We watched clouds gather
Towering over us all
Menacing columns
Shelter from chaos
Hold tightly to those you love
As the storm rages
Tides will rise and fall
Through every challenge, seek light
Never doubt your strength
We had quite a few family members and friends in the path of Hurricane Harvey this weekend. I’ve sent up countless prayers and will continue doing so, but know that prayers aren’t enough unless we help out in material ways. I hate the feeling of helplessness such storms bring.
Sighs
By Leslie Noyes
Whisper on the wind
Exhale an aggravation
The universe hears
Barely audible
A cry of untold anguish
Stifled, but still felt
Her sighs have meaning
As conduits for her pain
He misreads them all
The Meaning of Life
By Leslie Noyes
We serve as witness
No more, no less, bearing weight
Of life’s existence
That’s why we remain
When those we love cease to be
We serve as witness
When my time here ends
Serve as my witness; I lived
I can ask no more
Yesterday I posted in regard to my angst about this being the final season for the HBO series, Game of Thrones. On my Facebook feed I was soon chastised, politely, for my error. Indeed, this is not the final season. There will be one more after this.
On one hand I’m aggrieved that I made such an egregious error on an easily verifiable issue. I mean, it’s not like I was speculating on the exact date the world will end or the moment the polar ice caps will crumble into the sea. But on the other hand I’m so genuinely glad that I won’t have to contemplate living in a world without Game of Thrones once this season has come to an end.
And the way things are going, with North Korea threatening nuclear war on the international stage and white supremacists threatening on the domestic front, we might not make it to next year anyway. Now there’s a cheerful thought.
Maybe this little poem will ease our troubled minds:
Will Jon Snow find a Walker
And bring him home to Cersei fair?
Will Arya kill Littlefinger
By luring him into her lair?
Is Cersei carrying Jamie’s child?
Only time will tell.
Has Samwell made a prudent choice
In leaving the Citadel?
Has Sansa succumbed to power?
Has it gone straight to her head?
Will Daenerys lead her dragons
In a fight against the dead?
We won’t know at season’s end
There’ll be more shows to come
But I’ll be sitting front and center
Watching every one.
Peace, people!
Surrendering to Love
By Leslie Noyes
Hate is thick out there
Marching through the city streets
Tearing us apart
Love is present, too
Quieter, yet pervasive
Calling for action
Now we have the choice
To which do we surrender?
I'll always choose love
The Long Way
By Leslie Noyes
She likes to take the odd way home and longs for unpaved pathways. A crowding of trees on either side pleases her
More than she can explain. He, though, searches for direct routes, interstates and expressways. No time for
meandering hither and yon. No desire to stroll the byways; a clear cut destination with the horizon firmly in view.
Always ahead of schedule, critical of those who linger over the simple pleasure of traipsing off the beaten trail.
She loves him anyway.
Darkness falls away
Tentative fingers grasping
Holding on to sleep
Fleet flashes of dreams
Images shift unbidden
Sifting in corners
Sunlit glimpses tug
Luring unwary sleepers
Lapsing reverie 
Sugarcoat This
By Leslie Noyes
I cannot sugarcoat this, the life you are destined for. It is not fair, but then life never is. Child, girls tend to get the short
End of the stick. What can I tell you? I am just an old widow, but maybe you should remember to do the bidding
Of your husband. Be sure to do your wifely duties, that might keep him faithful. Cook him three square meals a day,
And always look your best when he comes around. If you play your cards right there might be some sort of
Silver lining down the long road. The young woman listened respectfully to her old granny's words, nodded in all the right
Places, and patted the woman's gnarled hand. "I can't sugarcoat this Granny, and I mean no disrespect, but screw that."
First, unclog your mind
Rid yourself of weighty thoughts
Then simply exhale
Open up your heart
Invite the whole world inside
That's the best advice 
Now, leap fearlessly
Behold the wide world below
Yearning to embrace
The blows never came
Even though the winds raged in gusts
Threatening her peace
She sheltered alone
Away from the crashing waves
Still, she gasped for breath
What would she gamble?
Her scarred heart, her battered soul,
To challenge the wind?
Praying for Eyebrowz 