Tracks In The Dust

07 Jun 2013

Bearing The Wait

The longest day must have its end

Every man must lose a friend

Time won’t wait for any hater

Dying can’t be done any later

So mourn the sick, bury the dead, and let the words flow free

The only answers to love gone bad will never come to me

It seems like today will never end, tomorrow isn’t coming

A crowd of people stare at you; they’re so cold its numbing

[Bridge]

If love is timid, it’s not true

Life is what you make it do

Love the truth, pardon error

Ask the mirror who’s the fairer

Fight for your wants, build your wills, and be satisfied you’re living

It may only be a silent love, but love is for the giving

Ask the questions in your mind, hope is right for now

A time will come when you will know, you’ll do it anyhow

[Chorus]

The longest day must have its end

Every man must lose a friend

Time won’t wait for any hater

Dying can’t be done any later

This is from a song I wrote in January 1974. It really didn’t mean anything in particular if I recall (it has been a while) but I was just breaking up with a girlfriend at the time and I am sure I was heart-struck some how. I will have to get these songs documented somehow. It is funny how even all these years later I remember the melody of it. From “Love Songs for a Lonely Night” © MGert 1974

Posted in Poems, Prayers and Promises and tagged Acceptance, Change, Love Songs, Lyrics, Memories, Music, Online Writing, Poems, Poetry, Self-Awareness, Verse

06 Jun 2013

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From The Summer Porch

Relaxing on the front porch. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These days of June remind me of this verse I wrote many years ago…..

A quiet morning followed by a humid afternoon worth rambling

From the front porch you can hear the city working out its living

Bicycles click by, their passengers running a soft breeze toward the lake

Mid-afternoon heating the sidewalk and shuffling the insects

All is still as the sirens chase a distant problem in the mid-town

Suburban AM radio blasts sunbathers in a nearby crabgrass yard

Cloudless days one after another sweating out the summer sky

The five o’clock whistles blow in unison from the smoggy foundry streets

Lines of cars and busses roll by to headlines and bar-b-que dinners

A young couple stroll by acting out a Coke commercial love affair

A red sun casts shadows on the softball cyclone fence unlimited

Dusty bird coast through the thick air calling sundown songs

Night approaches from the east a chalky sky of grey and blue

The night slips in on cricket calls and a wet wind from the lake

Cars flash lights across the lawnchair porches and picture window lives

It’s another July evening in the Midwest point of view

It’s another calendar sunshine waking on the lake front

As someone said from the window screen “another scorcher coming”

Just a quiet morning followed by a humid afternoon worth rambling

From the front porch you can hear the city working out its living

There were days when I was younger during the summer vacations from school that my friend and I would sit on the porch for the entire day, slumped back on the old chairs that were sitting by the doors. We would open a beer and listen to music and watch the world go by. This was something from those days….

July 25,1976 from “An Even Break” by © MGert

Posted in Poems, Prayers and Promises and tagged Happiness, Hot Summer Days, life is precious, Memories, Poetry, relaxing, Remembering Summer, Verse

03 Jun 2013

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Changing Lives One Day At A Time

Time seems to stand still once in a while. There is nothing special happening, nothing monumental. Yet all around you are people who are experiencing quite the opposite. They may be having a life event, a special moment perhaps. They may have run into the depths of failure, or the heights of success.

But there you are. Living in one of those nondescript days where at the end of it, you have to ask yourself how it got so late at night and it is “time for bed”. It seems like a throw-away day. Just moving through the day like the sun overhead. Moving from east to west and finally being done warming the day.

Sometimes it makes me feel sad. It’s a day you can never get back, no chance to have a “re-do”. Could there have been opportunities to make a difference in someone else’s life, to strike a conversation, help someone you may not even have known by offering an act of kindness? Could you have spent a moment to call a friend, make someone laugh or just tell someone you haven’t seen in a while that you were thinking of them?

All of those things seem so simple and somewhat insignificant I guess. But they are not, are they? They are reasons for the chance to live the day. To provide forgiveness, to show kindness, to create a new timeline of events for someone else perhaps, a possible very small thing for you- that sends someone off in an entirely new direction in their lives.

Then you can still say it “seemed like an uneventful day”. But not… it seems for everyone. I will work to make that day happen. How about you?

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged being remembered, Boring days, Changing Lives, choices, Compassion, Forgiveness, Grace, Kindness, Making A Difference, Reality Check, relationships, Sprituality

29 May 2013

Looking for the Big Finish

You know those movies where there is the big “reveal” – the ultimate secret that no one in the movie knew?

Lately I have been having those kind of dreams. Like some long story with a lot of mystery and conflict. Then it comes time for the answer and bam! … I wake up.

Answers like that seem to become elusive. I am sure some dream analysis person could tell me all about why I dream that way, or why I wake up before someone reveals the “big finish” to the dream.

But then for many of us life can also seem that way. Always waiting in anticipation for the revealing secret that is going to make everything fit together so well. That “ah-ha” moment. It is going to provide that release for the tension and un-sureness that life brings and let us ride off into the sunset with our heads held high.

From my perspective I guess, seems like that will be an elusive thing for all our lives if we let our subconscious keep gnawing away at our fears, chipping away at our confidence and providing fuel for the worry of not knowing where the plot will end things.

However, there seem to be chapters in life where things will come to a place where there are moments of clarity. Loss of loved ones, gaining new friends or lovers, celebrating the personal and emotional milestones …. things like that will jar things loose for a bit. They can make the story of living so clear as something that has purpose or doesn’t have… but as the page turns the new plot begins and its time to continue life’s story.

To me there is only one way to settle this. It is to trust in your spiritual being. To give to Him. To make adjustments that allow you to have faith in something bigger than you. It can put a lot in perspective and allow for a different look at how the “final” end to the story will look. It can be the ultimate “ah-ha” moment. The big finish will be the last day of your life, when all is certain ( as that day is certain to come) – you will be able to enjoy the ultimate secret.

That will be when the life/movie credits roll and the screen will show thanks to all who contributed, “The End” – or will it be the beginning? It’s all on how you live it now I guess.

Posted in Before and After Things Change and tagged Acceptance, anticipation, Cencer, Change, choices, Dream interpretation, Dying, Eternity, Faith, Interpretation, Life, moments of clarity, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Sprituality, subconscious

27 May 2013

Memorial Day & The Beginning of Summer

When I was a kid this holiday weekend signified the beginning of summer.

Memorial Day ( in the US) is a day for all of us Americans to remember the fallen military that have made this country great and to honor those who are living and dead, that fought in wars big and small for the freedom that every person should have.

It is also the time for some fond recollection of a time when school would be wrapping up for summer break, graduation time and celebration for those who were done with school and ready to move on. It was a time of dreams and opportunity. The anticipation for the beginning of summer came with a lot of images.

There would be songs on the radio that would become anthems for that summer and forever trigger those memories for so many years to come. In my younger days we would sing along to the AM radio while cruising in the car (oh for gas to be that low priced again). It was the soundtrack for growing-up. The music of fun and romance.

There was also sun and fun at the water with friends, with towels and “sun-tan” lotion ( I still remember the smell of coco-nut). Just spending time under the sun for the entire day, with cold beer and Frisbees. Taking the long walk down the beaches to find driftwood (among the dried up fish and noisy gulls), and chilling on the shore with wet sand and water hitting at your toes.

As the summer progressed there was much to look forward to. The heart of the baseball season, the 4th of July parades, picnics and fireworks. Traveling up north to send time on in-land lakes fishing , running the boats and sitting by the night-fires. There was a lot of magical times.

Of course I remember them fondly, and yes— a bit more cloudy now I suppose. More of the good than the bad. More of the sounds and smells, of the times that were captured in the adolescent mind I guess. But they were great, and we all knew they wouldn’t last forever so many of us embraced them as much as we could. We spent those lazy days stoking our dreams of fortune and fame ( I was in a rock band back then – imagining that big break that never came). Daring autumn to wait while we took in the moments of memories.

But all of that wouldn’t be possible without the fine men and women who have been part of the armed services during the entire history of the US. Those dedicated people who ask so little and give so much. They allowed some of the rest of us to dream, to embrace the times of freedom and opportunity. Thanks to them, celebrating Memorial Day in America.