What a Seagull Never Told You

photo from The Guardian, Eyewitness

 

 

The Mag #197

 

This is an older poem I wrote many years ago that was the inspiration behind the name of this blog.....so it seemed fitting to share it from here.  Thank you for stopping by.

 

 

 

"God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest."  ~J.G. Holland

 

 

 

 

What a seagull never told you about why he flies away is the farther up you fly the broader the view you get of the shore you left behind.

What a wild horse never told you is some chained up fences can be jumped.

What a river never told you is getting off the flowing path may mean your whole world may pass you right by.

What a pine tree never told you is those that stand together never fall alone.

What a valley never told you is that sometimes the safest place to wait out the storm is right where you are.

What a sunset never told you is if you leave today behind does not mean you cannot come back and start all over again tomorrow.

What a pigeon never told you is sometimes the thrown crumbs don't come right to us we must go to them.

What a sparrow never told you is the leaver sometimes loses the nest.

What a goldfish never told you is maybe the bowl you are swimming in is just where you were meant to be.



Time Is A Fast Train

The Mag #185

 

"Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by, not slowly either, but with ropes of steam and spark-spattered wheels and a hoarse roar of power or terror.  It's passing, yet I'm the one who's doing all the moving." 

 ~Martin Amis, Money

 

 

 

When we were children the world was at our service

and life was a large menu before our eyes.

All the choices were a wonderful entre
and each dish we wanted to try.

Every day was like a train ride
that seemed to move too slow,

Yet with time it gained momentum
and faster and faster it did go.

The places that pass fly faster
like migrant birds in flight.

Everyday seems to grow shorter
as life's chores increase in size.

In time we are all grown up
and the tables seem to turn,

like smoke from the steam engine
where the coals char and burn.

Then the world becomes our master
and we provide it our best seat,

and life's menu gets smaller
that we need glasses to try and read.

For time is a fast moving train
and the conductor we are not.

So passenger of life take the provisions
and in return give it all you've got.