Living Water: Cleansing the Disciples

Living Water: Cleansing the Disciples

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

Leather sandals, dusty feet,

soles worn out in service.

Lessons taught, lessons learned;

stilled souls waiting, nervous.

Passover dawns bittersweet;

bodies tense against the day.

Disciples listen. Master’s words

pass over them and slip away.

Confusion, fear; can it be true?

A Sword of Might should be their Lord.

He kneels, a servant at their feet.

“Nay, bathe us not,” their tongues implore.

He answers: If ye would have part

with me, then yield to mine own hand.

This Living Water washes soles of feet

and cleanses souls of man.

Alas, they did not understand.

A lifetime later, at the cross,

their broken hearts knew well the cost.

He rose again and made them whole:

mind and body, sole and soul.

 HAPPY EASTER, MY FRIENDS.

MAY YOUR DAY BE FILLED WITH JOY!

More Easter poems:  

He Walked Alone, The Women, The Savior's Art,
The Man of Galilee, The Miracle of Easter,
The Easter Bunny's Tale 

Til Death Do Us Part

Well, I just waved good-bye to a carload of our kids and grandkids, and I'm missing them already. Thank heavens for a bit of Saturday Centus distraction to ease the separation. (As always, the prompt is in red below, along with the 100 words Ms. Jenny allows us to add.)

My response comes from a tragic

 news story that headlined AOL today. 

∞§∞ 

Til Death Do Us Part

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

We met in Lompoc County, when a back road was the only way to get there. She was fifteen, bright as sunshine, walking straight toward me in that red dress with a crown of curls to match. Never thought she'd talk to a bumpkin like me, and I was right. Took three weeks of persuading before she'd ride out in my old pick-up; even then she wouldn't say much. Later I found out she was shy.

Couldn't believe my luck when she said yes. Never knew a sweeter bride, and she stayed that way. My Ginger did everything for me until the MS took over; then I did everything for her. I wanted to. Even this last thing.

Neither of us made any speeches. Our fingers entwined like ribbons of light, we said good-bye. 

Her eyes were smiling when I pulled the trigger.

∞§∞

Pretty heart wrenching, any way you look at it.
The true story can be read here.

The Sweet Smell of Success: CLASSIXX

Tyler Blake (my nephew) & Michael David – Classixx

Success is sweet, and my nephew, Tyler Blake, is about to experience a whole new level of it. He and Michael David, aka Classixx, have put out some very cool singles over the years and hit it big with lots of remixes, but they tour so much it's taken them a while to release their first full album. That's all about to change, though, because their highly anticipated LP (Holding On) drops May 14th. Already, the reviews are good...and this one from the Huffington Post is especially fine. I hope you'll take a minute to read it. (Be sure to pass up the first section about Rhye and scroll down to the second part of the article, titled Classixx.)

Here, for your listening pleasure, are a couple of tracks from Holding On. Club music isn't my genre, but these California guys have a vibe that's as chill and mellow as a summer day. And listening to them is sure to make you happy.

for more S posts, click below

for more happiness, click below

Secrets

Not to be Reproduced, 1937 – René Magritte

Secrets

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

Closed book am I,

cover-only showing;

all bound and stitched

up tight against

the knowing.

Print smeared and running

free across the pages,

corraled by seams and

fabric sewn in

stages.

I wrap it all up

carefully inside;

not even the mirror

sees the parts

I hide.

∞§∞

I was going to add that this poem is about the prompt, not me...
but then I got to thinking that we all see through a glass darkly
(sometimes not at all), especially when it comes to viewing ourselves. 
So maybe the fact that I wrote it means that it's a bit about me after all.

;)

for more mags, click below

beDEVILED by EGGS

 I've missed participating in Saturday Centus for two weeks and am mighty glad to be back for this fun picture prompt by my good friend Jenny. (For more poems inspired by this photo, just click on the link provided above. )

 

beDEVILED by EGGS

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

Whenever I'm in search of feed,

a deviled egg is all I need.

This worries me, because I fear

it's angeled eggs I should revere. 

Would it be blaphemy to say

that deviled yolks, far and away,

are more divine than angeled types?

Hey, truth is truth, but holy cripes!

Might I be smitten with a curse

if I reveal, chapter and verse,

that deviled eggs are my delight?

The notion fills my soul with fright.

 (And yet, I'll risk another bite.)

Don't judge me. I won't sell my soul.

I shall eggs-act exact some self-control.

;)

Round the Bend

 

 To climb the hill is hard indeed

 but at the top, your soul is freed

 

 to sail beyond your wildest dream

 or coast into a tranquil scene.

  

 The pace, of course, is up to you.

Go BIG, or just enjoy the view.

But either way, each journey's end

 

 is always waiting 'round the bend

 and better savored with a friend.

 =)

As you can see, my grandson and his buddy are into longboarding these days.

Don't they pursue their new hobby in beautiful surroundings?

Thanks to my talented daughter-in-law for the photos.

for more R posts, click below

Birthday Snake

 

Yes, folks, that's a real, live snake from my grandson's fifth birthday party. And the whole thing made him very happy, as you can see. (But am I wrong in noting just the slightest bit of anxiety in that great, BIG smile?) I am told this rather affectionate boa constrictor wrapped himself right around our birthday boy and started squeezing hugging! And I'll bet Mr. Snake was a heavy load to carry around, too!!

But all's well that ends well, and Bryce has survived to enjoy all the wonderful birthdays to come. Now if we could just get him to wear a helmet on his skateboard!

=)

for more happiness, click below

Quirky Is as Quirky Does

It's as clear as the hats on my head: I'm getting quirky in my old age. (Do you think 60 is old enough to qualify?) I sure hope so; otherwise, I have no excuse at all. And I NEED an excuse for all of this:

You see, I have taken to wearing chapeaux...funky ones...curious cloches of varying colors and fabrics. (And yes, the box beneath these bounteous bonnets holds a new one I haven't quite been able to bring myself to put in the last remaining space.)

I am also, perish the thought, dosing myself daily with essential oils (shades of my grandma) for every ailment known to man or woman and have actually convinced myself that they are helping.

Last but frighteningly far from least, I am officially wearing purple––purple dresses, purple hats, and even purple earrings––on a regular basis. In fact, it has become one of my favorite colors. (And I'm sorry to say there are more where these came from.) Considerably more.

I could go on, but let's not belabor it.

 We'll just leave it at quirky.

;)

 for more Q posts, click below

Playing Together Is Forever

Leigh is starting another 52 weeks of happiness posts, and I just had to rejoin.

Look for frequent pics of my grandkids, who bring me more joy than I can say.

To play together is a joy

for every girl and every boy.

For siblings, it's a binding tie

that deepens as the years go by.

 The game they play counts not at all.

 It could be frisbee or football.

 

 It's more the freedom and the fun

 that bring them close, when all is done.

Boy or girl, it matters not. 

But playing matters quite a lot.

Memories made.

Never fade.

for more happiness, click below

Catharsis

Meal Beach, Burra Isles, Shetland by Robin Gosnall

Written while visiting our friends' amazing beach house 

in Oceanside California (really worth a look if you have time).

Catharsis 

©Susan Noyes Anderson

What is this thing that draws me to the sea?

 What passion rises with each white-capped swell

 to churn upon a watery carousel

and break in frothy secrets, spilling free?

The foaming, reckless water quiets me

 in darkly hidden places, guarded well,

 probing the inner reaches of a shell

whose blushed walls glow with bright intensity.

 I love this ocean pounding on the shore,

untamed and unashamed in all its might;

 It rolls and crests and dives and rolls some more,

unbound by man and law and grief and fright.

 The sea engulfs me, draws my answering roar,

sends waves of darkness crashing into light.

for more mags, click below

Poetry Website

Since the Alphabe-Thursday letter is P today, I thought I would talk a little bit about my poetry website. It's been a long time since I've mentioned it here on my blog, and the collection has grown to nearly 300 poems on various subjects. If you get a chance, I hope you will head over and take a look!

There are categories for funny, spiritual, general/literary, holiday, love, nature, "life lesson," and children's poems. I try to put new ones up as I write them, but I tend to run a little behind, as I am now. Still, I am a lot more on top of the poetry situation than I used to be!

A little history is that I started the website in 2008 because people I know (often from my church) would ask me for poems on a certain subject, and I would have to hunt through about fifteen places they might have ended up to try to find something that fit the bill. I wanted to organize things a bit, and having a website seemed like a very good way to do that. Before the site, I would write a poem for a special occasion, church lesson, to address some feeling or other, etc. and just shove it into a drawer or worse yet, not even make a hard copy and lose it to my yawning documents file. There are still a few errant efforts rattling around in there, but I am slowly retrieving those and making a home for them at susannoyesandersonpoems.com.

Anyway, the whole idea has been pretty successful. Now I just give people my url so they can search for their own poems when they ask me for one. Best of all, I have made a lot of new friends on the internet, where the site gets over 2,000 hits a week. It's fun to know the poems are getting a chance to see the light of day and be part of someone else's program, present, talk, or lesson. Makes me feel good to know they are getting out there!

=)

for more P words, click below

The Bright Side

Can't say this photo looks much like my grandma, but I like Jenny's 
Saturday Centus prompt anyway because it gives me a chance to talk 
about one of the best grandmas ever! (The prompt is in red.)

The Bright Side

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

My grandma always told me

attitude was everything.

Each point of view was mine to take:

my choice to sigh or sing.

Whenever I was feeling blue

or found myself bereft.

She said, "Don't dwell on what you've lost;

embrace whatever's left."

The bright side found her every time.

Her heart was open wide.

She gathered sunshine where she could

and carried it inside.

My grandma braved her share of storms

but counted herself blessed.

Be grateful for the things you have;

forget about the rest.

=)