Heart and Soul by BJ Neblett

"The past is a hotel. You can check in any time, enjoy the view. But you can't live there, the cost is too high."
                                                          Elysian Dreams by BJ Neblett
Change is never easy, be it moving across country or moving through the loss of a loved one. I have had my share of moving as well as a loss. You never fully get over either, you just keep going. Here are a couple of poems: an oldie for the heart and a more recent one for the soul.

Untitled

By BJ Neblett

© 1984, 2013

             A single tear

            Washes away

            Water colored lies

            Slain by the guilt

            Of promises broken

            Tomorrow dies

             For Robin

Encore

by BJ Neblett

© 2009, 2013

Starting over

                        again

Tired old city tired old faces

Tired old friends

Been there and done that

Like a stuck record

                                    repeat           repeat

                                                repeat           repeat

Tired old questions tired old answers

Tired old fears

Starting over

                        again

Different city different faces

Different friends

Carousel of time

Ticket paid with tears

                                                        around

                                       around                   around 

                                                        around

Different questions different answers

Different fears

Starting over

                        again

Greeting challenges seeking horizons

Facing new days

Awaken dreamer

Everest to climb

                                                                        higher

                                                            higher

                                                higher

                                    higher

Answering new questions reaching new horizons

Facing new fears

Starting over

                        no more

Charlie Brown On Love

"Love is being happy just knowing she's happy... but that isn't so easy."

Growing up I suffered from un-diagnosed dyslexia. A Peanuts coloring book helped me learn to read. Later I discovered good ole Charlie Brown had a lot more to teach me about life and about love. So for Valentine's Day here are some of the lessons I learned, and a few I probably should have learned from Charlie about love.

"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."

"Love is not giving up on someone when they don't love you back."
"Love is a baseball."
"Love is standing in a doorway just to see her if she comes walking by."
"Love is visiting a sick friend."
"Love is being able to spot her clear across the playground among four hundred other kids."
"Love is wishing you had enough nerve to go over and talk with that little red haired girl."
"Love is getting someone a glass of water in the middle of the night."

Thanks Charlie.
For more on love from the Peanuts gang.

Ernest Hemingway On Love

As Valentine's Day approaches, I have come across this quote from one of my favorite authors. Known more for his realistic and gritty depictions of the human condition and spirit, Hemingway was also quite the philosopher when it came to love. Many of his private writings and letters reflect a softer and more contemplative side, as evidenced by this quote taken from a personal letter. It touches my heart every time I read it over, and I hope it does the same for you.
To someone who has touched my heart: Happy Valentine's Day!
Love to all,
BJ

"I guess the true extent of one's problems is measured by the capacity of your heart to love anything when your head knows there is no good end to it."
                                                     Ernest Hemingway

The Gift by BJ Neblett

The Gift

BJ Neblett

© 2014

Once I was a lover

Through youthful eyes I saw

The world a brightly wrapped package

Each dawn Christmas day

My heart I sent before me

Its glow lit my path

The girls who did abide me

I loved them everyone

With poems wise and tender

With songs both sweet and sad

My love boxed gay and brightly

A gift of the pilgrim soul

Many a heart would tarry

Many a breast would sing

Each gentle touch a promise

And every kiss a lie

Each moon would enrapture

Each sun revealed the truth

The package prized and desired

The gift inside ignored

And so my soul did wander

Cold years marked my path

Unopened and unwanted

My gift inside to die

Love’s song but a memory

Heart’s glow a flickering light

Through dimming eyes I saw you

A rose against the snow

My gift all but forgotten

The wrappings torn and brown

You took the love within me

Unquestioned for your own