A Prayer for Peace in the Middle East

Perhaps I'm nutty over words that rhyme, if I had it my way, I'd do it all the time. Rik laughs when I write poems like this. What ev - it's my blog, not his :)


On my bike ride home from the GIC*, a homeless traveler rolled up next to me.
A francophone all on his own, with his bicycle and the pack on his back.
Could I offer him a place to crash, some food to gnash and perhaps some cash?
I told him he couldn't bunk with me but I gave him my burrito and some money.
He offered to buy me a coffee if we met again. I told him the 5 bucks was a gift and not a lend.
On my way home I changed my mind. I raced downtown. I had a French man to find.
He was talking to a young man in front of the liquor store. Another target I wondered? An easy score.
I swept my judgment clean from my mind and told him that I had a favour of another kind.
War is raging in the Middle East. Please pray for our brothers, our sisters and for peace.
He turned to the young man "will you join us in prayer?". The young man replied with a confused stare.
A street sermon, beneath a fluorescent sign. With one hand on my heart I called on the divine.
A lot of awful crap is going down and we know it is not right.
Those soldiers aren't evil, all they know is to fight.
I wasn't quite sure how to end my piece, I figured it was done - we shared a prayer for peace.
The man gave my hand a firm squeeze. Our eyes connected, he looked and really saw me.

*GIC = Global Inspiration Conference. Visit www.gic2006.com


Here's Pamela dancing at the GIC talent show. She's got fast feet :)

Micey catches a ride on Froggy during a monsoon

WHAAAABOOOOM...KRRAAAKOOOM...

It's storming outside. I'm glad that I decided not to ride 49er with Rik, Kris and Ty. When we bike it last week, the sky was alive with bolts of lightning. Luckily we were far enough away and stayed dry. But as we rode throught the dark to the truck, the thunder claps and mind-blowing flashes made me tremble in my padded chamois.

"Is this normal? Have you ever seen lightning and heard thunder like this?" I ask Rik this question every time it storms hard. Looking for comfort, assurance that the world isn't about to lay the smack down on us.

When I was a kid I wore ear muffs to bed on stormy nights. Eventually, I replaced them with ear phones and a cassette player. The soft crooning of Sting and George Michael drowned out the chaos. I began to master avoidance at a very early age.

In my teens I postulated that in my past life I drowned in a flood. I had visions of being inside a house during a flood. It made sense to me. I liked my hypothesis - it explain why rain, thunder and lightning scared the beegeebees out of me.