One Day

 

One day you wake up.

And find the years are gone,

When youthful vigor was full and free

And the power that drove you on.

One day you find the years,

Have raced away behind

And left too many of your dreams,

Only in your mind.

One day you realize,

Those dreams are left to die.

So, you hang your head

And turn away with a sad goodbye.

One day you wonder,

Why you let them wait.

Promising “tomorrow”.

Then finding it’s too late.

One day that horizon

Is closer than you thought,

And time is running out for you,

To do the things you ought.

One day the shadows gather,

And creep in through your door

And the dreams you always dreamed,

Are in your mind no more.

 

© James L Frady, February 28, 2025

Winter Wind

 

I watch the end of this winter day

The distant sun sinks fast away

Its feeble warmth fades with its rays

And the wind blows hard and cold

 

Behind the mountains in the west

As if it needs a place to rest

The sun has done its very best

But the wind blows hard and cold

 

The brightest stars begin to show

The sky has lost its sunset glow

The waxing crescent moon hangs low

As the wind blows hard and cold.

 

Across these open fields it streams

The very land shivers it seems

Through the grass and weeds it screams

The wind blows hard and cold.

 

I tuck my chin within my coat

Squint my eyes and clear my throat.

I hear it howl its lonesome note

As the wind blows hard and cold

 

The winter night does bite and scold

Darkness has finally taken hold

I should hate winter I am told

But the wind has touched my soul.

 

(c) January 6, 2025 

James L Frady

 

 

 

Pleistocene Dreams

There are things I've never seen
and lots of places I've never been
but if I had a time machine
I'd take it to the pleistocene

I know it was not sunny and green
but I'd still go, to visit I mean
and see things of which I sometimes dream
that only lived in the pleistocene

The land was bright with an icy sheen
from all the glaciers that were seen
in the late great pleistocene
and life for all was hard and lean

the air was chilled, the wind was keen
I'm sure the cold was quite obscene
and in all the pleistocene
no one knew of coffee beans

But by their fire at night they'd sing
and stamp their dance in a rhythmic ring
offering pleas to gods unseen
and the bright burning stars of the Pleistocene

Like them I'd hunt that land pristine
for mega fauna I'd only seen
in science books and in my dreams
that roamed the age of the pleistocene

Giant deer, and bears, and then the king
of all these giants we can't demean;
the Mammoth then was on the scene
and ruled the age of the pleistocene

But if I crashed my time machine
by some event yet unforeseen
at least I'd have my weapons keen,
and be a castaway in the pleistocene.

(c) James L Frady November 27, 2024

Salty Sailor Man

 

Salty Sailor Man

I once was a salty sailor man.

I sailed the seas on an old tin can.

I felt the wind and tasted brine.

A thousand ports I left behind.

I rode the waves like Poseidon’s own.

I made the open seas my home.

I fought the storms upon the sea.

And cursed them while they howled at me.

I walked her decks in my dungarees.

And my chambray shirt was fine with me.

My blue ball cap upon my head.

Boone-dockers clunking as I tread.

The ship was steel and so were we.

Manly men upon the sea.

A destroyer is made to ride the foam.

To drive and shoot and then be gone.

We worked and played and earned our rank.

While the engines screamed as we ran flank.

From sea to sea and port to port.

Far above King Triton’s courts.

We laughed and joked of Davey Jones.

We rolled and tossed while the rigging moaned.

We felt the sea go quiet and calm.

And slept so sound without a qualm.

But like all things there came an end.

And my old tin can brought me home again.

I once was a salty sailor man.

I sailed the seas on an old tin can.

Now those days are far behind.

But I keep them alive in the back of my mind.

 

©James L Frady 1/18/2024

Coyotes

 

Coyotes

There’s a coyote in the woods,

      I heard it yelp

Another answered back

             From Far away

Then suddenly I heard

            Out in the darkness

A chorus of them

            Howling every way

I listened as more

            Joined in the clamor

I looked above

            And saw the gibbous moon

They lifted up their voices

            To the night sky

And sang their ancient

            Random midnight tune

For minutes there they howled

            And sang together

Then, as if on cue

            They quit, and silence fell

Their barks and howls

            Faded into nothing

And I was alone,

            As far as I could tell

 

© James L Frady 12/18/2023