Author: Jeff Shapiro

I listen to the conversations of passing tourists…
People watch by San Diego Bay…
They move like waves of extended ripples…
I wonder, does anyone really know where they are going?

Some talk as if they are climbing a grand staircase…
Some wail their arms like they have a snake by the tail…
Some talk as if they are in a long, bloody battle…
All with smiles, angry scowls, or laughter.

There is always a hint of feeling…
Most craving approval…
I so want to reach out and tell them…
Your path doesn’t end at the sea.

I know a lot more than I let on…
Yep, it looks like a small dog would live in a small world…
But there is life inside me…
And it knows it is okay to go into the deeper waters.

Now only silence and the wind…
Thinking of so many lives, so many hopes, so many dreams…
The people have long disappeared into the dark, invisible distant…
But I think I saw the universe today.

I love you,

Annie

The wind told me you were coming…
You, so brilliant, you make the stars pale…
Having a different kind of symmetry…
Welcome to my color charged world.

I’m here to tell you a secret…
Guess what?
You already know everything you need to know…
You no longer have to live like you are stuck in molasses…
Or have your mind spinning endlessly with worries and fears.

It’s like when my mama taught me to swim. She said…
Annie you already know how to swim…
Paddle with your right feet and you will turn left…
Paddle with your left feet and you will turn right…
Paddle with all feet and you will move out of the muck and mire.

So, let’s start paddling and go hunting for magic…
You know there are genies all around…
Not inside magic lanterns…
But through the prayers of your heart.

It is time to get off the microscope’s stage…
There are too many weird things swimming around down there…
The wind told me you were coming…
So let’s spread our wings and fly!

I love you,

Annie

Today I am opening a hole in the world…
Digging with energy I didn’t know I had…
It may take time, but I am a patient pup…
It is just another normal day in the oasis of my life.

Hello, is anyone down here?
My name is Annie…
Get away from me big biting bug!
You are not who I have come to see.

Tomorrow is swimming day…
I’m hoping to make friends with a goldfish…
Both shimmering and wet…
Together like braided ribbons.

I’ll leave others to their own…
I’m too busy learning the language of the birds…
Always searching for harmony between body and soul…
I think it’s a common quest.

I’m so happy to have a playground like this earth…
I can move freely among the peeps, honks, and splashes…
When I was a puppy, I made the best decision…
Choosing napping and playing over billions and billions.

I love you,

Annie

I think curiosity may be holy…
Colors and scents and flavors…
Proud, free motion…
Serene, powerful acts of kindness.

I scratch it with my nails…
Understand, I have control of nothing…
Wonder about the glitter surrounding the moon…
If I can jump across the Grand Canyon.

There’s so much going on that I’m unaware of…
Curiosity allows me to see…
Sometimes I need to approach it with quiet footsteps…
Sometimes I have to pounce on it like a lion.

All around me there are curious looks…
I wonder if they are curious about me…
Now the roles are reversed…
It’s okay, my life is an open book.

I pray that I can always be curious…
Often realizing that there is never an end to understanding…
Curiosity leads me to adventure…
And adventure keeps me young.

I love you,

Annie

I am appropriately small…
My length makes up for my height…
My life is mostly meet, bump, butt sniff and depart…
Yet inside I’m building my dream…

I am a pup who believes in dreams…
Starting from the sky above…
From small water to big water…
All depending on me saying one word, “YES!”

Everyday I watch dreamers build dreams…

Some have built grand cathedrals…
Others have captured them with watercolors or oils…
My dreams are much simpler…
I dream of being kind to everyone in this world.

If you like, I can help you build your dream…
Like a garden it depends on rich soil free of worry or guilt…
The seeds will come from your thoughts and meditations…
The flowers will come from above.

YES, is the beginning of it all…
It is the key that unlocks the door…
NO, keeps your dreams locked away…
To a pup with an IQ of 2, it seems like an easy choice.

I love you,

Annie

Today I find myself just milling along…
When I let myself settle, I can sort myself out…
There are answers in the presence of nature….
Where it is big, warm and peaceful.

But still there is worry…
Stupid stuff, like….
Why I exhaled when I should have inhaled…
Why the sketch never changes…
As I draw that same chalk line over and over again.

The ticking clock pays no heed…
Precise in the midst of my chaos…
The ringing alarms reminds me…
I have a standing appointment with the universe.

Then I figure, where I am is where I am…
So what if it is written in letters I cannot read…
I still can feel the vibrations of peace…
Smell the sweet scent of hope.

Yep, my life is something like that…
I mill and I mill until it is time for bed…
It is here that I feel strong and safe…
As I drift asleep in my Butler’s arms.

I love you,

Annie

Each day brings eternity…
The spiritual wind…
The muscular sun…
The feeling you know so well as it passes over your soul.

The person at its center is you…
Telling you to pay attention to the present moment…
Yes, the present can be improved…
Eternity allows it.

The present leads to a stream…
The stream leads to a river…
The river leads to the sea…
Where you can sing alone to the stars.

There is no need for excuses…
The errands can wait…
Yes, your life might seem like a hopeless tangle…
But eternity will set you free.

Inside there are no winners or losers…
You understand that your blessings are enough…
You become like a baby bird in a nest…
Nurtured, cuddled, and loved.

I love you,

Annie

Look! Is that a doorway hidden in the stars?
Where do you think it goes?
Maybe to the heartbeat of all life…
Maybe to the place where all is written…

Doesn’t it seem exotic and fascinating?
I bet it is safe from the tears of pain…
Wow! Look at those welcoming, sparkling flakes stretching in all directions…
Smiling back at the horizon.

But, I can’t always see it…

Often thick clouds block the corridor…
With lightening bolts of shame and guilt…
Turning it into musty tones of grays and blacks…
Causing the light to narrow into shadows.

I wonder who is on the other side of that door…
There is an outline of arms stretch outward…
Yet the distance between us is much too far…
She whispers of a well-worn path.

She tells me the pathway is a pathway of kindness…
It will free me from the tangled banks…
Yet the invitation says I need a second for the party…
Come, there is room for one more.

I love you,

Annie

What if…
The things in our lives are less difficult than we think.
That pain is making everything look different than it truly is.
That the fragile really overcomes the hard?

Yes, cold adds to cold…
Ice builds upon ice…
Yet it is love that provides the sparks to melt the cold away…
And lead us through the choppy waters.

Fragile is who we are…
Pushing the boundaries of our dreams…
Taking us by the hand to a newly cleared spot…
Full of fresh herbs, fruits, and flowers.

Good news!
The future has yet to be written!
Within the seed of hardship is the history of the world…
Tomorrow is a journal entry on the tip of your pen.

So, go outside!
Be alone with the heavens, the angels, your fragility…
Then, you can face your fears at the midnight hour…
And have new strength to create your future at the break of dawn.

I love you,

Annie

The lake is like a mirror…
Still, breathless and calm…
Standing on the water’s edge…
I watch the water sky.

Such a clever construction…
The unbelievable, now believable…
A land of blue, of clouds, of mountains, of trees…
All in the water sky.

Here, structures don’t require blueprints…
The pictures impossible to improve…
Of peace and love and the music of spheres…
All in the water sky.

There is no pattern…
Nothing to mend…
Here are the answers to your questions…
All in the water sky.

There is no winning or losing…
No fear of failure to keep you bound…
You don’t need to strain to hear the melody…
Just rest by the water sky.

I love you,

Annie