Tag: personal

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 6

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, family, Friendship, Love, Loving Life, Memories, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, RelationshipsLeave a comment

To every person who has blessed me with the honorific “friend”, I love you and thank you for the moments we have shared be they many or few. Each of you has helped me become who I am. Time is the only gift that truly matters. Thank you all for this most precious gift you have given me.

Don’t Just Take Time, Give It

Don’t grieve for me when I am gone,

Laugh with me while I’m here.

And then when all is said and done,

Then shed a happy tear.

So call me now or come see me,

While we’ve yet time to spend.

Not leave unspoke the love we share,

My dear and precious friend.

Too many times, someone has said,

“I wish I’d been there more.”

It is too late when we are gone,

Let’s spend the time before.

Let’s laugh and sing or sit and talk,

Or just together be.

Your company a magic balm,

Which brings such peace to me.

So this I vow, I will reach out,

To friends I have not seen.

To chat and laugh and marvel at,

Just how long it has been.

If each of us takes up this vow,

To reach out to someone.

There’ll be less guilt and less regret,

When our brief time is done.

In Kindness, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 5

On By WinstonIn Embrace the Wild, Loving Life, my blessed life, NaPoWriMo, Nature, Personal, Poetry, springLeave a comment

According to the song, Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year”. Not for me. For me, nothing compares to the joy of spring. My “New Year” isn’t January 1st. Mine is the first green shoots poking through the winter thatch where the snow has melted off a patch of my garden. The New Year is the first flight of Canada geese I hear honking as they stream overhead. Now is my New Year, my “most wonderful time of the year”. Here is this year’s ode to it.

Ode To My New Year

Good morning to the singing birds,

And to the bright blue sky.

The shoots of green, the gentle breeze,

As it goes sighing by.

It is that time of year again,

Resilient life returns.

That time of year for which my soul,

Through bitter winter yearns.

Now flocks of geese are everywhere,

As further north they wing,

Their honking drowns the chirping songs,

Their smaller cousins sing.

There’s slush and ice and salty mud,

Melt-water everywhere.

But don’t despair, it clears the stage,

Next season to prepare.

Soon now the snows are fully gone,

Soon flowers will appear.

I swear that springtime truly is,

My favourite time of year.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 4

On By WinstonIn Friendship, Love, Loving Life, my angel, my blessed life, NaPoWriMo, Personal, PoetryLeave a comment

I can’t write all these verses without including my wife Lynn. I wouldn’t be who I am and you definitely wouldn’t be reading these poems without her. She helps me be the best version of myself I can.

I Love You My Angel

There was a guy who wasn’t much,

Who never much would be.

He wasn’t quite invisible,

Just wasn’t much to see.

He’d lived so long alone that he,

Believed he would stay so.

When you can’t talk with anyone,

You’re hard to get to know.

But then one day, the strangest thing,

He met someone on line.

With little chance of meeting them,

He dared to try to shine.

The more they talked, the more he loved,

This Angel of the screen.

And though they talked for months and months,

They still remained unseen.

And as they talked, he realized,

To her he was someone.

No more some guy who wasn’t much,

That life for him was done.

A plan was made for them to meet,

In person, face to face.

To test the love they felt with a,

Non-digital embrace.

I was a guy who wasn’t much,

Gone twenty years or more.

Could not go back, would not go back,

To what I was before.

You saved me then, I thank you love,

My Angel all these years.

You lifted me, you raised me up,

You helped me face my fears.

So thank you love, my Angel sweet,

I’m someone thanks to you.

And every good thing in my life,

Is thanks to you it’s true.

Je t’aime mon ange. Plus que tu sais. Pour l’éternité, et plus encore! ❤

Winston

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 3

On By WinstonIn family, Friendship, Love, Memories, Personal, ValuesLeave a comment

My friend Kim passed away after a brief, horrific fight with cancer. She was a truly beautiful soul who was a blessing to all around her. Her light in this world will be greatly missed.

In her memory, I ask that you spend time with a loved one, family member or friend. And take the time to help someone. Kim was one of the most caring and generous people I’ve known and there could be no finer tribute to her.

Take The Time While We Can

It breaks my heart to see how quick,

Someone can slip away.

I did not see, I could not know,

That my friend could not stay.

Now suddenly there is a hole,

Shaped like them in my heart.

Though I did not see them often,

Their light was still a part.

Yet now that light has vanished and,

The world’s a darker place.

I could not say just what I’d give,

To once more see their face.

Had I but guessed, or somehow known,

More time I would have found.

To spend with them and fill my soul,

While they were yet around.

So listen well and understand,

Our loved ones wear no clock.

So spend the time, be with them now,

Before that final walk.

Winston

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 1

On By WinstonIn Bullying Yourself, Enlightenment, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Self Awareness, The Power of WordsLeave a comment

It seems like it was only eleven short months ago that I wrapped up my last verse of the year. Now here we are again. Softly, gently, we find ourselves wrapped in the sweet warmth of the dream, knowing all the time… the nightmare of writer’s block lurks somewhere up ahead. But that is a problem for another day. Without further delay my season opener.

The Lies We Tell Ourselves

Continue reading “NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 1” →

NaPoWriMo Day 17

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

Once again, life has conspired to delay a post. I’m still in the fight, but some days it’s lions 47, gladiators 0. Yesterday was one of those days.

On Being a Night-Owl

Bright and blessed the day may be,

But sacred is the night.

Life’s labours done beneath the sun,

But sacred is the night.

When work is done and darkness falls,

‘Tis then we truly pray.

At end of day, in darkness wrapped,

‘Tis then we truly pray.

We run all day, our brains a-whirl,

Our refuge is the night.

All rush, all work, no time to pause,

Our refuge is the night.

Our minds and bodies seek the sun,

But souls embrace the dark.

We rush through days of light and sound,

But souls embrace the dark.

We live our lives beneath the sun,

But sacred is the night.

We sing the praises of the day,

But sacred is the night.

So still your mind and still your voice,

Embrace night’s velvet peace.

Now rest your soul in dark stillness,

Embrace night’s velvet peace.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 29

On By WinstonIn Loving Life, my angel, my blessed life, NaPoWriMo, PoetryLeave a comment

Any time I’m at a loss for inspiration, I can always rely on my muse. My angel Lynn… I love you!

A BLESSING ON YOU ALL

I look up at the night and see,

The stars twink’ling above.

I look beside, and there she is,

The woman that I love.

Which is the greater wonder is,

Quite difficult to say.

Except that love is just as plain,

Here in the light of day.

The splendour of the stars is great,

But it is all for naught.

Without someone to share it with,

The joy is soon forgot.

I point out constellations to,

The wonder next to me.

With her fresh eyes, it seems like them,

For my first time I see.

In the garden, she shows to me,

A bloom I’ve never known.

The magic of it’s scent tells us,

It bloomed for us alone.

I wish that everyone who reads,

These words may someday know.

A love like this, a blessing which,

Each day will live and grow.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 25

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness, Uncategorized2 Comments

I’m posting this a little later in the day than usual. I spent my morning at the Heart Institute getting some tests done. Many of the other people there are in far worse shape than be so it served as a “Memento Mori”. It started me thinking about my eventual end, and this is what came out of it. Enjoy!

A SPARK TO MARK MY PLACE

Sometimes when I’m reminded of,

My own mortality.

I realize I’ll one day face,

The utter end of me.

I wonder where the time has gone,

Just where the years all went.

I’ve lived my life like anyone,

But was my time well spent?

Should I regret the things undone,

The chances that I’ve missed,

Or bow my head and thank the fates,

For each time I’ve been kissed?

And of the lives that I have touched,

Which ones will shed a tear?

And which will share a laugh about,

Some mem’ry they hold dear?

Why do I ask? It matters not.

When I no longer live.

As I wink out, will I believe,

I gave all I could give?

There’s more that I could do not doubt,

Before I leave this place.

Not something grand, some little thing,

To ripple through my race.

Perhaps this verse could be that thing,

That in a thousand years,

Someone may find and read these words,

Find themselves moved to tears.

But maybe not, I cannot know,

Just hope to leave a mark.

And pray some tiny spark remains,

When my own light goes dark.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 24

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness2 Comments

In my experience, each of us carries things with us that we keep locked away from those around us. If we are truly blessed, we will find someone with whom we can share almost anything…. but there’s still that one secret corner that even we don’t want to look into. Today’s poem is about that corner. Enjoy.

HIDE NO MORE

To speak the truth that’s in my heart,

To this I do aspire.

That what I write should burn without,

Reflect my inner fire.

That those who read should somehow glimpse,

The real me inside.

That words could peel off the mask,

Myself no longer hide.

For everyone of us is masked,

Lest those who judge us say.

“Behold the freak, the misfit there!”

From us then turn away.

Yes deep inside our secret hearts,

Each has some secret thing.

And each of us is sure that it,

An end to us would bring.

And so we lock that thing away,

We pray no one will ask.

And day by day that fear becomes,

Our old familiar mask.

But we cannot of these things speak,

No more could I mine write.

But when alone might whisper soft,

Deep in the darkest night.

Admit to you if no one else,

That thing within your heart.

That simple act, that honesty,

At least it is a start.

I do not care just what it is,

Behind the mask you wear.

If you accept and own your truth,

A lighter load you’ll bear.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 16

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Personal Responsibility, Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

So I’ve got a funeral to attend today. I don’t like large groups of relative strangers, or stranger relatives for that matter. I especially don’t like funerals. But I’m going anyway because it’s what we do. This poem is about that sense of obligation.

OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT

There’s things in life we can’t avoid,

There’s things we have to do.

Those things we hate, and would avoid,

But no where to run to.

A social obligation is,

A dreadful weight to bear.

We must fulfil it all the same,

To show how much we care.

We are all social creatures and,

On each other rely.

But there are times, we’d rather be,

Alone to sit and cry.

Instead we wear our public face,

The one we wear for show.

We put away the truth of us,

That no one else should know.

We go and do expected things,

Because that’s who we are.

When we’d far rather go and spend,

That same time in a bar.

But we know others count on us,

We’ll count on them one day.

So brave face on and out the door,

The platitudes to say.

Now do the things I can’t avoid,

The things I have to do.

The things I hate, and would avoid,

All right, I will, for you.

Cheers, Winston