Home from the Vietnam War, two tours,
Wheelchair-confined, broken body, traumatized mind.
High school sweetheart wife waited through the
years, the tears, the fears. Cared for him,
stayed with him, loved him through PTSD,
times of depression and despair, hospital stays,
many health problems; her love, her caring unwavering
through it all till at age sixty-eight when he died,
wife at his bedside. Could love be truer than that?
Bob Boyd
There are mystics
who say love is the way
to total liberation,
becoming one with God and
getting off the wheel of rebirth,
living forever in eternal bliss.
I love the thought of that.
I’d love to be one with God
and get off the wheel of rebirth
and live forever in eternal bliss.
But, honestly, my love,
I’d rather stay on the wheel
and keep coming back to this life,
forever … in love with you.
Bob Boyd
The duck, quack, quack, goes quack, quack
all of his life,
but
where does he go when he dies?
Does he die into nothingness,
or
is there such a thing as a duck heaven?
And if there is, does he still quack, quack,
there –
or is his incessant quacking quieted, and
he just quacks telepathically,
like
dead humans in the afterlife supposedly do,
with words or images instead of quacks?
Bob Boyd
Mountain peaks hover over the river,
aware of each other. Appraising the
colors of trees and blooming flowers,
decorating the interior of the shores,
Clouds in the sky looked ragged, a
busy haze is trying to mend them.
The sun goes down, a boat appears,
and I wonder if my true love is on it.
Bob Boyd
His friend said
get a dog instead of a woman,
as if one could just get a woman.
His friend said
a dog won’t cause you any drama
or break your heart.
When he was about to take
his friend’s advice, a woman came
into his life –
who gave him the tender loving care
that no dog ever could.
And there’s no substitute for the
tender loving care of a good woman.
Bob Boyd
Some people alleged to have been abducted,
claimed the aliens came through the walls.
More curiously, they claimed the aliens took
them back through the walls to their UFOs.
The men claimed the aliens, I think greys,
extracted their semen.
The women claimed they extracted their eggs,
supposedly to harvest humanlike hybrids.
Some claimed they saw humanlike beings in
tall oblong tubes
and members of our military at something like
an underground hospital location.
I’ve been looking into these matters for over a
year, and they get curiouser and curiouser.
And I can’t help but wonder if some of these
claims are true.
Bob Boyd
She’d been sick for three months
at age 86,
and she could feel death coming,
as if the reaper were real.
Her daughters thought she was
just imagining death coming
until they both dreamed she
had died.
And when they woke up that
morning, a call from the hospital
confirmed her mother had died.
Bob Boyd
The night felt ominous.
She sensed bad things
were going to happen.
Dark clouds obscured
the full moon, and she
heard wolves howl.
A moment later she
heard a man scream,
and she knew they had
claimed another victim.
Though she felt bad
for the man, in her mind
she thought better him
than me.
And she swore she’d
never go walking at night
during full moons again.
Bob Boyd
When he stopped at a tavern for a meal
and to ask how to get to a certain location,
heads in the tavern snapped in his direction,
jaws fell open, horror lit up faces, people
made the sign of the cross on their bodies.
Just two words were the cause of all that
frenzied commotion: Count Dracula.
Bob Boyd
If a woman you love says to you, “Don’t go there. I feel something
bad will happen.”
Heed her advice, even if you feel she is wrong.
Let me extrapolate.
Ever hear of a woman’s intuition? Maybe she’s right. After all,
it’s 50/50 she might be.
But even if she were wrong, by taking her advice and not
going, you affirm her and show you trust her implicitly.
You demonstrate to her that she has significant value to you,
and that can make her value you more.
Besides, her foreboding feeling just might save your life.
Bob Boyd
Among many things, Schopenhauer believed romantic love
is only for procreation.
Though I’m a romantic, I’ve been thinking the same thing
for some time now.
I’ve been thinking as with insects, fish, and animals
it’s basically all the same: procreation and nothing more.
To advance the species, and despite all the human
heart felt, romantic feelings, it’s just biological.
You may believe romantic love is for more than that,
and I hope you are right.
And I hope that romantic love continues in the afterlife
where it would be about far more than procreation.
Bob Boyd
According to people who have been temporarily dead,
when you die you see a life review, the good and
not so good things you did in your life.
And supposedly it’s not judgemental or punitive,
but, to me, seeing some of the not so good things
could be painful or even shameful.
The purpose, it is said, is all about your spiritual
growth. Maybe you gain knowledge about how to
act better from the life review.
What I haven’t heard is what happens after the
review; that is, where do you go when you
are permanently dead.
Of course, there are many beliefs and theories,
and different religions have different beliefs, but
no matter the claims, nobody really knows for sure.
And maybe dead is just dead and nothing more,
as skeptics believe and science supports. But
I don’t believe that.
I believe death is the awakening of a lifetime.
Bob Boyd
There is a red light district in Thailand
with hundreds of women lining the street
more than I’ve ever seen in one place
and the street is lit up like a Christmas tree
men walking down that street see all the
women as exotic treats, but the women
see the men, mostly foreign, as pay days
to me it all seems so pointless, and were
I in Thailand, I’d rather visit Buddhist temples
Bob Boyd
When he grew old
everything got harder
a grunt when bending over
to pick something up
putting on pants
the balance not there
getting up from an armless chair
barely enough leg strength
the floor like an enemy
keeps him pinned there
as he struggles to get up
grabbing onto a chair
unexpected hospital stays
and doctor appointments
doctors he never saw in his youth
almost constant companions now
some medical conditions
he never thought he’d have
more body fat and muscle loss
increasingly weaker
aging turning him into a caricature
of his once youthful, robust self
but at least he’s ready to die
and he no longer fears death
and he feels lucky
to have lived such a long life
Bob Boyd
At Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, Canada,
Brother André, a Canadian saint, is entombed.
A humble doorkeeper, a brother and not a priest,
least likely to be used by God, perhaps—
the last being first—became a miracle worker,
healing ailing supplicants from all over the world
through the power of his supercharged prayers and
unceasing devotion to Saint Joseph.
He never took credit for healing 10,000 or more;
so humble, so devout, so saintly was he.
When he died, a million people streamed past his coffin
in reverence to this humble, God-blessed healing saint.
His mortal remains lie in a coffin at the back of the oratory
in a sacred room, a powerful shrine where crutches
of many healed pilgrims adorn the walls.
If you go there, do not be surprised if you feel
a palpable saintly energy that will renew you and
replenish your faith. This I write from experience.
Bob Boyd
Li Po, where did you go?
did you become one with the Tao,
or are you in some celestial, jade heaven
where dragons frolic, orioles still sing,
and beautiful maidens play the guzheng?
in case this poem somehow reaches you
through the ether, I’m a fan of your work
and would like to meet you in the afterlife
maybe you could be my mentor there,
if you were so inclined or had the time
and teach me how to write great poems
like you do –
or, at least, give me some tips
on writing better poems
in the afterlife
and, as for writing poems,
I hope wherever you are,
that is something you still do
respectfully,
a fan in the world
of the temporarily living.
Bob Boyd
In the 15th century in a nunnery in Germany
a nun began biting other nuns.
Soon all the nuns in the nunnery began
biting each other.
This biting outbreak spread to other
nunneries as well,
reaching as far as nunneries in Italy
and Holland.
Some thought the biting epidemic was
caused by demons or the devil.
Priests said prayers and performed exorcisms
as possible cures,
but these measures proved ineffective; the
nuns kept biting each other
The biting contagion stopped when authorities
threatened to flog the biting nuns.
It has been determined the nuns suffered
mass hysteria,
and no demons or a devil caused the
psychogenic affliction.
Bob Boyd
How I hate class distinctions
one class superior to the other
snobbery and disdain
for the lower classes
arrogance and exaggerated
self importance
typical of the upper classes
the titled and privileged at the top
serfs and peasants at the bottom
what puzzles me most
is why are some born into
higher classes and why are
some born into the lower classes
I wish there were universal equality
Bob Boyd
Abandoned churches in the UK
though I’m not a church attender
this saddens me to see
some are said to be haunted
how could that be?
one or more became a bar
seems like blasphemy
one or more became mosques
Islam expanding in the UK
unlike Christianity
if Christianity and Christ are real
will Christ abandon those in the Uk
who abandoned his churches and Him?
that probably won’t happen
but it saddens me to see
abandoned churches in the UK
Bob Boyd
Sparrows, do you ever seek the truth,
Or like many preoccupied humans
Do you just seek food, mate and eat?
Do you ever wonder what it’s all about,
This uncertain fleeting life?
Or are you born like Zen birds
Not needing to question existence
Not concerned with the transience
Having built-in Buddha Minds
And free tickets to Nirvana?
Bob Boyd