![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() To a Bluebonnet
![]() Harbinger of spring
![]() Fashion plate with delicate
![]() Blue and White flowers with green leaves.
![]() Ringing out that winter is gone with its
![]() Cruel blast of Arctic wind that rules
![]() The Temperate Zone with numbing freeze.
![]() Delicate flower of the Texas Plain
![]() Growth uninterrupted through the fall and winter rain
![]() Covered in snow but growing on
![]() Until the warm spring days bring forth
![]() Delicate blue and white flowers,
![]() That burst forth in springtime songs
![]() To tell of all the things that are to be...
![]() And of all the things that have been.
![]() Roots nourishing on the decayed bones of buffalo,
![]() Growing in land that was trodden on by hooves of Indian Ponies.
![]() Limestone rock laid under ancient seas.
![]() Flowers of prehistoric times
![]() Surviving through drought, flood, fire...
![]() Plants growing from seed lying in the ground.
![]() Unable to grow until a time determined by nature's law,
![]() Bringing it forth to spring out of the soil.
![]() Delicate flower of thee I sing
![]() Praises on your beautiful frame
![]() That shows forth the work of God.
![]() You who can survive the stress of time
![]() And bloom with brilliance every spring.
![]() Send hope that the human race will also
![]() Survive Atomic bombs, pestilence and flood
![]() To do the work of the Divine
![]() Who was resurrected at Eastertime.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I TOOK THE OTHER ROAD
![]() I took the other road; the one you did not take.
![]() It was not any better; it was not any worse.
![]() But like you, I wondered what the other road was like,
![]() The one I did not take.
![]() Perhaps if you were here you could tell me because you took the other road.
![]() The one I did not take.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() 20th CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
![]() We are the pessimists of the earth,
![]() The grippers and the cynics.
![]() We see the black and never the light.
![]() We are a lost generation
![]() Born in a depression, raised in a war.
![]() Our eyes are green with lust.
![]() We want all we can get while the getting is good.
![]() Our golden rule, "Do unto others before they do unto you
![]() ~
![]() If you are wise you will give us what we want.
![]() We want everything, and we give nothing.
![]() Violence and hate is our creed,
![]() And we gain what we want by might.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() SAILOR'S PRAYER BEFORE THE STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
![]() To the God who made this man great,
![]() Give me the attributes he had:
![]() Give me a pure heart, a clear mind,
![]() Honesty, Courage and Character.
![]() Not that I may have praise of Public,
![]() Nor serve in the same capacity he did.
![]() But, in whatever place in life I fill,
![]() I may do my task in the manner he has done -
![]() Without fear of reproach of others
![]() So if someday some person should think of me,
![]() As I am now thinking of Lincoln,
![]() That person can make this same prayer to You.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() TEXAS TORNADO
![]() OR I SHALL NOT BE AFRAID
![]() Sirens wail,
![]() Our television blares.
![]() A tornado in on the ground
![]() Plus two or three or more are in the air.
![]() "Take cover immediately."
![]() "God, I will repent.
![]() Just show me a safe place to hide.
![]() I will not climb a wall in the hall,
![]() Nor be buried under a bathroom tile."
![]() No, this time I shall be a man.
![]() With my chest bared to the wind,
![]() I will spit in the devil's eye.
![]() Even as I rise to meet my Maker unafraid
![]() Wind shall sweep through my hair.
![]() Like Elijah, I shall be taken up into the sky.
![]() "Aren't you coming to bed?" my wife asks.
![]() "In a moment."
![]() "Look, the tornado missed us an hour ago,
![]() Why can't you come to bed?"
![]() ""I am stuck under it, that is why."
![]() "I shall not be afraid, only terrified."
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() AN ASTRONONAUNT'S VIEW OF THE EARTH
![]() Flying over the earth so round,
![]() Seeing Africa go by in daylight,
![]() Picking up South America.
![]() Asia's over there a ways.
![]() China's mountains keeps India isolated.
![]() Here's Central America.
![]() There's New York on your right.
![]() Chicago's on your left,
![]() Nome'll be under you soon.
![]() London, we shan't see tonight,
![]() She's all fogged in
![]() As is Boston on our next rotation.
![]() Isn't it a sight!
![]() Seeing the lights,
![]() From up here all is right.
![]() Really though, Iran's fighting Iraq I see.
![]() Russia's after Afghanistan or is it Pakistan?
![]() Soon Syria'll fight Israel if Egypt doesn't.
![]() Central America's a mess down there,
![]() With Contras fighting Sandinistas,
![]() And Russia wanting to get in the middle of it all.
![]() Why doesn't everyone get a rocket?
![]() And go in orbit.
![]() And let the world rest,
![]() Cause it won't fight with everyone off it.
![]() Or, will it?
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ANDERSONVILLE
![]() The leaves fall down at Andersonville.
![]() For over a hundred years they have moldered
![]() Over graves where men lived and died
![]() Of plague, starvation, and bloody flux.
![]() Under the accumulations of seasons,
![]() Footprints are hidden by moldering debris
![]() Which cannot mask all odors of those who
![]() Struggled to live and died surrounded by walls
![]() That cannot obliterate the smells of Andersonville.
![]() Confederates in gray upon the walls,
![]() Yankees in tattered blue below them
![]() Fighting not for their country's honor
![]() But for the right to molder and decay and
![]() Die at Andersonville.
![]() Honeysuckle grows over those hallowed grounds
![]() As woodbine creeps among the fallen leaves
![]() Where birds flit among the ruins
![]() And vie with squirrels for
![]() Nuts and seed grown on grass
![]() Which fed on those in blue
![]() Who gave their lives at Andersonville.
![]() ((In memory of those Union soldiers who died in the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.)
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ANTLERS
![]() Deer antlers on display in my driveway,
![]() Six points signifying six years,
![]() The bearer of this proud outgrowth
![]() Dwelt on this earth.
![]() Proud beast of the Texas woodland
![]() Siring a herd of does making him
![]() Father of a herd of fawns each year in his image
![]() Running through the post oak and the mesquite,
![]() Friend of the jay and the squirrel.
![]() Proud beast shot down in the prime of life
![]() By a poacher hunting out of season.
![]() Left to lie in a hidden ravine and rot
![]() By one who shot for sport.
![]() A coward who didn't dare recover your carcass
![]() That wasn't torn by buzzard, fox, or lesser beast
![]() Feasting on your body to perpetuate life in the forest glen.
![]() A waste was your life's end
![]() For God made life to give life, and not to end
![]() Lying in desolate weeds of a ravine
![]() Hidden from the eyes of other men.
![]() God made your life to carry on life in times of famine.
![]() One man hidden along a country road
![]() Brought your life to a wasted end.
![]() Unkept, unused for food or warmth
![]() Your body lay there on the cruel ground,
![]() A thing of beauty marred by death.
![]() I found you lying there
![]() Shot before hunting season started
![]() By two days, your hunter afraid to look
![]() And find your carcass for meat
![]() For his family and friends.
![]() I grieve for you who was shot down in life's prime,
![]() A little past being an old buck with strong ardor beating.
![]() Still able to sire a strong fawn during the
![]() The late summer heat and early fall's frost.
![]() Still of use to God and man on the universe.
![]() Still waiting for the long winter's cold blast.
![]() Still able to leap the fences and graze the grass
![]() That sustained your life under the skies.
![]() Full six years past and more to come
![]() Cut down by the blast of a rifle
![]() Triggered by a thoughtless hunter on a county road.
![]() A man wanting that which was not his for two day's more.
![]() He not giving you a chance to be hunted legally
![]() In the fall season of the time
![]() Paced by laws of man when you could be killed
![]() For food to carry a family through the winter.
![]() How often are we cut down in life
![]() Before the time appointed us to be killed
![]() By those who unmercifully want our part.
![]() That we have built up by ambition and work
![]() So that they can tear it down, and
![]() For a brief time live on what we have done?
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() CLIMB A MOUNTAIN
![]() In my youth
![]() I wanted to climb mountains.
![]() From crag to crag, I intended to go.
![]() Sometime I knew I would find one
![]() Where no one else had ever been.
![]() Instead of climbing mountains
![]() There was Korea.
![]() After which children in a slum demanded my love.
![]() At last after years of waiting, I had a son.
![]() Then my home was in the flatlands
![]() Helping men grow grain.
![]() Now the other world is through with me,
![]() But I can't climb mountains anymore.
![]() You can keep your pearly gates
![]() With streets of glittering gold.
![]() For eternity let me climb mountains
![]() So I can find the tallest one.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() A GRAMMARIAN'S PROPOSITION
![]() Let me put my dangling participle into your tightly close
![]() quotation marks,
![]() And expand them to encircling brackets until I reach your
![]() exclamation mark with my probing question mark.
![]() Perhaps you will see asterisks while I try to turn negative
![]() sentences into positive ones.
![]() Periods of rest may be followed by another dash to find where
![]() your apostrophe is hidden among a maze of run-on sentences and dependent clauses separated by a dainty comma.
![]() How good it will feel if my throbbing exclamation mark explodes into
![]() a myriad number of dots and dashes.
![]() After this, I'll explore your misplaced commas with something
![]() softer;
![]() A gentle, wet exploring in your dot may do.
![]() The complexity of this task is caused by both of us being in
![]() the confinement of tightly constructed sentences that will not give or
![]() take loosely constructed phrases or clauses
![]() But, who knows? The best of us split infinitives occasionally.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ETERNAL HILLS
![]() "I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help."
![]() Purple are they in the moonlight;
![]() Grey are they in the morning's first light.
![]() Dappled are they at noon with trees and dales,
![]() But in the evening as the sun goes down,
![]() Then I love them most.
![]() Sometimes their purple tops in the setting sun
![]() Glow with a crimson red
![]() Like the blood that flowed from Calvary.
![]() Sometimes they are pink on top with white sides
![]() Like a lady decked in pink and white.
![]() Moonlight, noon light, twilight
![]() Winter, spring, summer, fall;
![]() The hills are ever changing,
![]() Yet eternally the same.
![]() They are my home.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() THE VOID
![]() Dark skies, dim stars,
![]() The world is adrift in darkness.
![]() No light, no sight, nothing but blackness.
![]() Sighs here, cries there, something is travailing.
![]() Man dies, powder burns, fuse sputters shorter,
![]() What is happening in this world today?
![]() Nothing! No one knows! I don't. Do you?
![]() Hope is all gone, faith is smothered by fears,
![]() Waster here, nothing there, sadness is everywhere;
![]() Sight is gone, hate rules all.
![]() Why fight for what is right? What is right?
![]() No one knows. Light is gone and evil rules.
![]() Men lovers of self, ignore their God.
![]() Are we doomed? Is there no hope?
![]() Something new is stirring in the moor,
![]() Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() FALL
![]() It is a beauteous time of the year.
![]() The fall rains have passed.
![]() Nature rests from the plenteous heat;
![]() There is a stillness in the air
![]() That echoes in the greeness of the grass.
![]() The last rose blooms amidst the flower,
![]() And it sheds a shadow on the pavement.
![]() There are thoughts in the season.
![]() The leaves turn gold and yellow
![]() Fluttering to the ground upon gentle wings.
![]() The birds flit in the autumn sunlight,
![]() As thoughts upon the summer fade away.
![]() Soon the cold days of winter will be here
![]() But the memory of this one day will sustain me
![]() As do my thoughts of you.
![]() (Dedicated to my Wife and Son.)
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() FOUR-MILE-CUT
![]() Last time I was down here fishing at Matagorda Peninsula
![]() Four Mile Cut wasn't here.
![]() Something about the oil people getting mad,
![]() And turning the water loose.
![]() Four-Mile Cut, you ruined my fishing trip.
![]() I intended to go up to the shell bank.
![]() I wonder if the oil people know, or care?
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() (Matagorda Peninsula is on the Texas Coast west of Houston. It's some good place.)
![]() ![]() ![]() FRUSTRATED?
![]() Is acid eating your stomach lining?
![]() How about your blood pressure?
![]() Is your mind in turmoil about having to waste
![]() Your life while waiting for others?
![]() Remember, while on a train
![]() Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on an envelope.
![]() His speech still shakes a nation.
![]() Instead of fretting and
![]() Killing yourself from frustration,
![]() Write a poem,
![]() And live longer.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() GOOD FRIDAY
![]() The officials who knocked on his door, said,
![]() "You've cleaned up the town by,
![]() making the camel dealers be truthful,
![]() and by making the money changers be honest.
![]() You've healed the sick and raised the dead."
![]() "And?" he asked.
![]() "We're taking you to your temple to make you king."
![]() "I don't see any chariot pulled by white horses."
![]() Suspicion was in his voice.
![]() "We are going to do it according to the scriptures.
![]() You are to ride on one of great David's royal asses."
![]() "The crowd with palm branches?"
![]() "They'll make the path green with the royal plant."
![]() "Let me get my coat and hat."
![]() "No need," they said. "We have a purple robe."
![]() "The gold crown is mine?" he asked in awe.
![]() "It is yours.
![]() Wear it proudly when you sit on your golden throne."
![]() The multitude cheered him on his way.
![]() Too late he found the crown was thorns.
![]() His purple robe was split. The armored multitude carried swords and spears,
![]() And the golden throne was a cruel cross
![]() Built by the camel dealers and the moneychangers.
![]() "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() HER AUNT'S FUNERAL
![]() ![]() We went back after they finished shoveling dirt into her grave.
![]() Heat made the grama grass dry and twisted.
![]() Since a hot Texas sun sucked June moisture, there was no green left.
![]() Cicadas worked at a loud and noisy song that screamed for water,
![]() And the beaming light twisted and turned into optical illusion
![]() That made mad men see sticks turn into rattlesnakes.
![]() "You still want to be buried here by your parents?"
![]() "If you don't mind," she answered.
![]() "We better buy our plots this time."
![]() "You plan on dying?"
![]() I answered, "At our age one never knows."
![]() "You want a double tombstone?" she asked.
![]() After I agreed, I thought about the Texas heat.
![]() Hell, I wouldn't hurt her for anything, but if she dies first,
![]() They can put my name on the tombstone,
![]() But I may have my corpse shipped to Colorado,
![]() If the ground isn't frozen too hard to dig.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() IN MEMORY
![]() From under a cold, gray winter sky
![]() We feel the chagrin in losing our own,
![]() And nothing comes but, "Why?"
![]() Why must he rest under a cold, frozen ground?
![]() We loved him so when we remember his boyish grin,
![]() And we still remember the guilt of anger we knew
![]() When some of his ways were against our ways,
![]() For he was an individual, we know,
![]() Made by God for a reason.
![]() I cannot give you an answer,
![]() Only that you might find the strength of the live oak,
![]() But when early spring brightens the sky,
![]() Perhaps when blue bonnets bloom
![]() Among the other myriad blossoms,
![]() A yellow butterfly shall dip,
![]() And a gentle wind blowing the grass
![]() Shall whisper the answer,
![]() And you will know God's reason.
![]() I really hope so, I really do.
![]() (February 12, 1994)
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() LATE BLOOMING EASTER LILY
![]() The creamy-white Easter lily blooms by the bird fountain.
![]() Its loveliness adds a spring beauty to the backyard flower garden.
![]() A redbird sits on the fountain and drinks water.
![]() Soon it will fly back to its grown fledglings.
![]() They are ready to leave the nest.
![]() A squirrel brings her almost grown young to eat sunflower seed.
![]() Hulls fall on the fragile, lovely Easter lily,
![]() Blooming on the first day of June.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() MARCHING IN MARYLAND
![]() Navy men in Maryland marching
![]() Through the snow we marched.
![]() Men to the left and men to the right,
![]() Men to the front and men to the rear.
![]() We marched in tight formation with our rifles
![]() Pointed toward the sky.
![]() There were clouds above us,
![]() Those we would not shoot.
![]() We were dressed in blue and white
![]() Though the white was only on our heads.
![]() Our rifle barrels were plugged.
![]() The enemy was in Korea.
![]() A flock of seagulls circled and swooped above us,
![]() Mother Machree's chickens,
![]() God's noblest birds,
![]() We passed the reviewing stand together.
![]() We were the ex-hospital company who had survived the flu.
![]() The seagulls fell in behind us
![]() In perfect formation they marched two by two
![]() Picking up the snot.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() MY VIEW OF THE IRAN-CONTRA HEARINGS JULY 1987
![]() Thirty or more fat toads sat glaring
![]() Their eyes were steely mean as they sought to destroy a warrior.
![]() Some had hair; some had none; and some had half and half,
![]() My God it's true, it was a sight I saw.
![]() Some had been warriors when it was popular to be warriors,
![]() Now it was popular to be peaceful, fat toads who made no waves.
![]() "You lied," they said in deep baritones, tenors and very little bass. "You lied in protecting our lily pond."
![]() "It's true," the Warrior said. "I lied to save lives other than my own."
![]() "You are a Warrior, and Warriors cannot lie, it's true."
![]() "But I only sought to protect my country and it's people with my own life."
![]() "Guilty," all the toads said in unison. "It's clear you are guilty, it's true"
![]() Before a judgement could be pronounced, there came the sounds of men marching.
![]() "Honorable Toads, they come marching."
![]() "Who comes marching?" they cried in unison.
![]() "The enemies of the lily pond come marching with many soldiers."
![]() Turning to the Warrior, they asked in a chorus,
![]() "Will you give your life for us?" they pleaded.
![]() "Not I," said the Warrior,
![]() "You have tried to prove me guilty of committing schemes against the government."
![]() "Will you sacrifice the safety of your family?"
![]() "Get you another kicking boy. I tried to protect you when you when the enemy was sighted four hundred miles from our border."
![]() "But now the enemy is outside the walls. We implore you to protect us."
![]() "I lie. I am a deceiver and a cheat. I am not worthy to give my life for your lily pad."
![]() Thus ended Democracy on a July day, 1987 AD without a warrior who lied to protect his country.
![]() I cried as I turned off the T.V.
![]() AMEN
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() OLD BUSTER
![]() Edgar is gone today.
![]() Cancer, they say, of the lymph glands.
![]() At his age it is hard to do anything.
![]() There is a chance that he may come home.
![]() It looks kind of rough for you, though,
![]() Isolated like this out here.
![]() You would probably start killing chickens.
![]() Wonder what we can do for you?
![]() No one wants you at your age.
![]() Town life would be crowded,
![]() Besides you howl at the moon.
![]() Guess someone will have to shoot you.
![]() Maybe his sons will.
![]() I won't.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() POLITICIANS
![]() When I consider how the money of this state
![]() Is wasted on antique furniture and big desks
![]() For little men in large offices to waste their time.
![]() How that men who are hired to help
![]() Use their talent and time to cause trouble,
![]() Then I am tempted to say democracy will not survive
![]() Until one day when those who deceive
![]() Are driven out of office.
![]() (Dedicated to former Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Jim Hightower)
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() POLLUTION
![]() I have felt the acid rain,
![]() I have smelt the dying fish.
![]() From somewhere DDT turned to DDE in my fatty flesh,
![]() And a new born baby died in its mother's womb because of chemical toxicity.
![]() I heard a little child's cry as it sought a teat that was dry;
![]() Somewhere a farmer's crop ruined because of insects, and there was no food for the little child, or his brother and sister.
![]() Somewhere a brown pelican died in the shell because of DDT,
![]() And I heard a farmer's tractor plowing up the grassy sod, and I watched rivers turn brown with silt.
![]() A seagull covered with oil slick, drowned, and the beach turned to tar balls.
![]() An old man died because of natural pain.
![]() Once, I caught a wad of plastic on a hook, and a few days later a whale died because of undigested plastic sheeting.
![]() Proctor and Gamble let soap suds run down the Ohio River to Louisville.
![]() My white tennis shoes were black with oil that made the fish as uneatable as the mercury contaminated fish in Michigan's lake.
![]() I have heard of holes in the ionosphere caused by people spraying their stinking armpits.
![]() And, they say there is a layer of smog that is melting the earth's icecaps.
![]() My car's exhaust puts out a thin black smoke and Colorado's spruce and pines die.
![]() But, I can't see anymore because an organic phosphate insecticide burned out my eyes.
![]() Which is what this poem is all about, anyway.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() SAYING GOODBYE AT THE VETERAN'S HOSPITAL FOR THE MENTALLY ILL
![]() When you turned and walked away
![]() Old and bent over a walker,
![]() Your shirttail hanging out,
![]() I had to cry.
![]() You were young once.
![]() We dreamed dreams,
![]() And played
![]() While we built castles in the sky.
![]() What took you away?
![]() Was it the war
![]() That changed your castles
![]() To dungeons in your mind?
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() SHOULD WE?
![]() Darkness, black sky, black cloud,
![]() A wet highway,
![]() Should we go on?
![]() Or turn back?
![]() We continued forward,
![]() And a tornado cut a
![]() Wide swath where we would have stayed.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() TEXAS
![]() Giant boiling in the summer sun,
![]() Freezing under the winter's northern blast.
![]() Shivering, broiling, growing upward, outward.
![]() Oil dripping from your veins,
![]() Cattle grazing on your plain.
![]() Land of slaughter, land of pain and joy.
![]() Land of contrast: of prairies, hills, pines, and coastal plain.
![]() Riches, poverty. Pride and little shame.
![]() A land in the making, land of excitement,
![]() Tingling adventure, stories of rustlers, cattlemen, pirates,
![]() Indians galloping across your dusty plain
![]() On horses sired in the best of Spanish stables.
![]() Ghosts of Spanish conquistadors still picking the hills
![]() Looking for Cibola and other treasures.
![]() Pirate ships putting into port along the lonely dunes
![]() Hiding treasures gained from the mighty Spanish Main.
![]() Rough homesteaders finding hope in its land.
![]() Cotton as far as the eye can see, bursting white.
![]() The moaning of slaves in the cold fall morning
![]() Turning to chants of joy as the sun grows hotter.
![]() Plantation owners living in white mansions
![]() On grass-covered hills, men of vision
![]() Trying to tame the giant land.
![]() Wildcatters tapping the oil pools deep beneath the ground,
![]() Laughing, shouting with joy as another one blows in.
![]() German noblemen finding freedom from tyrants
![]() Giving names with pleasing phrase.
![]() Mexicans toiling the vegetable fields
![]() Working in factories, riding after the cattle,
![]() You have left your mark on a rich heritage.
![]() Cities: Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, El Paso,
![]() Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock of the plains, San Antonio
![]() Noble names. Standing clear against the skyline,
![]() Clean, strong, good cities, proud of your names.
![]() Churches, statesmen, school persons, soldiers
![]() Trying to tame the giant of the west.
![]() Bowie, Travis, Houston, Austin, Crockett,
![]() Truett, Hogg, Johnson,
![]() Men of vision, the roll call goes on and on.
![]() Churches of all faiths trying to grow and tame the giant.
![]() Can they do it?
![]() The answer lies in the future.
![]() Can regionalism rise above itself?
![]() To reach out nationally and farther, even over the world?
![]() Can factionism, racialism, and denominationalism work together
![]() To unite a giant that can throw its shadow
![]() Farther across the plain and sea?
![]() Making its contributions in feeding and clothing mankind,
![]() And more important, feeding the souls of men with its ideals and ideas.
![]() Creating a reality of love for the worth of the individual.
![]() Can we do it?
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() THE LEAVES IN MY YARD
![]() The leaves had an ecumenical meeting in my yard last night.
![]() They came to gossip and to play; they stayed
![]() I recognized the red maple from across the street.
![]() There were delegates from the silver maple two doors up.
![]() There were the fruitless mulberry leaves from across the street.
![]() From next door, there were the oak leaves.
![]() A few from my yard stayed, but most went visiting.
![]() A few cottonwood and pecan leaves fell and remained where they belonged.
![]() There were a few pine needles, and the magnolia shed a few.
![]() But, most of the leaves were uninvited.
![]() They should have stayed home,
![]() Or better still, their owners should have raked them up
![]() And bagged them as I had to do.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() THOUGHTS ON AN ABANDONED HOMESTEAD
![]() I wandered through the woods one day,
![]() It was in early May,
![]() I happened on a pasture full of waving bluebonnets
![]() All were swaying in the breeze.
![]() There were pink and yellow blossoms mixed with whites.
![]() Nothing broke the silence but gaily singing birds.
![]() Rabbits jumped and played,
![]() Their white tails bobbing in the hay.
![]() Where human footsteps once fell
![]() The footsteps of God sounded now
![]() As he created a world fashioned
![]() After His own choosing.
![]() I felt His presence
![]() Among the dancing flowers in the month of May.
![]() There is order in disorder.
![]() A road little traveled.
![]() Pastures full of weeds and bushes,
![]() A house and barn neglected.
![]() Trees untrimmed. Flowers everywhere.
![]() Fish in the tank uncaught,
![]() Birds in the meadows unshot,
![]() Deer in the woods going to waste.
![]() Some would say, "What a shame."
![]() But, I would say,
![]() "Beauty is of great value
![]() Even though the hay has been replaced by flowers."
![]() A homestead in the wilderness
![]() Forgotten now with abandonment.
![]() Windows without panes.
![]() Hayloft without hay.
![]() Once there were happy children's
![]() Voices in the new mown pastures,
![]() Kept in neatness from weeds and flowers
![]() In what some person thought was perfect order.
![]() Those who kept it are gone,
![]() With no cattle and horses to beat out the grass and flowers.
![]() You have beauty now.
![]() Beauty that is different
![]() Than when humans made your beauty.
![]() There are flowers blooming
![]() With honeybees buzzing flowers.
![]() Weeds, they call them
![]() Grace your pastures,
![]() Patterned by the hand of God.
![]() Even though no longer do the children's voices
![]() Ring in happy choruses.
![]() No longer do machines cut your hay.
![]() There is no value in an abandoned homestead,
![]() But, for some reason, I like you better
![]() Than when you were making money instead of honey
![]() For the bees
![]() II.
![]() In the meadow
![]() Among the hayfields,
![]() Time has left its mark.
![]() Where what some would say,
![]() "Weeds. That's all that grows there now.
![]() It wasn't that way when Old Bill
![]() Was alive to keep them cut down,
![]() That was the best-kept place
![]() Nothing ever grew there
![]() That Old Bill didn't want around.
![]() You didn't see bluebonnets blooming
![]() In that hayfield.
![]() No, Sir, Billy Bob,
![]() He had his whole family out knocking down those critters.
![]() You didn't see the buildings without paint.
![]() The barn was always filled with hay."
![]() "It's that no count son of his
![]() Off chasing around the world looking for petroleum.
![]() A Geologist, they say with some oil people.
![]() Last I heard of him it was Saudi Arabia.
![]() Last year it was Alaska.
![]() Before that, the North Sea.
![]() Once he was offshore drilling near Galveston.
![]() Next year he maybe on the moon.
![]() Who knows? All I know, his daddy
![]() Wouldn't like it.
![]() Letting the fields
![]() Grow up with weeds and flowers."
![]() (Written while looking at a painting by Dalhart Windberg. The poetic sketches are an attempt to do with words what Windberg did with paint.)
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() WAR NEWS
![]() My television set is broken,
![]() No one can fix it.
![]() On Sunday morning it has a split personality.
![]() On Channel Eight, a preacher tells me God is love.
![]() On Channel Twenty-six, a newscaster tells me,
![]() WAR
![]() IN GREAT BIG LETTERS FOLLOWED BY CNN.
![]() I hope someone will fix my television set soon. I want both channels to tell me in great big letters
![]() GOD IS LOVE.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() WAR
![]() The crust of the earth spawns a creature
![]() Full of lust, hideous in habit and appearance.
![]() War is this monster's name,
![]() Death is his calling card.
![]() The sour ferment of the earth brings forth
![]() Many evils: first it was the man,
![]() And next out of man came woman.
![]() Out of woman came death and destruction.
![]() From out of the ripe womb spewed forth two men.
![]() One was pure and simple; the other was a part of the Devil.
![]() A lion and a lamb, both spawned in the same womb.
![]() From their kind came all human creatures.
![]() II
![]() Guns belch and smoke, a widow cries over her lost one.
![]() An orphan stands in the crimson flow and begs for food.
![]() A soldier rapes a staked girl on the beach,
![]() And feels her body grow cold under him.
![]() In the distance an inferno of hell breaks loose,
![]() Smoke towers and shoots upward
![]() Followed by Hell's fires itself.
![]() It its path reigns destruction and misery.
![]() Men die and are called heroes by folks at home.
![]() (It doesn't matter which side they fight on,
![]() someone loves them, and calls them their own.)
![]() Victims of circumstances, win or lose, does it matter?
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() WEST TEXAS
![]() Pathfinders,
![]() Destiny makers.
![]() Spectacular mountains against an empty sky.
![]() Open plains,
![]() Tattered pioneers,
![]() They came in covered wagons.
![]() Canvas flapping in the breeze.
![]() Oxen struggling at their yokes.
![]() Men with rifles,
![]() Women with babes in their arms.
![]() Screaming Indians intent on scalping.
![]() Nothing ahead,
![]() Nothing behind for miles and months and forever and ever.
![]() The red headed woman in wagon two
![]() Went crazy
![]() Before the drovers circled their wagons.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() OAK TREE IN THE PASTURE WITH A BUZZARD IN IT
![]() There is an old oak tree in the pasture.
![]() There's a big buzzard sitting in it.
![]() That old buzzard keeps watching me.
![]() I watch the buzzard;
![]() The two of us watch each other.
![]() The buzzard thinks he got me.
![]() And some days he takes off
![]() His big wings flop.
![]() "Buzzard, you better go watch somewhere else.
![]() There is still life in this body.
![]() Buzzard, you can't pick my mind.
![]() My mind is still working.
![]() Go home, Buzzard, go find your wife and family.
![]() Find you a dead rabbit.
![]() Eat it and leave me alone."
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() RABBIT HUNTING IN THE SNOW
![]() We went rabbit hunting in the snow
![]() With the beagle chasing rabbits in circles.
![]() All we had to do was sit until
![]() The rabbit came right back to where we were,
![]() The beagle right behind it.
![]() Cold January day
![]() The beagle barking with the rabbit one step ahead.
![]() It finally gets away.
![]() It was going in the hole when its head was shot off and
![]() Picked up to take home.
![]() "Rabbit, you are no different than we are.
![]() We think we are gettin' away, we have it made.
![]() Running in a circle, the circle gets bigger and bigger.
![]() We get hit with a shotgun. That is all."
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() TRUE SERVICE
![]() In days of old when knights so bold rode forth in
![]() shining armor to do service for God and King in
![]() lands both far and near,
![]() There once by chance did three of the noblest meet
![]() on a cold winter night in the mountains of a small
![]() kingdom long lost in antiquity.
![]() The snow was falling softly and no lodging could
![]() be found.
![]() One knight bore the cross in red upon his shield,
![]() another the picture of the blessed virgin fair; the
![]() third, a fish, the symbol of the early Christian.
![]() Their mounts were of the whitest to show their purity.
![]() With pennants bravely waving in the cold they rode
![]() forth in pursuit of knowledge.
![]() After riding on, by chance they did come upon the
![]() humble hovel of a woodcutter who lived under the
![]() lofty crags.
![]() At the hailing of the knights, the woodcutter came
![]() forth, though of the same age as the knights, his
![]() body already began to show the burden of his toil.
![]() Bidding them with good cheer he offered his meager
![]() food and lodging for the night.
![]() The knights, though wishing for better fare dismounted
![]() quickly and after unsaddling came in from the cold.
![]() The meal was plain but filling, the hut was cozy.
![]() Soon by the cheer of the warm fire light the host and
![]() guests soon fell into talk and soon thereafter into
![]() a drowsy laughter.
![]() Whether from the strenuous ride or from the ale that
![]() had cheered their meal there suddenly appeared to
![]() all four, a glorious vision of the Risen Saviour.
![]() All fell down in worship awe and reverence filled their
![]() hearts with adoration.
![]() Bidding them to be not afraid the Master invited them
![]() to be seated and then without commanding but in a
![]() tone that forbade their misunderstanding He asked
![]() for an accounting of their undertakings.
![]() The knight, who bore the cross, told how he was
![]() traveling far across land and sea to slay the infidels
![]() who occupied the birthplace of the Holy Infant
![]() whom the Christians reverenced.
![]() Fully a hundred he had slashed with the sword until
![]() losing it, he had ran almost as many through with
![]() the spear.
![]() Until his blood mingled in with those of the others
![]() left to die in shouts and moaning.
![]() Gaining his strength again he had ridden home to gain
![]() more followers to wreak more vengeance on the heathen.
![]() The knight, who proudly carried the image of the Virgin,
![]() told with pride how that he defended the Holy Word.
![]() When hearing of heretics he rode forth swiftly to
![]() stamp out all vestige of rebellion.
![]() Whole villages he had massacred for changing even one
![]() word of the Holy Writ.
![]() Just now he was returning from a mission to a nearby
![]() village where he had flogged and burned heretics
![]() as an example.
![]() The knight who carried the fish, the lowly symbol of
![]() persecuted men who centuries ago had been in hiding,
![]() told how he fought against those who would not pay the taxes of the Church,
![]() It was his duty to slay those who would not pay and
![]() thus destroy the Church,
![]() In battle dress he sought to press the battle against
![]() those who sought to destroy the Church by not
![]() supporting it and not helping to give gold and silver
![]() to ornate it.
![]() The knights having finished with their noble tales of
![]() service that they did for Christ, would have noticed
![]() if their vision were not so inward, tears running
![]() down their Master's face.
![]() Turning to the lowly woodcutter, the Christ did ask
![]() what tasks of charity he did.
![]() The woodcutter stammered, "Nothing Sire, Nothing. My
![]() station in life is so base, my untrained mind has
![]() conceived of nothing worthy."
![]() The Master spoke with tones of understanding, "Did you
![]() not yesterday carry food to the Widow? Were you
![]() not the one whose tender hands nursed the sick child?
![]() The night of the full moon, did you not rescue a
![]() traveler from the clutches of robbers?
![]() Did you not comfort and clothe the miller's family
![]() after the fire that so devasted the mill?
![]() Was it not you that visited the jail each evening to
![]() bring comfort to the prisoners?
![]() Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these,
![]() my brother, you are truly the one who shall be
![]() called the greatest in the Kingdom of God.
![]() As for these Knights so brave, who are called by my
![]() name and -work so diligently for me,
![]() I never knew them, I have no part in them or they
![]() in me. They work for vain glories and not for me."
![]() Thus saying he departed seeking for other true servants.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() MODERN BUFFALOES
![]() OLD TIMERS SAY WILD INDIANS OF TEXAS ATE BUFFALO MEAT, WORE AND LIVED UNDER THE SHAGGY BEASTS' HIDES.
![]() We were in Comanches and Apache country east of El Paso
![]() When we saw them coming out of the setting sun.
![]() Big droves of shaggy animals followed one by one.
![]() Food and clothing for the "People" was packed on their backs.
![]() One behind the other
![]() Hurrying to their Eastern homes,
![]() The monsters came in packs.
![]() Instead of these "modern buffaloes" wearing Hides covering meat for the savage Indians,
![]() Their metal bodies were branded with:
![]() Kroger, Hunt, Tyson Chicken, Montgomery Ward,
![]() And the biggest beast of all had,
![]() "WALMART" IN BIG BOLD LETTERS.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() I found something good in the water
![]() It was you.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() THE LAKE IN DECEMBER
![]() The lake in December
![]() Glistens in the mist.
![]() It should be frozen,
![]() But it is July in December this year.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() CAMPING IN THE RAIN
![]() ~
![]() WE WERE TOGETHER ONCE
![]() ![]() ![]() We were together once, you and I
![]() We shared each other, and in the sharing,
![]() We found that we became one,
![]() And in one, complete.
![]() We were parted, and that which was complete became
![]() Two again in a sense,
![]() And in another sense that which was complete could never become two again,
![]() Because that which has been brought together is complete,
![]() And can never be parted.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() LAKE IN DECEMBER
![]() The lake in December
![]() Glistens in the mist.
![]() It should be frozen,
![]() But it is July in December this year.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() THE WATER
![]() Come back to the water again
![]() It shall cleanse me since
![]() From the water we began,
![]() From the water we shall return.
![]() The water washes the dust
![]() We are washed by the water.
![]() I found something in the water
![]() That was good.
![]() It was you.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() ![]() ![]() DECEMBER RAIN
![]() Fishing in the rain
![]() In the back of the pickup in the camper
![]() Watching the rain.
![]() Texas rains are unusual in December.
![]() Warm almost like summer,
![]() Lost a big one tonight, the fish got away.
![]() Time between sundown and time to go to bed is lonely
![]() No sign that there will be anyone with me.
![]() This was not true a long time ago
![]() The rain keeps coming down,
![]() And It makes loud noises on top of the camper.
![]() It is lonely
![]() Looks like it is going to rain all night.
![]() It's going to ruin the fishing trip
![]() Never catch very much when it's raining
![]() Just getting out is fun.
![]() It's been a long time since I was out
![]() Wondered if I would ever make it again.
![]() December rain falling on the window pane,
![]() And on the camper top: plop, plop
![]() December rain, I don't think it will ever stop.
![]() By Luther Butler
![]() (CAMPING IN THE RAIN was recorded while camping.)
![]() ![]() ![]() The poems on this site were written by Luther Butler.
![]() Feel free to use them in anyway you care. Please put the author's name in connection with each copy.
![]() ![]() ![]() Luther Butler was born of southern parents in Alamosa, Colorado in 1929.
![]() He holds degrees from Eastern New Mexico University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Tarleton State University.
![]() He served in the US Navy and has ranched, worked in a mental hospital, in inner city slums, and was with the Texas Department of Agriculture for 23 years.
![]() He is married to Jo Butler and has one son.
![]() Novels by the author can be found at Luther Butlers Bookstore.
![]() ![]() Here are my other sites. Come and visit me.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Good or bad, I want a bunch of E-mails
![]() Contact the author: lbutler@erath.net
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This site is owned by: Luther Butler
(c) Copyright 2002
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