Author: Jeff Shapiro

I’ve noticed….

The wind has no trouble with curves…
Nor heights nor depths…
It takes me where I want to go…
As long as I want to go somewhere.

As I stare numbly past my reflection…
I ask myself, “Where to today?”
Hmm… Today, I want to go where the wild winds hang…
Yup, there is no doubt about it.

Why not? I have ions of time…
It will be nice to step away from this unending foot race…
I’m tired of pushing my nose through chain link fences…
It’s time to let the wind take me into Her empty calm.

Saying yes, is what gives me my radiance…
Yes, always takes me somewhere…
Perhaps, crunching on the morning Chicago grass, crisp with crystals…
Or today, where the wild winds hang.

Come on! Let’s go!
There will be time for explanations later…
I like having you by my side…
I need someone to carry my biscuits.

I love you,

Annie

I once met a unicorn…
Yes, such wild things still exist…
I greeted her with a hoarse growl…
She greeted me with a kiss.

She led me to a still pond…
It had a feeling of absolute calm…
With gentle shade…
Where I could only think of the possible.

In this place there was no difference between yes and no…
No bewilderment from past decisions…
An abundance of fairy dust…
That made my worries turn to faded fringes.

She flicked her thoughts from her tail…
Creating in me a long pause in a lifetime of longing…
The breeze rippled my fur…
Giving me the strength to jump over the battlements.

You may think, “How ridiculous!”
There is no such thing as a unicorn…
Yes, they may be part of a disappearing wilderness…
But they exist, far and few, far and few.

It is the place I nest everyday…
Dreaming of you and those wonderful moments…
With the mantra, “One of a kind, one of a kind…”
Yes, I’m thinking of you.

Of course, you are my unicorn.

I love you,

Annie

Come let’s sit together in the moonlight…
And watch the red turn to gold…
And discover all the things birds sing about…
Watching the universe take Her course.

Let’s bathe in its strange, mysterious glitter…
Witness everything, perfect, in the proper proportion…
Shooting stars bloom into eternal glory…
A world full of promise and magic.

Let us consider together that there is a magic that is deeper still…
Unexplored and unsettled…
Watch it rise as we see the edge of the sun…
Bringing light to the darkest of forests.

In our daily life nothing comes easy…
Our minds working, working, working…
Yet watching the universe take Her course…
We see, that the universe doesn’t work at all.

So, there is no reason for your world to be upside down…
No reason for your stars not to shine…
Let go and give yourself to this universe…
And you will have a perfect day.

I love you,

Annie

We both wait on the same side of the door…
Made of stone and metal…
Wishing that someone will open it…
If no one comes, how will we get in?

Oh no, now I hear thunder…
Playing like a bass drum in an orchestra…
Clouds with peach-colored cheeks expanding, puffing up with rain…
Exposing the most fragile places in our lives.

Ooh, what is that disturbing smell…
It’s getting stronger by the second…
I promise you its not me…
I was just expressed last week.

Trapped by our circumstances on the outside…
Inside that door are the treasured volumes…
Hoarse from our howls and screeching…
We just keep knocking.

The door opens, and inside the sky is streaked and splashed with our favorite blues…
Making us wonder why we turn real things into empty air…
How did you open the door my friend asks…
“I simply turned the knob.”

I love you,

Annie

Scent, I recognize things this way…
It is the aura of love lingering on the surface…
Being blown to me by the wind and the sky…
Remaining in my nostrils like a ghost.

It tells me that you are more brave and beautiful than ever…
It helps me revisit thoughts of our adventures together…
It is the best of what you have thought and said…
Always making my tail wag.

Scent, for me, is a whole other dimension…
Prompting me toward exciting new perspectives…
It is truth undiluted…
Always causing me to lift my head to the light.

Sure, some scents make me squirm…
Like the smell of bath water and soap…
I would rather bathe on the earth…
Enjoying a roll in a rotten fish…
Yep, as wise as I am, I will always be a simple little dumbhead.

I never forget a smell…
That’s why I will always find you…
And when you are cold you can always wrap yourself in my glorious golden fur…
Until you rediscover the lion that dwells inside you.

I love you,

Annie

I go where the stream goes…
I sing what the stream sings…
Sometimes roaring and thundering…
Sometimes clear and calm.

Immersed in the wonder…
I return to my center…
Remember where I came from…
And follow the stream into peace.

Here I am safe…
My lookouts being the hawks and the eagles…
It is time to make my camp…
And let the falling night hide me.

My brothers and sisters are cherubs…
Always offering me a new theme…
Like so many books all heights and colors…
Or a new artist from their extensive jazz collection.

Our life, into our own hands has been entrusted…
But to what end? To climb the highest tree in the woods?
Or to follow the stream…
You decide.

I love you,

Annie

Why so easily offended?
It is only low growls from wee animals…
They have somehow reached the most tender part of yourself…
Be careful, you can run out of gas dwelling on an emotion like that.

Have you forgotten the deep magic…
It is always here to alleviate the great problems of each day…
Take a deep breath, bring yourself back to the present…
Because in the present you can accept all things.

Focus on the golden pink across the horizon…
That morsel of chicken lying in the grass (yum!)
Forget about the frosty night…
And let the sunshine erase that stamp of hurt written on your forehead.

Life is both Fire and Water…
The fire extremely hot and the water seldom clear…
With emotions that are golden and sometimes a ghostly white…
Everything seeming a little past due.

But remember after heartbreak there is always a leftover bag of bread and biscuits…
There is always a surprise waiting just beyond the surf…
Your mind is like a merry-go-round that takes you to same place over and over again…
And all you have to do is step off.

I love you,

Annie

So, what exact size do you want to be?
Who is it, that it is so important to look like?
For me I want to be a size 1 and 6 inches taller and look like that Westminster poodle…
But I have to lay off those crullers, they settle right in my hips!

Why are we so concerned with how we look?
I think it is all society’s fault…
It appears to be its criteria for membership…
My opinion, we are applying to the wrong club!

Looks have somehow become a prerequisite for greatness…
But aren’t we great just the way we are?
Consider the moonlight shining on an old tree stump…
Beautiful inside and out.

Let’s step away from all these giants and werewolves and ghouls…
Force ourselves into calm…
Consider for a moment the word “magnificent…”
Then accept that is exactly what we are!

Now that we got that out of the way…

It is time to go for a skip on top of the clouds…
Hold hands and watch the afternoon light soften…
Look at the trees with all their fairy blooms…
And consider, real beauty doesn’t have to try hard at all.

I love you,

Annie

I see things in you that you don’t…
Like how you are made exactly in the image of your creator…
Like the universe, goodness, and love flowing through you…
My question to you is…
Do you feel this pulse of life?

Look in the mirror and open your eyes…
Listen for the call of your name…
Not with your ears, but with your heart where it matters the most…
It will be like seeing the stars for the very first time.

When you sit next to me you resemble a mountain…
With every tree still standing and every stream making its way to the sea…
Your tears like snow melting on your sun facing slopes…
Can you see it? You are the world itself.

So why do you see yourself different than this?
Beaten and broken into a pile dust?
Draw your sword and fight for who you are…
Because there is no enemy you cannot defeat.

Life is like bending down to kiss a baby…
A steady, sustained flow of love…
Like a pot of coffee in the making…
Dripping out a strong brew.

I love you,

Annie

What a dear little puppy I was…
Unfortunately, I didn’t learn any tricks…
I look at my butler everyday with my big solemn brown eyes…
And ask my great question, “Why butler, why?”

I grew up surrounded by a great circle of friends…
A life of unspeakable richness…
Everything golden…
Sun gold, moon gold, the gold in your eyes.

When I was 3 years old, I got lazy and fat…
Thinking, “Everyone loves a fat pup…”
My little body slinking around the edges…
Always dreaming of another slice of chicken pie.

As I got older and wiser I realized…
Everyone is in some sort of pain…
The thought shuttered me awake…
And I have never looked at a person the same since.

Now that I’m 14, I just sit and watch the clouds dust the sky…
I am part and parcel with nature…
Beauty I can feel…
Beauty I can bathe in.

I love you,

Annie