A Poem — What a marvelous world it is In which we are graced to live, Where beauty is without limits and Through its various guises caresses And illuminates all our senses How can one not rejoice Once having been exposed to her enchantments? These in turn are but pale imitations Of the pure light radiating from the Source Of…

Can It Get Any Better Than That? — It was a beautiful sunshiny day yesterday, outside and inside. My wife and I rendezvoused with our older son and his two boys, ages six and nine, at a beach on the ocean. It was a fifteen minute ride from their house, and about an hour trip for us. …

A Poem — I have been periodically plagued all my life By a malady of my own creation Its symptoms are all too familiar Mental-physical-spiritual ones Muscles in neck and shoulders tense Sore if any pressure is applied to them The stomach is sensitive and tight With a raw feeling also thrown into the mix…

A poem — There are defenses we craft with great care Lifetime works of art The aim A reasonable one Laudable even To insulate ourselves from pain Avoid harm But beware of the unintended consequences That often follow in the wake of these noble pursuits Ironically these castles of safety Forged with elaborate care Often turn into…

A Poem — There are those who belittle Covid Insult him Saying he is now little more than a common cold An annoyance No longer the frightening behemoth That he was once portrayed as He can huff and puff But certainly can’t blow your house down More like a breeze than a hurricane …

A Poem — The course of my life has taken many twists and turns Struggling to be faithful to a vision That itself has been subject to many revisions As new revelations presented themselves In the form of different people coming into my life Helping to expand my understanding of myself and others Reflecting upon past and current events Leading…

Who Says That You Never Forget How — It wasn’t my idea. Let’s get that straight from the outset. Riding a bike at age 75 after an almost thirty-year hiatus was not on my bucket list or any list of mine at all. Even back then, riding alongside my three oldest children and my wife, it was a…

A poem — Wonders of wonder A telescope exploring the early years of our universe Providing glimpses back in time Billions of years ago Into a dimension of reality Beyond my mind’s ability to comprehend Awe at seeing the first pictures The beauty dazzles and bewitched With them comes An overwhelming feeling of happiness At sharing in…

Young White Male In Black Neighborhood — It was 1971, in Buffalo, New York. Damage from race riots was still in evidence. I was a Jesuit novice, tutoring in a school, and mentoring a youth group. In the outside world, the VietNam War raged on. For more background see, I Was On A Mission To Teach But…