Author: Jeff Shapiro

I smile kindly at the river…
Kindly at the sea…
Kindly at all living things…
For kindness is me.

I smile kindly at the starlight…
Kindly at the moon…
Kindly at the sun…
For their light is in me.

I frown at this strange, foolish world…
Frown at its recipes for despair…
Frown at the gray and the darkness…
For darkness isn’t me.

I laugh loudly at the years…
Laugh at the wonderous path it has been…
Laugh at the angelic florescence in my rearview mirror…
For every step has been me.

So, smile kindly at your neighbor…
Laugh with your old friends…
Dance in the light…
Kick darkness in the ass…

For kindness, light and laughter are you!

I love you,

Annie

Things change quickly…
Like the invisible sweep and surge of the sea…
I know that none of my toys or blankets or beds are truly mine…
What I’ll have tomorrow, who knows?

Hang on, hang on (Grrrr!)
Like a tug-a-war I’m not letting go…
So, what if it has tears and bruises…
It is mine, and you can’t have it.

But what about those things that don’t change?
The feelings, the memories, the letters, the words…
The soft and joyful love of my butlers…
These all, like soft, powdered sand beneath my paws.

I need to figure out how to make these things my solid staff…
Instead of my favorite toy…
I think I could do it except for Bruiser, you know the real fuzzy one…
Or the warmth of my flannel blanket.

This is the great art I am trying to learn…
The secret to happiness…
Fixing my heart on the things in life that really matter…
The stuff that won’t go away.

I love you,

Annie

Guess what?

I know where the dew is made…
The place of the vibrating still waters…
Sprayed and poured out each day…
Season after season forever and always.

It is my special spot in life…
With the aroma of dew dripping blossoms…
And the sugary taste of striped candy…
All calling out my name.

How do I know this place?
Because I have the paws of a pilgrim…
I can understand life’s riddles…
And have figured out that all life’s riddles lead to the riddler.

From here, I see this world’s charms and faults…
Can separate experience from innocence…
And even though I wander far away…
The dew always follows me.

How can anything in this world be amiss…
With the morning dew, even the thorns have no sorrow…
Come, I will show you the place…
And together we can swim in the still, quiet waters.

I love you,

Annie

Everyday, I remember, the people have brought me here…
Into this timeless perfection…
I don’t need to be in a position of pondering…
Or thinking about verses or my favorite sayings or quotes.

When I think of you, I’m reminded, “Pay attention! Something wonderful is about to happen!”
Often, I’m too absorbed in myself to notice…
Other times, I feel your love hovering over me like a puff…
You are in the air I breathe, light and wild.

Our relationship is a place of inexhaustible riches…
It is here, not on the other side of some mountain…
Poof! There it is with merely the thought of you…
The place where I look forward to life in all its brilliance.

Oh, the joy, the curiosity our friendship brings…
Yielding so easily…
Everything flecked with blues and greens…
So many twinkling lights and shapes…

Your love is what has brought me here…
Friendship about the “old ways” and the “new…”
This is the eternal way and indestructible…
You know the words Faith, Hope and Love…

And our friendship is the greatest of all.

I love you,

Annie

I have power over the spirits of good or evil…
The alternating patterns of white and black…
Yes, indeed, sometimes it is a tricky situation…
But I know the trick.

I have a key to doors that are latched and thought can not be opened…
I have found a way through the un-passable paths…
Past the pillars of flames…
Around the arguments of “who has it worse.”

I live in a different world…
A light and living world…
Airy winged…
Springing up like yellow daffodils.

All I have to say to darkness, “Simon Says be gone!”
Spit out the stale wine…
Say no to what is evil…
And yes, to what is perfect.

Why is it that things that are free are not valued…
When they are the most valuable things of all…
Life and freedom come without a cost…
Yet, we would rather buy darkness.

I love you,

Annie

I know nothing of that one thing…
In spite of all the pain and loss…
I wonder, is it really necessary to know…
To me, I believe it is.

I don’t think Hollywood can tell me…
I’ve watched endless hours of television on my butler’s lap…
It’s the same thing over and over again…
About whom does what and to whom.

Maybe it’s hidden in the glittering treasures of this world…
Underneath the golden lace…
Or in the bottom of a bottle of old brandy…
Together with the headache and pain.

The answer always seems to lay ahead, somewhere in the distance…
In the cooling breath of the mist…
Yet, it disappears always into darkness…
My eyes always lose focus…
Even though I was born from the light.

It is the place where my loved ones have left for…
I pray they’re happy and safe…
I hope they are not forever gone…
Because I have more game I would like to play with them.

I love you,

Annie

The smells I smell are of life…
Their fragrances are life itself…
I draw life in…
And exhale peace, love and understanding.

All living things emit a fragrance…
Some even and dull…
Some like apricot jam with a tang…
Some unmistakably sad.

I love the smells of this dance of life…
It is a game without ending…
A game for more than children…
Played forever and ever again.

There is no need to make your own smell…
You’ve already got one…
It is either the sweet smell of gentleness, generosity, and kindness…
Or the stale selfish smell of complaint, worry and anxiety.

Good news! We have all been given a nose…
And we know what smells good…
Keep your sniffer focused on these things…
Take a deep sniff in…
Exhale lovingkindness.

Everyone will want a good whiff of that!

I love you,

Annie

There are endless shades of meaning…
Each of us seeing our own…
The shades have all sorts of implications…
That’s the how of it…
The why, I am still trying to figure out.

For me, it has little to do with fortune or luck….
I just see a different shade of red…
And when my paws brush the blooms…
A different aroma is sent to heaven.

Meaning for me, can be a stunning yellow…
Melting into a violet sunset…
Or a swarm of locusts…
Taking away the sky.

Often, meaning frightens me out of my naivety…
Others it makes me feel like a castaway on some distant shore…
Yet, if I listen, it always brings with it wisdom…
And I am thankful for wisdom no matter how it arrives.

This world has created for me a path to define meaning…
Yet, it is the un-path where I find it all…
When I step onto it…
I feel like I am jumping off the edge of the world…
Into the nowhere, do nothing, bright blue sky.

And guess what? It is full of meaning!

I love you,

Annie

I am the queen of the meadow…
Lying on cushions of pink…
Or sometimes on heather…
As it softens the granite beneath.

I look over a constantly shifting rainbow…
A season that is always autumn…
It is my rightful place…
Like a bear in a berry patch.

I dwell on memories with such fondness…
Safely settled in my mind…
Here, I don’t need to hear a voice from heaven…
Only the sudden shifts in the air.

I have saved a spot for you…
But you cannot bring that raging fire that is always following you…
I will replace the tiredness that is written on your face…
With serenity and joy.

Yes, we will live in this meadow together…
You will become like the first time I saw you…
With brightness and mischief in your eyes…
Together, we will stare our endless dominion and smile.

I love you,

Annie

Why do you think you are only half?
When in reality you are double…
Please don’t argue this point…
Because it is true.

The roots of your life extend everywhere…
Roots of timely endurance…
Inexpressible tough…
Inexpressible delicate.

You are rimmed with an aura of color…
Deep reds and sparkling golds…
Changing with each act of kindness…
Making you open to the sky

Yet, sadness lay hidden…
Caught in a game of win or lose…
It is a pointless cycle…
An angry joy.

Listen to your wild feelings…
The hysterical pinks and yellows…
You are more than you can find in any book…
So, snap out of it!
You are not half, you are double.

I love you,

Annie