Cover Photo by Mark R. Day

Monday, April 25, 2011

Poem "Awarkening to Life Renewed"

Sing softly avian friends, the warmth of new life near at hand.
The sun hung low in the eastern sky and haloed in golden glory rises,
Setting into motion creation's infinite daily story.

Once quiet and still the air stirs with motion at the touch of the dawn
The world is reborn, from the night's deepest pitch, as light permeates the land.
Folk are awakened slowly as senses become aroused by light and by sound,
For sleep is banished by the perfume of blooms as gentle light replaces the murky shadow.

A new hope for human kind, arises with the sun
A new life, for the tablet is made blank, new choices can be made
A New chance to amend old wrongs with love and joyful song

This break of day, this dawn of rebirth, has value beyond wealth's rewards
It asks no pay, its only cost a call to love and peace
So keep the faith and listen close to reap the glorious gift


Written by Mark Day 4-25-2011 copyright by Mark R. Day all rights reserved

Friday, April 22, 2011

Photo "Blue Ridge Enchantment"

Taken by Mark R. Day 4-21-2011 on Benchmark Lane, Bedford County, Virginia about 7:00 pm in the evening looking west toward the Peaks of Otter using a Cannon Power Shot SX100IS
Copyright by Mark R. Day all rights reserved

Friday, April 15, 2011

Poem "The Word of War 1861"

Oh! hard set word of divisive chord
Vile, visceral, villainy which severer all bonds
What mad passion possess; the minds of good men
To make war on their brother for a word


Oh! hard set word, destroyer of peace
Violent, vexatious, vengeful, merciless idiom
Privation and murder thy legacy shall be
Humanity lost in the language of hate

And thy name is:

Slavery . . . . Slavery . . . . Slavery . . .


Written by Mark R. Day 4/15/2011 copyright by Mark Day all rights reserved

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Poem "Friendship and a Dog"

His head held high, his eyes shining bright, he leads me on my way.                                 
He will come to rest, and sniff the air, fresh with the morning dew.
Then with calling glance and a joyful  bark he sets us on our way.

His gait is long and without stress, his world is safe and sure.
He is nature born and in nature lives, no pretext does he need.
For his freedom's sure and the day is his, no worry on his mind.

Then looking back,
he barks with joy,
to see his life long friend.

I would have him be my guide, my help throughout long years,
For our bond is sure and fastened tight, which makes me feel secure
He will guide me home through deepest night, he will not go astray

And looking up
I  cry for joy,
to see my faithful friend


Written and published by Mark R. Day April 13, 2011 copyright April 2011 all rights reserved

Comments on the reasons for the American Civil War

     One hundred and fifty years ago the great experiment in Democracy, known as America, was put to the test.  The Constitutional Union which had been created in Philadelphia, during the hot summer of 1787, was threatened by the issues of slavery and regional economics.   In the month following the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, on March 4th 1861,  southern attitudes began to harden even though they purported to want peace.  Many in the southern leadership, including Senator Louis Wigfal of Texas, felt that Lincoln lacked the resolve to go to war.  They based their impression of Lincoln on the mistaken belief that Lincoln was weak.  In a speech to the Senate on March 2nd 1861 Senator Wigfal made the following statement about Lincoln "under the apprehension that, on Monday next, at the precise hour of twelve, the aforesaid Abraham is to swallow the Chicago platform and go for peace. I do not know how this is. I rather suspect it is true. I do not think that a man who disguises himself in a soldiers cloak and a scotch cap and makes his entree between day and day, into the capital of the country he is going to govern, I hardly think he is going to look war sternly in the face."   How wrong they were to hold Lincoln in such contempt, these men of the south who thought him ill prepared, uneducated, inexperienced, and weak.  Their thinking lead them to seek advantage through aggressive actions such as the siege of Ft Sumter.  They did not foresee that such action would be meet with Lincoln's hard resolve to preserve the union at all cost.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Poem and Photo " Waiting for the Trumpet"

The ground lies gently mounded,
amid the sentinels white.
So peaceful and so solemn,
in eternal union joined.
Mute marble testimony,
the long procession stands.
A camp which lies in silence
and marks where men lie still.
These valiant souls of hero's
who await the trumpet call.

Written by Mark Day 4/10/2011[inspired by a trip to the Danville, VA National Military Cemetery}Copyright by Mark R. Day all rights reserved

Photo taken by Mark R. Day at Danville National  Cemetery 4-8-2011
Copyright by Mark R. Day all rights reserved

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Poem "Sunshine and Chlorophyll" (An ode to the morning mist)

Dim is the illumination as dawns a new day
The soft breeze ,which but quickly bushes over the cheek,
Ere it is gone lingers yet a moment.

Impreceptible at first, but moving deliberately
Out of the mist, a lone man seeemingly unaware of the
Troubled world whic surrounds him comes forth
On his mechanical steed.

The man is at peace with the bounteous glories of nature,
which surrounds him
His mind cleared by the tranquility of the moment turns to
Deeper thoughts as he revels in the sensations only found in the solitude
Of such a moment

The musty smell of damp grass embraces his every sense
Suddenly there is a thought " is this the smell of Chlorophyll?"

Oh! his joy at his sudden revelation
The pulse races for just a mooment
Then this the mans simple thought passes into oblivion as he tops a
Hiillock and faces the rising sun

This then is the simple joy the pleasure we all must seek
To find the moment like this man
When we can find our peace

Written by Mark Day 4/10/2008 {inspired while watching Jimmy the custodian riding his lawn tractor early this morning}
Copyright by Mark R. Day all rights reserved

Photo "Dragon Fire"

Photo taken by Mark R. Day 4-5-2011
Copyright by Mark R. Day all rights reserved