Tropic of Can’t Sir

“Winter Scene”
By Currier & Ives
At fineartamerica.com

You can keep your equator and tropics.
I prefer the more subarctic latitudes.
When it comes to the weatherly topics,
I am partial to cool-headed attitudes.

Heat weakens my brain’s constitution.
It saps my cognition and reason.
If I had but one resolution
I’d name winter permanent season.

Celtic Woman

Celtic Woman
Photo from last.fm.com

They stir my soul, they purr my whole,
They shiver me with cries.
Angelic voices give allure
To plaintive earthly song
With rhythmic Gaelic tribal sighs.
 
Their fiddle starts my middle parts,
Their folk harp sweet surprise.
Each solo rings with tones bell-pure,
Notes hung where they belong.
And they’re most easy on the eyes.

According to Mickey Goldmill

Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill in “Rocky”
Photo from blogs.amctv.com

 

 

According to Mickey, who trained Rocky under

Such dire conditions that one had to wonder

If he’d get knocked dead,

But the wily Mick said,

“You’re gonna eat lightning! You’re gonna crap thunder!”

 

Twilight Time

The Platters
Photo from last.fm

In a nostalgic vein, give me the song lyrics of old. Corny? Syrupy? Perhaps, but then again, so am I. You can have the modern stuff. But what else would you expect from an old guy like me?

“Twilight Time” was originally recorded in 1944 by The Three Suns, but it was the splendid 1958 version by The Platters that remains among the cherished slow-dance anthems of my youth.

When a nice poem meets up with nice music, magic happens. Something great is created. And it deeply imprints you. Fifty-five years have passed since I first heard this song’s haunting tones through my bedstand radio, and I still remember every word.  Yet, I can’t remember poems I wrote myself just last week. Another sign of old age, I suppose.

I hope these lyrics ring a chord in you, too. I don’t know how to use YouTube or insert audio things, but I encourage you to seek it out.

___________________________________

Twilight Time (lyrics by Buck Ram)

Heavenly shades of night are falling, it’s twilight time

Out of the mist your voice is calling, ’tis twilight time

When purple-colored curtains mark the end of day

I’ll hear you, my dear, at twilight time

Deepening shadows gather splendor as day is done

Fingers of night will soon surrender the setting sun

I count the moments darling till you’re here with me

Together at last at twilight time

Here, in the afterglow of day, we keep our rendezvous beneath the blue

And, in the same and sweet old way I fall in love again as I did then

Deep in the dark your kiss will thrill me like days of old

Lighting the spark of love that fills me with dreams untold

Each day I pray for evening just to be with you

Together at last at twilight time

Here, in the afterglow of day, we keep our rendezvous beneath the blue

And, in the same and sweet old way I fall in love again as I did then

Deep in the dark your kiss will thrill me like days of old

Lighting the spark of love that fills me with dreams untold

Each day I pray for evening just to be with you

Together at last at twilight time

Together at last at twilight time

White Mare Waking

In her blog Mythical Lancashire, Lorna Smithers publishes some of the loveliest, most lyrical poetry to be found on WordPress. I encourage you to seek her out and enjoy the rewards.

From Peneverdant

Green grows white tipped
cow parsleys a head high,
citadels of intrigue
to a wild cavorting eye.

Daisies peek. Curiosity paws.
Garlic stinks time bomb shards
expanding a quivering nostril.

In green freedom she rolls
turning sun over grass,
cloud over bough,
kicking her heels up.
Spring is here!

Shaking off the old,
treading invisible horse paths
of a lost long maned herd,
her restlessness ripples
through green tips and white flowers.

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Epitaph

“Old Tombstone”
Watercolor by Andrea Hupke dePalacio
At parisdreamtime.com

Agnostic Disposition
Nonetheless Persevered
Found God Between Chapters
Composing His Life

Morning Fog

Photo from flickr.com

 

 

great gray cotton tufts

nestle in treetops

filter pewter beams

fading in their reach

for damp forest floors

 

Shine

Crystal Facets Photo
From canstockphoto.com

crystal facets of conscience are dulled
by abrasive regret, harsh acid of guilt
opaque film of ambivalence

preserve its inveterate luster
by walking with righteous conviction
act with honor, be firmly decisive

we’re obliged by the raw gift of living
to refine it through personal endeavor
adding shine to the notion of human

perfection is not the objective
our foibles and failures are welcome
opportunities to upgrade our gem

Duel

Photo from whatsupyasieve.com

morning gives warning

high noon will come soon

the gunfighters’ hour

that shadowless moment

when overhead light

denies unfair advantage

leaving salient factors

of how quick you draw

and how well you shoot

or most crucial of all

is the fight really worth it

to settle your hash

 

Normative Ethics

“Sacrifice of Isaac”
Painting by Rembrandt

prescriptive principles

for

what ought to be

yield

practical standards

for

judging our actions

which

moral authority receives

our

reasoned concession

which

ethical impetus binds

our

willing submission

we

have but three sources

in

religion, the law and personal scruples

while

all bear some overlap

none

are redundant

to

ignore any one risks immorality

to

ignore any two guarantees it