POEMS by Mike Bailey
These are some poems that I wrote between 1973 & 1982

WE THOUGHT WE KNEW SO MUCH
W thought we knew so much
But in the end we found out how little we knew
We became wise in our own eyes
We did not see far enough ahead to the pit we would fall in
We didn't think we could fall
We thought we were too sharp to stumble
We were blind and walking in darkness
We thought the angels would never leave us
This thought never entered our minds
In our hour of glory we did not see the darkness ahead
We had sowed the seeds of contempt and didn't realize it
The angels fled to watch from a distance
Then the time came to change our thinking
The time came to weigh our motives
The time came to judge ourselves
We searched our souls and evaluated the situation
And stood on the highway of life
We looked down the road that leads to destruction
We looked down the road that leads to life
And called on ten thousand legions of angels in the name of the Lord
To help us back on the road to life
We picked up where we left off, wounded but wiser
As the wounds healed we walked more careful

MANY DAYS AGO
The wind blew over the white capped waves
That slap against the shore
And the bobbing seaweed whips
That cluster by the score
Castles made of sand on the beach
Are washed away with the tide
Above the green blue watery spray
Seagulls soar and glide
Then a towering bluff of mud
The winding trails go down
To the salty water below
They call the Puget Sound
Many a day in my younger years
I walked the silver sand
My mind emersed in tranquil thoughts
While terranian scenes I scanned
I drank into natures mysteries
And listened to her tales
And dug for clams among the rocks
While watching boats with sails
Now many years have come and gone
But these memories I still hold
As I walked along the beach
In silence and still untold
Alone I stood neith summer sun
The lessons I learned well
Of innocents and experience
The human tongue can't tell
I left that shore, I left that sand
I left in the evening tide
I climbed that towering bluff of mud
Where I let my thoughts just glide
I went on home where I belonged
And dreamed of a different land
I live my life the way I do
You'd think I had this planned

THE WAIT
Something is about to happen
Something is about to spring forth
The unknown future is at hand
Apprehension is in the air
The general mood is distilled
The atmosphere is subdued
Life can't stop
Life will go on despite success or failure

Something is about to happen
Something is about to spring forth
My bones are no longer jittery
I'm no longer numb
The stoney side of my heart is present
My guard is let up
The walls are erected
I'm ready
No arrow can penetrate
No dart can puncture
Let the unknown future come for I am ready

TALKING TO MY SOUL
Eternal silence of the soul
Erupt now and bring forth thy savory meditations

As the soul gives, it freely recieves
Truth always remains the truth
Through trial the soul is purified
Know thyself
In patience you posess your soul
God is the creator of all things
Place your desires on the eternal
Be satisfied with yourself
In your darkest moment reach out to God
He will be there giving eternal rest to your soul

I AM THE EARTH
I am the earth
I encompass all
All the elements are within my reach
Men extract minerals and metals from me
In time they return
In patience I wait for generations
I wait for centuries
I wait for whole civilizations to pass
I remain the same
People come and go, and I recieve them all
It doesn't matter if they are rich or poor
Their spirit goes somewhere else
But they will return, I am the earth
With the help of mother nature I encompass all
Time corrodes and rots and wilts
And makes everything ready to return
Nothing escapes my friend time
The sun is also my helper
He dries things out
And the rain breaks them down
Working together with time
I recieve all the sun and rain have to offer
I churn
I erupt
I obsorb everything that comes into reach
I'm red
I'm brown
I"m rich and black
And also sandy
I envelope everything
Trees, bushes, shrubs, sage brush and bramble
Every kind of animal
I am the earth
I encompass all

THIS TIME OF THE YEAR ( A free form poem)
1
I love this time of the year
When the fog rolls in
And the moon looks like vapor
It's a change from the clear night skys

The seasons change and mystery fills the air
I love the feeling in the air
The unknow future is at hand
I long for the seasons to change
I love the shadows
The misty presence in the darkenss
The change of thinking
The quietness
The stillness in the air at midnight

2
I love this time of the year
The vaporous moon waxing and waning
Forgotten are the clear nights with twinkling stars
That follow their own course through the sky

The seasons change and bring new mysteries
And apprehension for the future
Inspiration for the present
Long and forgotten are those summer days
Which are now a trail of memories
I look forward to the dark shadows of the evening
The picturesque scenes of mist
In this atmosphere I can think and create
In this quietness my soul is elevated

3
Summer is fading
There's a chill in the air
It's time to think about winter
It's time to prepare for the chilly days to come
It's time to cut wood
To put up preserves and buy new clothes
Summer is fading fast
It's harvest time
It's time to organize
to take toll
to take stock
My th0ughts have begun to crystalize
I love this time of the year
When summer fades away


THE DESCISION
I've got a descision to make
I can't make a mistake
The responsibility I can't shake
I'll go down to the lake
A picnic lunch I will take
Along with a cake
I need to be alone to make
A descision

COME NOW MY SONS
Come now son of my right hand
And come now son of my left
Let us go down the path of life
The way of the transgressor is hard
So walk not in that path
I will show you mysteries I have learned of life
Let us climb the mountains together
Let us walk through the planes
I gaze at the horizon as you run before me
I sit on a rock as you play
And pick huckleberries and blackberries
I'll be there when you need me
I won't turn you away
Son of my right hand
Son of my left hand

WE LEAVE THE GRAVES...
We leaves the graves and the bones of our dogs and cats
We leave the graves and roam the world seeking a new habitation
A habitation we can call our own
Once more our horizons will broaden
We are about to embark upon a new adventure
An adventure into the unknown

We are born, we live and we die
Our bones are put into the dust and covered with sod
We cease from our labor and enter into everlasting eternity
Contemplate it and hold that contemplation
Savor the thought and dwell upon it
I think of the vast universes beyond and wonder how other worlds live
Rockets are sent into space and bring back only the elements of the universe
Knowledge is good, for man was made to aquire knowledge

I think of antiquity:
Ancient man built great civilizations and went as far as they could
And when they couldn't accomplish anymore the civilization passed away
It's knowlege was also forgotten and looked upon as foolish
We leave the graves and bones of our cats and dogs again
And I comtemplate the vast universe

THE WAR
The year was nineteen sixty-eight
I was in my nineteenth year
I graduated from high school
And the future seemed unclear
I couldn't escape destiny
That which I feared the most
I had to serve my country
And go to a foriegn post

I never thought of myself as a soldier
And I didn't want to kill
But my country was calling me
So I went to learn that skill
I didn't know what war was like
But I thought I would give it a try
But the thought kept nagging me
That I would go there and die

My heart slowly turned to stone
I became cold and mean
They taught us how to shoot and kill
And be a good Marine
I learned that trade the best I could
I would not turn and run
I finally resigned within myself
I would live in that land of hot sun

My name became a number
In that outfit of Uncle Sam
And after six months of training
I was bound for Vietnam
I learned many things about life
My fate seemed very clear
I wouldn't be living my life out
For my end seemed very near

They handed us our weopans
You had to shoot or die
You had to kill or be killed
And ask no reason why
I walked all over that country
Strange sights came into view
Most of the people were friendly
The enemy were few

That whole nation of people
Employed in their various trades
Working for the bare necessities
Inbetween the communist raids
The eastern way of living
Was a mystery to me
They did not believe in progress
And stayed in poverty

They practised their old traditions
And never seemed to advance
And with each new generation
They never got a chance
There was no set battle field
There were no enemy lines
Everywhere was no-mans land
Booby-traps and land mines

Sometimes we'd engage in a conflict
Sometimes the shooting would cease
And few were the tranquil moments
Where you could sit down & think of peace
Yes I walked all over that country
But there's nothing I regret
About anything I did over there
And the rest I'm bound to forget

We left our homes in the states
To that foreign land of endless toil
And turned into wild animals
Longing for American soil
That was back in nineteen sixty-eight
When I was only nineteen
I looked and acted older then
For the things that I had seen

As the months passed in Vietnam
I got tired of being on the constant roam
All my thoughts and aspirations
Centered around going home
I'd been in that place too long
Anyone could plainly see
I prayed to the Lord late one day
To set my spirit free

My skin was covered with dust and dirt
My clothes were worn to rags
I couldn't get over the constant thought
Of bodies flown home in bags
The moral of the troops grew low
With each new casualty
And with the apathy felt back home
There was no morality

All this took place long ago
History will record
Whatever was right or wrong
Will eventually be ingored
But there is one lesson I learned
That I have lived to tell
It's the same lesson Sherman learned
And that is WAR IS HELL

THE GOLD OF TIME
A thought is hidden deep within the resources of your mind.
You extract the gold that is buried in the chambers of your heart.
You excavate the thought processes and the wisdom heard from the ancients.
You dig deep and find a vein of gold.
You try it by fire and purify it.. and cleanse your soul.
It is stamped with the mark of God, and out flows the mysteries hidden from before the beginning of time.
The spirit of man is invisible.
The soul of man is invisible.
Man is a mass of elements that are alive and vibrant until the day they cease to function.
Then they are shoveled into the earth to return to dust.
The eternal soul lives on and never dies.
Let the voice of God speak to the marrow of your bones.
Put off malice.
Clothe yourself with virtue.
Let your sorrow turn to joy.
Awake and shine.

SNOHOMISH TOWN
Snohomish is an old fashion town
Victorian houses all around
It's getting back to the old time style
It's a place where I have lived awhile

People coming here from all around
Just to get a glimpse of this old time town
Where everything is sublime
Especially when it's hot in the summertime

Sitting in the sun by the riverside
Watching the return of the evening tide
I look up from the river to the sky
Just in time to see a plane fly by

I gaze past the farms, and fields and flats
Down the road to the dogs and cats
I see a rainbow in a distant haze
And watch the sun set in a flaming blaze

These few lines of verse I give
Of the things I saw in the town I live

MISTY LAND
Rain tapping lightly on the damp green ground
As I sit here watching I hear the muffeled sound
The sun is hidden behind a hanging cloud
Lightning strikes and rings outloud

The mist is rising in a far off field
The vapour is rising and forming a shield
Against the sun to block it's rays
And creates a veil of deep blue haze

The rain is gently falling on the window sill
Morning by morning it's falling still
The sky above is dark and gray
I sit here waiting for a better day