FLIGHT PLAN |
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Photograph by Bob Gentry 8/5/99
A Thought for Today
Perseverance works. It built the pyramids and the China
wall. Apply it, it ought to be able to work a little something out for you.
The regular daily Flight Plan will be
suspended for a few weeks while I'm away helping Webmaster Ken Blackie work out the design
and content of our upcoming STANYAN HOUSE web site. I hope you'll continue landing here
ever day though because Jay Hagan and Melinda Smith have chosen two poems from a different
one of my books for every day that I'm gone.
So, something new will be here every morning. The Thought for Today and the Notable
Birthdays will continue. See you soon.
Love, Rod
Three poems from
"Beyond the Boardwalk" by Rod McKuen.
Brighton, 1
And there you were.
Coming down the boardwalk
to me
just as though
we'd
planned it
to the last detail,
held a final countdown
to the crucial second.
What should I have done,
run ahead to meet you
stayed until you reached
your mark?
It wasn't till you passed,
that I made up my mind -
or had my mind
made up for me,
that I would follow you
up or down boardwalks -
home, to other beaches
other
cities
other worlds.
But I turned too late
you were gone -
really
gone.
I don't know
where you hurried to
if you were on your way
away from something
or there was some thing
you hurried to.
You were running
even as you walked.
I might have said
slow down.
I've been there.
I've run too.
There, is always here.
One boardwalk's
like
another
and so much time
is wasted
crawling, cruising,
walking down
so many boardwalks
in this life and after
that when you finally
learn the lack
of any real mystery
lurking
or a yet unwalked
unmarked paths
there may not be
enough time left
to get back home.
Brighton, 2
Today
you came toward me
once
again
as though we'd planned it.
Passing on you smiled
as only beauty
has the charity to do.
Tonight then, in the bar
I'll know
you
by the back of your head
and the front of your smile.
You'll recognize me by my need.
That shouldn't worry you,
Remember you looked first.
I'll admit I nearly stumbled
looking
back
but what a sight you were.
Tonight,
though no plans
have yet been made
I'll be punctual
on time and my mettle.
I come expecting nothing
( though secretly I know
that there is something
there has to be... )
still whatever happens
is a gift of time
or touch or both.
- Chosen by
JH
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