Doctor Grandma

What are the sounds of midnight?

are they keeping you awake?

Somewhere a dog barks

while children are asleep,

I hear an ambulance siren

screaming down the street,

Someone has an emergency

someone works the night shift,

traffic on the highway,

trucks roaring loudly,

insects add a lighter shrill constant calling sound,

my husband turns now in our bed,

I have a sniffly nose,

2am occasionally two owls may come to call,

hoot-hooting to one another,

this is their time to go,

The world is never silent,

Life is all around,

The Earth is ever-turning

day and night are full of sound.

cfblack 9-22-2023

Nights are different now,

They are quiet.

The locust waves of cascading songs have gone,

A high shrill but quiet insect calls

for hours, “Is anyone still out there?”

A few others make staccato chirps

But all in all, it is Fall.

The sun still warms us on a walk,

But sunsets happen earlier,

and soon, the leaves will turn, and fall,

Good night all.

cfblack, 9-15-2023

Some nights

when it is quiet

after a long, noisy day,

a busy, productive day,

or a relaxing day,

I don’t want to go to bed.

It is quiet now.

Earlier, thunder rolled, lightning flashed,

wind picked up,

but now, all is still.

My husband sleeps,

birds settle in their nests,

a few crickets chirp,

I can write a poem,

read a little,

take melatonin,

settle my thoughts.

But I remember I want to walk EARLY

before it’s very hot,

so I will retire, and go to bed,

dream some dreams I will forget.

cfblack, 9-7-2023

I like to walk at dusk or dawn,

hear the trees speak to my soul,

These southern pines rise to the skies,

majestically, stand tall,

Offer shelter to the birds

to safely raise their young,

Oh, the stories they could tell!

They weep and whisper to themselves,

but lift their branches to the Sun

and hope for better days.

cfblack, 230905

Blessed is the slumberer

   awakened by My breeze,

The lifeless one,

The solaced,

The wayfarer in distress,

The sore athirst,

   insatiate,

   who sit at the banquet table,

The abased one,

The needy,

The heedless, the ignorant,

Blessed the soul raised to life,

The one who seeks reunion,

The ear that hears, the tongue that bears witness,

The eye that recognized his Lord,

They that have attained His Presence,

   who seek enlightenment,

He who heard of My own grief,

   attired his head with My love,

He who laid down his own life

    borne hardships in My Name,

He who rises from the dead

   to glorify My Word,

Enraptured by My melodies,

    who rent the veils asunder,

Blessed he who remains faithful

   to the Covenant of God,

Who things of this world have not kept back

   from attaining My Holy Court,

Blessed the person who detached their self

   from everything else but Me,

Who soars to the atmosphere of My Love,

   gazes upon My Glory,

Blessed she who drinks her fill

   from the river of My Providence,

Acquaints herself with My Cause,

   apprehends My Holy Word,

Blessed those on the horizon

   of Knowledge and Glorification,

Blessed those engaged in My Praise,

   upon them rest My Mercy,

My Love abideth forever in thee,

My Bounty, My Glory, be upon thee.

   ~~ a poem by Carol Black, taken from Baha’u’llah’s words in the Lawh-i-Aqdas (His Tablet to the Christians)