Let’s go… Slaho!

So I said that I was going to be blogging every other day… HAHAHAHA!  Who was I kidding?  Now that I’m back teaching, AND coaching both my sons basketball teams, AND with the St. Timothy Carnival around the corner, PLUS running as I continue to train for my races, who’s got time to blog?  The average person would then chime in and say… “Dude, just blog for 10 minutes, man.”  To which I would respond, “You haven’t read my blogs, have you?  It takes me 10 minutes to write the intro to my daily dissertations!”  So, please forgive me if my blogs show up infrequently.  Today I don’t have much time (though it’s more than I’ve had in the last 2 weeks), so I will just give you a small poem inspired by the U.S. Open currently being played in Flushing Meadows.  Enjoy!

Ode to Tennis

Oh tennis how I love thee.

I do love you so

And not just because to you

Love means Ze-ro.

Your players are outstanding

They run from here to there

And the women play in clothes

That look like undwerwear.

Two players who are really good

Are Roger and Rafael

I like one more than the other

For reasons I will tell.

Rafael Nadal

I don’t like his style at all

I prefer Roger Federer

I think he’s so much betterer!

NOT QUITE DONE
I know that I like to dream big
There are so many things I want to do in life
But you think my dreams are folly
That’s because you don’t see them from where I lie

Stop trying to shoot me down
I’m flying much higher than you can aim
Keep your eyes on your own goals
I promise you that I’ll do the same

You said I wasn’t strong
I couldn’t tackle the obstacles in front of me
You say I don’t belong
But I’m exactly where I am meant to be
I have taken my first step
And that’s one more step than you’d ever take
Which means I’ve already won,
I know that I have won
But that doesn’t mean I’m done

You always tell me there are limits
That the things I want can not be attained
That I should fear the worst
But to me it seems it’s you that’s afraid

Don’t you want to see me shine?
Or is it too much to have to share the spotlight?
Has jealousy consumed your soul?
It seems your envy has messed up your sight

You said that I was crazy
That I was too reckless to get through this trial
You say I can be lazy
Yet it’s me whose gone that extra mile
I’m the one whose put the right foot first
While you’ve stayed standing there flatfooted
Which means that I’ve already won
I know that I have won
But that doesn’t mean I’m done

I have so many goals ahead
I’ll fight for them ’til I’m dead
And though I know I’ve already won
I’m still not finished… No, I’m not done

Sometimes my mind’s in a fog
Those days I don’t want to blog
Sometimes my mind’s in a haze
I don’t want to blog those days
Sometimes my mind is asleep
I can’t seem to write something deep
So those days my mind is in bed
I choose to write a poem instead

Welcome, everybody, I want you all to gather ’round,   

And witness the freak of nature that by fortune I have found 

It’s not every day that we come across one of these, 

The youngest of a family of the incredible shrinking fleas.

I hope your vision’s good, because if not you’ll miss a treat.

You’ll never run into something like this just walking down the street.

The species I have gathered is the only one domesticated,

And I promise before his lifespan’s up, he will be liberated.

So set your focus on this cushion where this specimen resides

Because any second now he’ll disappear before your eyes. 

He’ll muster all his power to do what it was born to do,

And he will diminish in size right here before all of you.

What’s this? You cannot see him? Well, I guess he jumped the gun.

It’s hard to know how it reacts.  In captivity there is but one.

When it’s hungry it will reappear, but Lord knows when that will be! 

But he’ll be back I promise, this marvelous little flea.

Now wait there.  Where are you going? This is a spectacle to behold!

Give this flea but a second, for a trick worth the price of gold.

Return your money? Now good people, I promise I’m no cheat.

I’d never take your money by replacing reality with deceipt.

Yes, I know that fleas are really small, and really hard to see,

Which makes this trick the more impressive, surely woth the fee.

So turn your heads to where the spotlight on this pillow shines.

I think he’s back, this special flea, to produce a feat so fine.

Now, hey there? Where ya goin’?  Which patron brought his mutt?

That canine’s leaving with my fortune hiding somewhere on its butt.

When I said my flea would disappear, this is not what I had meant.

Now, I don’t know what I  will do to pay my monthly rent!!

Everybody’s gone now, so pooch come back inside.

I told you that this trick would work, we took everyone for a ride.

We’ll go from town to town now.  We’ll make a killing you will see.

With my homemade little circus and “The Incredible Shrinking Flea”.

It seems we’re always waiting for permission to save our world.
In the meantime we wait to see if someone else will do us all the favor.
We watch in horror as so many tragedies before our eyes unfurl.
And complain that nothing gets done while we wait for our Earth’s savior.
We all sit on our couches and look for candidates who can possibly step up
And roll our eyes because none of them can stand up to our ideals.
We drink coffee while thinking we should act, but only after another cup
And second guess our thoughts, afraid that no one cares how we feel.
We are so in need of heroes, and we look everywhere else to find them.
Well our heroes lie deep within, we just have to let them out to act.
If everyone would stop looking back to see what is behind them
They’d get through the obstacles they face ahead and still come out intact.
We must let go our fears and take action for what we know is right.
We must each allow the hero in me to decide our world’s direction
If we all stand up and act together we can put up quite a fight.
We would then walk hand in hand forming one impenetrable connection.
Today’s the day we must decide to act instead of sit and wait.
Because within our able hands we hold our beloved world’s fate.

Cheese, oh cheese, I do loveth thee so.
Except when you formeth in my baby’s bottle when it rolleth under the bed and sitteth there for four days.
Then I don’t loveth thee so much.
At alleth.

If I wake as the sun comes out
If my boys start to scream and shout
If my daughter decides to pout
I will praise the Lord

If gas goes up another 10 cents
If my brother calls to make amends
If today I make two new friends
I will praise the Lord

If my mother calls that dad is ill
If I choose to exercise my free will
If the entire world for a second stood still
I will praise the Lord

I will praise the Lord no matter what
He should be praised, there’s no if or but
Whether life is glorious or I’m in a rut
I will praise the Lord

And when my spirit leaves this place
I pray I’d followed my Savior’s ways
So that I can see Him face to face
As I praise my Lord

The title of this poem is really long
Maybe I should take it and make it a song
I’d have to find it a rhythm and rhyme
And then I could hum it all of the time
Eventually someone will hear me humming out loud
And ask for the title, which will make me so proud
So I’ll tell them the title that you’ve all read above
It’ll be the longest title they’d ever heard of
Sure it’ll be too long for them to ever repeat
But if they ever do it’ll be a marvelous feat
I’ll want to record it but it’s hard to believe
That the entire title will fit on the CD sleeve
Scrap the song idea. A new idea’s in my head
I’ll add a few words to the title and make it a novel instead

Reynald was an invisible man who was as invisible as one can be
But somehow he was the only invisible man that everyone could see
You see Reynald felt that though invisible he could have a sense of style
So he wore clothes on an unseen frame that could be seen from many a mile
No matter where he went he would get the strangest looks and stares
At a face that he knew no one could see but most surely must be there
It’s hard to remain unseen even though unseen is what you are
When cotton, linen, and polyester seem to all be hanging in midair
So Reynald became the only invisible man who was easy to be found
And he was a great conversation piece whenever he was around
Now you all know the story of Reynald, the invisible visible man
But does anyone know the story of his visible brother, Dan?

No, I didn’t think so.

My son pulls out my arm and takes a bite of me
He lets go and takes four steps to the right of me
He crawls into the next room to get out of sight of me
As I stand up he peeks back in to see the height of me

I love to watch my 11 month old…
I pray that he grows to be a wonderful boy… in spite of me