Long Live The Mono-Culture!

The worm was a nasty one.
It took advantage of a defect
In Microsoft Outlook.
The defect had been there
For several months.
There was no fix for it yet.

The worm did
What worms do.
It replicated.
It was polymorphic too,
Changing its signature
On each computer
It infected.

Because it attacked Outlook,
It was running rampant
On the Internet.
Turning up on computer
After computer
Inside of almost every company.

It read all the address books
That  each person had.
Global, and personal,
And all the rest.
And sent a modified copy
Of itself
To every address
That it found.

Just it’s propagation
Slowed the whole Internet
Down.
With the worm dumping
Billions of copies of itself
On mail servers everywhere.

And when a user checked
His Outlook e-mail.
The worm spread to
The machine that he was on.

The worm served as a back-door.
It let the bad guys in
To your secured network.
So that they could copy
All the files,
And data that were stored
On computers
And their networks
Damn near everywhere.

This was a data leak
On a grand scale indeed.
And no one anywhere
Can really say
How much data,
And what kind,
Wound up in the hands
Of the bad guys.

There were computers
That were safe
From this worm.
But they were few.
And most of them
Were generic network servers
At big companies
Like Amazon,
And Google.
That didn’t use outlook.

Computers running Thunderbird,
Or some other E-Mail client,
Were completely left alone.

The worm had worked
Just like a real virus
That can’t infect
Everyone.
Computers that did not have
Outlook on them at all
Were perfectly safe.
For they were
By definition
Completely immune
To the worm
And all it’s ways.

I sat at my computer
Running Thunderbird.
Outlook wasn’t on my computer
At all.

And as the worm spread
To be world wide
I sat back and watched.
And tried not to laugh.

“This is what they get
For building a mono-culture.
Where everything’s the same.
Because that means
That any flaw that exists
On one machine.
Exists on them all.”

And I thought about that
For a little while.
And found myself
Wondering,
“Would this be the way
That people are
When they turn their social world
Into a mono-culture too?”

And I couldn’t help but think
That the people of a culture
Such as that
Would end up
Limiting themselves.
Would end up
Very resistant
To change.

And the first thing
That came along
That any one of them
Didn’t know at all
How to cope with.
Would be something
That would drive all of them
Absolutely nuts.

I sighed.
And shook my head.
For I found it very sad
That so many people
That I knew
Had reacted just that way
When they found out
Just how different from them
I really was.

And I worry
Almost every day
That I’ll run into such a thing
Time and time again.
In this world
That we live in.

It was then
I asked myself,
“What else could you expect
When everyone owns
The same phone.
The same computer.
And the same software.
And they all own
All that stuff.
For the same reasons.”

Then I laughed.
And when I stopped
I found I had an idea
For another bumper sticker
That I’d never make.
This time it would say,
“Long Live The Mono-Culture,
And it’s economy of scale!”

Then I went back
To watching all the chaos
On the Internet.
And that worm
Wrecked havoc everywhere
That the mono-culture mind-set
Thrived.
And thought to myself,
“Good thing I’m a fan
Of diversity in life.”

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Fairies : Eyela

Monday, 02 May 2011

She’s so very small.
Only 3 inches or so tall.
She stands straight up.
In a full length skirt
That reaches from her waist
Clean down to the floor.

That skirt
Is a pale sky blue.
Almost grey.
With a dark grey band
Along its bottom,
By the floor.
And there is silver
Splashed throughout that grey.

There is a belt
Around her waist.
That buckles in the back.
And on its front
There is a giant flower.
Made of colored leather,
Attached to that belt.

Flowing from beneath
The front of that belt
Is a long white sash
That reaches almost
To the floor.

All sides of that sash
Are trimmed
With silver thread.
And there are blue flowers
Made of thread
Running down the left side
Of that sash.

She wears a pure white top.
That is sleeveless.
That tops neckline
Is all in blue.
With five silver half circles
Right there on the front.
The blue of the neckline
Continues up,
Over her shoulders.
Another line of blue flowers
Runs diagonally,
From the top right
To the bottom left.

She wears full length,
Fingerless gloves
Upon her arms and hands.
Silver edging wraps around her arms
Up there by her elbows.
Her gloves are blue,
That fades as grey fades in.
Then the grey
Fades into white.

Around her neck
Is a silver necklace.
And that necklace holds
A very large
Blue stone
In it.

She has long brown hair
That ends somewhere
Past her shoulders,
Hidden beneath her wings.
Her hair is decorated,
Having several small blue flowers,
And many more tiny green ones,
On each side of her head.

Her wings are fairy wings.
Made of six segments each.
And they are fully spread out.
Those wings of hers are colored
An even paler blue
Than her skirt is.

Each segment of each wing
Is filled with little silver lines.
The same kind of lines
That you see in the wings
Of dragon flies.

Her wings are attached
To her back.
And run from her shoulders
To her waist.

She’s the smallest of the fairies
That I have,
By far.
Small enough
That I can take her
Almost everywhere.
If I want to.

She is a gift to me.
Given by my son.
I carry her to work
Each day
To remind me
That my family
Cares for me.

And as long as I have them
I know
I am not alone
On this world
I never made.

I have kept the name for her
That was on the box
That she came in.

And her name is Eyela.
And she is
A fairy princess.
Resting on the desk,
Here at work with me.

Fairies : She Walks With Him

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

He gets up every morning.
And eats a bowl of cereal.
And has something to drink.
He also takes his medicine
At the start of his day.

Then, he waits a little while,
10 or 20 minutes.
After which
He puts on his walking gear.
Including his wrist weights.
And his music player,
With its ear buds in his ears.

Then, he goes out
On his daily walk.
Where he walks for miles,
And miles,
And miles.

He never notices
As he opens the front door
To his house,
And steps outside
And shuts it,
Making sure it’s locked,
That Musica
Slips outside with him.
She stays hidden,
Out of sight,
Behind his head.

Once he is outside,
Musica’s wings stretch out
To their full size.
And she uses them
To float up high.
As if she were a bird
Up there in the sky.

She flies ahead of him sometimes,
For she knows the path
That he walks on.
And she talks to the ducks,
And rabbits,
And birds.
And asks them please
If they could be
Where he could see them
When he comes along.

Sometimes she’d fly
Right there,
Next to him.
Just out of his sight.
So she could watch him
As he walked along.

Sometimes, she’d fly behind him.
Keeping him
Just within her sight.

And she knew
That he’d never seen her
Watching over him.

On this one morning
She carried her flute with her.
And she played a fairy tune
As he walked along.
A song that every one
Just seems to know.
A song of spring,
With flowers blooming,
And the leaves returning
To the trees.

A song of spring
When the birds return.
And you can hear them sing
Early in the morning,
Or as the sun goes down.

And when she played her flute
As he walked along,
He began to smile.
And he looked around
More than he usually did
On that morning walk.

He looked up at the sky.
And the clouds in it.
He looked at the trees
That he walked past.
He looked at the bushes,
And the shrubs,
In so many peoples yards.
He looked at all the flowers
In the flower beds.

As Musica had played her flute,
The birds along the way
Had come out
So that they could hear
The music that she played.
The ducks
And the geese
Quit the quacking,
And their honking.
And got very calm.
Even the rabbits had come out
And sat down
In the middle
Of so many lawns.

And as Musica played on
While he walked his walk,
She saw that  he was seeing
All the animals
That had come out
To hear her
As she played.

And when the walk was over,
And he’d returned to his home,
Musica and all the other fairies
Couldn’t help but see
That he smiled a lot
Upon that day.
That on that day
He was just as happy
As he had ever been.

So every now and then,
When he seems to be sad,
Musica takes her flute with her,
As she follows him
While he takes his walk.

And every time she does,
When his walk is done
And he returns to his home,
He is always happier
Than when he left
That morning.

And every morning
That he goes out
For a walk,
All the other fairies
Make sure that Musica
Is right there
Watching over him.

Fairies : The Day He Brought Dream Home

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

He came into his room
Carrying her box.
He walked up to his desk,
Where she had once been.
And then he opened up that box,
And oh, so carefully,
And gently,
Removed her from within.

He made sure she was not injured
In any way at all.
And then he held her
In his hands.
And spent a while
Sitting in his chair,
Just looking at her.

Then he said these words,
“I’m sorry that I took you there.
I knew it was a bad idea.
I won’t ever make that mistake again.”

There was both
The fire of anger
In his voice.
And the sorrow that one has
When they have learned something
They didn’t want to know.

“They don’t deserve to see
Any of my fairies
In that place.”

And all the fairies
Heard the hatred
In his voice.

“I’m only there
for the work.”

And he placed Dream
On the desk
Where she had once been.
Then he went downstairs
To eat his dinner,
And listen to his music.

When he left the room
Mystica spoke to Dream.
“Why did he bring you home?”

Dream shook her head,
And then she cried.
Tears fell from her eyes.
And she couldn’t speak.
She couldn’t say a word.

Whisper flew to land
On Mystica’s shoulder,
Right next to her ear.
You couldn’t hear him
As he flew
At all.
And then he whispered
To Mystica,

“They told him
Fairies don’t belong at work.
That they are inappropriate,
In the customer’s environment.”

“They told him
He could bring her home.
Or he would be fired.
That he had to learn
How to be normal
Like every one of them.”

“They told him
He was there
To do his work.
And that was all.”

“That in that place
He was nothing more
That a human resource.
And he could only stay
Just as long
As he did what he was told.
And never caused
A single problem
For anyone at all.”

“The list of things they told him
Goes on, and on, and on.”

Whisper looked at Mystica,
And then whispered
One last time.
“They struck directly
At his very heart
And soul.
And told him he could be like them
Or he couldn’t be at all.”

“They said that it was long past time
For him to face reality,
And just grow up
Into a responsible adult,
Like them.”

Mystica sat there.
Stunned.
And found she couldn’t speak.
Whisper silently flew once more
Back to his dear friend Dream.

This time he landed
In her lap,
Then pressed himself
Into her stomach,
Which was nice
And warm.

Dream wrapped her arms
Around her friend.
And held him tenderly,
Her tears falling
On his feathered head.

Musica put down her flute.
There was nothing she could play.
No music anywhere
That she knew of
That could make the pain
That Dream was in
Just go away.

And Scream,
Screamed
A scream of rage
And pain.

Rose found the words
That every one
Was afraid to say.

“How can humans
Be so very cruel
To each other
In that way?”

She dropped the rose
That she held there
In her hand.
And it fell into the grass
There beneath the crescent moon
That she was sitting on.

“How can humans
Hurt each other
Just because
They’re not the same?”

And everyone grew quiet,
For they heard their human friend
Coming up the stairs,
And heading for his room.

Can you imagine their surprise
When he walked across the room,
And stopped before his desk,
And then he picked up Dream.

He sat down in his chair again,
And held her in his hand.
Then he gently placed her
In his lap.
And he kept her there
While he checked his e-mail
And other accounts
To see what messages
He had received
That day.

And every now and then,
He stopped what he was doing
And picked Dream up once more,
And simply looked at her.

“It’s not their fault,
You know.
It’s really not.
They’re just afraid
Of anything
That they don’t understand.”

Then he smiled at Dream,
“And they don’t understand me
In the least.
And they never really have,
And never really will.
I’m an enigma to them.”

He put her down once more,
There upon his lap,
“Everyone they’ve ever know
Understood the same things
That they do.
Felt the same way
About the same things
That they do.”

“I  told them once
That they were all the same.
And I tried so very hard
To explain what I meant.”

“They just looked at me
Like I was nuts.
And told me how different
Each of them was
From the others.”

“They truly don’t understand.
And most of them
Don’t want to.
And I just don’t fit
Into their world
At all.
I never have.
I never will.”

“Sometimes it makes me sad
That people close their hearts,
And eyes,
To anything that’s different
From them.”

Then he picked Dream up,
And held her in his hand.
“They made me bring you home.
And I’m OK with that.
For I have pictures
Of all my fairies,
Don’t you know.
And I already know
That I can bring
My pictures in,
And keep them with me
At my desk.”

He laughed.
“And since they are
The way they are,
I won’t ever share with them
The pictures that I have
Of each one of you.”

He place Dream back
Upon his lap,
And then he burned a disc.
And on that disc
Were all the pictures
That he had
Of his fairy figurines.

It was getting late,
And he was clearly tired.
So he got ready for bed.
And shortly after
Sleep claimed him,
Miss Hooters
Used her feathered wings
To visit her friend Dream.

“Why don’t you
Take care of him
For me tonight,
My dear friend Dream?
Would you please
Take care of him
For me?”

Dream hugged Miss Hooters,
And she said,
“You know I want to,
Don’t you.
Thank you my dear friend
For letting me
Spend time taking care of him
Tonight.
I know how very much
That you love him.”

Miss Hooters smiled at her friend Dream,
And then she said to her,
“Go take care of him.
He has missed you
While you were away.
Go take care of him,
And help him find his smile tonight.
So he can be happy
When he has to go to work
Tomorrow morning.”

All the fairies watched
As Dream floated across the room,
And landed oh so gently
On his pillow,
Right next to his head.

They all watched
As she pressed her pretty hands
Up against his temple,
And then closed her eyes.

Dream spent the night
There within his dreams,
Walking on the sand,
Down by the water’s edge.
Listening to the ocean’s waves.
Walking hand-in-hand
With her human friend.

At first she cried,
And told him
That she knew how hurt he was.
And how very much
It had hurt her
To see the way
He had been treated
In that awful place.

He had held her close
For a time.
There at the water’s edge.
And she had shed
So many tears
On his shoulder
Then.

And as she cried,
Tears falling from her eyes,
He said this to her,
“It’s just the way they are.
I’ve know that
All along.
And while I’m disappointed
That they made me bring you home,
I’m not surprised at all.”

He softly brushed the tears
From both of Dream’s cheeks.
And then he kissed both of her eyes.
“My dear friend Dream,
You don’t have to cry for me.
I’m OK, you know.
I really, truly am.”

Then he looked into her eyes,
“And there is one thing
That they cannot take from me.
And I want you to know
What that thing is.”

He gently touched her lips
With his finger tips.
“You and all the other fairies
Are special to me.
And I’ll have you
In my heart
To help me through the day
Every time I go
Into that awful place.”

“And as long as you are there
With me,
Carried in my heart.
I know that I will be OK.
For the dreams I have of you
Have shown me
All the lies,
And all the hurt,
That would be caused,
If I were to listen
To what they tell to me.”

Then he took her
By the hand,
And they walked along a night,
Right there
On the sand.
Down by the water’s edge.

Until the colors of the night
Started to fade away,
And the colors of the world
Started to come to life
Again.

It was then
That they sat down,
There upon the sand.
And he put his arm
Around her shoulders,
As they watched the sun come up.

And when the day was started,
Dream kissed him
On the lips.
And then she put her head down
On his lap.
She closed her eyes,
And let the sounds
Of the ocean’s waves
Carry her away
Into the land of sleep.

But as she fell asleep
She couldn’t help but think
How very much she liked
To fall asleep like this.
With her head there
In his lap.

Miss Hooters and Rose
Landed on the pillow,
And gently picked Dream up.
And they carried her
Back to her place
There upon the desk.
For it would not be
Long at all
Before their human friend
Woke up.
And went to work again.

But Miss Hooters and Rose
Could not help but notice
The smile upon Dream’s face.
The smile that someone has,
Fairy, human or angel,
When that someone’s had a dream
Come true.

And that was how the fairies knew
That their human friend
Would be OK
In that land of work.
In that awful place.

Fairies : The Flowers In The Flower Beds

Tuesday, 05 April 2011

Chrissy and Lilly were excited.
It was at long last spring.
And they could do something
They knew their human friend
Would really like.

So one night
As he was asleep
There upon his bed.
Chrissy and Lilly
Opened up the wall,
And out they went.

They zoomed around the house,
To stop in the front yard.
And they were so happy
To see the flowers
Coming up.
Left on their own
It would be a week or two
Until they started to bloom.
And they would bloom,
Most of them,
All at once.
And they they would be done.

Chrissy and Lilly knew
That would help him.
But the knew another way
That would help him
Even more.

So the flew among the flowers
In the flower beds.
And they arranged the flowers
So that they would bloom
A few at a time.
And that way,
There would be flowers
In full bloom
In those flower beds
For at least a month.
And maybe more.

There were daffodils,
And narcissus,
And even irises.
There were even several
Azalea bushes,
And a huge gardenia
That would have a hundred blooms
Or more.

Chrissy and Lilly were so happy
That there would be flowers
In those flower beds
Well into May
And maybe even June.

For they both knew
That having flowers
He could look at
Made him feel so very good.
And that for a little while
He’d forget all of the things
That hurt him,
And stressed him
Every single day.

The two of them went out
Into those flower beds
Night after night.
For weeks.
And took care of the flowers
As they grew,
And as they bloomed.

And the flowers
In those flower beds
In the spring and summer months,
Were very beautiful indeed
That year.

And their human friend
Too many pictures
On many, many days,
Of the flowers
And the blooms
In those flower beds
That year.

Chrissy and Lilly
Were so happy to see him,
With a smile upon his face,
As he looked upon the pictures
That he’d taken
Of the flowers
They’d worked so very hard
To make their very best
For him.

And they knew
That he’d remember
The flowers of that year.
Every time he looked upon
The pictures
He had taken.

And every time he did
They knew
He’d always
Find his smile again.

Fairies : Helping Him See The Colors Of The World

Monday, 28 March 2011

Dream sat there
On her crystal ball.
With Whisper on her shoulder.
On the computer
On her human friend’s desk
In the land of work.

She’d been watching him.
Every day
Since he had returned.
And like any friend
That he had,
She worried about him.

But she couldn’t use her fairy magic
In front of everyone there was
Right there in that place.
That would reveal to them
That she and all the other fairies
Were not the simple figurines
That they appeared to be.
And that would not do
At all.

She could see the stress in him.
Every time he talked to himself.
Every time he played music
With his fingers
On his desk,
And then apologized to everyone
Again, and again,
For having made such noise.

She could see him as he wrote his notes,
And all the things he loved to write,
His dreams and wishes both,
Down on paper,
In his big notebook.
And she knew that he was doing
Everything he could
To cope with all the stresses
In the land of work.

But she knew,
Like everyone that worked with him,
That he’d become so very wounded,
In that very room.
Working with all of them.
Those same people
That he call his friends.

She knew also
That he didn’t blame a soul
For what he had been through.
And that he never would.
That to him
It had just been
On of those unavoidable things.
Something that had to happen.
That he’d had to live through.
And that was it.
That there was no one
To blame.

But she knew by watching him
Every single day
That he sometimes felt
Like he had before,
When the work place
Had wounded him so much.
And she was afraid
That if he couldn’t find a way
To cope with all the stress
That this place put on him,
He’d go out wounded
Once again.

So in the night
With no one there,
She spoke to Whisper.
And told him of her fears.

Now Whisper was a wise old owl.
Far older then he looked.
Older than any owl
Was supposed to get.
Even older then the oldest human
That worked in that place
With their human friend.
Older even that all the fairies.
Even Mystica.

Owls don’t live so very long
Without becoming wise.
And Whisper had seen lots of things
In his very long life.

Whisper thought for just a bit,
And remembered something important.
“Dream,
My dear fairy friend.
Do you remember the words
That Mystica spoke that day,
When Miss Hooters went into his dreams,
And spoke to him?”

Dream thought for a moment,
And then she smiled.
“Listen to your heart.
It knows what to do.”

Whisper stretched his old owl wings,
And then he whispered
In Dream’s ear,
“Perhaps those words
Can help you too.
For I know you,
Dream my friend.
I know your heart is good
And true.
And I believe it knows
What you should do.”

Whisper then flew,
Like owls do,
All around the room.
And then returned to Dream,
To rest upon her shoulder
Once again.

“My, but this place
Sure looks grey to me.
How does it look to you?”

That was when Dream smiled.
And she jumped for joy.
For she knew exactly what to do
To help her human friend.
And she could do what she needed to
Even if the room was full.
Even if her human friend
Was right there
At his desk.
Looking right at her.

“Oh, Whisper!
Thank you,
My dear friend!
You’ve shown me
What I can do
To help him
Once again.”

So when the next day came,
And her human friend
Was at work again,
Sitting at his desk,
She closed her fairy eyes,
And whispered this one word,
That no one could even hear.

“Dream…”

And she used her fairy magic
As she spoke that word,
To send a dream of color
To her friend.
For she wanted him to always know,
And to always see,
All the colors of the world
That he worked in.

She knew that this one word,
The wish she made each day
For him to dream,
Was exactly what
She needed to do
For her human friend.

Because Her heart
Told her so.

Fairies : I’m Worried About You

Friday, 25 March 2011

Chrissy and Lilly hovered above his bed,
In the middle of the night,
And wondered very much
What it was that he was dreaming.
For he seemed to be
At war with himself
As he slept.

They flew back to the desk
And they spoke with Rose,
Who then flew with them
To hover once again
Over their human friend.

Rose put her hand
Over her mouth.
And her eyes opened wide.
Chrissy and Lilly heard her whisper,
“Oh, my.
Oh, my.
We must find Mystica.
Right now.”

The three of them then flew
To the space upon the desk
Where Mystica was at rest.
“Mystica!
Oh, Mystica!
We need to speak with you!”

Mystical woke up.
And Merlin did too.
Rose then told Mystica
What it was
That she had seen.

And Mystica
Looked very sad indeed.
“As I said to Sunshine,
My dear fairy friends,
There’s nothing that I know of
That we can do for him.
I’m very much afraid
He’s on his own right now.”

But Rose’s heart
Ached so very much
Within her chest.
And she heard the words
That Whisper and Dream
Had told to her the night
She’d shared with him
Her dreams
Of roses at their peak.
With colors everywhere.

“There must be a way
To help him get through this.
There has to!
There has to!”
And with those words
The other fairies watched
As tears began to fall
From Rose’s eyes.

Miss Hooters floated down
To land next to Rose,
And gently wiped the tears
From her dear friends eyes.
“Rose.
Dear, sweet Rose.”

Then she took Rose’s hand,
And gently squeezed it
While she looked into her eyes.
Into her heart and soul.
And Miss Hooter’s heart
Spoke to her once more.

Mystica saw what happened,
And she knew what to say.
“Miss Hooters,
You have feathered wings.
You are special that way.
And there’s something you should know.
I never told you before.”

Miss Hooter’s couldn’t help but ask,
“What would that be?”

“You are not a fairy at all,
You see.
My dear friend,
You a blend.
The child of a fairy,
And an angel.”

The other fairies were surprised.
And they all looked at Mystica.
And Mystica continued on.
“That’s why you have those feathers
On your fairy wings.
Your wings are not like angel wings.
Anyone can see that.
They have the shape of wings
Of a fairy,
As you can plainly see.”

Miss Hooters,
Through her surprise,
Somehow found the words
That she had to say,
“That would explain,
Wouldn’t it,
Why I have no fairy magic
Of any kind at all.”

“Yes, my child.
It surely would.
But within you lies
The heart and soul
Of an angel from above.”

Miss Hooters paused,
And then she smiled.
“The magic of my heart.”
Was all that she could say.

Then she turned once more
To her dear friend Rose,
“And my heart
It speaks to me.
And tells me what it is
That we both need to do.”

Miss Hooter’s took Rose’s hand,
And spread her feathered wings.
Then she and Rose both flew
To hover there above the head
Of their human friend.

Miss Hooter’s floated down,
And kissed each of his lips again.
“Rose, I know,
For my heart tells me so,
How much he means to you.
Would you,
Could you
Kiss him too?”

So Rose floated down,
And oh so very gently,
Kissed each of the lips
Of her human friend.
“I’m so very worried.
So very concerned.
About you.”
And with those words,
Rose’s tears began to fall
Again.

Her tears fell gently through the air,
And softly landed
On his lips.
And their human friend
Seemed to relax
Right then.

Miss Hooter’s took Rose’s hand once more,
And the two of them
Softly landed by his head,
On the pillow of his bed.
And then both of them sat down,
With their backs to him.
And they leaned back,
To rest their backs and shoulders
Up against his cheek.

“Now close your eyes,
My dear friend Rose.
Just close your eyes,
And listen to your heart.
It knows what you should do.”

And the two of them
Fell asleep.
As they rested on his pillow,
Leaning up
Against his cheek.

Can you imagine the surprise
That Rose had that night.
When she realized that she was in
The library with Miss Hooters.
The library in his mind.
In his very dreams.

Can you imagine how she felt
To see him standing there.
Pulling books off of the shelves.
Leaving them in piles
Upon the floor.

He hadn’t seen the two of them.
Didn’t know at all
That they were there.
Until Miss Hooters ran across the room.
And wrapped her arms around his neck.
And planted a big kiss on him.

“Hi, Miss Hooters,”
He did say,
As he held her close to him.
“I’m confused.
And I’m afraid.”

It was then that he saw Rose.
She was just standing there.
To shy to say a thing to him.
She looked as if she was afraid
That this was just a dream.
And if she opened up her eyes
The dream would fade away.

“Are you real?”
She looked at Miss Hooters,
And she asked again,
“Are you real?”

Her human friend smiled.
Like he always had,
Every time he’d picked her up
And looked at her.
Every time he’d touched her wings.
Or the single rose
That she held in her hands.

“Hi, Rose.”
He said,
As he walked across the space
Between the two of them.
And he saw the tears
Falling from her eyes.

Her human friend
Used his human hands
To gently brush away
The tears that Rose had cried.

“Are those tears for me?”
He asked.
“Are those tears for me?”

Rose nodded her head yes.
And found the way to say to him,
“I’m worried about you.
It hurts me to see you this way.”
And Rose couldn’t look at him,
So she looked straight down
At the ground.
“I’m so very worried
About you.”

He reached out his hand,
And gently placed it underneath her chin.
Then more gently than Rose thought
He possibly could have,
He raised up her head,
So he could look once more
Into her tear filled eyes.

“Why would you be worried
About me?”

Rose couldn’t help herself.
She threw her arms around his neck.
And held him as if she was afraid
That if she let him go
She’d never see him any more.

And Rose kissed him.
Like she’d always wanted to.
What a kiss it was!
When it was over
Miss Hooters counted thirty seconds
Before the man began to breath again.
And she watched him
As he seemed to taste
The kiss that Rose had given him
Still there upon his lips.
And the only sound he made
When he found his voice
Was a simple,
Quiet,
“Wow.”

Then he looked into
Rose’s eyes once more.
And said in much surprise.
“You love me to, don’t you?”

Rose kept holding him
So very tight and close.
And nodded her head yes
Once more.

Then her human friend
Looked at Miss Hooters,
And asked of both of them,
“You both love me,
Don’t you?”

It was then that Rose
Finally found her smile.
And when he saw it
The hurt and confusion
That had been there
In his eyes,
Was simply gone.

He held Rose for a while.
No one knows how long.
He held her
Just because
He needed to.

“I’m not really alone,
Am I?
Not really alone.”
As he looked into Rose’s eyes.
“For somehow I just know
That if you care for me
The way that you do.
There are people out there
That care for me too.”
And Rose’s smile grew.

She took his hand in hers,
And looked at Miss Hooters.
Miss Hooters understood
And took his other hand,
So he was between
The two of them.

“I want to see the rose garden
That I know is here
Inside your heart and soul.”

The three of them walked
Out of the library.
Into the outside air.
Then down a little trail
That led them right into
The rose garden
That Rose knew was there.

The garden she had given him
When she’d shared her dreams
Of roses in full bloom
In the middle of the night.

The three of them then walked
Through that rose garden
That was there
Inside of him.
Until they all grew tired,
And sat down on a blanket
In a clearing that was there,
Surrounded by roses
Everywhere.

And pretty soon
Both Rose and Miss Hooters
Fell fast asleep.
As they rested their heads
In his lap.

An hour before the sun came up,
Mystica called to all the fairies
Left within the room.
And they all flew to land upon
The pillow of the bed.
Right there next to
Their human friends head.

So softly
And so gently,
They picked up
Miss Hooters,
And then they picked up Rose.
And they carried both of them
Back across the room.
To where they both should be,
There upon his desk
When the sun rose.

And Rose woke up
As they gently placed her
On her crescent moon.
“Mystica!
Mystica!
I think he’ll be OK!
I think he understands now
That he’s not alone.
That there are people
In the world
That really,
Truly
Care for him.
And that’s something
That he’s never known.
And never understood before.”

Mystica couldn’t help but smile.
For she knew Rose would never lie.
No lie could reach
To Rose’s heart.
And that meant that the words
That Rose had said to her
Had to be the truth.

And that their human friend
Had begun
At long last
To understand.

It gave her hope
That he would indeed
Be OK
Once again.

It’s Time For Moving On

There is a song
That I like these days.
The song is by a group
Named Samael.
A group most people
I know of
Wouldn’t listen to at all.
And like many songs
That I like to listen to,
I like this song’s words.

“It’s time for moving on as the past is too worn
Our life has just begun and a new day is born
No more prevarication, no more delay
I ain’t gonna await my last breath to say”

Indeed it is.
For my past is too worn.
I spent 13 years
On one single task.
In one place of work.

13 years
In which nothing changed.
In which everything
Was predefined.
And everything that happened
Every single day
Was just the same
As the day before.

I’ve come to understand
Yet another part
Of what happened to me
In that place
That I used to work.

See.
For the first 15 years
That I worked
In the job I had,
What I did changed,
Regularly.
I never worked
More than 3 years
On any single thing.

Working on different things
Every few years
Turned out to be
Very helpful to me.
Because it mean
The environment I was in
Changed.

And so long
As those changes
Were going on
I had no problems
At all
Staying with the same
Company.
Working in the same place
For so many years.

I got to learn
So many things.
Different programming languages.
Different operating systems.
Different computer hardware.
During those days,
Even though there were times
I got very frustrated,
I was pretty much
Very happy with my work.

But 14 years ago
The changes stopped.
And I spent year after year
Doing the exact same thing.
The exact same job.
Where almost nothing changed
For that whole time.

I’ve learned
That I need change.
That when change stops.
So do I.
And I become stagnant.

Yes, I know
That there were changes
In the place I worked.
Every few years
People would leave,
And new people would appear.
But the work
Stayed the same.

There were subsystems
Added to the program
That I worked on.
The hardware sometimes changed.
And the operating system too.

The requirements evolved
To include security.
The responsibilities I had
In that job
Grew.

Yes, there were changes.
But what changes there were
Were not enough
For me.

Until more than 3 years ago,
Even I knew
I had to find a way
To change.
But I didn’t.
I kept working
In that job.
For years more
Than I should have.

And in the end
I paid the price
For not making the changes
That I knew
I should have made.

If there was a way,
I’d explain this
To everyone I knew
Back then.
When I worked
There in that place.

But there is no way.
For that path
Is too worn.
And I can’t walk it
Ever again.

Like the lyrics
Of the song
That I like now says.

“Our life has just begun and a new day is born”

And so it has,
As I find myself
Taking the first steps
Into a life that I put off
For so very long.

A new life
I’ve been given.
A new life
That has just begun.

Samael – Luxferre

The Way Things Are Supposed To Be

From the New Testament of the Holy Bible.
The  Book of Matthew,
Chapter 5,
Verses 43 through 47,
New International Version

You have heard it said,
“Love your neighbor
And hate your enemy.”
But I tell you:
Love your enemies
And pray
For those who persecute you,
That you may be
Sons of your Father
In heaven.
He causes his sun to rise
On the evil and the good,
And sends rain
On the righteous
And the unrighteous.
If you love those
Who love you,
What reward will you get?
Are not even the tax collectors
Doing that?
And if you greet
Only your brothers,
Are you doing more
That others?
Do not even pagans
Do that?

As I remembered these words
This morning,
Sitting here,
On the sofa of my home,
I found myself understanding them
In a completely new way.

From Matthew,
Chapter 7,
Verses 1 through 5.

Do not judge,
Or you too will be judged.
For in the same way
You judge others,
you will be judged,
And with the measure you use,
It will be measured to you.
Why do you look
At the speck of sawdust
In your brother’s eye
And pay no attention
To the plank
In your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
“Let me take the speck
Out of your eye,”
When all the time
There is a plank
In your own eye?
You hypocrite,
First take the plank
Out of your own eye,
And then
You will see clearly
To remove the speck
From your brother’s eye.

As I remembered these words,
I found how very much
These two sets of words
Apply to me.
And the things that I went through
In the past year.

I like to think
That the changes I’ve been through
In this past year
Were similar to rain
That happens to anyone.
And everyone.

And more importantly
Than that.
I can’t blame the people
That I once worked with
For how they have responded
To what happened to me.

For what happened
Happened.
Like rain.
Like a storm
That doesn’t care
For the humans,
And the animals,
And the other life
That a storm effects.
That a storm
Sometimes takes away.

The life I once had
Is gone.
The storm that I went through
Took it away.
The trouble that I faced,
The problems I had.
They changed everything.

And I cannot judge people
For the way that they reacted
To the things that I went through.
For I know
That none of them
Understand at all
What happened to me.
Or the changes
I’ve been through.

I know that they don’t understand
That I’m not the person
That they knew.

I’ve changed.

The storm came through my life.
And it did
What storms do.
No one is to blame for that.
It’s something
That just happens.
Like the rain.

And there is no way
That I can blame
Anyone at all
For the choices
They have made.
For I know
That they don’t know
Who I am today.

They only know
That I’m different
From the way
I used to be.

And putting these two sets of verses
From the Book of Matthew
Together
I can’t help but see
That what’s done
Is done.

And it all had
To end this way.

This tells me too,
Why it is I pray
That each person
That I worked with
In those days
When the storm
Came into my life
Is OK.

That’s just the way that I believe
Things are supposed to be.

I Keep Telling Myself

I keep telling myself
That change is good.
That everything was meant to change
With time.
And the reason
I went through all the stuff
That I went through
Was because I had refused
To change.

I keep telling myself
That it’s OK
That I’m unemployed.
That it’s just another change
That I’m having
To go through.
This process of having to
Find another job.
After all,
It’s very rare these days
For anyone to work
In just one place
For 29 solid years.

I keep telling myself
That because of this
I have the time I need
To figure out
What I want to do
For work.
The kind of work
That’s best for me
At this time in my life.

I keep telling myself
That I’m learning
So very many things.
Like how to take better care
Of my family.
Like how I have to give myself
Breathing space
Every now and then.
Like how important it is
To get the exercise
I need.
And to take the time
To remember what it’s like
To walk outside,
In the sun,
The heat,
The cold,
The rain,
And the snow.

I keep telling myself
That I shouldn’t worry
About the money
That I no longer make.
That my family and I
Will find a way
To get through all of this,
And make the changes
That we need to make
To be OK
If I make much less
That I used to.

I keep telling myself
That too many people
In this life
Are too much afraid
Of taking the chance
To change.
That they keep working
In the job they have
Just to keep the paycheck
That they get every payday.

And that doing so
Does so many awful things
To their hearts and souls.

I keep telling myself
That it’s really OK
To be afraid.
That the fear I live with every day
Is a good thing.
Because it tells me
That I’m living through
The changes that I have to make.
Taking the steps,
And the risks,
That I should have taken
Years ago.

I keep telling myself
That change is good.
And that while the changes
That I’m living through
Right now
Are sometimes hard,
And frightening,
To go through.

That the changes I’m living through,
When all is said and done,
Will make me into
A better person
Than I’ve ever been.

I keep telling myself
That all I have to do
I just be patient.
And that everything
Will be OK.

And I keep telling myself
That I’m not lying to anyone
About all this.
Not even to me.
That what I’m living through
Is a normal thing.
Something that people go through
Almost every day.

And just like them
I’ll be OK.