Poems from the Rocky Mountains

From conception to birth and on to the end of the lifeline, one can measure behavior changes needed through the feelings observed in the person’s daily activities. Those feelings are triggered by circumstances in the individual’s environment, and the quality of any change made will depend upon the individual’s resourcefulness to adapt to the environment in order to modify his/her behavior. If reading this book may help you to change any of the circumstances in your life, then publishing it, justifies your interest to find out about its contents. The best which I can do to express my appreciation for your interest is to show you the following poems which you may read and enjoy at your convenience.

A.J.’s Shark

Somewhere in a forest
Where blue birds live
And house finches build their nests
Under a ten-foot waterfall,
A.J. went fishing one day:
A short pole, small hook, a huge worm,
And guess what!
He caught a humongous shark!

Telling about the adventure,
He pictures himself under the fall,
Surrounded by pines, snow, and all
Line wrapped around the tree trunk;
The beast swimming in circles really fast
And A.J. holding on to the line;
The furious shark ‘round and ‘round,
Peeling off the tree’s bark.
A.J.’s arms can’t stretch enough
To show the shark’s size
And tell me how exciting
The fishing adventure was.

Call of the Jungle

One can hear the echo
From the tropical paradise
Where the soil is solid black,
The trees compete
To look up to the sky
And the roots peek through,
To catch some fresh air
Above the ground.
When it rains,
The rivers run over the banks
And the soil is so soft,
That armadillos do not have to dig
In the ground to find shelter;
The benevolent earth opens up
For the armored creatures
To crawl in to rest, or at night.

One can hear the call of the jungle,
Calling you and me
To taste of the wild fruit
Falling underneath the trees,
All around you and me:
In the rain-forest jungle,
With nature and the wild beasts.

Childhood Reality

Rushing through the pasture,
Four feet tall or so,
On foot or upon a horse,
His mind was out of control.
And he thought of himself
As being nature’s lord:
The wind always behind,
Sometimes he could not realize
How euphoric he was
And he really believed
That he could fly, and fly, and fly . . .,
And vanish into the sky.
He could also go to the river
To bathe the neighbor’s mare
And he would ride his friend
To the swimming hole
And not have to depend
On anything or anyone else at all.
He would imagine his steed
Could not only swim across,
But also gallop on
To the mountain tops, over the range,
Across the valleys without a pause,
Ride over the horizon
Into the land of nevermore.
That is really what he thought;
And he never shared his visions
With any relative or friend.
Between the teacher and him,
Whenever he’d go to school,
Something wonderful he would hear and see:
The pasture and the wind, the rivers, the valleys,
The mountain range, and going over the horizon,
The neighbor’s mare and himself.

Cowboy at a Truck Stop

A huge stack of pancakes,
Butter and syrup covering the mound,
Almost as big around as his cowboy hat,
And black coffee to wash them down.
Behind the scuffed boots, the sharp spurs;
A real leather-sheep-fleece jacket,
Eyes glued on his breakfast delight:
“Howdy, pardner.” “Not a drugstore cowhand?”
“No, sir, cattle and horses are my life.”
He grins, his eyes open up like bright stars,
His mouth stretches wide,
And his whole personality bubbles
Like flashing back a ride in the meadow,
Under the blue sky,
With the sunshine and the breeze behind,
Happily chasing his last round-up cow.

Tippy at the Dog Show

Tippy is funny,
Tippy is tiny
And goes to the fair
To show the judges
How clever she is
And to make people think
That she knows how to behave.
Katie, her trainer,
Thinks that Tippy is cute
And gives her orders to obey,
And when that happens,
Tippy wonders,
Whether to run, to stay,
Or to prance
On her front or hind legs.

Tippy is beginning to find out
That the audience likes it
When she obeys
But the judges
Know not how to score
The way, sometimes,
Tippy behaves.
However, they think
That she is cute
And Katie is doing her best,
And that is why
They both got a blue ribbon
For taking first place at the fair.

Nature’s Peaceful Love

Let the trees sing spring songs . . . ,
And let the wind whisper words of love,
Words of love to the branches
Where the birds perch and chirp
As they go to sleep until dawn,
When the light starts to ride
Out of the darkness of the night just past
And let dawn be nature’s moat: the right road
To the castle of your personal love,
And let life’s love turn into restful peace,
Peace that may influence you to cherish love,
Love for those who may need you,
Peace that you may see
Over the calm waters
Of a lake or a tranquil sea,
That you may see in the horizon,
Between the trees
Unable to hold back the sunshine light
From shining on your life’s night,
Peace that you may always feel,
Wherever you may be.

Thanks again for reading these poems!