Holiday Blessing

We will be visiting with our daughter in Virginia for Thanksgiving but here is an early Thanksgiving blessing you can share at your thanksgiving dinner. I wrote it for work but it works for family gatherings as well.


Holiday Blessing

Dear heavenly Father,
We are gathered here today
To bow our heads in thanks to you,
Respectfully we pray
Thankful for the blessings
You have given to us here
Thankful for the friends and family
That supports us year to year
Thankful for the folks at work
We couldn’t do without
Thankful for the soldiers
Who defend us without doubt
And bless this food before us
And all we do today
We bow our heads in thanks to you
In silence now we pray

---Pause---

Amen

AND – for a little lighter poetry – here is another Thanksgiving treat

Thanksgiving Waltz

This is for the older readers - - - with apologies to the writers of the Tennessee Waltz - - -

I was dining with my darlin’
On the Thanksgiving feast
When a ball game came on the TV
There were lions, there were cowboys
And what they were doing
My darlin’ explained it to me

I remember the game
And the Thanksgiving feast
And the way men were glued to the set
Yes I lost my little darlin’
To the game they were playing
At the annual Thanksgiving feast

Mother Nature

Eleven, I betcha
Lets count them down
Nine on the roof
Two more on the ground
Vultures just waiting
For booty they found

It's worse than I thought
It's a turtle that's dead
Squished by a car
From tail to his head
Staining the pavement
In greens and dark red

That's just how it is
And that can't be undone
With its insides exposed
And now cooked by the sun
The vultures now gather
Their lunch has begun

I can't bear to look
It's just nature's rule
What's gruesome to some
Makes other things drool
But it all seems to work
Mother Nature's no fool

mdailey   11/16/09

A Question for Tiger or Phil

I’ve got a question for Tiger or Phil
What do you do when just over the hill
Your ball comes to rest near the tail of a gator
Do you pick it up now or think maybe later
Do you call the official and show him the lie
And think to yourself, it’s not my day to die
So you just drop a ball where you hit the last one
And hit a bit softer and hope it don’t run
Do you dare turn your back on that gator to putt
Follow the rules or follow your gut
Tiger or Phil, please answer my call
What do I do with this gator-tail ball?

Mdailey 11/16/09

Leopard’s 15 – Gator

I haven’t seen it but know someone who did
And that alligator makes mine look a kid
He’s long and he’s fat and often is seen
Sunning himself out on Leopard’s 15
His size can’t be gotten by eating just fish
A gator this size gets to eat what he wished
Just the other day, right there at the pond
A deer was just drinking and then he was gone
Our friend said she saw legs fly up in the air
She blinked, when she looked, he was no longer there
Oh – this gator is quick and this gator is mean
She said it was gruesome and almost obscene
And this gator she says watches people walk by
And they can’t see a thing except maybe his eye
For he’s hoping somehow someone may just trip
He’ll be there in a flash, get them tight in his grip
Pull them back to the pond and then pull them under
If you’re out on 15 don’t you make such a blunder
In fact if your ball should land in that sand trap
Consider it lost and just say “oh crap!”
So you lose a ball, add a stroke to your score
It’s better than going too near to the shore
For the gator is there though he may not be seen
Keep yourself on the fairway on Leopard’s 15.

Mdailey 11/15/09

Veteran's Day Tribute

While driving through the gate to work at Fort Belvoir, VA one day, someone on the radio was talking about Washington and how America’s greatness was captured in marble and stone. About that time, I encountered a group of young soldiers jogging along the main road on post and thought to myself that America’s greatness was not in marble and stone.



America’s Greatness

America’s greatness is not marble or stone
But the soldier who’s willing to stand all alone
Out on their post with weapon in hand
Protecting the people of this great land

America’s greatness wears Army Green
Or the clothes of a sailor, Air Force or Marine
Their background is Asian, Hispanic or Black
Mixed or Caucasian they all have your back

And they’ll take their position and they’ll hold their ground
Protecting your life and all those around
For America’s greatness is not marble or stone
But the soldier who’s ready to lay down his own

Mdailey      02/17/09

Babies and Pumpkin Patches

Where do these ideas originate? Sometimes it is a word or phrase I hear, sometimes it is something I see. Sometimes it is just nonsense thoughts that creep in when I am not thinking anything at all. I think this is a case of the latter. My morning walks have been on the cooler side with lots of heavy dew on the fairways. By the time the walk is over, I have verses running around in my head.


I never had “that talk” with Mom
My Dad was not around
I never heard how babes were born
I’d heard that they were found
Somewhere in a pumpkin patch
In the early morning dew
If you were quite persistent
You might find one or two
But each morning when out walking
I’d stop at a pumpkin patch
I’d never spied a single one
There has to be a catch
So I took my one and only
Out on a morning walk
We stopped there at a pumpkin patch
And we talked about “the talk”
Then I felt an arm around me
And I heard “I’ll take you home
You’re spending too long looking
And thinking all alone
Babies are not found out here
Come on – it’s time you’re shown”
That day my eyes were opened
And it’s really quite a view
I know those childhood stories
Are not exactly true
So now we are with child
And we’re thrilled to the bone
We have a lot more fun these days
I mean – who would have known

Mdailey 11/8/09

Cormorant

He sits low in the water
Swims just like an otter
This water fowl we have in our back pond
Then he sits up on a piling
Searching but not smiling
As if he’s lost something that’s gone beyond
We looked him up on Google
He’s usually found in group
But he appears all lost and lonely
And thus his smile does droop
We think he is a young bird
That was somehow left behind
He twists his head from side to side
But no friends does he find
I’d like to somehow help him
But I know that I can’t
But I too search the skies each day

For a flock of Cormorant

Mdailey 11/04/09
We have a new bird at the pond.  He has been here two days and appears lost.

It’s Halloween

Just to get you in the spirit (so to speak)


Goblins, scarecrows, kids in sheets
Knocking on my door for treats
Begging for unhealthy sweets
I guess it’s Halloween

When the moon can be seen
And betwixt and between
A shadowy figure floats by
And the kids hear the scream
From something unseen
And they fear it’s a wild banshee’s cry

You act surprised
As the kids in disguise
Go door to door on your street
You hand out M&Ms
To each ghoul and his friends
When they call out to you “Trick or Treat”

And then late that night
When you’ve turned out their light
The real monster finally strikes
While the kids are all sleeping
Into their room it’s creeping
To steal all the candy it likes

And the morale of the story
Perhaps in allegory
Disregarding everything that’s said
It comes each Halloween
And often leaves unseen
That not all monsters live beneath their bed

Mdailey 10/31/08

No Socks?

One of my former co-workers dropped by to see me and made a comment about my lack of socks now that I was retired. We have a long history of trading jibes back and forth so I could not resist a poetic retort.

Me thinks that thou protests too much
Thou thinks of me as out of touch
Tis true that now I do not wear
A nylon or a cotton pair
No sock doth now adorn my feet
My toes have never felt so sweet
For now I dress as if unbound
I do not wear a button-down
No cloth is tied around my neck
To you I must appear a wreak
But know thee, yet my pants are short
To that I have no glib retort
The weather dresses me each day
No outside push gets in my way
For I've retired - am at the beach
Your jibes no longer have their reach
So socks be damned - I have no need
No dress code unto me impede
Better you should change your ways
In your own mirror you should gaze
Then try to live outside your box
And rid yourself of those darn socks

Mdailey 10/28/09

Behind the Scene at NPR

With appologies to Willie Nelson, I wrote this little parady based on a friends revelation from her new job at NPR.  It seems they use code to let the staff know someone is about to buy the farm.  this was a true e-mail (or so I was told).

Behind the Scene at NPR
(E-MAIL: “Dennis Hopper is on the roof”)

On the roof again
A code we send out every now and then
When someone’s life is almost near the end
We say that he is on the roof again
On the roof again
Let’s start writing bout our sickly friend
Who’s life has almost gone around the bend
A bio for who’s on the roof again

On the roof again
Like a band of writers, we check off the birthdays
Of our special friends
Insisting that their bio’s written our way
But today
He’s on the roof again
We’ve got a bio that we must amend
The life we live is writing bio’s open-end
In case somehow they’re off the roof again

On the roof again
As writers we must now attend
That bio that we have is really way too thin
And it can’t wait – he’s on the roof again

Mdailey 10/07/09

Carolina Snake

He was pencil thin and green, and staring up at me
Beady little eyes, intense as they can be
His head was raised two inches to get a better view
His length more than a foot long but nowhere near to two
He watched me as I walked by; all prepared to strike
I watched him as I walked by; there is not snake I like
The fact is he was harmless and tiny as can be
The fact is there are more of them than I’m prepared to see

Well, that’s my first encounter with a Carolina snake
I’ll keep my eyes wide open; there can be no snake mistake!

Mdailey 10/10/09

The Dreaded Stresshour

While traveling in the DC area last week, I remembered what I did not like about my former homestead.

Dinosaurs have come and gone
But one that ain’t gone yet
Is a special kind
I have in mind
That you all know I bet
He’s found, I swear
Just anywhere
There’s lots of wealth and power
I’ll take the blame
For this beast’s name
We’ll call it the Stresshour

Some people called him Rush before
But there’s no rush about him
He’s someone that you can’t ignore
Though some are sure to doubt him
He shows up almost every day
Most days from three to eight
He snarls traffic on your way
He’s the reason that you’re late

You never really see him
And he leaves no tracks behind
But you know it had to be him
For you recognize the signs
He’s there in glaring sunshine
He’s there in daytime showers
He’s there in every state of mind
He’s the dreaded old Stresshour

Me? I haven’t seen him
In really quite a while
I’ve moved to Carolina
I’ve got a new life style
But I took a trip up north last week
And my patience was worn down
The traffic moved at snail’s pace
I know he’s still around


Mdailey 10/07/09

The House on Sunset Beach

You can stay inside
And watch the tide
Or catch up on your reading
Or go outside
And dance the tide
And watch the seagulls feeding
You can walk the dunes
All afternoons
It that’s within your plans
Or comb the beach
For shells in reach
And build castles in the sand
You can fish the pier
All day, all year
If that’s your cup of tea
Or sit and stare
In your beach chair
To see what you can see
There is so much more
Down at the shore
That I just can’t list each
When you arrive
You’ll come alive
At the house on Sunset Beach

Mdailey 9/29/09