Poetry

He was four when he said it first.
“I want to be a Policeman.”
He said it again when he was eight.
“I want to be a Policeman.”

The mother who loved him laughed and said,
“Oh that’s fine. That sounds like fun.”
He said it over and over through the years.
She stopped laughing.

At 21 he walked out the door,
a gun at his side and
a bulletproof vest protecting his heart.
Hers was fully exposed.

—Caroline Reid

The red rays of the morning sun played the song of life.

The room was dark and morning came.
Through the lace curtain I beheld a cool and misty day
With verdant fields so filled with life;
Willowing waves of tall green grass in harmony with a whistling breeze.

A chord is struck within:
Awakened is undulating desire.

A chill, a shiver tingles my mortal being not of cold but of excitement.

My heart is a pounding drum;
Warmth flows with the beat.
Distant music comes closer and closer.
I cannot escape the beating of my heart.

Angelic fingers pluck out the music of old;
But I know, where ever beauty exists
Angels will fill my soul.

—Kathleen Ellis Faulkner

The road was dirt and gravel, mostly gravel,
and it pierced her bare feet.
But the birds singing in harmony
and the swish of the wind through the wheat
made the pain go away
and she walked on satin pillows.

—Caroline Reid

Stand up
And if you can’t
Rise tall
Step forward
Or feint sideways
Dig into the earth
With one elbow
Then the other
Drag yourself an inch or two
ahead
Like the downed soldier
you are
Whatever it takes
You know you are enough
Watch for the return of life
not as you once knew it
but new and good
and worth the effort
Baby steps
Or inch-by-inch
It’s all forward,
Baby

—Annis Cassells

They say time is the measure, the measure of a life;
but what is life without doing, of doing that which is right.
For life passes for each, for each, for each.

For when I die, I die righteously knowing
I did right:

right now

right here.

—Portia Choi
(Based on a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)