Since trees have souls

Moses 3:9 --  "And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul."

Since trees have souls we all should hark
to pain inflicted peeling bark.
And our humanity renege 
when pulling on a sickly twig.
Yet trees need pruning to produce
a harvest that can be profuse.
I'd rather lots of fruit provoke
then spend my life as poison oak.

No Beer In Venezuela

From today's Wall Street Journal:

CARACAS, Venezuela—The largest private Venezuelan company and producer of 80% of the beer consumed here began to shut down its last beer plant on Friday, the latest deprivation in a country crippled by shortages.

In Venezuela the malt

has pretty much come to a halt.

Things have got gnarly

without any barley;

you cannot brew beer with rock salt. 

God's Daily Gifts

Alma 10:5 -- " . . . for I have seen much of his mysteries and his marvelous power . . .

The swarming ants upon the walk, the slanted rays of light,
the budding, bursting, green of life before my blinkered sight;
the sliding mist upon the slopes, the smell of earthen wet,
the babe upon its mother's breast -- how is it I forget?
The wonders and the miracles come at me thick and fast
and at my heedless shallow soul I feel a bit aghast. 
I do not need great miracles, nor voices from the mount;
I only need God's daily gifts to recognize and count!

A friend to the king

Alma 18:3 -- " . . . we know that he is a friend to the king . . . "

Even hardened despots on their thrones of pomp and gold
can be affected by attendants serving them eightfold.
For loyalty is such a thing as gives a servant power
over all the great ones that he serves upon the hour.
I do not know who makes a king or president appear;
I only know that if we serve we ought to be sincere. 

The Hands of a Clown . . .

(Author's Note: I spent 35 years as a circus clown)

A sad moment: I've already stopped playing my musical saw, and now this morning I did a Primary children's activity at church, twisting balloon animals -- but the arthritis in my hands is now so bad that I've decided to retire from balloon sculpting. I'm getting too slow & clumsy, and it hurts too much . . .

The Juice Cleanse

From the New York Times:  "There is no scientific basis to support undergoing juice detoxification or colon cleanses, as trendy as they may be."

There was a young woman whose juicing
she claimed all her toxins were sluicing.
She said she did fine
with grape juice (read: wine),
as she merrily went about goosing.

The Lord is Called by Many Names

Alma 9:17 -- " , , , for the Lord will be merciful unto all who call on his name."

The Lord is called by many names by many people heeding
his love and mercy, grace and strength, his openness to pleading.
We call him Prince and King and God, Good Shepherd and The Lamb.
He called Himself Jehovah in the ears of Abraham. 
I will not cease to call upon his name forevermore . . . 
and hope someday to name him 'friend' when I come to His door. 

Limerick

In fifty years cars will all cease
disturbing our air and our peace.
And no one will fuss
with trains or with bus;
we'll stick in our homes, too obese!

Duty

Alma 4:3 --    "And so great were their afflictions that every soul had cause to mourn; and they believed that it was the judgments of God sent upon them because of their wickedness and their abominations; therefore they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty."

My sense of duty, tarnished by the years so speeding by,

left me unprepared for when catastrophe came nigh.

I suffered more than I thought just; I could not find the hope

of ever climbing up from sorrow on this greasy slope.

When duty woke at last from slumber deep inside my breast,

I kept on slogging up the hill and trusted God knew best.

The journey isn't over and affliction still stands near,

but duty keeps me going with more confidence, less fear.  

Tattoo

Alma 3:18 --   "Now the Amlicites knew not that they were fulfilling the words of God when they began to mark themselves in their foreheads; nevertheless they had come out in open rebellion against God; therefore it was expedient that the curse should fall upon them."

I wonder at the piercings and tattoos of ev'ry kid

branding their own bodies in a kind of desp'rate bid

to show their independence or their macho or their . . . what?

They might as well be dabbing their own foreheads with some smut.

Why should I want to dye my skin all purple, red, or green?

The only needles that I want are strictly for vaccine!