Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Prayer On A Forest Walk

Prayer on a forest walk


Lord, the beauty of your symmetry, mixed with apparent randomness, gives me joy to behold it all. Thank you. May this same symmetry be nurtured in my thoughts and in my actions, in this social world of apparent randomness and perversion and idolatry. I worship only you Lord. You will take care of the rest. Your joy brings peace to my soul and my thoughts. Let me be sweet to others as You are sweet to me; sweet words coming from the Word, creator of all that is good and natural.

Cy, June 10, 2006

Thursday, December 16, 2010

POPLARS

The fluttering, bright, green leaves
Were hacking their way through the wind,
Clattering as only poplars can;
Those poplars,
Tall havens for bickering starlings,
Were waving endlessly to
The bright blue sky;
Constant friends
To heaven and us creatures of the earth,
Never stopping to ask
What the other’s worth.


Cy. August, 1983.


Monday, November 29, 2010

Mannix

Manic Mannix is a barefoot cop;
You better not run when he says "STOP".
You don't have a chance
When he says "dance";
You'd better go with him
When he says "swim"
'Cause when he's got your number
You might as well surrender
He's ,just too fleet of foot;
No use running "cause he's tops;
Manic Mannix, the barefoot cop!

Cy, Nov. 23, 2010

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Penny May

I know it doesn’t seem right
But my name is Penny May.
Have pity on my plight
And please help me on my way.
God loves me as He might,
And I’m headed home to stay.
All through the raining night
I have thumbed this old highway.
Well, I know I look a sight,
Dressed in such a funny way,
With a kerchief gaudy bright,
And a stubble thin and grey,
In a skirt that fits too tight,
And a sweater small and frayed.
I have been in prison fights,
But then, I have always prayed.
I’m old and sad and weary
Of lovers who never stayed,
So I’m going to Mom in Kentucky
To spend my final days.
Yes, I know it doesn’t seem right,
But it seems to be God’s way
That I am a hermaphrodite,
And my name is Penny May.
Yes, I know it doesn’t seem right,
But it seems to be God’s way.
Have pity on my plight,
And please help me on my way.

Cy march, 1984

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

REALITY

A
BORTION
BUTCHERS
BABIES'
BLOOD,
BRAINS,
BOWELS,
BONES.

Cy, Nov. 1, 2010

Friday, October 22, 2010

Gulls bobbing
On water dancing;
White breasts flashing
On blue waves cresting,
Like white clouds scudding
In blue skies shining.
Child free flying
Like gulls glee riding.

Cy, October 22, 2010

Friday, October 15, 2010

Ottawa River shore

Clish, closh, clash;
Like breaking glass,
The thin spring ice
Shatters on the shore
To the rhythm of the waves
Sparkling in the quiet sunlight.
I'm beckoned to meditate on its cacophony;
A welcome break from humanity's philosophy.

Cy, March17, 2010

Seagull #2

The white seagull soars
As the silver jet roars
In the deep blue sky,
But it's the seagull's silence
Which makes me high.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010



The white seagull soars
As the silver jet roars
In the deep and clear blue sky,
But only the seagull's silence makes me high.

Cy, Tues. ,Oct. 5, 2010

Monday, September 27, 2010



One last sweet mulberry of summer
Was well worth reaching, reaching for
Like a good friend, rare,
And well worth reaching, reaching for.

Cy, Sept. 2, 2008
Once again, the leaves bud forth,
Sprouting Your glorious life-force,
The birdsong of springtime fills my ears,
Cardinals, geese and red-winged blackbirds
Fill my later years.



Cy, May 2, 2007

Thursday, September 16, 2010

On The Marriage of Charles and Vanessa

I see a soft new meadow
Firmly rooted in the earth
With new lives sprouting,
Caressed and waving
In the strong, warm, summer wind.
Light and shadow dance
Amongst the tall, thin, bending grasses;
Milkweed and tiger lilies
Blend with purple loose-strife.
Sweet clover spreads its red-white blanket,
Saying, “Don’t tread on me!”
Plants, birds, butterflies and bees
Live here in God’s harmony.

Cy, 1986?

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Oh,Jesus!

What glory in your heavens, oh Jesus,
To see the clouds you form!
What glory in your trees, oh Jesus,
To see the leaves you form!
What glory in your flowers, oh Jesus,
To see what blooms you form!
What glory in your birds, oh Jesus,
To hear what songs you form!
What glory in their eggs, oh Jesus,
To see what chicks you form!
What glory in your humans, oh Jesus,
To see what babes you form!
What glory in your mind, oh Jesus,
To hear what words you form!
What glory in your cross, oh Jesus,
To see what churches you form!

Cy, 1984?

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Ode to the Ottawa

Sometimes you flow in a torrent.
Sometimes you appear to be so still.
You’re narrow and fast,
Then wide and slow.
You give life to the geese
But you take man’s lives in the snow.
You feed the Canada geese,
But killed the Sweeney brothers too.
You’re bright and smooth and blue,
Then you’re dark and you’re rough and you’re grey;
It depends upon the day.
You’re beautiful and you’re fascinating
Any time of the year.
In summer leaves are green.
The sky is blue
As are you;
A reflection of the day,
All warm, and ready for the day.
In winter, trees are grey,
The sky is white,
And so are you,
All cold
And glistening in the bay.
So constant,
Always there;
Only changing moods;
Mirroring the sky’s full glare.
It’s as though you stare
And expose my soul all bare.

Cy, 1989?
Ode to the Maple Tree

Oh! scarlet maple,
Every year
You fill my eyes
With such surprise;
A delight so red
Before they shed,
Leaves so bright
In full sunlight.
Amongst green leaves
Of other trees;
You signal fall
Before snow falls;
The snow all white
Makes my spirit bright;
A gift of peace
From the prince of peace.
How God’s creation makes me sing
As though the season was really spring.

Cy, Ottawa, ontario

Thursday, August 19, 2010

ODE TO THE CLOUDS

Only shades of blue
And the lightest touches of gray
Shadow the daisy-white fluff,
Giving an ever-changing texture
Of ultimate softness:
A warm image
Of femininity
Against
The blank, bright, blue
Of the hard,
Flat,
Cold,
Male
Sky
Blended in the shading,
In the image
Of the God who made them,
Like the heat of a welder’s torch
That sears the heart of the body
And ignites the brain
Like the vast horizon
Of an arctic day
As the snow turns blue
And the sky turns white,
A blending integration
Of heart and soul,
Even as he made them
Male and female,
To become one
In His image and likeness,
The pure and simple truth
Of light and life
Which we yearn to find in one another.
What light of gold is this
Which blends in harmony
The white and blue
And hard and soft
And straight and curved,
Like an honest word
That sees both sides
Of time and space
And thoughts and feelings,
A middle ground “twixt” love and hate,
And vengeance and forgiveness

To heal old wounds
That scar the heart
Like poison in the blood,
That sees both sides
Of memories now old
Like a misty vapour
Hanging there,
Like blended, fearful tears
Condensing
In the dryness of the desert sky
Filled with turmoil and tranquility
That seeks peace
In the yellow mist
In the blinding light of infinity,
This spirit which always stays with me,
The loving Father of creation
Since eternity.

Cy, 1987

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Ode to a RASPBERRY

The first was a delicious discovery,
So, eagerly I reach
For another late summer raspberry
Alongside the walking path;
Another wild, sweet taste
Of a delicate, moist, read sweetness.
Delicious little raspberry,
You make me salivate.
You know how much I crave you.
Hide not from me still.
Once more, you joy of summer,
One of nature’s free, little thrills.
Oh! gift of our creator,
Let me taste you still.

Cy, 1993?.

O CANADA

How lucky to be born
Where prosperity is the norm.
I wasn’t born in Haiti
Where scarcity is the norm.
I wasn’t born in Somalia
Where militia’s are the norm.
I wasn’t born in Bombay
Where struggling is the norm.
I wasn’t born in China
Where thought repression is the norm.
I wasn’t born in Syria
Where intolerance is the norm.
How lucky to be born
Where freedom’s still the norm.

Cy, Sat., Feb. 21, 2009

Sunday, July 25, 2010

NOT BUSY

Memories and loneliness;
So mixed!
Lonely remembers;
Busy needs not.
Lonely is sad
For what lonely remembers.
Busy is not lonely.
Busy is not sad.
But what happens to Busy
When Busy is busy no more?
The metamorphosis is complete;
For, now,
“Not Busy”is lonely;
“Not Busy” is sad.
Oh, what pain of sadness!
What pain of loneliness!
The throat does ache
And the tears do flow
When memories do surface,
And it’s loneliness
That “Not Busy” knows.

Cy, 2005?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Naivete

A raindrop is clinging
To a thorn
Like a gentle soul clinging
To a devil's horn.

Cy, Wed., june 28, 2006

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Dappled sunshine on the forest floor
Dances with the wind-blown trees;
Dead, brown leaves seem resurrected
With joy of new life expected.

Cy, June 30, 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010


My love

Love grips me
And I grip it back,
In a stranglehold
Of passion
That aches my throat,
That chokes back tears.
To lose your love,
A great, big fear.
Are you dying
A slow, slow death,
Or will you bravely
Reach for joy
Despite your pain,
So much to gain
Despite the rain
Deep in your heart,
Deep in your thoughts,
To look,
To look
For joy?
Love grips me.
May it grip you,
And heal your sorrows
And give you strength
In a grip of iron;
No, a grip of hope,
Gripped by beauty;
May love grip
Your heart with joy.
Come,
Grip love with me.


CY,

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

My Friend

I feel God’s love in your beauty,
The beauty of your thoughts,
Like the beauty of your smile.
The beauty of your kindness
Sustains me without guile.
Like the silhouette of trees
Your beauty speaks tranquility,
The quiet joy of His eternity.
Your smiles reach out and touch me
Like the beauty of fresh, white snow.
I surely know God speaks to me
If there is anything I know!
You help me see His truths of life,
As through the candle’s glow.
Thanks for your strengths and weaknesses
So I can see mine too,
Accepting life in gentleness
So He’ll help us see it through.

Cy, 198?

Gratitude

Salus gives and we take.
This is something to celebrate.
When we're down, you lift us up,
Making sure that we have a full cup.
With generous spirits of thoughtful care,
Positive growth, for us, you dare.
It's with heartfelt thanks that my world's not black.
So with God's grace, I give back.

Cy, June 14, 2010

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

MOVING DAY

Grey and misty is the morning,
A fall chill in the late september air,
But the chill of excitement
From the chorus of geese
Lifting off
The safe waters of the bay,
The summer survivors
Headed south,
Leaving their carrion family members,
Washed on shore;
Are they soon forgotten?
Or do they mark
Next year's stop-over?
With their scented graves,
To be annually remembered,
In passing through
As they thrill us through and through,
Wondering, in this war of terror,
Will it thus be evermore?

Cy, Sept.,26, '01

Wednesday, June 2, 2010


Misty Morning

Heavy morning dew dripping,
Like rain, to earth, falling.
Morning mist rising
From the silver-blue water,
Like misty breath.
Like geese rising
From the water,
As our spirits rise,;
Heading home to hearth
Heading home to cry in mourning.
For the blood soon to drip on earth .

Cy, Sept. 25, 2001 (post 9/11, NEW YORK)
Meditation At A Grave

Am I dead too,
Amongst these bones?
I breathe still
While they do not.
As I read the past
Upon these stones
Can I truly say
That I am alive?
Give me strength
To do Your will
And I will know
That I am alive.

Cy, May 13, 2007, Edited: Feb 18, 2010

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Holy spirit, giver of life,
Come into my life today.
Holy Spirit, sustainer of life,
Come into my life to stay.

Cy, May 23, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Dusk is falling;
Barely a breeze shimmers Mud Lake,
As the beaver's head swims along;
As ducks and geese gracefully glide;
Their gentle wakes gracefully spreading.
Suddenly all squawking silences,
And I notice the distant rapids' roar
As the great blue heron flies
Silently from shore to shore.
The cardinal's last call before,
For the night, settling;
And a last flurry of geese disputing,
On the water ruckusing,
All as it should be, in harmony, to me
To my home, once more, me calling;
Dusk is falling.

Cy, May 7, 2010

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Spring Wind Touching Me

Apple blossom petals are snowing on me, touching me.
Apple blossom perfume is filling me, touching me.
Apple blossom petals are falling on me, touching me.
Apple blossom perfume is lifting me, touching me.

Cy, May 5, 2010

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

MATTER

Don’t matter,
Don’t mind,
Mind over matter.
If you don’t mind ,
It don’t matter.
If it don’t matter,
Don’t mind.
To hell with jerks
Who say it all matters.
To be
Free
To see
What really matters,
I ask:
Is it harmful matter?
If yes,
Be mindful of what matters.
If no,
Then mind over matter.
Don’t matter,
Don’t mind:
Don’t mind,
Don’t matter.
To hell with the jerks
Who say it all matters.

Cy, 1989?

Friday, April 23, 2010

Massage

Mud Lake Forest after the rain;
Stones and roots on the well worn path,
Under my feet as I slowly walk
Are welcome old friends,
Massaging my soles;
Massaging my soul.


Cy, Mon. April 24, 2006

Friday, April 16, 2010

Bluebells

The vigorous, roaring rapids
And the clarion trumpeting of the geese
Break the pond's stillness,
Filling my ears, my eyes,
With the sublime bliss
Of the bright bluebells
On the brown floor of the forest,
Recalling how much we are blessed.

Cy, April 14, 2010

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Lost love

Love’s blowing in the wind.
Love’s scorching my soul no end.
It cries aloud in the darkness.
Love blasts the tears from my eyes.
Hot eruptions burn down my cheeks.
I cry, I cry, why! why! Oh why!
Gone gentle love, thoughtful love,
Love’s choking absence sadness leaves;
Love’s in the photographs of time past;
Love’s shinning there, in the lamp of my heart;
Oh pride and desperation where are you now?
Complaints and guilt have sent you away.
Love’s in the music, feelings deep.
Love’s in the music, therefore I weep.

Cy, 198?

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Artswell


Mary leads us at Artswell,
To our creative souls.
Beth, Elizabeth, Janet and Anthony,
Help us to our imaginative goals.
Penny, Elizabeth, Tammy and Cy,
Serge, Donna-Lee and Krissy, we all fly,
Fly to worlds we'd not otherwise dare,
Freely creating towards we know not where.
Thank you, thank you; we know that you care.

Cy, Fri., Mar. 19, 2010


Sunday, March 28, 2010

DRAGONFLY

Dragonfly,
Fluttering like a butterfly,
All silvery in the warm light of the morning sun.
In the cool, green, misty park,
Silvery like the fine, still dew
On the glistening grass,
So cool underfoot,
Such cool air in my lungs,
In the morning sun,
Like the silvery friendship
Shining in the morning
Of our hearts,
Calming us with a mutual knowing,
Peaceful in the silvery morning air.

Cy, Aug. 18, 2001

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Ottawa River shore

Clish, closh, clash;
Like breaking glass,
The thin spring ice
Shatters on the shore
To the rhythm of the waves
Sparkling in the quiet sunlight.
I'm beckoned to meditate on its cacophony;
A welcome break from humanity's philosophy.

Cy, March17, 2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

Lord, I a sinner
Come to you
Asking for grace
To keep me pure
In thoughts,
In actions,
Ready to meet You
On earth,
In heaven,
Whenever You choose
To end my life
On this temporary earth
And carry my soul
To Your joyful heaven.
Let my lamp be always full
Of the oil of Your will,
My spirit joined to Yours,
Thereby born again
In obedience to Your word,
Never again separated from You
By disobedience so painfully rued,
But loving You
By saying "yes" to You
Rather than to
Myself or any other
Who may oppose Your word.
Your will be done,
Not mine,
Except to honour Thine.

Cy, Sun., Jan. 14, 2007
Looking Up

The seagulls circle in the springtime sky,
Bright white on bright blue,
Like shooting stars in the midnight sky,
Bright white on dark blue,
Like God's love on hate's dark hues.


Cy, March 30, 2008

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Looking through the bus window
while going to John J.

I see blue, morning snow,
Tinted yellow on wind swept rows;
Dry, brown grasses
Through the snow, pushing;
Leaf-bare trees
Into the sky poking;
All rising,
Like me and God’s Sun,
All the world brightening
The cold day to come.

Cy, 1986?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

loneliness

Loneliness,
Through a basement window,
Is like the single shaft and head of grass waving
At me in the cold, November wind.
I look through that window too
As I feel the same wind
Catch my hair,
Chill my bones,
Freeze my brain,
Before the tears can flow.
My jaw is set,
And once again I move
To meet tomorrow,
Framed by my basement window.

Cy, Nov, 1982

Looking Up

The seagulls circle in the springtime sky,
Bright white on bright blue,
Like shooting stars in the midnight sky,
Bright white on dark blue,
Like God's love on hate's dark hues.


Cy, March 30, 2008

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Like wet snow clinging,
White fungus clings
To black tree bark,
Taking life from death
Until it has
The tree consumed.
The tree, in death,
Bears foreign fruit,
Like a dead poet’s rhymes
Bearing foreign word fruit;
Nourishing new, consuming spirits
Of later generations:
Life for barren souls
Eager to consume.


Cy, Wed., Nov. 22, 2006

Friday, January 29, 2010

"For Elizabeth"
Bein' better is like bein' a butterfly:
Bein' free!
(Cy, Friday, January 29, 2010, 11:30 A.M., Chez Salus House.)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010


Let me be sweet
To you,
Nurturing peace
In you,
With a gentle touch
For you,
With a kindly thought
For you,
With a patient spirit
For you,
With positivity
For you,
With generosity
For you,
With affection
For you,
With love
For you,
With hope
For you,
With faithfulness
To you.

Cy, June 6, ‘06

Friday, January 22, 2010


Les Jumeaux

Les arcs en ciel d’hiver
Apparaient dans le froideur
En dessus de la neige crispée.
Ça m’a vraiement étonné
Dans leurs majestés
Si haut sur la montée!
Ça m’a frappe
De ces couleurs qui ont coupes
Le bleu du ciel et la blancheur de la neige
Comme deux bandes fumes
C’est un brouillard tout colorés
À côté du soleil rayé
Comme le Fils et le Saint-Esprit à coté
Du Père dans une Trinité;
C’est parce que le Fils est le soleil
Avec les Autres dans l’unité;
La Lumière du monde entier,
Pleurante et si blessée
Par ces arcs-en-ciel jumelés
A la Licorne du Lac Carré.
Cy, February, 1992?

Monday, January 18, 2010


l’Eglise Sacre Coeur

That gnarly old tree,
Tall and grey,
Reaching with bare branches
Into the stark blue sky
To touch
The lonely church spire and cross;
Empty of leaves, and drooping;
Humbly acknowledging
Inability to grow.

Cy, 1971

Leaves

Leaves

That toast, brown, ticking walk
Of crispy leaves on pavement,
Pushed by the cold November wind;
The sunshine streaming auburn
As they’re tangling in her long brown hair;
They don’t know where they’re going.
Can you tell me, does she?
And what about you and me?

Cy, 1971

Le citadel à Nice

Au bord de la Méditerranée.
C’est à toucher
La Méditerranée
Avec toute sa beautée;
Comme elle m’a touchée!
En rose,
En bleu,
En vert;
Ca m’a touché,
Les sons de la mer:
Mouettes blanches
Toutes appellantes
Repondent aux vagues brisantes,
Blanches,
Au bord de la mer
De la Méditerranée
C’est tout ce que
Le Seigneur
M’a donnée.

Cy, 1987