Monday, January 30, 2012

Life Is; Life Isn't

Life Is; Life Isn't:
Memories of Mardi Gras

"You don't bury a husband
without losing weight,"
she said.
Her long dress touching the
floor hung a little looser
Than it had last year when he
was at her side.

"I have a young son here who's
got me out of breath
from dancing."
She sighed and touched a wet
spot on the corner of
her eye.

It's Mardi Gras in Mobile,
Alabama,
And the ghosts of the past
Still haunt the halls of the
Civic Center.

We see; we feel; we know
they never die.

Mary S. Palmer
First printed in Mobile Bay Monthly

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Way

When cupid's arrow
Hit its mark long ago,
One couple felt the piercing,
And love endured.

He doesn't see
That her hair is thinning,
Because he loves her.

Nor does he notice
The wrinkles around her lips,
Because he loves her.

Through fifty years of marriage,
He sees none of her faults,
Because he loves her.

She doesn't see
His stomach pouch,
Because she loves him.

Nor does she find
His unshaven face distasteful,
Because she loves him.

Through fifty years of marriage,
She overlooks his faults,
Because she loves him.

Like Jesus, both look beyond
The surface, to the soul,
Because they love each other.

Mary S. Palmer
1/25/12

Friday, January 6, 2012

Occasional Poem

REL and MLK

Two men lived a century apart.
One was white; one was black.
Very different, they had uncommon things in common.

Robert E. Lee was a southern aristocrat
Who fought on the side of the south
In the uncivil Civil War.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an advocate
Of civil rights who pushed his cause
To the death--his own.

They lived a century apart
In worlds that vastly changed,
And made things more the same.

Their names had similarities.
The letter "L" appeared in both:
Lee's last name and King's middle one.

Both lived life with a passion,
Fighting for a cause, as leaders
Who refused to succumb.

Separated in ideals at the time,
They are now both honored
On the same day--January 17.

Mary S. Palmer
1/6/12