U is for Undaunted

Good Words Alphabetically: U is for Undaunted

This poem is something that happened to us traveling with a toddler.  Traveling home from Minnesota to Maine for Christmas.  We spent Christmas eve in the train station in Chicago.  And although we weren't in the best situation, neither were the hundreds of other folks waiting there with us for trains that were stopped because of the snow.  We ended up getting to Maine the day AFTER Christmas.  It was a long trip with a 2 year old.  But a wonderful angel shared her homemade Christmas cookies with our son, and suddenly out of the blue, a gentleman pulled out his French horn and began playing Christmas carols.  It was magical as it echoed through the high-ceilinged station.  It was my most memorable Christmas ever, and I bet everyone in there remembers it, just as I do.

Christmas Eve in Union Station Chicago

The snow was snowing
From dark clouds
The wind was roaring in
The moon was hidden
overhead
Bad weather for the win

The train was cancelled
There were no rooms
To rest a weary head
You’ll have to wait
For hours and hours
Is what was grimly said.

But waiting in the station
undaunted
Came a song
Lone French horn notes
Announced a king and
right had conquered wrong

And all the world was hushed
that night when thousands
Paused their plans
A silent, holy night
Was filled with hopes
And dreams of man.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

T is for Table

Good Words Alphabetically: T is for Table

A part of the A to Z Challenge

I don't know why I couldn't get started with "tender" or "tapestry" or "thoughtful" last night.  And nothing was coming this morning...then "table" arrived.  And table it is. I love my table.

Table

Tables are great places to meet
Places we can tuck our feet
Where lovingly the food is served
Where all that’s given is well-deserved

Tables give a spot for tea
A place to whisper - two or three,
A site to sit and read a book
A cozy quiet between-meal nook

They’re a haven for a long lost friend,
A place to patch things up and mend,
A slate, a surface to begin again,
A place to smile and remember when.

Card games, puzzles, crafts and soup,
Medicines for kid’s with croup,
Bags of groceries, stacks of mail
Something heavy, something frail

Pie crust rolling, bread dough rising
Computers, papers, enterprising,
All supported by this able,
Talented, tasteful kitchen table.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

Click to see other participants of the April 2024 AtoZ Challenge.

S is for Salubrious

Good Words Alphabetically: S is for Salubrious

I KNOW you didn’t see this one coming, did you?

My husband used to say “And how are you this lugubrious day?” Now that sounds like it must mean “this FINE day”, but it seemed wrong to me, so I double checked one day. Perhaps he’d started saying it as his mind was beginning to go, because he didn’t often use words incorrectly. At any rate, when faced with the reality of its meaning, he never said it again.

When I saw salubrious today, I wish I’d given him this option. I think this is what he was going for and why what he said seemed vaguely correct.

 

Salubrious means favorable to or promoting good health, healthful.
Lagubrious has a much different meaning: melancholy, sad, mournful.

 

Little Changes

Even on sad, dreary days

weighty and lugubrious

I want to find the shimmery

glowing bits salubrious.

When things are not the happiest

And nimbus heavy looms

There’s either still or soon to be

Some shaft that blinds the gloom.

Bits of stars between the clouds

Geese nesting murmuring low

Raindrops glistening on a bud

Or tree leaves’ whispery show.

Look beyond lugubrious

And hum a song or two

Salubrious days will find their way

To join in tunes with you.

Every day and all the ways

Breathe deeply, look for sweet

It matters not the harshest path

Nor weather that you meet.

It’s what you make of circumstance

Of heavy fog you see

Is its intent to cloud the mind

Or is it brewing tea?

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 

 

 

R is for Rocking

Good Words Alphabetically: R is for Rocking

 

Words from a Rocking Chair

I rock in chair on days of sun
And rock until the day is done
I rock in peace as evening calls
And rock with thoughts through salty squalls
I pick up pen and pen complies
I write in truth forbidding lies
I do not know why thoughts are spilled
some may be loved, some reek unskilled
But either way they lie on page
Fulfilling peace, instilling rage
I have to write, I write to speak
My rocking chair and I must squeak

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

 

 

 

Q is for Quiet

Good Words Alphabetically: Q is for Quiet

 

Quiet

Quiet now the day is closing

Quieter the chipmunks’ mirth

Quieted the fox is denning

Quietness descends to earth

Quietest of all the moon

Shines quietly goodnight

It will stay on guard awake 

A quieting nightlight. 

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 

It is also Poetry Friday.  Visit My Juicy Little Universe, hosted this week by Heidi Mordhorst, to read more poetry today!

P is for Peace

 Good Words Alphabetically: P is for Peace

 This WAS "oasis" and then changed my mind.  I wasn't going to post it at all.  But I did.

Peaceful Oasis

Peacefully I sit by the sea
Peacefully you sit next to me
Peaceful these oasis years
Peacefully dispelling fears
Together we oft walk as bound
Where is one the other’s found
Our refuge comes with the belief
There will come a sweet relief
A new oasis awaits in arms
Where there’s shelter from all harm.
Peacefully we persevere
for greater peace is very near.

By Donna JT Smith

 

 

O is for Optimistic

Good Words Alphabetically: O is for Optimistic

I wrote this in 20 min last night after writing to the word “oasis” and being all set to publish to blogger and FB in the morning. I realized my oasis poem worked better for a different letter coming up. Soooo…it was bedtime but being optimistic, I forged ahead and wrote a new poem for a different “o” word:a word that has been a lifelong theme.  For me it’s the two kids in the barn shoveling stalls - one looks at the pile of manure and is overwhelmed. The second starts shoveling thinking “if there’s this much manure there has to be a pony in here somewhere!”

I like to think there’s a pony in every life problem.

Optimistic

When you are optimistic, you are not prone to moan.

You live your life in sunny light, not dwelling in dull tone.

You think of what might be instead, if given one more try;

and all the while you're pretty sure you have hidden wings to fly!

And even though things don't turn out the way you think they should

you're optimistic attitude says you it can make it good.

With a little bit of "head held high", with just a hint of smile,

with paint and glue you make it new, it's changed in just a while

It's not the end of good to have a time that's badly tangled,

just look past beyond the mass and know it can be wrangled.

Tomorrow is another day, you can smile and just look back,

help someone else conquer their day with an optimistic attack.

By Donna JT Smith ©2022

 

 

 

 

N is for Nestle

Good Words Alphabetically: N is for Nestle

I cannot spend lots of time on these. So some are as good as they get in 30 min and under.
BTW, the word is “nestle”, not the candy company name.  This is more of a children's poem than some.

Safe and Sound

A puppy snuggles in your lap.
A kitten in your arms.
A horse will nuzzle to show love
and say it’s safe from harm.

Like baby robins nestle in
their warm and feathered nest,
we cuddle as we read a book
before it’s time for rest.

Snuggle, nuzzle, nestle —
it’s time to go to sleep.
Close your eyes and say a prayer,
then count the cuddly sheep.

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

A part of the AtoZ Challenge for April. Click the logo to visit other bloggers doing the AtoZ.

M is for Meditate

 Good Words Alphabetically: M is for Meditate

This post is a part of the AtoZ Challenge. The link to posts from this challenge is below.  Click on that image.

I know I did at least three poems for this word.  I am posting the first one I came up with.  I don't know why it took so much thought...maybe the word "meditate" started me overthinking!

Meditate

You have a thought you think is good
you wonder if you really should
give it just a bit of time
marinate it in a rhyme
let it mellow
let it merge
check it
is it on the verge
of being right
and not gone wrong
don’t meditate on it too long
before you think another thought;
gazillions more are still uncaught.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

L is for Lithe

 Good Words Alphabetically: L is for Lithe

We are on our way through the alphabet with some nice words.

Lithe

Limber, lithe,

slim and supple,

agile, sleek,

not prone to stumble

is a deer 

though shy and meek

they run through brambles 

like a streak

a silky ribbon 

silently

over stumps 

‘round bush and tree

leaping, dodging

sharp zigzagging 

white tail up

warning, flagging

letting other 

artful deer

know that danger 

could be near 

then pausing in 

another glen

quick to stop

and browse again. 

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 

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