Day: January 29, 2020

To see the relics of early civilizations
Is to be in awe of man’s capabilities
Cities no longer inhabited still
Possess the results of builders'
Fascinating minds and attention to detail
I imagine walking through the wooden gates
Over a stone walkway, narrow but wide enough
 
Arrive on the far side of the bridge
Begin wandering, where allowed
From place to place and wondering
How can this be man, meaning
Capable of building such beauty then
How can this be man, meaning
Why was this beauty abandoned?
 
Who were the makers?
Who did the terrifying?
Were there survivors?
I wonder about the Kings,
The armies, and the battles
The mothers and the children
Peace transforming to misery
 
And for what reasons other than power
Or the knowledge that they could
Mysteries of history
And before them, who?
What was their agony and ecstasy?
Beautiful ruins left behind
For future mortals to contemplate
 
Stanski
January 29, 2020 ^
 

I see sand and hills
Mountains and sky
What is below?
And below that?
How many years
Decades and centuries
Thousands and millions

Time immeasurable
Archeologists scrap
The surface gives way
There is no time
To arrive at the bottom
We will be gone
Generations will pass
 
What will we know?
Just what we know
Man exists
Builds
Engages in war
Destroys
Rebuilds

Suffers the seasons
Reaches for power
Dies
Buried with the indispensables
Is replaced
The cycle repeats
Hopelessness
 
Civilizations lie below
The elements rule
The sun, wind, and sand
Water
The lack of water
Man’s intellectual weakness
Failure to act

Refusal to listen
Or acquiesce
Belief in consensus
Ignorance of fact
Nature will rule
Under God
Forever
 
Stanski 
January 29, 2020

I head to town
After a quarter-mile
Two deer trot the road
Feeling independent
One goes north
One goes south
No coordination
A small grouse lifts
Settles at once on a snowbank
I continue
Four more deer
Like the horsemen
They are together
Turn south and
Leap over snow-pile
Heading for water or food
 
The sky is gray
Weather is damp and cold
What else lies before us?
I cross the railroad tracks
Look both ways
Deer in each direction
The road is slippery
Must be careful
I get to highway
It is clear and dry
My car vibrates
Snow build up in tire wells
 
I get to town
Stop at thrift store
Find a wooden carved moose
The size of a basketball
Feel like the King of Sweden
Find a lovely cross-stitched chicken
Made by someone in Paraguay
I love chickens
And moose
Then find a tall clear blown glass vase
This day is good
Life goes on
 
Stanski
January 29, 2020 ^

Can we think of
The hundreds of millions stars?
 
There, where we cannot understand
Their speed or magnetism
 
Their effect on our own energy
As we scope magnificence and potentiality
 
We reflect on what might have been
Before we appear to know what is
 
How did we come to be?
What is our purpose?
 
Are we hiding something?
Is our Supreme Being testing us?
 
Weighting us through eons
Until we can account for the
 
Days and nights and actions
Gather meaning for our existence; our consciousness
 
All of this is good but
The final question is
 
Who are we and what are we doing?
What are our responsibilities?
 
What is the sky, the light and wind?
How do we relate to the mountains, earth and oceans?
 
Where do we go for answers?
We go to Him, the Light
 
He has overcome all darkness
Has shown us the way
 
Stanski
January 29, 2020 ^

It is cold
I keep the door closed
I can remember sunshine
Recollect the scent of Lilacs
And English Lavender
 
The fragrance runs through my veins
I can hear the rustling of leaves
But now the sound of crunching ice prevails
The sounds that keep my body alive
 
It is too early for new grass
But I can visualize it as well as
New growth in the farm fields
It represents the love I have received
The love I have been blanketed with
 
There is no sound, but
I can hear love in the wind
In the movement of planets
Stars are my garland
My neck dress
 
I know the colors of the blue sky
The green and brown of the earth
I am full
I am complete
How can I not burst?
 
Stanski
January 29, 2020 ^