house work

to relieve my pain

2010-08-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

to relieve my pain

when my breathing is labored
and the heart rate slows
in no misguided thoughts of mercy
would I have you
push me into the great beyond

I love this life
with every effort I will hold on
as long as this body
can keep the spark
I will fight to live

I know at some point
I must depend on you and
you may want to keep me
longer than I can stay

my hope is that
when you see me
no longer fighting
You will let me go quietly

JRS
08/09/2010

tea set

2009-09-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

tea set

romance of the tea set
glossy gray with thick blue lines
a group of cups and bowls
on the bottom shelf
stirred visions of tender moments
joyful conversations by the window
he paid for the collection of clay pots
took them home
having the knowledge that
he would drink the first few cups alone
with hopes that there would
soon be someone to talk with

JRS
9/26/2009

breakfast

2009-08-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

breakfast

this morning in the kitchen
I reached across to you
to enjoy the warmth
of your touch
oh the reveling in my heart
as I did hear your words
a poem of devotion to me
then came my plan
to serve your favorite meal
out on the deck
the place I made for you
we did spend happy hours
among your many plants
I see you feel you
as I drink my morning coffee
alone

JRS
8/18/2009

tea and cake

2009-08-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

tea and cake

while I never acquired a taste for honey
wednesday tea with Megan
was always the week’s high point

her sweet cakes sometimes a little dry
made smother by the sparkle of her eyes
joy in her voice

many years have past
now I make my tea with sugar
when waiting for water to boil
I’m found longing for that romance
which was always out of reach

JRS
8/14/2009

yesterday's image

2009-08-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

washday

the new washer and dryer
sit across the room from my workbench
as the clean garments fall past the globe-like window
images come like pictures on an old tv screen

Anne Marie and me
in the laundromat up near 25th street
she folding and me rolling
puffs of smoke and dreams float in and around our heads

could it have been that all those days were sunny days
wonderful memories triggered by the sight suds and the smell of bleach
filled with comfort taking me back to old joys flashes of faces once seen daily
visions so bright I must have made them up

JRS
8/2/2009

time to cut the grass

all morning delaying
the cutting of the grass
not that the doing of it is hard
they have taken most of the work out of it

the obstruction for me is
just getting started
it is much easier to navigate the net
for pictures of girls with little or no clothing

something that I find more pleasant than
the work made for me by the mice
yes they made a mess in my toolbox
and last winter they broke into the shed

still trying to get all the little shells
out of my lawnmower
I keep looking away from the task
now that I have started this verse
I have one more thing to put off

JRS
8/3/2009

yesterday‘s image

there was a time when we knew his identity
one who was in possession of power
beloved to many a picture of life’s joys

now he seems to have no scene of himself
eyes wide open but the fire is gone
the hard strait line once cut in stone
now smudged like charcoal

followed him in and out of smoky rooms
we wanted to be him
not watch his crumbling

these images that weave him into our memory
could not be myth
nor dream for we know his identity

so why do we not see him in our glass

JRS
8/4/2009