some star
FATHER’S POEM
FATHER’S POEM
My father’s poems
did not come down to us on paper
He was eight years old when his mother died
his youngest brother not yet three
They say he adopted the care
of the sweet sad child
and told him a story each night
Night after night after night
New stories he made up each night
And he would gather him up in the story
and hold him there
until he slept
ROBERTA’S WEDDING
ROBERTA’S WEDDING
When I returned from anywhere by air
Roberta would run
full out across the crowded floor
take a gymnast’s leap ten feet away
and fly through the air into my arms
So pure a show it was of joy and love
so affirming of the goodness of all life
so full of youth’s unquestioned faith
she would be safely caught and held
that travelers all around
would stand in awe
Today she runs across a crowded floor
and leaps with equal joy
into the arms of another man with
equal trust she will be safely caught and held
And now I see what all those others saw
and I stand back in awe