What if every song ever written
Contained the words
Passed on from the dead
With a guarantee that they find their way
Back to the one
They were written for again
In the glaze of the living
The only truths we know
Are the messages that are sent
From the mouths of the angels
So you’ll know what was really meant
To be said
Resting in the songs of the dead
They’ll find you again
In your end
jj
 |
| 1972 Schwinn World Traveler |
My first bicycle
In Crayola spring green
so proud and yet
vastly different
from the other kids
on their
brown and blue wheels.
They celebrate each other
in their sameness
while I struggle
to make peace
with my unusual hue.
jj 2022
"change your view change your life" illustration by Joni James
(with a bit of help from a glimmer of sunlight)
It is within my purpose
where I find both
sorrow and
joy.
I suffer the pain
in silence and in crowd
my face may show peace
until no one is around.
But in my darkest
moments
it just takes a tiny glimmer
of light
to tip the balance
of hope
back in to sight.
jj
Crystalline blanket wrapping arms,Reaching for the skyThe air seeps tiny jewelsSeason reminders fly
Snow & ice that hide the way
My escape is near impossibleAt least today
Treacherous livid Raven!Judge of the landCries his lunacy in the woodsOf which no human will stand
Jagged peaks that hide the sunMost the day in darkness I runSnow & ice that hide the roadI, a fugitiveCarry my load
Joni James 1981 Anchorage Alaska
I fell in love with Earth today
Its highest peaks
And its lowest lands
Under the arctic cap
And far beneath our lives
She carries all our secrets
But never cries...
She softly spins
And moves us along
In her natural dance
With her powerful song
But, underneath her atmospheric veil
She harbors all its lies
Not telling all the mistakes we've made
While she silently dies.
Joni James
Wiping away the markings
of those
tarnished years
I slowly reveal the layers
of a soul's true beauty
through my own
tears.
I can once again see the luster
Which always longed to be seen
At times forgotten when life's hardships
unknowingly affected
its gleam.
We are all innocent children
Living these imperfect years
Our shine too easily lost
in our disappointments
and fears.
My hope for us all
Is to see in each one
the perfect jewel
we all
came from.
So, take up your cloth
and polish away the pain
forgiving the sting and blemish
And the damaging shame.
My mother, a jewel
And you are one just the same
So let your life shine through your struggles
Knowing, no one is to blame.
Joni James