Stairs

Entering blindly as a new born babe
I search in the dark
This world is so strange to me
It's as if an old lady blind but very alert
did not care about the emotion crawling along the wall

Not knowing anything about my surroundings
I grope the floor longing for understanding
The darkness is so thick it drowns out our voice
I scream but am not answered

Approaching me is a tiny light bouncing softly on the horizon
frightened but with arms outstretched I reach for the light and grasp it
Peering inside my hands my eyes are opened
A part of me doesn't want to
but the rest of me stronger
forces me to step into the light

The world is will within the light
and long is the travel to get there
I meet a long stairway reaching far up into the heavens
farther than the eye could see
I begin to run up the stairs as fast as I can not wanting to slow down
And now wishing I would have taken in all I could

Finally exhausted and breathing heavily
I reach what looks like the top of the stairs
Only to look further and see thousands more ahead
I fall in love with the world around me
Knowing there is so much more in front of me I sit down on my step
And soak in my surroundings.

1/12/06
-- Scott


[The assignment was the class final: to write about what they had learned in class. He got an A.]

"Torrents of water"

Torrents of water
A veil of mist
Noise pounding in my ears
My senses all confused
All I could do was hang on to His strong arm
I was being pushed and pulled in every direction
My distress was great and I felt hopeless
I could no longer see the light of His face
The mist of darkness was so thick I began to choke
I did not want to be swallowed up
But I began to lose my grip
My fingers became week
My hand slipped from His
My heart melted and I shook with fear
"Save me" I shouted
I was at rest.

1/4/06
-- Carly

New Year's Resolutions

I no longer will be idle while I'm watching my TV
And I won't allow Albanian drivers driving bother me
The porches of my neighbors house I promise not to stoop on
And milk I will not try to purchase with a stolen coupon
I won't be kicking puppies or go on a gambling spree
And my brother's neighbor's cousin's goldfish I will not set free
I won't jump on policeman's toes or tickle cub-scouts silly
I won't insult another colt by calling it a Philly
I will not wrestle with a bull or eat my aunt's tofu
I won't crank-call the White-house or some guy in Timbucktu
I know these resolutions may sound silly, none are deep
But these are resolutions that I know that I can keep.

1/2/6
-- Josh

Solitude & loneliness

Often

The one will hide the other

Both looking, sounding much the same

Solitude is an empty rooftop with me a-perch
Staring into silent skies of starlight
Hearing not a sound but what I breathe
A fortress for the thoughts I will be thinking
Where no one can invade nor bother
The stillness of the night's bright velvet darkness

loneliness is a rock in the desert heat:
No sound, no breeze disturbs its bastions
But the rapid beating heart in need of shade
Cactus grace the landscape far encircling
Withered and dry in desperate need of water
No moisture in the clouds that bring no rain

Often

indistinguishable except

In the eye of the experiencer

Solitude is a country road at twilight

No barn to burn her image in my eyes

Fields newly mown lay open far and near

A gentle breeze brings music on her back

Green and harvest-gold pervade the landscape

All is peaceful, tranquil, still

loneliness is the frozen ice and snowdrifts

Antarctica below-the-world life

Heavy winds drive deep within the skin

Of any who would brave to tarry there

Calling, no response is answered

Without a compass -- all but life is lost

Often

Taking the subtler forms

Of the opposite of our perceptions

Solitude is an oyster tucked deep within his shell

Protection, Peace and sleep are what he finds

His shell, a hard defense against the world

Secluded under his own reticence

Nothing keeping him from those around

Except a shell he opens as he will

loneliness is a goldfish in a small glass bowl

A painted plaster castle is all he sees within

Without his home the world revolves

On pet-shop shelves are others much his kin

Who with him hold no communication

Except the distorted face of passers-by

Often

These two are open for inspection

And changes only if the actor wills

Other times

The choice is not left with those

Whose lives have been leading there:

To one

Or the other

1/1/6

-- Josh

New Year

Slowly ticked the moments of the year
As she prepared for her end -- someone else's succession
No heed I paid to the slow approach of aught-six
Another year, another year -- Nothing has changed since yesterday
This year will be as swift-footed as the last
As our tiny sphere of a planet sprints in her arc
Throughout the galaxy, around the sun --
It is but another lap in this seemingly

Endless race

And yet

As I woke this morning, the sun shining through my window pane
Very much the same -- and altogether different -- sun and sky
And somewhere in my mind -- within it's darkened recesses
I could hear voices of the past shout in triumph
One last time -- then fade into the depths of my skull again
Reminding me how far in life I've traveled
How many friends I've known along the way
How the ending of a year is the beginning, not the end
Of life to come
And yet
I pull the covers across my eyes and wish for five more minutes
Before I have to start the new year right
Before facing all I've left undone and still to do
The me I am and the me that I should be:
The battles lost and won throughout my lifetime
And those I've still to face me coming soon --
But until I slip from my sanctuary beneath my pillow
All these future shadows must remain hidden a bit longer
I sigh
And rise
Another year ahead, another just behind:
The die has been cast; the wheel set in motion --
I must face this coming year as though a Lion
And yet...

1/1/06
-- Josh

Christmas

Fog presses her face against the windows peering in
The smell of fresh cinnamon rolls and bacon drew her there
Colored lights reflect their blinking on ribbons and wrapping
Presents look best still wrapped in the house's warmth this morning
She peeks in through the kitchen window
The smell of fresh coffee; the sounds of laughter.
My face presses against the inside of the window
She stares back -- us two locked until I utter
"Please let there be snow"
But the fog just smiles and traces her steps back
Toward the hills, leaving cloudless blue skies.

12/26/05
-- Josh