Our Neighbors

Our Neighbors

They don't build tunnels anywhere along the north
Few wish to escape to colder country.
There are only a few roads along that endless border,
all have strict guard houses at the dividing line.
They don't tolerate illegal entry.
You will be thrown out within days.
A civilized land,
they take care of their sick,
their poor.
Mother's are valued.
a monthly supplement insures they can stay home,
raise their babies until school.
Hardy, hardworking souls,
crime is much lower up north.
People work to stay warm,
not steal from their neighbors.
We could learn some things from our Canadian countrymen.


If you have committed a crime,
hopeful escape is Mexico,
the lawless land where police can be bribed.
If they want your house,
your car, your boat,
they take it.
mother's pander their young for pennies,
begging an occupation.
They teach them to hold out their hand at two
Some just learning their first words know
"Hey Lady" and give "chicklets" for dimes or quarters,
maybe even a dollar.
Long tunnels are scraped out in border towns,
wishing to escape to the "Land of Eldorado",
where milk and gold flow like honey.
Life is warm.
The climate attracts the"Canucks" that winter there.
People can make their homes out of big boxes
like a turtle if need be.
Tequila and drugs flow like water,
"to kill ya" might kill ya!
Life is cheep.
Drug cartels and illegals swarm the borders,
push their way through in mobs at dusk.
Stark skeletons scatter the trail along the Rio Grande.
Those that didn't make it.

True Beauty is in the Heart

Accepted for publication in "Sage Woman"

       What makes someone beautiful is the light in their eyes and the depth of their souls.  It emanates from their heart and shines through any outer disguise.  Sometimes being blessed with outward beauty can be a curse because  that is all people look at instead of searching deeper to see who a person really is.  There are all kinds of beauty in the world. Some people are ugly both inside and outside. Some people are beautiful both inside and out.  I have known people that are beautiful on the outside but do such ugly acts that they become ugly people.  Others I have known were very homely people but their warmth and kindness have erased any outward appearance and they have become truly beautiful.

     When I was in college, I met a girl from a small country town.  She had crooked teeth and was rather homely. She spoke with a country hick accent and pronounced words differently than I had ever heard others speak them. Her clothes were out of date and had a funny old fashioned style to them.  I thought she was really odd and yet she was always very friendly and outgoing.  After a while I got so I enjoyed her more and more.  We started working together in Sunday School with young children and became good friends.

     It is true that often people become beautiful as we get to know them.  She found out that I was really hoping to finish college because I had only a couple of quarters left but I had a new baby and couldn't afford a sitter.  She told me she wanted to help me and to bring my son over when I needed to go to class. I offered to pay her but she said no, that she wanted to do this for me.  It was such a kind and unselfish act.  Though we have lost touch, she is still a beautiful person in my eyes.  A beauty that has lasted through time.

      Once I was vacationing at a resort in Idaho, I noticed a young attractive couple having fun, laughing and cuddling in the hot tub.  I remember thinking how in love they seemed. I moved my lounge chair to a different angle to catch the sun rays better.  It was then I noticed that the other half of the man's face was disfigured with a dark purple birthmark.  It had some skin hanging down in an unnatural way. His girlfriend was oblivious to it, kissing and hugging him like she wasn't even aware of his birthmark.  It inspired me to look beyond the outer shell of a person and move into their soul. .

     One night I met a man in a dance club. He was very handsome but I noticed he had some scars on one side of his face.  I asked him what had happened and he told me he had been hit by a car when he was fifteen.  He didn't know that I was very depressed that night. I was  in deep despair and feeling suicidal.  I had been through a difficult divorce and had fallen in love with a man who was married but had told me he was unhappy and was leaving her.   As time went on I realized he was playing us both along as well as a couple of other women. It completely broke my heart being betrayed by two men, him and my ex-husband and I was wary of ever trusting a man again.  I didn't trust this man, yet something about his scars made me feel close to him.  We were both scarred in a certain way. It inspired a poem.

                                 Crippled

              We're both crippled you and I

              We both suffered the tragedy of terrible accidents

              We see on your face what cruel fate dealt you

               Such a handsome face to be marred by a sudden wrong move

               My face is beautiful

               I show no scars

               But the wounds around my heart

               No one would want to look upon

     Over time we fell in love and I eventually married this man.  He had a kindness, sensitivity, and sense of humor that erased any scars in my eyes. Sometimes beauty has to be stripped of it's disguises to find the real thing, like a diamond in the rough.  Beauty is also often like a rosebud and it has to open up so we can look deep inside to see its true beauty.