Once I was happy

Once I was happy
Love was new
Life was bright

Then true motives revealed
That I’d been misled
Lied to, abandoned

Foolishly I tried to retrieve
The crushed dreams and
Rebuild the commitments

But the foundations were sand
The pillars were salt
And the roofing was mist

I struggled on
Shaping and shoring
Giving and bleeding

Until the structure was whole
But soullessly hollow
And endlessly cold

Now I am grieved
Drained and dying
Looking forward to release

© Copyright 1996 Marty Vandermolen

Heed the Ground

In life we pound heel prints
Deeply set in the dusty trails
Of our wayward past

While all too often we leave
No boot toe prints set firmly
Pointing our future destiny

Thus the trail behind tugs backward
While the trail ahead’s sadly unsupportive
Diminishing our very promise

Heed  the ground beneath your heel
Point toe firmly down your path
Control your life’s accomplishments

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen

The Life We Long For

There’s the life that we long for
And there’s the life that we lead
For one of them we dream
For the other one we bleed

But our dreams seem infirm
Smoke riding the wind
Of harsh confused moments
That force us to bend

While the day to day life
We are bound to lead
Rips open our veins
And so we bleed

Our goals and our energy
Our loves and our lust
Out on life’s too often
Unfertile dust

From when we’re born
to when we die
We delude ourselves
with artful lie

Of whom we are
and what we’ve done
Of challenges met
and successes won

To you I say
Be not self-deceived
Reject the life you have
The life you lead

Cling instead to dream’s
Fragile airs
Live you dreams by day
Without any cares

And while your end will come
As all ends do
By living your dreams
Your regrets will be few.

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen

To Bryan

“My Son” he thinks with a glance at the boy,
Heart skipping a beat, bursting with joy.
For he sees the cracks in the boy cocoon
And knows a man will be emerging soon.

“My Son” he thinks, gazing through tear filled eyes,
“You’ll soon be soaring your own blue skies,
Leaving me behind, never knowing how much,
I’ll miss your voice, your laugh, your touch.”

“My Son” he thinks, cold hand on his heart,
“You and I, too soon, will have to part,
For the way of the world is cast in stone,
And each man must tread his path alone.”

“My Son” he thinks, with senses dead,
“The day will come that I most dread,
When we will grow apart, as we must do,
Without your knowing how much I love you.”

Copyright © 1997 Marty Vandermolen All Rights Reserved

For Fame and Glory

When I was young I dreamed there’d be
Fame and glory just for me

Then it seemed as I traveled around
No fame or glory was to be found

Now from my child’s eyes I know
There was truth in my dreams long ago.

© Copyright 1986 Marty Vandermolen

To Be a Leaf

Softly wind sighs through the trees
Pushing, jostling, pulling at leaves
Urging them to “let go”; take flight
Drift on down from lofty height

Ultimately each leaf obeys, sets sail
Floating through sky, soft and pale
Dancing and slipping through autumn air
Set upon a journey with no thought or care

Oh, how I long to be a leaf
Freed from my bonds and my grief
To rush, and dance, and skip o’er the ground
Chasing change, adventure found

©Copyright 1986 Marty Vandermolen

The Wishing Well

I stand before a wishing well
And wonder of wonder’s that be
Of all the things one could foretell
My dreams came true for me

Granted wish takes more than a penny
In this well built by old elf
No matter what type, it won’t take money
Into it you must throw yourself

Most often when the throwing is done
So long the soul falls it is lost
Failing to escape back into the sun
Such a terrible life-crushing cost

But as I said, my dreams came true
While falling through space and time
My soul found and merged with you
Now I can call you mine

1. © Copyright 1994, Marty Vandermolen

A Chance to Ring

With smiling eyes you asked of me
How would I like to be wild and free
Free as a clear cool mountain spring
Free as the sound of church bell’s ring

I respond to you that I would not
Want the battles a mountain stream’s fought
Nor hour on hour of lonely time
Awaiting my next chance to chime

Instead I would wish to be free as a dove
Spreading my wings to soak up your love
That I may come to where you are
And follow you like my guiding star.

© Copyright 1993 Marty Vandermolen

The Life We Lie For

There’s the life that we long for

               And there’s the life that we lead

For one of them we dream

               For the other one we bleed

Our youth and time, our love and lust

               Out on wind-swept, barren, rocky dust

From when we’re born to when we die

               Deluding ourselves with artful lie

Of whom we are and what we’ve done

               Of challenges met, and successes won

 

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen

Her Beauty

True beauty is not in a woman’s face
Rather it is her presence and grace

The way she moves with deep set pride
Flowing from a warmth held deep inside

Of the love she shares with those held dear
And the joy she spreads to all those near

 © Copyright 1998 Marty Vandermolen

Bury Me Not

I’ve lived my days in sun and rain
Climbing hill, crossing windy plain
I’ve paddled river lake and sea
Outdoors I grew and searched for me

My joys have come from what I’ve known
And how the land has shaped me grown
Into a man strong and proud
Confident, capable, seldom loud

A day will come when my eyes will dim
I’ll walk no more, so grant this whim
Leave me here when my time is due
Among the things I loved to do

Bury me not ‘neath the cold cold ground
Dark and wet and six foot down
Scatter my ashes up here instead
On sparkling lake lite evening red

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen

The Last Childhood

Somewhere
in the not too distant past
boys
and girls
ranged free  

Outside
through meadows
of wildflowers
and
grasses

Spinning wheels
and spokes
pumping
legs
and lungs

Fish hooks
kites
kittens
campfires
night hikes

Rustling through
autumn leaves,
packing snow balls
dreamily dancing
through springtime showers.

Free living
free growing
baked by sun
tempered by play
straightened and true

But Now Shackles
are penned
on each child
before
they walk.

Electronic games
tracking devices
simple-minded
feel-good
entertainment and education

Have sucked
the youth
out of childhood
and we are
the weaker for it.

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen 

She is My Past

Once, I fell in love.


The bond was joyful

The bond was strong

The bond was mutual


But


It was the wrong time.

It was the wrong place

It was the wrong reality


She is, only, a part of my past

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen

Youth

My shadow once
Danced across peaceful
Moonlight summer meadows
Up rock strewn
Soaring mountain passes
Effortless endless miles

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen

So Fast

How can
it be
that

Most weeks
pass so
slow

Yet life
passes so
fast

© Copyright 2016 Marty Vandermolen