The Change

When the law is seen protecting only some

If the blessing of liberty is denied to anyone

While my color or gender dictates the fields where I may run

A change has got to come, A change has got to come.

When in bounty's bosom children hunger when they sleep

If our defenders don't believe in laws they keep

While the wealthy rise only to make the masses weep

A change is bound to come, A change is bound to come

When a generation struggles to find identity

If we all grow tired of avarice and enmity

While we still can find the strength to save democracy

A change will surely come, A change will surely come

When I call you brother, sister, family and friend

If I vow to change my heart to finally feel again

While my voice can lift a song of hope and love's refrain

I'll know the change has finally come, Dear Lord that change has finally come

The past few years have been radical for me.  I have adopted personal change that has set me free spiritually.  I have gone from being a victim of my circumstance to being a victor and the author of my own story.  The reshaping of this world beings with one person changing and with each subsequent change we move closer to paradise regained.

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world." ~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Three Sisters

Three Sisters-young girls at the shore painting by artist Kay Crain 
(used temporarily and without permission)

Three sisters, all on different shores

Separated and yet, bound by a common history

At times demon pursued and always God blessed

Even their own families could not believe the stories

Miner's daughters

Loving mothers and wives

Angels of mercy and terrible vengeance

Sisters, mothers and aunts who've shared so much of their lives

  

Three sisters, suffered and toiled

Robbed of health by a common vice

Suffering children and spouses that never understood

The span of those lives, the burden, and the price

Their unfailing devotion

Their indomitable spirits

Voices that could make you smile or weep

Call you down low or raise you up, extol your merits

Three sisters, passed through shadow

Forged by the fires of violence and revolution

Cooled by internal, eternal waters of life

Honed like razors for their family's protection

Stalwart guardians and teachers

Never given your full credit due

Your children are here now

Finally understanding, we appreciate you

Three sisters, one now gone home

Two sisters, separated but not alone

One sister my oath to defend

Three sisters loved by children now grown

This poem is dedicated to my Aunts Barbara, Goiky, and my mother Margy.  Three sisters who have given all and have raised families that love them.  Aunt Barb, I know you are interceding for us, smiling down from heaven.  We miss you and await the day when we are all reunited as a family in a reunion that will shake the heavens.

Hon Seusi se haiku - 혼 초밥​​ 세 하이쿠 - Three Haiku for Hon Sushi

Good friends sit around

Sashimi and Nigiri

Laughter fills the room

The Taste of Salmon,

Creamy Nigorizake,

Friday's Salvation

Last call for sake

Tonight has been wonderful

Kamsahamnida 

Hon Sushi is owned by "My brother from another mother" Chris.  He and his family serve great food and the place is always packed on the weekends.  If you are ever in Morovia, CA you have to give them a try.  By the way I'm not being paid to endorse them.  Just practicing with Haiku and this place always inspires a smile.  

Hon Sushi - 144 W Foothill Blvd, Monrovia, California 91016

If God Should Lose Faith In Me

A passing thought occurred to me

When hearing someone say

That they had lost their faith in God

How it got in their way

I asked myself how life would be

If God lost faith in me?

Would the blessings I perceive

Just simply cease to be?

If she lost her faith in me 

Would that mercy fade away?

And in my darkest hours 

Could I find the light of day?

If the Cosmic Hosts denied my name

Ignored my very being

Should I then cease to exist

My life lose all its meaning?

I believe in my eternal soul

However it came to be

I believe that there is God somehow

Whether they or he or she

In life we may not see or measure

Everything around

The Cosmos filled with mysteries

That for a time confound

We think we know things solidly

And then perceptions change

The truths we once were so sure of

Transform and rearrange

It must be hard for even God

To lose the faith of men

When circumstances shake their lives

To win it once again

God, however you exist

You know I still believe

I only ask that when I fail

Please don't lose faith in me

Life has been a test and affirmation of faith countless times.    I do not suppose to have the answers; I try to ask the right questions.  I try to emulate Christ in the way I love.  I seek peace and enlightenment.  I respect the teachings of all faiths and seek how those pieces fit together in the human puzzle.  I do not believe in God the way many people do, but I do believe.  

Different Yet The Same

In retrospect

I sit and review

The faces that 

I've shown to you

The angry boy

I used to be

Replaced by man

Contemplatively

The anger swells

Inside me still

Like tempest storms

That test my will

As time has passed

I chose to learn

That different fires

Inside us burn

Spirit, energy, intellect

Resolve, positivism, and vision

Replace the hopelessness and rage

That once held those positions

I seek to ride positive streams

Engage my inner light

At times the world around me seeks

To goad me back to fight

Perhaps a balance still I need

Between the flesh and soul

Acknowledge frail humanity

And evolution of the soul

Not every battle can be won

With prayer or good intention

At times the warrior must rise

And enter to contention

I know that I desire to lead

With harmony and peace

And slow to rile the baser side

Unleashing primal beast

So warrior and poet

Both exist inside this frame

Each support the way I feel

So different yet, the same

I'm still seeking.  I'm still growing; everyday a little stronger than the one before.