When I stop and think about it…a poem is like a song to me.
As I write…or read the words…the lyrics…my mind fills in the melody.
Which is why, I suppose, my favorite songs as I’ve moved along through time
are those where the music blends harmoniously…and the words or lyrics rhyme.
I have my favorite songs…songs I’ve lost count how many times I’ve listened to…
Melodies I’ll never tire of…as, I imagine, many of you do…
But often I have wondered…as I smile and sing along
who or what inspired the lyrics…what’s the story of the song?
In truth my life is one of my favorite songs…where I always find a way
inspired by what happens…to write new lyrics every day.
And the beauty of my daily song…the wonder…the excitement for me…
is I never know on any given day…who or what that inspiration will be.
One thing I have learned along the way…one certainty I’ve come to know
when it comes to inspiration…I don’t have far to go.
My lyrics are inspired by the beauty of nature…from the Earth to the sky above…
and by the people who surround me…who shower me with love.
From the every day, conventional things I see and hear around me…
to the unconventional and offbeat.
From the clouds, the animals, the flowers…to the strangers whom I meet.
So today is just a thank you…for the inspiration…
written in the morning as I walk along….
thanking all of you our who inspire me…
who are…
the words
and music
to my song.
On our walk along the beach this morning
among the roar of the waves and those sweet saltwater smells
we hunted as we are want to do…for interesting shells.
We never know what we might find as the seashore is filled with surprises.
We usually end up with a myriad of shells in many shapes and sizes.
Today’s walk was a little different as we shared the same impulse…
though unspoken
for unbeknownst to either of us…some of our chosen shells…were broken.
While we were mesmerized by the magnificence and the beauty of our shells
We were taken with the natural beauty of the broken shells as well.
And it made me wonder if that’s not true of us…though it too often goes unspoken
for when you stop to think about it…aren’t we all…a little broken?
None of us are perfect…(wouldn’t that make life a little dull?)
and the fact that we’re all broken…is what makes us beautiful.
We are all distinctive…some of us are idiosyncratic, some colorful and some bizarre…
but it’s these subtle little differences that make us who we are.
As we look around our country today…
many signs abound and many cruel words have been spoken
that show how we are living in a land whose people have been broken.
We are a country left in pieces….a myriad of broken shells
and it is more important than it ever was…to find our beauty, now, as well.
I pray we find a way to combine our beauties…to make peace in compromises
and learn to live together with our myriad of broken shapes and colors and sizes…
May we uncover beauty in all our broken pieces…
like those we found today along the shore
And find a way to blend them all together…
into something more beautiful than before.