If We Ever Had The Chance

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Today is my father’s birthday.  Harold Borgh lived on earth from 1915-1983.  One year we gave him a crossword puzzle dictionary, which is now in this room.  He held it together with duct tape. 

The publications where my poems have appeared are on the lower shelf of one of  Dad’s “blond bookcases,” as we call them in the family.  I think he bought these from a fellow teacher and then did the finishing work. 

Today I looked for one of my grief poems, but found this one instead.  He would like it and approve of this choice for his day.   Mom enjoyed this poem too.

Dad also told me to be sure to save time for my own work, which I keep learning all the time.   That, and to get plenty of rest, so I can keep creating by God’s grace. 

If We Ever Had The Chance

Would we remember?
We ponder that
As we keep each other warm
These cold winter nights,
Watching other rabbits
Run free in the moonlight.

If we ever had the chance,
Would we remember how to
Run from danger and
Seek our own food?
We’ve been domesticated
For as long as we know.

Yet, we don’t say this
In a self-disparaging way.
We bring happiness to this
Family, we comfort each other,
And now we inspire the
Poet who lives next door.

Still, if we ever had the chance,
Would we remember?
Does she?

Published in Time of Singing (Volume 20, 1994); MOMENTS IN TIME (October 1994).

“Let The Beauty…” Psalm 90

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And let

the beauty

of the LORD

our God

be upon us:

and establish thou

the work of our hands

upon us;

yea,

the work of our hands

establish thou it.

The above is the last verse of Psalm 90 (KJV). 

I placed the words into this form.

The table in the photo belonged to Grace and Walter Brandt.  My mother’s parents. 

Photo by Karl Olinger.

January Light

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WINTER

First real snow
last night
My heart lifts
January light.

This was published in SMILE (WINTER 2000-01); and reprinted in SMILE (FALL/WINTER 2009-10).

Post update: January 10, 2019

Ellen Grace Olinger

“Charity Never Faileth” 1 Corinthians 13

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And now
abideth

faith,

hope,

charity,

these three;

but the greatest
of these

is charity.

The title of this post is from 1 Corinthians 13: 8.  The above verse is quoted from 1 Corinthians 13:13.  King James Version of the Holy Bible, which is in the Public Domain.   I rearranged the words in this presentation.

Post update: January 10, 2019.

My First Poem

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I love to sit and dream of days long past,
Of a chubby, brown-haired girl
Dressed in checks and stripes, a feather-
plumed hat on her head–
Sitting in her little doll room
Eating a pound of potato chips
–laughing–

Published in Parnassus in Print (1971); The Discerning Poet (2004).