Author: Jeff Shapiro

Today, I’m going to live the life of a squirrel…
Be a mere fluff of fur…
Dodging to and fro…
Always keeping safe distances.

I’m going to run full speed through the needle-filled floors of the forest…
Climb the tallest tree…
Skip among the leafy interior…
And take a fresh look at life each and every minute.

Hey! As a squirrel, I can bark with my mouth closed!
Crunch an acorn like an appetizer…
Eat a beetle entree…
Three or four chomps and it’s gone.
Time for course three!

After an adamant shake I’m back…
My hair-do now a fright…
Time to steal some love…
That’s why I’m trying to climb you like a tree.

Can’t you feel this power inside you?
Sticking to your heart like a barnacle to a rock…
When we are one with that feeling, it is like an extra lump of sugar…
And we can look at each other with each other’s eyes.

I love you,

Annie

I have electric toes!
A brighter, cheerier pup doesn’t exist…
If you don’t feel the same…
Stand still while I kiss some sense into you.

It is as if I am painted with roses…
Waking each day into the glorious mystery of life…
I breathe the morning scent deep into my heart…
And ignore every whispering fear.

The grass stays cool on my paws…
As I play in the random circles of light…
I am humble and respectful of all creatures…
I would bow to each of them…
But there is not much lower I can go.

I can see all things…
Because I have learned to stand apart from myself…
I have beautiful visions of bountiful gardens…
In vivid colors more green than brown.

So, do you have electric toes?
Like me, are you a happy little animal?
Are you living in the circus of your dreams…
Have you figured it out yet?
That on earth we are the main attractions.

I love you, Annie

Everything is an expression of the heavens…
The ingredients of all life…
Like whisks of golden pastries…
Like homemade chicken pie.

She is in the very center of me…
Rippling ever so gently with the wind…
Shoving aside the earth and reaching for the sky…
Taking me far away from the confused clatter.

She whispers, “There is no enemy near…”
There are no enemies lurking in every tree…
She returns me to the simple, loving heart of my puppyhood…
Giving me a bolt of life.

You are with me, of course…
Together, covered with a blanket of fireflies…
Yes, in every way a miracle…
A place where we don’t need to wait for an answer.

Now, as free as a sunbeam…
With bright eager eyes…
With all life’s simple joys…
This is more than a curious dream.

I love you,

Annie

I know from your eyes who you are…
I listen to the wilderness within you…
You gave me one hug, I gave you two…
This is a beautiful friendship.

Please tell me what you love…
Painted or powdered…
Tell me more than cliched words…
Because one can never know what another holds dear.

The wilderness is alive in you…
I look up and down your silver shores…
I linger on your warm hillsides…
Smiling because I am so blessed to be your friend.

Tell me what you do the best…
I’m best at snuggles and love…
God has given you a special gift…
When you use it, you give a gift back to God.

Hey I got an idea!
Today let’s not act like we are made of cardboard…
Or some fragile piece of ash…
And stop our pages from fluttering.

Instead let’s be like a frisky chipmunk…
Prance as light as a deer…
Give ourselves to whatever the moment brings…
And together, drink some tea from the old pot.

I love you,

Annie

This morning I am lost in the blush of dawn…
Letting it invade the very pores of my skin…
Trying the air in different directions…
It’s time to forget all of yesterday’s nonsense.

The dawn streaming over boulders and brush…
Across the dune tops…
Making time stand still…
Speaking in lost words.

You don’t need to go anywhere…
The issues will not be answered in another place…
Return to the pace of dawn…
And stop following rules that have no meaning.

I see it now, the shadow of a smile…
Time to free ourselves from the gold fish bowl…
And today leave audience participation out of the script..
No longer trying to find only the words that sound best.

Now, we can be kind to people who are good…
And we also can be kind to people who are not so good…
Talk truthful, like old shipmates…
Until sunset puts out the remaining pockets of flame.

I love you,

Annie

Can you feel the shared breath of this world?
The collective heart beat?
Hear the stream of whispers?
The voices of family and friends?

Social media is creating its own kind of wind…
Spreading the fire on single blades of grass…
Squeezing the perfume out of the aromatic leaves…
And replacing it with the plastic leaves of pretend…

But the jury has yet to reach a verdict…
There is always a glimmer of hope…
I’ll take the glimmer…
That fallow half light that can light up the sky…

Sometimes I think like this…
But I found I can’t chase away a bad thought…
However I can replace it with a good one…
And place beauty and animation into every landscape…
Then once again hear the collective heart beat.

Can we move away from the darkness with steps of infinite grace?
Really mean everything we say?
Each day unlearn one more thing?
And return to heavens way?

Hand in hand I think we can!

I love you,

Annie

Safe hidden places…
Where every thought turns into a butterfly…
A happiness of a different order…
Tutored by each second.

The sky flushing a beautiful blue…
Spreading colorful quilts on the ground…
A place without a name…
A name would only make it smaller.

Of course there is always room for you…
A new beginning with every sip of tea…
Let’s listen to what the angels have to say…
And open our hearts to the heavens.

No more labeling others with names that suit us better…
No more being fooled time and time again…
No more peering into a starless sky…
No more meandering hopelessly like a clipped kite.

Safe, hidden places…
Where joy appears like a found feather…
Setting my world alight…
Oh so happy…
Like a gopher in a turnip patch.

I love you,

Annie

Please write this down…
There is no such thing as something being definite…
No such thing as the end of the road…
Why? Because there is always a great deal more to come…

On/off, yes/no, black/white; there are a million worlds between these words…
If you think there is only winning or losing, you will never realize how big you actually are…
I figured out a long time ago I am more than a mouse in a shoebox…
That’s why my bark is as bold as a lion.

Too much of our lives is just an illusion of fear…
Thoughts and worries that make us turn tail and run…
Songs, written only with exclamation points…
Not fit for a three-eyed mule.

But guess what?
You can see through fear…
You can walk right through it and watch it rattle away…
To a place that is sparkling clear and kind.

So there is never a need to live in terror…
There’s more of a need to do a jiggle dance…
When we jiggle, we are like a sailor climbing to the top of the mast…
Land ho! There’s a new world on the horizon.

I love you,

Annie

I never went to school one day in my life…
Learning, is more than my little head can carry…
Besides, the classroom is full of too many fuzzy creatures…
I’m embarrassed to say it, but, I can’t even spell Annie.

Yet, there is a lot of things I know…
Not as much as you, but still a lot…
Like, I know the purpose of every adventure…
And I know how to perfectly be myself.

Because of this, with each day I reach a new outlook…
There are vivid colors, always in the sky…
I am never in a bad mood…
And I never let myself fade away into a small blonde smudge.

I used to solve all my problems by eating…
When I was five, believe it or not, I was the size of the Good Year blimp!
Now I look cool, like I just jumped out of a convertible…
And believe it or not, I’m now a size -10 (Super-duper-mini- petite).

So, sit down with me, and let’s together listen to the last verse of the song…
Did you know that your presence lifts my heart…
Helps me get the thought of that lost muffin out of my brain…
So, let’s snuggle tight so we never again have to shiver from the cold.

I love you,

Annie

I have found that it is no use thinking about yesterday…
I was a different pup back then…
What comes next is so much better than that…
It’s where the flowers grow the tallest.

I am a plain pup…
Lingering on the taste of my last stolen morsel…
Contemplating each and every step…
Until I am pressed back into harmony.

I can only catch tidbits of what you say to me…
Blah, Blah, Blah, Annie, Blah Blah Blah…
It is like constant wisps of dusk…
Until the sun retires until another day.

To me, life is not just another theory…
Some goalless sky…
Never, a bit of a bugger…
Or believing that every bend in the trail will be the last.

So, why not let go of yesterday?
You will gain courage as you go…
Stop worrying about cutting a minute or two, here and there…
And just be.

I love you,

Annie