Jane Ayers Sweat

Jane's Dog Boo

Consumed

Trapped in a prison that has no bars

Has never committed a crime.

Her mind meandering like a maze

Incarcerated for infinite time.

Doomed to be confined

Held captive by the noise

Clatter, chatter, jabber

Seizing all her joys.

Misery draped over her

like a black shroud

This feels like a circus

With an invisible crowd.

The mind can be a scary place

There's no parole from here

So she sits and waits and dreads

The coming of her bier.

Lighthouse

The lighthouse ruled the lonely peak

Warning ships of danger

Yet in the foggy night

Came the cry of a stranger.

Her name was the Fiery Irish

Most beautiful ship on the seas

A jealous mistress from Dublin

Capturing sailor's hearts with ease.

The sailors bewared of her anger

None dared raise her ire at sea

But the sailor who crossed her that night

Would simply cease to be.

They whisper her name in pubs still

And ponder her link to the Fates

So many sailors have vanished

The lighthouse waits.

Reunited

Christmas hovered near

Watching Snow watching them

What could such a cold being

See in the light so dim?

Then Christmas saw the angel aglow 

Embrace the woman with Love

Easing her pain in that moment

Of missing her loved one above.

Snow felt the whisper of someone

Not of the Earth anymore

She felt the tickle of the Sun

And melted with a roar.

All was as it used to be

And ever after would remain

For they were reunited

And their Souls forgot their pain.

Lola

How I wish I could have known you
When your hair was fiery red
Before time changed it to a shade of gray
And you forgot what you just said.

I wish I could have seen you
Hair in curls around your face
Running swiftly barefoot
Trying to win a schoolyard race.

I wish I could have heard your laugh
When you were just a girl
I imagine how light it sounded
You had no cares in the world.

I wish I could have talked to you
Before Time chased away your mind
Before your body grew so tired
And your thoughts you could no longer find.

I wish I could have known the you
That you were once upon a time
The happy, healthy person,
Now it seems I know a mime.

How I wish I could have known you
Before you were 93
Then maybe, just maybe
Your mind would remember me.

Ireland

Heaven must surely be in Ireland

That's what the leprechaun said,

"Your life was not in Ireland but

You can go there when you're dead."

Lord, take my Soul to Ireland

So I can finally see

The land my ancestors roamed

Near the Irish sea.

Let me smell the grass in Ireland

Above my cold dead feet

Let me dance an Irish jig

Even as I sleep.

Oh to be home in Ireland

Where my emerald blood runs free

And the screech of the banshee

Holds no fear for me.