Can We Ever Forget that Moment in Time..?

" We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task. "
       ~ Theodore Bikel

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Project 365 - a Photo Every Day...

Terror

A sudden call to duty

Towers of power fall

Victims and victors screaming

A nation stands appalled

Scratching at flea collars

Both wrist and ankles bound

Children used as sacrifice

Continues to astound

He hates the word deployment

He wants to hold his girl

The agony pours from his eyes

Behind the sandstorm swirl

Thinking of his Mama                                               

His heart begins to race                                                   Writers Weekend Retreat #36

How many years.. how many lives                                                                                              

Before he leaves this place?

Written By: Patricia Sawyer

9-9-2011

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Acrostics Only- Children's Corner-

Boogeyman


Be gone you
One eyed fiend !
Out scary shadow !
Goblins and witches
Evacuate ! No more
Yellow bellied bumps !
Mama ordered them
All be gone !
Now we sleep...

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
9-9-2011

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Thursday Tales   {photo by Starling Photography}

Duty Calls

 

Logan bowed his head as the tolling began.. The withered priest tugged the ropes.. ringing the mission bell over and over.. echoing despair across the valley.. They had found her along the tracks.. another soul devoured.. Records would show her to be the seventy seventh victim but he knew the number was much higher..

Sliding his treasure box back into the hearth's secret and replacing the bricks.. he picked up his badge and holstered his revolver.. He would have liked a nap.. but patting his belly.. he headed for the door.. Sometimes you had to make sacrifices when duty called..

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
9-9-2011


Lily's Friday Prediction- Valley-  Mission- Record

Weekend Wordsmith- Hearth

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Thanks for stopping by my world today.. I welcome both comments and followers..
Have a wonderful day!
Patsy

Wednesday and I Think It Will Be a Hot One!

"I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth?"

  - Edward Giobbi

“If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?”

  - Kahlil Gibran

“Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them”

 - Chinese Proverb

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Thursday Tales-

photo by - hidlight at DeviantArt

Acrostic Only- Acrostic Short Story-


Forgotten-
Fourteen years he had been gone.. the gossips had predicted his return a million times and in a million ways.. and now he stood at the top of the stairs and smoked.. dreading the creak of the rusty hinges and the jumble of plunder that waited behind the unlocked door..

Oddly enough he had returned hoping to be a welcome change in her life.. only to discover that she had forgotten all about him.. She had forgotten all about almost everything.. she had grinned at him from a puddle of tea that she had spilled and then decided to bathe in.. She had been sitting naked in the kitchen floor when he had arrived late last night.. " My Memory is rusty!" she had giggled.. " Who did you say you were?"

Reality was right now for her.. there was no yesterday in her mind.. No tomorrow or the next day either.. he had listened to her rambling on for hours last night.. she told him about her son who had gone to conquer the world.. she wondered where he was now and even though he told her again and again she didn't seem to hear that her lost boy had returned to the nest with a tangled body to match her tangled mind.. he hadn't wanted to come back here where nothing good had ever happened to him but he hadn't had much choice.. down to his last dollar and sick as a dog he had headed home at last..
Glory had never been his.. but he did enjoy the way she told his story.. she had told him of how many wonderful things he had accomplished in his life.. he sucked the dark smoke deep into his scarred lungs and wished even one of the grand things she dreamed up had been true.. and he was glad that she didn't know the truth about him.. It was almost better to have been forgotten..

Orange crayon hearts covered most of the door.. He wondered why the neighbors had never called the authorities to come and check on her.. was she never sick.. never violent.. never lost.. or did they just think she was weird and leave her alone to live in her own little world..
Terrible things could have happened to her in the city.. gangs and thugs were always looking for someone to use or even to hurt.. or kill.. Had she been a victim and just didn't know it.. how many awful things had she forgotten...

Time for him to stand up and do something right.. time to  become the wonderful son that she thought he was.. tomorrow they were going on an adventure.. he could hear her now digging through boxes of old clothes looking for a nice dress.. he had promised her a trip to eat ice cream and they would go early in the morning.. right after they left the doctor's office..
Evening shadows filled the stairs.. Dane leaned his head against the wall and listened to her singing inside the apartment.. he had knocked around from one place to the other before joining the Navy.. he had done everything he could to stay away from home until he had earned his fortune.. a fortune that he had never been able to claim.. now he was back and from the looks of things he had returned home a day late and a dollar short..

"Never waits for no man" he heard her say to her imaginary friends.. and felt the tears begin when she added..  " but my son always says.. better late than never"


Three Word Wednesday- grin- jumble- naked
Theme Thursday- Gossip
Sunday Scribblings  #268- better late than never
Weekend Wordsmith- Rusty



Thanks for stopping by to read my words.. I hope you enjoyed your visit..
I welcome both comments and followers.. Have a wonderful day!
Patsy

Tales.. Tails and Tales

" It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

 - Mark Twain

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Thursday Tales- Tale # 59

By artist Damir Davarovic at DeviantArt














Hauling the Nets

Back bent to his task.. Sebastian's eyes darted back and forth over the lagoon.. balanced on new muscles.. he hummed along with the dozen or so men who rocked back and forth.. pulling over and over on their own nets.. he wished he knew the words.. he wished he knew the men.. Every end of shift they banded together and set off through the jungle.. casting off fishermans garb as they went.. At first he had been frightened that they would not return... but sure as sunrise they had been back the next day and every day after that.. He wondered how long before someone approached him.. the first day he had simply shown up on the beach as instructed and found a boat with his name secreted on it's side.. He had watched the others and set about copying them... He knew he had thrown badly at first.. but he had learned well in the three months since then.. He watched his net sail across the water and plop exactly as he had hoped.. the men were singing soulfully today.. trying to appease the fish gods he imagined.. He was not surprised that the nets came up empty again and again..

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Sebastian read back through his journals.. chewing dried fish.. He would kill a good man for a cold beer and a hot broad.. The cabins four walls had long ago closed in on him... His back ached .. his starved taste buds craved a t-bone steak and he had dreamed for nights and nights of chocolate chip cookies like his mama used to make.. He wished someone would come for him.. He didn't care who.. He had only been joking about them hiding him at the end of the earth.. Lately.. he had began to wonder .. was he the witness or the prisoner?


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Alphabe Thursday- D is for Dogs-

Clyde

Daring and delightful
for a cookie you will dance

Demanding yet dependable
out the door at any chance

Daytime ducks attrack you
a danger to you known

"Damn it all you dirty dog..
you leave my ducks alone!"

When darkness falls across the yard
you draw my eye above

Don't you know that barking isn't
how you catch a dove?

Dangling paws hang off the couch
your tender heart redeems

Deny me not one thing to know
What do dogs chase in dreams?

Written By: Patricia sawyer
5-12-20011

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Magpie Tales- #65

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Chase
 
Cannonballing through the air
Higher and higher they flew
All beady eyes fixed on her
Sitting silently on the saint
Every blue bird for himself!
 
Written By: Patricia Sawyer
5-12-2011
 
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Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I welcome comments and followers..
Have a wonderful day!
Patsy

Sunday ... Quiet and Peaceful for a Change!

"Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless: peacocks and lilies, for instance." - John Ruskin

"The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind."
- Albert Einstein

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass." - Maya Angelou

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- Project 365- a Photo a Day!

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All Aboard- ( a haibun)

somehow we discovered that one could ride the train to the next town if you lay waiting just before the long curve.. where it slowed and the engineers view was blocked by the old pine forest.. everyone else already aboard.. my fat legs simply won't run fast enough.. I'll wait for them to return with the afternoon train..

blackberry brambles
tearing at my skin.. I cried
the train whistle blew

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
2-20-2011


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Magpie Tales -

Breaking-

lilies of the field
held in ketchup bottles
graced scarred tables
hot coffee filled the air

waiting nameless
temples throbbing
eyes still gritty
with last nights sins

thirteen hours
or a thousand years
all the same in the spiral
no tender mercies remain

just one wish I asked
of the face in the shaker
salty eyebrows raised
his isolation mauled

his incandescent voice
thundered silently in return
"Look about foolish one
there is no Safe Place!"

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
2-18-2011

- other tags-

- weekend wordsmith #190- maul

poetry pantry #30 -

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Thanks for stopping by my world today.. It has been a lovely day to be outside.. though writing and chores have kept me house bound most of the day.. I have enjoyed the wonders of a new bird feeder that Dave hung right outside of my window.. so far I have seen cardinals.. finches.. robins and wrens.. We have chicks and quail hatching.. chirping away beneath their warm lights..

pleasing sights and sounds surround me.. I welcome both comments and followers..

Have a wonderful day!

Patsy