I started writing "A Book of Verse" in 1976. . . . . . 5 years after we tragically lost my three year old daughter, my five month old son and my 21 year old sister in law. We almost lost our 2 year old son also but his aunt saved his life. My ex-wife accidentally killed her only sister and two of our children. It was a single car accident and she was sober.

A Book of Verse

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 My son Michael
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-7656-3

Chapter One

10/76 I am my feelings If I choose to swallow them I become less

How can I truly love you If I do not love me first?

11/76 Never judge a book by its cover ... Nor the first page

12/18/76 I think Therefore I am, (Descartes) I feel Therefore I LIVE

It's not that people can not love It's just sad Because they choose To keep it inside.

5/77 Pregnancy A woman carries a child In her womb and in her soul

A man only in his soul...... And always will.

5/77 People fall in love They don't jump Or at least They shouldn't jump.

7/77 YOUR Power: Every person has the power To do good or to do evil To be kind or to be cruel To love or to hate All you need Is to choose.

What's YOUR Choice?

9/24/77 How can I expect God to understand me If I refuse to Understand you?

How can I expect God to accept me If I refuse to Accept you?

How can I expect God to forgive me If I refuse to Forgive you?

And how can I expect God to love me If I refuse to Love you?

11/77 We all stop feeling When we stop living

We all stop "living" When we refuse to feel.

12/12/77 Words of wisdom Are mere words If I choose Not to follow them.

12/17/77 To truly share my life with you I must share my feelings

I can not fully share Feelings of joy Unless I share Feelings of sorrow.

For the heart can not choose It can only feel. (for Deborah)

4/29/79 If I come to loose everyone Who I ever loved, I will still have God, my neighbor and me to love.

4/29/79 Lord Jesus, may my life Leave a small part Of YOUR love On this earth Amen.

4/29/79 When we bring some happiness Into someone else's life We live as true Children of God.

6/1/79 We live what we give If we give hatred We live hatred.

If we give nothing We live nothing.

If we give love We live love.

Before you rise from your bed each day Thank God for the gift of a new day.

Before you sleep, ask God to grant you "Another Day, My Lord"

Another day to live, to give, to love.

Do this and you will find real fulfillment.

6/3/79 Always, always take comfort in this Truth: That everything that touches you Touches God.

6/8/79 Why does an all merciful, all loving God Permit evil, injustice and suffering?

He doesn't

We do.

He created this earth And left us in charge.

6/18/79 If you have health, wealth and fortune And have not Love You have rubbish None of which you will take with you.

Love is the greatest risk in life But Love is also the greatest reward.

6/21/79 If someone you love Does not accept your love Does not cherish or respect your love,

There is a WORLD With many people who need it. With many people who will take it. With many people who will cherish it.

With many people who will give it back to you.

7/7/79 Love is only wasted When it is not given.

7/17/79 Love is something like a garden

If you water it with compassion If you weed it out with understanding, With patience and forgiveness, All will draw much sustenance

From it's bountiful harvest.

7/22/79 If you just keep trying to forgive others Like Jesus forgives you, Then you will one day share All the joys of eternity With Him in Heaven.

7/22/79 Care is for caring Give is for giving Forgive is for giving Life is for living And Love is for loving.

8/31/79 If death teaches me anything Grant that it teaches me That I know not How much time I have here To work, to give, to live And to love here.

9/23/79 Surely, if Jesus was not God made man, He was the most loving human To walk the face of this earth.

For this alone We should take up His teachings We should learn from Him We should imitate Him.

9/24/79 When you were young Your father and mother on earth Guided you.

One day they will leave this earth

Yet rest assured Your Father and Mother in Heaven Were, are and always will be

Here, to guide you.

10/6/79 How should we handle The trials, the problems That life gives us?

The way Jesus would.

11/3/79 Before you sleep Give thanks.

After you wake Give.

11/19/79 To live well Give well.

12/20/79 This Christmas May you open your heart And receive The greatest Christmas gift

The Gift of Christ.

1/3/80 Communication ends misunderstanding Generosity ends greed Forgiveness ends vengeance Kindness ends cruelty Goodness ends evil And Love ends hatred.

1/12/80 No, time won't heal A broken hearted me.

Only Love From me From people From God Will.

1/14/80 There is no such thing As a dumb question

Only people afraid to ask Only people who do learn nothing By not asking.

1/19/80 Some of the prettiest people Will not attract you

Some of the most attractive people Are not all that pretty.

4/17/80 One of the nicest things About a smile Is that it is contagious by nature.

See what I mean?

4/18/80 I think Therefore I am, (Descartes).

I feel Therefore I live, (me on 12/18/76)

I love Therefore I live eternally.

4/22/80 Take good care of your body For you will dwell within it For the rest of your life here

Take even better care of your spirit For it is the only thing You will take with you When your life here is over.

4/28/80 Tears are the body and souls way Of washing away sorrow Love yourself enough To let them flow.

5/10/80 Being alone is a physical state Being lonely an emotional one.

Love yourself enough To cry when you feel lonely.

5/13/80 True encouragement always comes From this Truth: Jesus never gives up on you.

5/14/80 To be yourself Love yourself

To love yourself Be yourself

To accept someone Love them

To love someone Accept them.

7/5/80 To live your best Give your best.

3/8/81 Friends? All too often in this world You will find people Who are surrounded With a circle of "friends"

Who know them For what they do For what they have For what they look like.

Who know them NOT.

All too infrequently in this world You will find someone Who has friends Who understand them Who accept them Who know them

For WHO they are.

4/12/81 Meeting someone new Is so much easier If you are truly YOU - Not someone acting Not out to impress.

Oh they might not like you, But you will never have to worry About what to do for Act Two.

4/28/81 Giving is really receiving So much more In the long run.

4/29/81 Learn from and forgive yesterday's mistakes Live for and Love someone today Pray and Hope for tomorrow.

5/2/81 Love is the greatest force in the universe For Love IS God, The Creator of the universe.

10/9/81 Peace can only come

When we stop calling ourselves - With conceited pride- EG Americans, Russians, Chinese

Or Christians, Muslims, Jews

Or whites, blacks, orientals

Peace will only come When we realize the Truth:

We are ALL Children of One God.

Then Peace will come.

11/15/81 Faith Those who give goodness WILL in turn receive it.

12/24/81 The Lord God forgives Every wrong we do

When we rise to try And love again.

1/2/82 You have all the wealth You need

When you can afford To SMILE.

Feel what I mean?

2/8/82 Tolerance As much as possible Strive to be tolerant Of other people's flaws

God knows and tolerates All of yours.

(Ancient Persian Verse): There is no saint Without a past

There is no sinner Without a future.

6/19/82 The most painful tears Are the tears shed Only by the heart

For they go unseen and uncomforted By all who love you By all who can love you

Let them flow, let them be seen.

7/25/82 Enjoy THIS day For you may not be granted Another one

Give with love THIS day For you may be granted An eternity in heaven.

10/1/82 Before God can Lift us up where we belong WE must offer Him our hand.

6/20/86 If God loves each of us Just the way we are "Warts" and all

Why don't we?

9/1/86 Their Inheritance The richest inheritance You can leave your children Is not money

The richest inheritance You can leave your children

Is Love: Love of God Love of His children Love of themselves.

7/19/87 A prayer for a stranger I saw you at church today I don't know you, nor you me

You came for reasons - I don't know them either

Maybe they're like mine, maybe not

I pray for you now

That you may leave this church A little closer to God Then when you came in.

7/23/87 What I most want and pray for my children Love...........(inward and outward) Faith..........(inward and outward) Peace..........(inward and outward) Patience......(inward and outward) Happiness....(inward and outward)

Love.......Dad

6/4/89 Those who love the most Live the most.

2/10/91 You are a miracle maker:

Whenever you bring light Where there is darkness

Love where there is hatred

Joy where there is sadness

Caring where there is apathy

What is your reward?

The light you bring into darkness Shines it love Shines it joy Shines its caring Back on you also.

7/19/91 In God We Trust For He provides Everything we need

E Pluribus Unum One God Composed of many different people

Good and God Go hand and hand.

7/20/91 The Little Children Why was Jesus so drawn to them?

Perhaps one reason was That in simply number of years Spent on earth They are closer to their Creator

Perhaps because they have the power To believe without seeing Better than we adults do

Perhaps because They are less contaminated by this world

Less contaminated by the lies Less contaminated by the bigotry Less contaminated by the prejudice Less contaminated by the hatred We, sadly, teach them

Wisdom advises That we listen, watch and relearn From The Little Children.

5/10/92 Faith Healer's They can heal by the laying of hands Those sick and dying in body

Yet the Creator never limited them To their hands nor the sick body

By the power of Prayer They can heal the broken body They can heal the broken mind And they can heal the broken spirit

Without even being there With total anonymity (known only to God)

They can, they do heal every day.

That is the power of prayer.

10/16/92 We can not truly appreciate Pleasure If we do not know pain

Joy If we do not know sorrow

Love If we do not know hatred

Eternity If we never know mortality.

11/26/92 You have NO real control Over what another person does Over what another person says Over what another person feels

You can CHOOSE to control How you react to them.

You may advise, ask and even beg them But the bottom line is that THEY are responsible for their life.

11/27/92 Never say I should have been Nor I could have been Nor I would have been.

The miracle of life

Is that everyday Every one of us has A brand new chance To "BE" again. (for my son David)

12/23/92 Take nothing But what you need From this life

Give the rest away

Then receive Everything From the next life.

12/26/92 Amor omnia vincit: "Love conquers all"

It even conquered death Over 2,000 years ago

It does today

It will forever

For Love IS God

No greater force exists

2/21/93 With Faith I can accept my life With the knowledge Of eternal Peace to come.

With Faith I can make this world A better place to live in.

I CAN make a difference With Faith.

2/22/93 Why have we become afraid To touch one another?

We say 'excuse me" If we brush against another In the store.

Yet the very first feeling We all experience after birth Is when our mother touches us.

Touch someone today on the shoulder And smile And be more human to each other Once again.

12/20/93 Before you eat Give thanks to God For the food Which feeds you today

Then give thanks to God For His Love Which sustains you Forever

Amen

5/1/95 Love is knowing - myself and you Love is accepting - "as is" Love is forgiving - my mistakes and yours Love is encouraging - my growth and yours Love is thanking - your giving and mine Love is using - God's gifts to you Love is giving all those gifts back to God By giving to all His children. 7/15/95 TRUE friends can never be bought For true friends are free ..........and yet priceless.

10/27/95 Surrender your life to God - And you loose nothing of value- Your fears, sorrow and anger

Surrender your life to God - And you gain everything of value- His gifts of Faith, Love and Peace.

11/15/95 You are nothing special - You were created by the same God Who created everyone else

You are everything special - He lives within you With His Gifts of eternal Love, Peace and Joy

All you must do is to LET them out.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from A Book of Verse Copyright © 2009 by My son Michael. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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