Author: Jeff Shapiro

I just realized:

The more I snuggle the happier I am…
Each snuggle is like a quick, electric, shock of joy…
It seems like such a simple thing…
But that is how I make love look so easy…

Sure, I never deny myself any comfort…
Why should I, or anyone for that matter?
We all need a moment to breathe, relax and replace those anxious looks on our faces…
But my own comfort can never take the place of holding someone close to me.

My snuggles are like how snow should be…
Soft and lovely and never cold…
They will slowly change your thoughts of worry into thoughts of hope…
And whisper in your ear, “Don’t worry, there will be Spring again.”

Have you ever felt like life is turning you into stone?
The sun has forgotten your footsteps?
That the waves are mostly white and never blue?
Come on! Let’s together swim to shore and have a snuggle over this.

This is what this snuggle tells me…

You are always just a snuggle away from happiness…
Yep, touch can make all the difference in another person’s life…
Who cares that you are not furry like me…
You know exactly who needs a hug.

I love you,

Annie

I wonder if a bug has a brain?
There seems to be no common sense in them at all…
But, they sure seem happy…
Scurrying about in every shade of a good mood.

Is it the tone of my growl that stirs their suspicions?
I can hear faint peeps of, “Help me! Help me! Let’s get out of here!”
“Why would that stupid pup want anything to do with us?”
“I wonder if that pup has a brain?”

I’m going to stick around and wait for their leader…
You know the one that will say, “Are you a friend or a foe?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Then, I will ask her right to her face, “Do you have a brain?”

I guess I shouldn’t have touched the wise bug with my nose…
Because she sounded some kind of alarm that sounded like, “All bugs on deck!”
They came from everywhere, monopolizing the surface and all of me…
Whatever happened to universal peace and brotherhood?

Yep, bugs have a brain…
Yep, bugs can bite…
Now they stare at me with those multiple eyes and bitey things…
It’s war: now it’s just a question of who will eat who.

There’s nothing like a fresh bug!

I love you,

Annie

Here, take my blessing…
It is good for when your world starts falling apart…
It will calm all the fidgeting, muttering and the echoes of gossip…
It will save you from shrinking away all together.

It is a blessing to remind you…
That you are just passing through the thickest part of the forest…
Most of your worries are merely trifles…
That you have unlimited moments to share…
That the sun will soon dissolve the light grays and rain.

Can you hear my blessing buzzing?
The high-pitched harmonies?
The wind washing over you from every distant shore?
The gentle, easy patience?

Now, is time for building…
You know, we must be continually be building ourselves…
Because when we go down in a terrible pit…
We will not come up as someone else.

Now, rub my fluffy head…
Take from me bravery and courage…
Put on the harness and pull yourself back up…
Sorry, I can’t pull you past sorrow or grief…

Do I look like a sled dog?

I love you,

Annie

I think birds can talk…
I can tell by the way they work and play…
As if they understand this earth perfectly…
Moving through the patterns of swirls and ripples.

I believe trees can listen…
Searching every eye for sincerity…
Hearing us mumble as we scurry past, “Who am I?”
I think they have found the answer.

I know that dragonflies are swift…
Moving around in quick, jerky motions…
Motioning to us fellow mere mortals…
Pick up the pace, please!”

I think that raccoons are smart…
Moving gently and speaking softly…
So what, if sometimes they like the garbage bin…
Haven’t we all been there before?

I know that humans are kind…
Each of you have touched me and melted my heart…
The issue is sometimes you don’t treat others with the same tenderness as you treat me…
This seems like a simple fix.

I love you,

Annie

What does it mean when you say, “I’m having a bad day?”
Don’t you, like me, hold the key to everything?
Aren’t we, together, like the sun rising over the mountains?
Opening a fairyland perfectly put together.

How can the day be bad when we can change the thread of every conversation?
Take the magic wand from nature’s hand…
Cast out all worldly cares…
And replace them with beauty and peace.

Aren’t we like a bow and arrow?
Able to bend ourselves to take care of every excess and deficiency?
Can’t we give of ourselves and give and give some more?
Because there is no end to our wealth?

I practice this every moment of every day…

That is why there is never any end to my poetry…
I can see that each day holds a poem of its own…
Do you want to experience this same freedom?
I can take you to the very door, but you will have to open it yourself.

You may ask, “Where are we going, anyway?”
It seems odd when I enter a day with no direction…
Let’s see, maybe today we will bask on a sunny hillside…
Or perhaps today we will bask on the sunny flats.

Remember, you hold the key to your own happiness!

I love you,

Annie

At the call of the sun…
I can see Your full glory…
Soft and yielding…
Your creation awakening with just one whisper.

At the call of the clouds…
I feel tender and pliant…
No longer doubting a thing about myself…
Lost and absorbed in a million new worlds.

At the call of the wind…
I release the dust of my failures…
I look for You here and then there…
To find the source of my beginnings.

At the call of the sea…
I become a disciple of life…
Knowing that You don’t play favorites…
We all simply move with the ebbs and the flows.

At the call of the stars…
I become like a naked toddler…
Lost among my picture books and toys…
I find true freedom.

I love you,

Annie

Just to let you know, wise old Annie is not perfect…

When I look around, it’s as if everything has a label saying, “Eat me!”
All looking so plump and juicy…
Oh, look! A hot piece of buttered toast…
Please butler, look away, look away.

I can snatch it and gobble it up in less than 10 seconds (my record is 8…)
It doesn’t matter the form or the texture…
I’m going in, I’m going in now!
While my butler is deeply absorbed in thought.

Yep, I’m always excited about something…
Whether it be food, or play, or sleep…
I understand what fun is…
And harmonize with it all.

However, sometimes things disagree with me…
Like when I ate two helpings of fish bait on an empty stomach (not recommended…)
Gassy, bloated, disquieted and unsettled…
Sorry butler, this time it was really me!

Best now to take some fresh air…
My stomach like a sloshy sea…
Moving about with a heavy splash and plat…
What’s that over there? A chicken bone? My favorite!

See, we all have our faults!

I love you,

Annie

As a pup, I have no idea what humans mean when they say, “next time…”
Are you waiting for some special okay to be written in the sky?
Or maybe a moment you want to avoid, and hope will never return again?
Or is it something that you hope will appear later, through some strange magic or revelation?

For me, there is no such thing as “next time…”
I have no need to make an excuse or cover my tracks…
Unless there is a true conflict, I think “next time” means “I really don’t feel like it…”
Kind of the same reaction I get when I invite a barn cat to dinner.

So let’s change “Next time” to “Now time…”
“Now time” is a place more celestial than even I can conceive…
It whispers peace to every living thing…
Taking us to the loveliest of gardens.

“Now time” is the very breath of nature…
Sunny, open spaces…
Being together with all our charming relationships…
And for me, feels like a tropical sizzle tingling all the way down to my toes.

So, unless you have a real conflict, forget about “next time…”
Take the chance, the step, the leap of faith…
You may find yourself in a wonderful place…
Cuddling, loving and skipping through each doorway of this marvelous life.

I love you,

Annie

I was musing this morning, “How much happier can a happy river be?”
I know, I’m a little unusual with my thinking…
I can’t talk like you…
But our imaginations can be the same, so let’s imagine this together.

Imagine the river gliding and dancing as it heads for the sea…
Making its way through the tunnels of leafy trees…
White dashing water…
As if coming from a dream.

Always trying to decide if it will stay on this side of the bank or the other…
Leaving dry, the wooded tongues of sand…
Its colors muted by shadows…
Then, exploding into radiance by the sun.

Thinking like this helps make everything clearer…
It helps me undo the ribbons and open the box…
Wipes away that injured look that sometimes appears on my face…
And guides me all the way home.

Oh! I almost forgot the waterfall the grandest thing of all…
It falls down, down, down as if it will never end…
All this happiness must come from a very deep well…
The same well that is in you and me.

I love you,

Annie

What if the imaginary wasn’t really imaginary after all?
The magic wand truly magical?
What if you don’t really have to know what it all means?
And that you are already blended perfectly into the light?

Do you think you could ever believe this?
That the soul within us is capable of every permutation?
This is the truth…really!
Can’t you feel inside yourself that ambient glow?

Shouldn’t you wonder about these things?
Burn with curiosity?
But, what good is a book without pictures?
A story never told?

The years try to strip us of our sense of awe…
Hem us in by the hills and trees all around…
Make us finished before we have started…
Turn our courage into a thrice yellow green.

Come on, the direction is obvious!
Hurry, there is no time to delay!
The rabbit hole is directly before us…
But the door will never open on its own.

I love you,

Annie