Author: Jeff Shapiro

At heart I am just an old sea dog…
Even though some days it feels like a long way to the sea…
I think it is important to go inside myself to see what I’m made of…
By the way who do you think you are?

Inside me there are old sailor songs and stories of forgotten treasures…
My sailor buddies always singing the tunes…
And just as the sun sets under the curly waves…
I enjoy the vanishing view.

You look thoroughly confused!
Yeah, you may be a little less wild and free…
Standing in the pool of your own shadow…
Like a prisoner in enemy territory…

I too, am confused about humans…
I watch each day as you drag your heavy plow through fields laden with mud…
Your telling expressions…
The influence of your powerful eyes.

But inside you there is much more than this…
You may not be a sailor, but there is something else in there…
It is not some silly, clownish, trick…
Why?
Because you are the earth, the sky, and the sea.

I love you,

Annie

Will you come and dance with me?
It really doesn’t take any practice…
You need this!
I can read your face and it tells the full story…
You are stuck in a place of half believing and half doubting.

Come on, the greatest adventures seem childish…
Out here the air has a different taste…
We will pull the magic right out of the dance floor…
And go bob, bob, bobbing.

It may have been so long that you have forgotten the steps…
Without risk your life will just become drier than the day before…
You may start to feel like you are stuffed in a sausage casing…
And my simple, pretty, dance will set you free.

Don’t think, the decision should be quick…
How quick? A fast as I can eat a buttered muffin…
To dance with me is like walking on water to another shore…
There is another shore, you know.

For me, the dance floor is covered in a downy white…
Wild and loving and free…
With so many angels in the band…
Deep inside, I think you know what it is like.

I love you,

Annie

I have a very complicated transmission…
I have torque when I want to pull my butler in a different direction…
I have a gear for cruising…
And of course, I have multiple gears for reverse…

However, my moods never shift with the weather…
I move with an easy grace…
Always looking for kind eyes…
You know, eyes like yours.

I move with the exuberance of bloom…
Retiring in the same order…
Whenever I see something new, I ask…
What kind of dance is this?

You may ask….

Why so many gears in reverse?
Whether you know it or not I am always returning…
To the one who has made me…
To my forever home.

So, with a bound into the air…
Picturing the donut that almost was…
I seal the punctures from all my stupid ideas…
And go full speed toward the blue until there is not a spot of blackness.

I love you,

Annie

I am the kind of pup that people notice…
Always stopping to make a fuss…
It is like I’m some sort of strange and mysterious pup…
Different from all the rest.

I’m uncomfortable being the biggest show in town…
My silence never complete…
I’m thinking of taking a course in uglification…
Become a blonde, shaggy, ghoulish, ghost.

Picture me for a moment, as a long-haired hyena…
Moving quickly through the darkness…
Always against much bigger odds…
The rivers of antelope dividing around me.

Why is it that sometimes I’m not happy with the way I am?
Not content with the joyful sound of a waterfall?
I should be reveling in the sky, clear and spacious…
Standing, in humility, solid and full.

I guess sometimes I’m not too fond of my beautiful me…
Yet I am so blessed to be who I am…
There are so many other pups kicked, beaten and called all kinds of horrible names…
Kind of puts things back into perspective.

I love you,

Annie

As a pup, I have strange powers…

Sometimes I can hear you sighing…
As if your heart is about to break…
The loneliest kind of lonely…
Everything tainted with doubt.

Sit next to me, and let me saturate you with my warmth…
Be a reflection for you of your celestial light…
Help you refasten your armor…
Remind you of the miracle of air that we have been given to breathe.

I am always here!
I’ve been schooled in the ways of the sea…
Her depths filled with tears of sadness and joy…
Giving life a smooth oily texture.

Around you right now are so many angels of light…
Your silhouette cut from their glow…
Follow the light globes and remember to stay away from the dark…
Because carnivores own the night!

I will take you from the gate of sadness to the gate of joy…
Follow the trail with my wonderful snout…
Show you the islands in the rivers of grass…
And turn your sighs into laughter.

I love you,

Annie

I think my butlers are a little confused…
They think that I am their pup…
I’m not sure where they got that idea…
Because, the reality is, I am not their pup, they are my humans.

I have a lot of time to contemplate these things…
With all my alone time eating fixings I pull out of the trash…
Today it is just me and a half of a blueberry muffin…
Boy, this would go great with a cup of tea.

But I pay attention to all the movements of my butlers…
I’m amazed that they were created with such remarkable detail…
Humans seem to have a great amount of contrast…
Fashioned like works of art.

I always try to bring them peace…
Strumming the air into music…
Awakening a magical green paradise…
Reminding them when they are sad…
Yes, you will be happy again.

I ask them to follow me to the mountains…
Where poems are written on cliffs of stone…
Helping them to find, once again, their natural rhythm…
So, they can be at peace.

I take good care of my humans!

I love you,

Annie

I’m always looking for the rest of the story…
Each day I open the thick cover of the book…
Searching for that last special place on this earth…
Covered with beautiful light.

It’s like returning again and again to the fountain…
When I find it, I’ll make a present of it all to you…
Likewise, I hope you will do the same…
I think it is just across the line that is stretched across the path.

I’m not sure if it’s round, or oval, or square…
But I picture a tree filled Island…
Fading on a beautiful glowing horizon…
With a feeling that is like my first kiss.

Ha! Ha! I caught you thinking again?
Thinking is not part of this story…
Worrying about what other people think is even worse…
Be careful, it may keep you from finding the rest of your story.

As I get closer, I feel intense love…
Like embers, or a flood of fire that will not burn me…
But I’m only in the middle of the story…
I’m sensing that it has a magnificant ending.

I love you,

Annie

I have found my Eden…
Crazy, it was only a stones throw away…
A sublime wilderness…
Dotted with lakes and meadows.

Each morning, I listen as this garden wakes around me…
The creatures with bold, painted faces…
I stare into their deep liquid eyes…
Yet, I know, there is so much more if I listen a little closer.

It started like an ink sketch…
A feeling that had a slight sullen smile…
A secret in the fresh morning dew…
It whispered softly…
“You are only responsible to live according to your own divine pull.”

Now, I can open up my journals for the world to see…
Write poems of the Eden that I have found…
Roll like a pebble in a stream…
Follow the smooth linear paths.

You too can find your Eden…
It is just a few degrees to your left…
Follow the scents of freedom…
You will know that taste, it is the taste of the sea.

I love you,

Annie

The spirit of life is bent tenderly over us all…
Like a mother hawk guarding her young…
Her presence being the all in all…
Yes, we are the Lord’s business!

She constantly thinks of the dreams She has given…
And nudges us in that direction…
Using Her tears to fill the places where water used to flow…
Filling the thirsty sand.

I know it is hard to picture…
Your life experiencing so much heart ache and pain…
But there has always been someone shadowing you…
Protecting you with a shell made of steel.
Sometimes we can feel like unpainted tin…
But there is another self within, that is strong…
Can you see up ahead the fire mixed colors?
Swirl, bathe, dance and let them wrap you with life!

The enemy of life is the hiss of doubt…
It will disappear as you advance in the direction of your dreams…
Your dreams float like clouds in the sky…
Be patient and wait! In a little while they will uncover the sun.

I love you,

Annie

Never underestimate your heart…
Hasn’t it always found a way?
Warning you at the sight of the first storm cloud…
Carrying you to the lifting brightness

Tell me of some of your great battles…
I see you still have some scars…
When you share them, they grow fainter and fainter…
The battle cries less audible in the crisp, clean air.

Your heart is what defines who you are…
Not your gestures, nor your looks…
Your life is built in bewildering combinations…
And only your heart can understand them all.

This world is like great, shifting dunes…
Everyday being a new and different landscape…
We can hide from the dirt and the bite…
Or run like a child with our plastic pail and shovel.

Let’s together climb all the way to the top…
Challenge the changing sands…
There is only one way to solve any difficulty…
Follow your heart!

I love you,

Annie