Beautiful Leaves: Books and Poetry

AGE

2016-12-26T10:49:00.002-08:00

© Gloria Smith 2012

In ancient days a lovely, small girl played

The Angels came and taught her games

While the rain fell quiet all around

And soaked the desolate, hardened ground

Her soul now weary can be found

Staring out the window at the rain

Thinking of her past and of her pain

One day her spirit sailed away

She lies still and quiet now

The Angels came and called her name

Once again a lovely, small girl plays

Oh she knows all the Angel's games

ENDLESS SLEEP

2015-05-27T02:43:00.000-07:00

Long after I'm gone I will love on

Don't think me gone for I will come
Once more to you my one true love
Who was so faithful and so brave
Whose kindness you so freely gave
My Words will haunt your heart
Will reach to you from out the dark
And endless sleep of human frame
Your heart has but to call my name
In my repose perchance my prose
Will yet bespeak my endless love
And Angels bear upon their wings
My voice again to softly sing
Within the gentle springtime breeze
That stirs the Weeping Cherry tree
A lilting ballad of Faith renewed
And of my sacred love for you

MY HEART BEATS ON

2015-03-13T18:43:00.004-07:00

The hurt was as raw as an exposed nerve
And I could not even sing my pain away
For I had lost my song
Until you came along
Then you became my smile
And my heart beat on...

2015-03-13T18:39:00.001-07:00

Learn how to get your music heard at ReverbNation.com

ANGELS WOULD FALL

2015-03-10T18:38:00.001-07:00

Gloria (Glo) Smith on ReverbNation!

Mockingbird by my window

2012-08-08T15:07:00.001-07:00

Mockingbird
by my window listening to
Charlie Parker play on my radio
decided that he too could sing like a bird

His intro riff was a clarion call to heaven and
Then he dropped down into a minor key, the brother/bird tweeted
thirds and fiths and sevenths too, hitting staccato notes blue as the sky

He made it sing
He improvised and built his song
into a steady grind even making it swing
And I swear that I thought "this bird is messing with me"
He broke into a kind of scatting that was so joyous that I understood
The best thing to do was to just turn my radio off and listen to the mockingbird

2011-02-16T07:54:00.001-08:00

Daylight comes through windows shut against it, as reality comes through dreams barred against it, and I come into the new day -- a chance once more to play this dangerous game of life. Shall I win? Who's to say? But you will know that I have played...

That's January

2011-01-26T02:45:00.000-08:00

She chills your bones
But she's nice
Princess of ice
A piping hot cup of cafe avec du chocolat

That's January

I love January, cause she's my girl,
She brought me into this world,
A road that leads to Ms. Feburary's house
A winter wonder land in that Piney wood.

That's January

She'll send a gust of wind to smack your face,
Sit you down in front of that big warm fire,
Driving in the snow, trying to figure out where to go,
She'll freeze your toes, but cool your heart.

SNOW STORM

2010-12-12T21:02:00.000-08:00

The wind cried round about my house

And poked around like a little mouse

Hunting some secret hidden way in

Perhaps it too needed a Friend

It had forgotten where it came from

Or exactly where it meant to go

It peeked in the window as it raced by

And saw me as I sat down and cried

But alas it was much too cold for me

And could not offer its company

So it snowed sparkles upon the ground

And called to me in a tinkling sound

As it played with freezing wind chimes

From a time when it had been invited in

And welcomed as summer breezes

Far away from winter's colds and sneezes

When it saw me at my window smiling

At the beguiling beauty it had bestowed

It went contentedly on its way

To poke round like a little mouse

And sneak about another house

Peeking very carefully in

Across the dark and lonely miles

Should another need an awestruck smile

Musings On Christmas...

2010-12-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

If you have nothing else to give away for Christmas; no money to buy presents with -- don't grieve... you still have love to give, and love you'll receive in return. Christmas is not a date but a state of mine. No, it's not like it was when we were children; it's much better. The magic has grown within us for now we can appreciate its essence. The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. So all grown up I will dream the dream of Christmas. I will go to sleep that little girl again with rosy cheeks and soft smooth skin, excited to know that once more I have awakened to a Christmas dawn. I'm still here... to love and be loved once again!

Yes, I have grown older and have many burdens to bear, but love weighs heavier on my heart than any grief I carry so it is love I will share.

Heap on the wood!-the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our Christmas merry still.-- Sir Walter Scott

Merry Christmas everyone!

GLO

OCTOBER

2010-10-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

And now the day draws to a close

It begs me Dear take your repose

Darkness fast encroaches

While the witching hour approaches

Wolves howl and spirits prowl

October's chill and Halloween's thrill

Leaves crunch, squirrels munch

On hickory nuts and such

The moon shudders and pulls her

Cloud cover tighter 'neath her chin

Jack-o-lanterns grin with delight

In the pitch black of a fall night

I lean upon my window sill

And try to spy some strange sight

When I see that all is still I pray

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray the Lord my soul to keep

If I should die before I wake

I pray the Lord my soul to take

NOON OF MIDNIGHT

2010-10-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Leaving me wrestling with store bought time

I stand in the glistening noon of night listening

To the muted hum of life barely hiding in the day

But in the hush of midnight wisdom comes

Whispering... wooing me to her hallowed halls

As night time falls with wild and wondrous delight

Mysterious magical voices call my spirit out of me

The broken moon smiles at Heaven; frowns at Hell

Not all souls cherish the bed; only the dead or dying

Let me run in the night... hot breath playing on cold air

Nostrils flaring with dark hair streaming in wild winds

I search for love as for a black cat in a deep well

That isn't there, and I must truly tell you all for naught

I fought for it but it could not be stolen or bought

I borrowed it; wrapped it around me as a thin blanket

Almost enough to keep me warm but the chill remained

Just a glimpse of immortality do I spy before I see

Dawn breaking in and I awake daydreaming once again

SUNLIT HEART

2010-09-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

I stumbled into the day

Into the bright sunlit world

The key to my heart

Was locked up tight

Against the blinding light

Of your love

Somehow it shone through

And poured into

The bitter blue

Broken pieces of my heart

Reminding me

That it was torn apart

The morning sky

Turned a weary gray

As I thought about

You and I

How I cried

How you lied

And just when I think

That these memories

Can no more damage do

That these tears are through

They race once more

Down crimson cheeks

And speak louder

Than any words of grief

HAUNTINGS

2010-09-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

Our haunted minds seek ghosts to find

Until one day we realize

They're with us all the time

They do not live within our walls

Nor walk with silent footsteps down the hall

They dwell in memories born of sin

Or thoughts of a love we could not win

Disappointments, bitterness and pain

Roam tirelessly through timeless days

Do not look far your ghosts to find

They linger in your mind

And ever will they remain with us

'Til we return dust to dust

HUMPTY DUMPTY HEART

2010-09-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

My poor little Humpty Dumpty Heart

All broken, wounded, and torn apart

No one can put it back together again

What a sin... what an awful shame

I fear that I must accept the blame

I was careless and fell off the wall

Damn near killed me that fateful fall

ALL the King's men; even the horses

Chipped in and tried but it was in vain

Nothing could put it back together again

I swear I think I heard them cry

So here I lie... scattered pieces all

They never said if Humpty was dead

Just that he could never

Be put back together again

So... here I am and here I'll stay

Shattered pieces of endless pain

I cannot explain how I fell or why

I only know that I remain

Upon the earth beneath the sky

Amongst the horses, amongst the men

And I cannot find a way

To become whole again

Nor words to say I love you still

Or courage to say I always will

Anxiété

2010-09-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

The evening drops her silent moments

One by one by one

Sunlight fades and shades of sadness

Bring the evening slowly, slowly down

I wait... words fade while dreams come alive.

I thrive on fantasies born of passion and pain

And what remains is only this

Each beat of my longing heart tears me asunder

I wonder if you care

I cannot share my secrets with you

On this long and lonely night

I hold my pillow tight as crystal tears

Run past silken cheeks and into trembling lips

Lips that once kissed your face

You hold my soul and do not know that it is true

I am whole in your embrace

In this imaginary place of contrivance and illusion

God grant me the grace to face another night alone

The Fall I was Eighteen

2010-09-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

The fall I was eighteen

The blue tint of the ocean called us, we went
and never looked back. At Navy bootcamp the
California sun baked us, blistering our ears.
We folded tee shirts perfectly, thin, thick, thick, thin.

We built our bodies the Marine Corps way,
we did push ups knowing that the number of push
ups that a man can do is directly proportional
to what he has under him, pushing back up at him.

We swam like fish, even with our uniforms on.
And rose out of those pools wet and cold knowing
that we could survive. We graduated and went to
ships and manned the rails and swabbed the decks.

We mess cooked, studied hard and played hard.
We left the smell of the ocean in the beds of strange
girls, with their sensual kisses. Boys on the playground,
and if I could, I'd go back to that very fall all over again.

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

2010-08-31T01:15:00.000-07:00

A very good book and winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize.
This is one of those books you can tell you are going to finish after reading the first couple of pages - the quality of writing stands out.
It tells the story of the rise of Thomas Cromwell and his relationship with Henry VIII. The background given on the times is gripping - the intrigues between different courtiers is contemporary.
A very good read indeed.

Guardian

Wolf Hall succeeds on its own terms and then some, both as a non-frothy historical novel and as a display of Mantel's extraordinary talent. Lyrically yet cleanly and tightly written, solidly imagined yet filled with spooky resonances, and very funny at times, it's not like much else in contemporary British fiction.

Telegraph

Mantel knows how to build a picture from the parts available, with nothing extraneous and everything layered. Here is Katherine – “as wide as she is high, stitched into gowns so bristling with gemstones that they look as if they are designed less for beauty than to withstand blows from a sword?…

DESPERATION

2010-08-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

Quiet desperation is all around

It is quite still and makes no sound

I sit in my uneasy chair and stare

While the walls stare back

Blank expressions, stark and bare

I care no more; a wounded soldier

In an endless war, in a foreign land

No hand is offered to help me stand

I am alone in an empty home

The coal black night pressing in

Like a hidden shame, a forbidden sin

I strain to hear the lonesome sound

Of a distant train on a far off track

As the rain pours down, down, down

Slowly I drown and there is no one here

No one near, and the train speeds on

As I sit still -- and the walls stare back

walk & eat NORTH CYPRUS

2010-08-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

A wonderful addition to Sunflower Guides - does what it says on the cover.

Tried and tested.

Circles

2010-07-26T02:41:00.000-07:00

Circles

brother
you drew
your circle
around yourself

I drew
my circle
around you
and your circle

HAIKU

2010-07-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

© Gloria Smith 2010

Dreams wolves eyes shining
Sharing part of my soul's song
Wild to wild belong

Wolves eyes scorch the night
Glow green hot burning bright right
Into my sacred soul

Golden goblets shine
Liquid morning sunshine glows
Drink deeply sad soul

Blue Mountain Smoke Clings
To the Evergreens Birds Sing
Morning says Hello

Warriors Love's Knights
Armor clad Hearts clanging
Breast to Breast we rest

Butterflies tip toe
With rain soaked wings folded
Sunshine their Savior

Blue night discontent
Satisfaction eludes me
You are all I see

On a horse of fire
Riding the hot desert wind
To bring his desire
(Glo)

On a horse named longing
Rode all night in the valley of dreams
The path open to desire

On a horse named desire
In the valley of dreams I ride,
To see my lady longing
(Contributed by Kelvin Cook)

STILL GOT THE BLUES

2010-07-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

"Sign Language" Rives (Def Poetry)

2010-07-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

MIRAGE

2010-07-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

© Gloria Smith 2010

In my evening mirage
Of weariness
Of sadness
Of unfulfilled expectations
Of dreams kept too long
For a waking promise...
I walk to find you
But my arms are empty
Once more
Once more I abhor
The darkness
And wish only
For the sunlight of morn
For the brilliant light
To put my fears to flight
I scorn the darkness
Unrealized dreams unborn
Lay still in the night
Just out of reach
Just beyond the touch
Of my soft fingers
Your memory lingers
As the scent of golden roses
Tipped in crimson
The crimson color of the life
Beating in my heart
The heart that beats for you
With an unanswered call
In the sleepless night
Of my haunted desire