Category: Enlightenment

NaPoWriMo Day 7

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Loving Life, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Self Awareness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Accentuate the positive! It took me years to learn this seemingly simple lesson. Too often we focus on the negative. We remember the guy who cut us off in traffic but forget the person who slowed down to let us merge. So much of our happiness comes down to growing what we feed. Feed the negative in your life and that’s what will grow. Feed the positive and see what happens!

As always, I’d love to hear what you think.

 

How You Take It, Is What You Make It

The day is done, the sun goes down,

I look up at the night.

The stars and moon, their beauty share,

With gentle silver light.

 

As I think back upon my day,

It’s very clear to see.

That whether it was good or bad,

Is always up to me.

 

The good is where you look for it,

Sometimes it’s hard to find.

But like the bad, it’s always there,

It’s how you set your mind.

 

It’s true sometimes there’s nasty things,

No good in them I know.

But focus more on positives,

And let the hurtful go.

 

This is the only power we,

Can truly call our own.

We choose the things we keep inside,

It’s up to us alone.

 

Let darkness go and light abide,

Keep peace within your soul.

And every day just practice this,

With happiness your goal.

 

When day is done and sun has set,

You look up at the night.

Look back upon the day you had,

And focus on the light.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 6

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Nature, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

As so often happens, I started this with nothing more than the opening line. There was no sense of narrative or where it was going. I find that some of my best writing is done that way. Let me know what you think 🙂

 

DREAMING TOMORROW

 

Now go to sleep and dream sweet dreams,

Of how the world will be.

Dream how we’ll make it better than,

The one that we now see.

 

A world where each and every one,

Loves who and how they will,

And those who disagree accept,

Instead of hate or kill.

 

Dream of world where all have food,

And somewhere warm to sleep.

Where “Helping”, “Caring” aren’t just words,

But promises we keep.

 

Now sleep my child and dream a world,

Where Nature’s free to thrive.

And humans understand their place,

‘Midst all that is alive.

 

Dream all these dreams and more my love,

But learn from us this fact.

To dream is fine but things won’t change,

Unless we choose to act.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 5

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Loving Life, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Self Awareness, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

With all the division and bitterness in our society and in the news today, I felt the need to put something out there that’s a bit more positive. I hope you enjoy this take on our legacies. The ghosts we leave are people’s memories of us.

A QUICK GUIDE TO YOUR “AFTER” LIFE

A star I see from where I sit,

It shimmers in the night.

It’s travelled here so very far,

To shine on me tonight.

 

So sometime very long ago,

That light set out to me.

Not knowing if I would be here,

Now looking up to see.

 

A star I see from where I sit,

The memory of one.

It may have burned out long before,

Its epic journey’s done.

 

Yet I still see its light tonight,

So bright though oh so far.

And hope that when my time is done,

I’ll shine on like that star.

 

Each one we touch remembers us,

Some longer than the rest.

And those we treat with kindness they,

Remember us the best.

 

So think on this as you go forth,

Upon your busy day.

Let kindness be your legacy,

In loving mem’ries stay.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 2

On By WinstonIn Dark / Gothic, Enlightenment, Fantasy, NaPoWriMo, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

ON GREED

Oh once upon a time a King,

Sat on a Royal Throne.

While at his feet a Royal hound,

Gnawed on a Royal bone.

 

The bone belonged, or so it seemed,

To the late former King.

To normal folk, it’s murder clear,

To them a different thing.

 

Now heavy weighs the new King’s head,

Beneath it’s crown ill-got.

He looks out on his courtiers there,

Can almost hear them plot.

 

He knows for once he plotted there,

Before the late King’s throne.

Imagines he can see the stain,

Of blood upon the stone.

 

The new King knows he may not rest,

Must vigilant remain.

Lest Royal blood, his own this time,

Shall flow free once again.

 

So listen to this tale my friend,

And learn it’s lesson well.

The prize not always worth the price,

‘Til it’s too late to tell.

 

Please reach not for that thing you want,

If it’s not yours to take.

The very truth of who you are,

That is the wagered stake.

 

I thought I was a better man,

Than he who sat here then.

But I have killed to gain this crown,

To keep it killed again.

 

This is not who I meant to be,

Yet now I play this part.

While conscience shrieks and tears it’s hair,

Deep in my darkened heart.

 

This wisdom is the boon I grant,

From my high stolen seat.

While poisons drip and daggers glint,

‘Mongst those with words most sweet.

 

Now that is all I have to share,

My kingly wisdom spent.

Ignore desire and walk away,

Your evil ways repent.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 8

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Loving Life, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Be A Joyful Child

A long, long time ago there was,

A happy child at play.

The old face in the mirror asks,

Where is that child today?

Sometimes it seems like yesterday,

Sometimes an age or more.

Since I have seen that smiling face,

That long ago I wore.

I look for them sometimes it’s true,

That child I used to be.

And now and then, I catch a glimpse,

Of laughing, smiling me.

I think of how it was back then,

With future just a word.

And all the stress of adult life,

Not lived and seldom heard.

I couldn’t see the treasure of,

The life I lived back then.

Sometimes I wish I could go back,

And do it all again.

But that is not the way it works,

Each life goes just one way.

So find the child you used to be.

Let their joy fill your day.

NaPoWriMo 6

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Loving Life, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Self Awareness, Society, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I Believe In Us

 

When all the news is doom and gloom,

And hope’s a fools game,

Remember we’ve been here before,

It’s just the tune that’s changed.

 

We only hear the worst of things,

Bad news sure travels fast.

But there is much that’s good as well,

Although we hear it last.

 

So many want to hear the worst,

To feel their lot is best.

It’s really hard to find the good,

When bad’s sought by the rest.

 

The worse the news, the more it plays,

It’s hard to get away.

Find better news more upbeat words,

Folks with good things to say.

 

So I’ll say this for those who seek,

For words some hope to bring.

I still believe in you and I,

And caring is the thing.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

NaPoWriMo 5

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Environment, Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Personal Responsibility, Self Awareness, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

THE FUTURE

We see a shape but dimly there

Not certain what we see.

Project on it our hopes and fears,

No clue what it will be.

 

A thing of beauty it may be,

Yet certain we are not.

It may be brutal or bizarre,

May prove ice cold or hot.

 

The problem is we cannot know

Until we reach that time.

If it will be a paradise,

Or childbirth a crime.

 

What we must now remember most,

It will be what we make.

Our children and their children shall,

Pay then, what we now take.

 

So live your life with one eye now,

With one the future seek.

And leave to them a dream we built,

Not nightmare dark and bleak.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

What Am I Doing?

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Global Issues, Poetry, Science, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

I mean really… What the heck am I thinking. I made it through April by the skin of my teeth, yet here I am writing another verse. Sometimes I really wonder about me.

 

Our Own Worst Enemy

Technology is not the foe,

it’s not your enemy.

That AI that you dread so much,

is far less threat than me.

 

The science that grows beef in labs,

and soy that bugs won’t eat.

Is building apps to help the blind,

and other needs to meet.

 

It’s not the tech that ends us all,

but what we do with it.

It’s our own inhumanity,

will make our future shit.

 

A hammer’s just a hammer and,

can’t care what it’s used for.

The person using it decides,

to build or start a war.

 

All tech comes down to this same choice,

that shapes our future days.

To kill or cure, to build or burn,

I pray we change our ways.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 27

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, NaPoWriMo, Personal, PoetryLeave a comment

Yay! Day 27 complete. Only three more to go before bed. Or maybe tomorrow. We’ll see how if there’s anything left in the old “creative juice” bottle.

 

Lost Youth

When we were young we did not think,

beyond the present day,

We lived our lives just for right now,

we knew no other way.

 

When we were young we had no plan,

we did just as we dared.

But now even the simplest task,

is planned for and prepared.

 

“What if?” is now our daily prayer,

our minds whirl round and round.

We’re robbed of fun and robbed of joy,

only our fears abound.

 

So take some time and think back to,

that younger, simpler you.

Think back on all the fun you had,

before stress made you blue.

 

Remember life before “What if?”,

when plans were for old folk.

Before your life got in your way,

like some bad cosmic joke.

 

So don’t make plans quite every day,

just let your heart decide.

And give your weary brain a rest,

let freedom back inside.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 23

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness, ValuesLeave a comment

So… here we are… caught up again for the moment.  I just have to figure out what to catch up with.

 

Creating Ghosts

We all carry our ghosts with us,

bits of our past that cling.

Of choices that we now regret,

that baggage that we bring.

The ones we hurt, the ones we lost,

the ones we pushed away.

Now every one is still with us,

within our minds they stay.

We think we’re free of all that’s past,

in that there is no truth.

We’re haunted by the things we’ve done,

the errors of our youth.

As we look back, more often now,

the view begins to change.

It fills with faces of the lost,

some known and some strange.

Then we begin to understand,

the difference that we make.

Face some regrets accept some blame,

wish life’s tests to retake.

But that is not the way this works,

what’s done is done and done.

We can just try to learn from them,

be kind to everyone.

And if we change, if change we can,

with kindness set our path.

Perhaps the demons of our past,

will set aside their wrath.

 

Cheers, Winston