The Bluest Angel...




Tiny Angel, wings so blue-white,
Watch over me as I pray goodnight,
Let Mommy be safe and happy please,
You in your robes so blue, me on my knees.

I watch you fly in God's grace.

Tiny angel, flit down upon my cupped palms,
Smile up at me, singing, with no qualms.
A voice so ethereal and uplifting,
Carry my heart through a life that's shifting.

Thank you for carrying my prayers to heaven so well.

Bluer than the skies,
Angel with the bluest eyes,
Singing and free,
Thank you for loving me.

Fly always in beautiful childhood dreams.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C)2000

Author's Comments:
A dream, from very early childhood in Madison, WI.
This took place when I was three, in the time of the Dinosaur Safari.
I think it may have been inspired by watching a show on
TV about the Navy flying team, the Blue Angels.
You see, to me as a child, airplanes were the grandest
vision in the whole world. We lived off an Air Force base.
I lived in a world of fast jets, heard sonic booms before they
stopped supersonic flight over the continental USA.
I woke up crying because the dream was gone.

*One thing I should note but never have before posting this at Flowing Quills: the entire dream was very vivid, but I dreampt it as if it were a Saturday morning cartoon that I was living in, like I was in the world of comic art. I never really had that piece stand out to me until now. Perhaps that's telling me something I should do...* (I just had a thought - the Fire Angel - I think she is my Bluest Angel from childhood) This was also my first paper-published work.

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

A Day of Peace...

It whispers under the skin like a silent need,
An itch that needs to be scratched,
We all pray we'll find it somewhere,
Under the next law where they snuck in this or that.

"Not a single drop of blood shed today."

Some of us can live and let live,
Maybe that's an excuse not to pay attention,
We think our struggle is too important for all of that,
Pooh-pooh on it all my ostrich friends.

"Peace agreements today were signed in the last conflicts on the globe."

We come home looking for dinner and the TV,
Bathing in a make-believe life instead of our own,
Wandering away from everyday miracles non-chalant,
Dulled by incessant friction like a bug in the ear.

"Poverty finally averted as the last drop of oil was burned."

It's a slick predicament filled with glassy-eyed stares,
The tired Earth is weeping of loneliness,
Her children having fallen to electronic dreams,
Too lazy to even enjoy the beach.

Just once in this life I'd love to read the headlines of a true day of peace...

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 11/19/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

Under Charcoal Skies...



The winds are dancing the trees like wild Heathens,
Shuddering the last of their leaves from branches too chill to resist,
Cold rain drops fly down coat necks as we lean into our steps,
Awaiting the hushed blanket of white we're soon promised.

Swirling multicolored leaves tornado in the streets,
Rustling at the door like lost waifs in a magic palette,
Burning with the last wisps of the harvest season,
About to gift the Earth for the new year's growth to come.

The black shapes of geese and sparrows punctuate the dimming light,
Their flowing geometry in flocked flight a sign of abandonment,
The Sun is falling South and so shall they,
Bursting from the cornfields of dimming gold stubble and bare-stick trees.

Bluster faces those who decorate the landscape,
Braving the washed-out light of Autumn's wane,
Seeking the soul secrets within this simple grey space,
Walking the Earth paths under charcoal skies.

All these skies' promises whisper simply of curtains of white.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 11/14/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

Cherry Blossom Steps...



Spring petals soft scent,
Sweet fruit plucked by sun rise,
Petals litter grass.

Pink softness underfoot,
Blooming passion within hearts,
Whispers echo love.

Old monk's walking stick,
Dancing among petals here,
Cherry blossom steps.

Sun sets quietly,
All shadows stretch long and far,
Past life memories.

Spring petals soft scent,
Dancing among petals here,
All jade has faded.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 11/08/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

---

All of my currently available poetry Chapbooks are for sale at:
www.lulu.com/Daniel-Stafford

Fire Angel...

Walk upon the still waters,
Pouring down in silent sunshine,
The waves of blue that touch a poet's soul,
This vision of peace a gift,
Bow your head in silent prayer,
Nevertheless,
God hears you as clear,
As the color of your heart,
In that cool blue moment.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 04/04/2003


Note:

This is also the cover photo for my chapbook, "On God's Doorstep" at www.lulu.com. This image was taken with a 35mm camera - a $3.00 child's toy plastic camera, which was all I had at the time. It was scanned on a flatbed scanner, no digital re-touching was used - this is exactly how the image came out as developed by the film lab. It was taken early on a Saturday morning facing East towards Lake Michigan at the doorstep of the Madonna Della Strada Chapel, also known as "The Poem In Stone" at Loyola University's Lakeshore Campus. The chapbook features poems written on Saturday mornings at the chapel terrace, which is the place I call "God''s Doorstep." Each poem describes what it was like to be there on that given Saturday morning, what I was thinking and feeling, how it looked, etc, and is accompanied by a photo of one aspect of that part of the campus grounds. Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

The Word Whizzyrd's Castle...

An airy place full of holes in the walls,
Gaping and black from spell blasts,
The stones are slowly uncrumbling and crawling back into place,
Even around the courtyard where the young whizzyrd played,
A healing spell on stones whipped up from sparkly grey dust,
Fossilized dragon scales and bones ground up.

The banks of the moat are jagged and cruel,
But the secret mejik spell is something like rocket fuel,
The whizzyrd begins chanting with arms raised to stormy skies,
Like a majestic balloon the entire castle begins to rise.

The guests are all unknowing as they party in the grand ballroom,
Sipping on zephyr honey and star twinkle wine,
Eating moonbeam soup from griffyn bone bowls with phoenix feather spoons,
*Puff* they go and the soup is glowing and hot,
The spoon rises from it's ashes for the next sip,
Moonbeam elf waiters bring kraken claw knives,
To cut the sunshine noodles from the blue sky.

Flying up to the edge of space,
The Word Whizzyrd castle begins to race,
Off to Saturn in a bubble of air and light,
Soon to chase ring baubles for an orbit in the endless night.

Won't they all be surprised the whizzyrd thinks to himself,
I'll give the whole party the grandest show,
Of shepherd moons made of fire and ice,
Huge dented rocks of mountainous size,
The coffee cream swirl of saturnine clouds,
And whiz-bang asteroid showers with basket ball sized diamonds,
Maybe mountains of pure gold.

Inviting the crowd for a roof-top dessert,
Cosmic ray candy with aurora borealis sauce lights,
Up the stairs they walk until gravity reverts,
Wide open eyes on a fanciful night flight.



AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 11/01/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

Nursery...

They call him Orion and he hunts the night skies,
Appearing above just as Winter wakes from Summer's heat,
You can see a sword hanging at his belt in the cool nights,
Yet not so many know what it guards,
What drives the hunter to the drawn bow.

A mystery it took Galileo and at least a century to resolve.

Right there,
Tucked away in that sword sheath,
Orion's nursery - a nebula where new stars are forming,
The fires of creation lend their soft glow to our nights,
Gracing Fall nights with a harvest of new light,
I've always wanted to go there.

The first thing I ever pointed a university telescope at.



AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 11/05/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

Exposure...

The lies that are told are no longer on hold,
The ice is all melting to reveal what it kept,
Every corner is filled with light,
Angels are circling and guiding moonbeams through the cobwebs,
The covers are all thrown back,
Pulled wool now faces Spring's sharp shears,
The scales will creep back into balance,
All the creeps will find dark corners,
Standing behind iron-barred shadows,
Sunlight streams into the cell they painted themselves into,
Meanwhile the mystic walks with a wooden staff,
Mumbling sunshine spells for poets to spill,
An afterthought of the Green Man dancing beneath Autumn trees.



AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 11/10/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

The Word Whizzyrd's Castle...

An airy place full of holes in the walls,
Gaping and black from spell blasts,
The stones are slowly uncrumbling and crawling back into place,
Even around the courtyard where the young whizzyrd played,
A healing spell on stones whipped up from sparkly grey dust,
Fossilized dragon scales and bones ground up.

The banks of the moat are jagged and cruel,
But the secret mejik spell is something like rocket fuel,
The whizzyrd begins chanting with arms raised to stormy skies,
Like a majestic balloon the entire castle begins to rise.

The guests are all unknowing as they party in the grand ballroom,
Sipping on zephyr honey and star twinkle wine,
Eating moonbeam soup from griffyn bone bowls with phoenix feather spoons,
*Puff* they go and the soup is glowing and hot,
The spoon rises from it's ashes for the next sip,
Moonbeam elf waiters bring kraken claw knives,
To cut the sunshine noodles from the blue sky.

Flying up to the edge of space,
The Word Whizzyrd castle begins to race,
Off to Saturn in a bubble of air and light,
Soon to chase ring baubles for an orbit in the endless night.

Won't they all be surprised the whizzyrd thinks to himself,
I'll give the whole party the grandest show,
Of shepherd moons made of fire and ice,
Huge dented rocks of mountainous size,
The coffee cream swirl of saturnine clouds,
And whiz-bang asteroid showers with basket ball sized diamonds,
Maybe mountains of pure gold.

Inviting the crowd for a roof-top dessert,
Cosmic ray candy with aurora borealis sauce lights,
Up the stairs the walk until gravity reverts,
Wide open eyes on a fanciful night flight.



AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 11/01/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

There Go The Tomatoes...



Jack Frost paints silver,
Tomato leaves turn Fall brown,
His fog breath floats low.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/28/2005 Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

The Mars Effect...



It last came so close in A.D. 2003,
And a nation of law turned to its first un-provoked war,
The Red Planet was burning in the sky,
God of anger was rending spirits from their bones,
Looking for what wasn't there while Baghdad burned.

Marching along in the sky he raged far and wide,
The anguish and misery festering like a boil under the skin,
Maimings and flag-draped heroes falling home,
Angry faces in the desert exploding with rage,
Giving a "go home Yankee" bang on every street corner.

October first 2005 saw the warrior planet start walking backwards,
Mars retrograde at his closest approach in 60,000 years this Halloween night,
Right next to the severed head of the Medusa,
A malignant star called Caput Algol whose baleful glow has darkened history,
A time for leaders to lose their heads or their way,
Time for a very cautious step as the stars are serving dangerous beauty.

When you see the sky on Saturday night,
Look for his baleful bright red eye in the East,
And wonder which way the knives of fate will dart,
It's a whole new era rough and tumble starting in,
Yet when the Red God finally wanders away,
Will we recover from the Mars effect?

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/28/2005

Author's Comments:
For more insight on this particular Mars retrograde, see the below two linked sites.
Mars retrograde occurs when the planet appears from our perspective to be moving
backward across the sky. It's strongest effects are at the "station" points, where the planet
appears stopped in the sky, and it lasts until the planet passes back over the point where it
first stationed and starts gaining ground in it's proper direction again.

www.astrologycom.com/marsret.html

www.astrologycom.com/marsred05-1.html

Godfingers Touch...



With quiet silence reaching down through the wind,
He touches you like a saint full of kindness,
Brilliance stabs your eyes like a whispering ghost,
Barely inside existence yet your powerlessness shines in your face,
Where destiny will take you is woven in a cloth,
Like the small traces of a mystery you await it,
What comes down off the sky.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/26/2005

Mile Markers...



Another mile whispered by,
A season on the road behind,
As daylight fades into starry night,
Where do we seem to fly?

Every leaf of memory fallen away and passed,
Another piece of existence and I wonder,
Is there a great book somewhere,
Something it will take an eternity to read,
Speaking volumes about love and lies,
What would it say of me and mine?

Another year now passing by,
Tires on pavement moaning hum,
Who sits in the passenger seat,
Are they filled with happy love,
The radio is a small thing - just part of the road,
Blaring out things out of sight of pavement.

It's nice to know of pot holes and rain clouds,
When to roll the windows down,
But kissing in the back seat under red Autumn trees,
That's what seals the gold of summer to my heart,
The foundations of you and me,
A leaf in a vast pile rather than one swirling in the breeze.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/25/2005
"For Saren."

Grieving Elephants...

I heard it this morning on the BBC,
Elephants grieve.

They walk up to a skull and bones,
Stroke it gently where it fell alone,
Try to bury it if they can,
They bring no flowers and have no hands.

They can walk away for weeks and miles,
When they return to this place quiet rules,
Walking directly to the spot they stop in silence,
There is no hiding grief at death.

We're not alone on this Earth,
Something to remember,
We have a hand in all creatures' greatest treasures,
A place to live and a reason to go on.

If you can't love Earth for our sake,
Love her for theirs.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/26/2005

Falling Leaves...

Leaf falls slowly down,
Orange Autumn sign of God,
Beautiful cool rain.

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/25/2005

Seasonal Detail...



The beauty in the small things is priceless,
An eye close to the world so seldom reviewed,
What falls to the ground un-noticed is of short duration,
A day or two too late and everything changes,
Too early and it's not at your feet,
A world all around you singing a song in color and whistling wind,
Look and listen closely now and again,
In the still small places so few choose to go a universe awaits,
Poems can fall to the ground and become of the Earth,
Leaves upon the human tree and the ground that nourishes,
All around you just waiting for a moment of intention,
Or lost in the lack of attention,
You choose the colors of your own Fall,
Twisting and turning in the breezes of life,
What do you whisper into the winds?

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/21/2005

Fields of The Tawny Days...



Flowing like gold across the field,
Lost in an endless sea of breeze and waving amber,
Life floats upon the sky that seems boundless,
To walk here is to be healed,
To live here is to understand the cycle of life with intricacy,
A season and a season's passing,
Promises of renewal too priceless to forget,
In this vast place called the Heartland,
Here the Mother whispers in her childrens' ears,
Awaiting the embrace both so desperately need.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/19/2005

For The Love Of Life...

I will whisper incessantly of the beautiful things I find,
The alive things and the necessary things and all that holds us up,
I will never remain silent as fools' errands are run,
I will show the glory of Mother Earth in all it's forms,
Be it God or any superior notion that created this,
It was never ours to destroy,
For the love of life I will walk through dreams and nightmares,
I will point my finger to the Moon's tides at night,
I will wash the shores of souls like a rolling wave that never sleeps,
For the greatest gift of life is love,
The Universe would share none without the other,
For the love of life I can never leave you alone,
Until you understand the sacredness of every seed,
Man - raise your intellect to walk hand in hand with that from whence you came,
In walking roughshod over your Mother's unconditional love you spell doom,
In working with in the stead of domination you find Grace,
And only Grace will suffer you to live,
Or have you learned nothing of true efficiency in the struggle to heights,
For the love of life...feel love.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/17/2005

Dance Of The Prairie Winds...



Even as the Milkweed faeries dance down the breeze in whistling sunlight,
The Thistle sisters sway their crowns like a trance waiting to happen,
A seed falls here or gets stuck on pant leg there,
A little brash maybe but no secrets to hide,
Dressed in Prairie gold they play with Zephyr princes,
Baiting foxes, stags, even wolves for a ride,
Far past their honey bee pink blush and no longer green with envy,
Fall is their amber season of reward and delight,
Even in Winter's frigid arms they show but little restraint,
They will lonely-peek over pure white blankets,
Always ready for their turn at the ball,
Pretty as gilded lilies in a simpler fashion,
Queens of the prairie waving and fluttering,
They'll always gift you a back -home feeling if you look long and slow,
Sort of child sisters of Mesmer.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/16/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

Mister Scott's Final Miracle...

He's going back up,
High up into the black silent void,
Where the stars never blink in myriad colors,
Riding a quaint old rocket's roaring flame,
No impulse nor warp nor ion drive,
Although he'd "miracled" them all at some place or time,
Now his ashes will orbit the Earth as is only fitting,
A little something he engineered while still alive,
The inspiration of thousands of engineers,
Aye Cap'n and a star to steer a teary eye,
They twinkle and sparkle don't ye know,
Mister Scott's final miracle utterly fitting and right,
God bless you James Doohan as you ride the endless ebony night,
For this time, you've gone where every man has had to go before.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 10/15/2005

Author's Comments:
James Doohan's ashes will ride a rocket into space on December 6th, 2005, to orbit the Earth until atmospheric friction causes them to spiral in and burn up. His vaporized remains will eventually become utterly a part of all the Earth thanks to mortality, the one ship he couldn't fix. He inspired so many young people to go into engineering he was awarded an honorary engineering degree. He sails the night with the hearts and hopes of many millions, exploring the final frontier even in spirit.

www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/...index.html

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.