Shrouded Shore: The Many Musings of Thom Singleton

  My Brother A life of challenges Challenges inside Inside there was fear Fear that separated Separated him from others Despite the fears Fears sometimes overwhelming Overwhelming yet he met them He faced his fears He made a life, a good long life His life one of books A lover of books, a bibliophile Books, to him companions A trove of life from which he learned Learned to love, himself and others How do I know this? He told me before he died “I love you, my brother.”

  White All day and all of the night It falls and falls, a shower of white Bits of clouds? Perhaps of light? It falls all day and all of the night Even at night it’s quite the sight For the white colors the night bright It falls and falls as this I write, Cascades from an incomprehensible height Floating like feathers, feathers so light Or swinging in the wind, tiny, spiralling kites So immaterial yet turning the very air white Fills the meadow with a glowing carpet of light 

  Backyard Riches There’s diamonds in the yard today, Sprinkled all over the new-fallen snow. When the world is frosty - even the sun feels cold -  The shining orb still gives riches of a different kind, visual ones. There are thousands of snowflakes glinting in the light. I’m rich!

  Flurries Before the flakes today come the flurries. So said the weatherman and so it is. From the North blow tiny bits of snow. A fog of them descends. Fun to watch as they swirl and whirl, “flurry,” I guess, Before settling in the already snow-filled yard. We’ll see if the weatherman is right again When he said it will change to snow, the bigger, flakier kind.  And, as I’m writing this, it’s time to get out the shovels. It looks like he is right again.

  Nature’s Warning I stoke the furnace of the fiery sun to keep the planet from freezing. I twirl the Earth to darken the night to allow for creatures sleeping. I sprinkle stars around the sky, create worlds for doing and dreaming. I blow-up the wind in gusty breaths to cool the planet’s warming. My huge hurricanes of late are very destructive to give mankind a warning. I, Nature, cannot be challenged for you are just part of me,  and when you hurt me, you hurt yourself as well.

  Earth’s Voyage In the vast sea of the Universe, we’re all in the same boat called Earth. Earth is sailing the sea with a crew that has rendered it derelict. If we wish to stay afloat, and save its crew, we need to make Earth shipshape again. As Jane Goodall says, together we must, together we can, together we will. To be that able crew, we must take action… Clean the air. Clean the water. Stop using throw-away plastic. Use clean power, solar and wind, Recycle. Reforest. Buy local. Better yet, grow your own. Think green. Think sustainable. It’s still possible. It’s for ourselves. It’s for the generations to come. Let’s do it!