Haiku for M

So precious is life,
A voice on a distant line,
Malachi,"Hello?"

Rainbows in the surf

While fishing against a raging surf,

Not long after another October storm,

The water was dark and angry,

As I felt the ocean pull my line,

Sideways along the beach,

There would be no fish today,

But before frustration set in,

And with the late afternoon Sun,

Over my right shoulder to the Western sky,

I looked North to find,

The most incredible sight,

As the surf tumbled, coiled and rolled

Against the yielding grains of sand,

Rainbows cascaded off the waves,

Not every wave,

Only when the West Winds blended

Magically with the ocean and sun,

Did they create together,

The most beautiful,

Most alluring and sacred,

Rainbows in the surf.

So Much Wisdom

I learned chess from my grandfather,
A man wise, with silver hair
Slicked back to reveal
Spanish and Filipino lineage.
He never spoke as we played,
Instead I watched his every move
On the board and off.
I realized, as in life,
The game you play,
So intense and absorbing,
Is just part of something bigger.
I pondered my next move,
While my grandfather sipped a beer,
Chewed on some peanuts,
And played with my younger cousin,
In my mind, a war was waging,
My knights on alert,
Bishops guarding my Queen,
Pawns at the ready,
But for him, there was no war,
Only peace, laughter and family.
I miss those days,
Learning from Grandpa Isidro,
Without so much as a sound,
He left me so much wisdom.

A Fading Memory

There was a more peaceful time
full of adventure and excitement,
When all I had to do was wake up to a new day,
A day without accountability and responsibility
Just mornings filled with romps of discovery
In the wilds of our backyard
Or on the slopes of the hills near school,
And into the dark woods that lined highway,
Where the afternoons served us,
Through naps and snacks,
Mindless television and bottles of Coke,
A way to reenergize our minds and bodies
For more adventures to come,
Then finally later at night,
Falling soundly asleep with images
Of the days adventures
And what could be tomorrow,
We were children.
With no cares, no worries
Childhood now long gone,
Left with a fading memory.

Dusk

Fishing on a cool October beach,
The crowds finally have gone,
I look around, there's no one.
Take a few more casts,
Water breaking,
Two hundred yards away,
Look around it's getting dark,
Sea gulls and terns
Waiting for my scraps,
Looked up to find,
A purple sky,
Living and wild.
No words could describe,
So I said nothing,
Just absorbed
The beauty of the evening sky.

Acoustic

Soft acoustic guitars melting my ear,
My stranglehold on stress releases,
Into flesh now supple and free of tension,
As the rythms vibrate into my soul.
Ah, like a sip of warm apple cider
On frosty October morning.