...well, I wouldn't want to think...

…that this is the last Friday I’m going to enjoy on this old earth, but according to some folks, the world is going to end tomorrow…it is an interesting concept to ponder, which I’m prone to do on Friday evenings while I’m partaking of my favorite beverage…on the one hand, I generally tend to think that there’s always going to be another day…that belief has gotten me through some dark, dark times……on the other hand, I also hold the notion that everyone’s going to board the train sooner or later, so it’s not a bad idea to drink up, toast the Irish, hope for the best but pack for a really hot change of climate…at the end of it, it’s about compromise…speaking only for myself, I’ve made more than one deal with the devil…it’s an Irish thing…

…got some storms brewing in the area…a little lightening, some thunder…sky’s darkening a bit…maybe this is a prelude- Frost wrote about the world ending in fire or ice…T.S. Elliot thought that it would end with a whimper…I don’t really have an opinion myself, other than however it ends, I hope that there’s at least one last call for alcohol before the house lights come on, or go out, depending on your  particular end-of-the-world scenario…

…when you get right down to it, none of us are here for more than just a nano second anyway, geologically-speaking…but I’ve always believed that all of us are part of something greater than we can possibly imagine, and having said that, I also believe that we’ll all here to add just one thing to this great incomprehensible movement- we don’t know what our contribution is, and we’ll never know when we made it;  it might be the smile you gave to the old lady in Wal-Mart last week, or the penny you left for someone else on a counter when you were ten years old…who knows… but either you’ve done your part, or you will…

…so maybe I’ve already made my contribution- or maybe I’ll make it tomorrow…I guess it’s that sort of introspection that’s gotten me off the mat in times past…oh, well…if my role was to sing a ting off key in the shower, run through neighborhood lawn sprinklers in the dark, drink cold brews and toast the Irish or jot down lines of poetry (pick one) then chances are I’m in the “completed” block…

…if the world ends tomorrow, then I’m square with it…I’ll meet you on the train right after last call…

Chief

...someone told me once...

...that the military is for the young- I think the statement is for the most part true, which is sometimes a shame…our country’s youth guard our walls, they fight our wars, they sacrifice their blood and treasure for our liberty and happiness- and sadly, too many of them will never have the opportunity to grow old…

…I’ve been retired from the Army for over ten years now, having walked away from the life July 1^st, 2000- I was a Warrant Officer for twelve years preceding that date and a Sergeant and then Staff Sergeant six years prior to that- the point is, it’s been a long time since I stood a watch, let alone a watch in early winter…

…but once in a while, on a morning like this, the first cold morning of the season, some of those memories ask for an invitation...it would be an understatement to say that most troopers do not especially look forward to guard duty- and with good reason- up before dawn, working all day and well into the evening and then standing in the cold for hours, peering out into the darkness, fighting fatigue and boredom…loneliness…

…often wondering of the purpose of it all…

...to everyone who’s ever stood a watch at twilight, whether on a wall, or behind a wire, or in the wood-   

…some chilly morning when you’re older than you want to be, when the daily routine is pulling you down, step outside and breath in the crisp air…

...and with the luck, maybe you’ll discover…

…it had meaning…

...for your perusal...a work in progress- subject to edit…

Standing Watch

I remember

a rare blue moon,

its ascent

bathing the wood

in nocturnal light,

a wolf tree’s

splintered shadow of branch

camouflage as I stood watch

listening

to a sound 

I could not name,

a child’s cry, perhaps, or

the faint whisper of woodwind chime,

calling me from

this cold, dying timberline

Chief

…sometimes it all seems to catch up with me…

 

I found myself an evening sky

and shared it with the moon,

I promised not to mention things

that open ancient wounds,

instead I spoke of tiny birds,

and lonely fields of flight,

and if their music really ends

with the fading of the light,

or if all the stars I’ve ever known

were to fall out of the sky,

would they simply disappear

and never tell me why?

but it seems the evening’s slipped away-

I’m out of stars and song,

the birds have flown their empty sky,

the moon has traveled on…

Chief

...heard an owl...

…outside my bedroom window last night…it’s been said that owls are the only creatures that can accommodate ghosts- I guess it’s not just me that sits alone in the dark occasionally and wonders aloud who might be out there in the shadows…

…I wonder too if it’s true that things come in threes…this morning there was a perfect imprint of a dove on the window…so well defined that one could easily count it’s spread wing feathers…

…don’t know what to make of any of this- I’m neither a superstitious sort nor one for premonitions…still, it does give me pause…

…ah, but the things you recall from childhood…when I was five years old we lived in a two story rental on 7th avenue, just west of 13th street…it was a large house- the owner had it divided up into two separate residences…late one spring evening, just after my brother was born, my old man called us upstairs to share his discovery- a tiny owl perched on a heater duct pipe up near the ceiling …every few moments one could see it’s perfect round eyes blink…

…Irish legend has it that an owl that enters a house must be killed at once, for if it flies away it will take the luck of the house with it…

…Pop shooed the owl out the hallway window into the dark…

…about a month later we heard a tremendous commotion coming from the other half of the house- crying and wailing, furniture breaking…it was the first time I’d seen my mother put an empty water glass up to a wall to try and eavesdrop…as it turned out, the teenage girl next door was killed in a car-train wreck earlier that evening…she and her boyfriend tragically unsuccessful in their attempt to outrace another car to the bowling alley after a school dance…

…it was not long afterward that we moved to another rental on 6th avenue…perhaps in search of a house with its luck still intact…

…my Business Studies class is taking their second exam this evening- no matter how often I explain that there are no bonus points for finishing first, it still seems that they rush to get through the test, so it should be a short night …when I get home, chances are I’ll find a refreshment and go outside to wait for my owl…with the luck he’s saved perhaps we’ll be joined by one of my warmer spirits…I can make the introductions so we’ll both know who it is this time…

…here’s to you, with the luck or without…

…and here’s to the Irish who often have both conditions at once…

Chief