DaeAnna's Blessing

May you find security when you're caught out in the cold.
May you find serenity when chaos has control.
Until you learn you're not alone, without having to be told,
May you hear a small voice say, "It's OK".
                          " It's OK, I'm right here with you."
Everywhere you go.

Reuter's photo of Dae'Anna,  "the bravest little girl in the world", aka, " the small voice from the back seat".
     

ANNIVERSARY BLESSING

May your life together be blessed with perseverance, resilience and longevity.

Through ebb and flow, may the waves break gently on your shore.

May you endure the inevitable storms; and find strength in one another.

May you recognize and respect the separateness within your togetherness.

May you remember always that Someone who loves you dearly

       is watching over you, guiding you ... and smiling.

MEMORIES of my COUSIN BOB -- and the RED PLASTIC SCISSORS

Memories of My Cousin, 
Bob Kirk:  a personal reflection

Part I.  The Red Plastic Scissors

I have no memories older than this one -- a gift from my cousin, Bob.  I was no more than 2 years old.  He was in his early twenties.  My mother was his Guardian; and Bob lived with us when he was in college.  I know it was no later than 1948 or 1949, because Bob moved out when he and Jeanne got married; and we moved across the street in 1950.

The "boy's bedroom" had dark maple bunk beds for my brother and me.  I can vaguely see a desk and a single bed. I guess that would have been Bob's bed.  I remember Bob sitting in the chair at the desk, graciously letting me try to cut his hair with a pair of red plastic scissors.  I'm not sure if the scissors were sharp enough, but I do remember that both of us were laughing.  When you've been on the planet for only a couple of years, it's a big deal when you're allowed to do something new like this.  I'm sure Bob had no idea how special that moment would always be to me.

After 64 years, I finally got around to start writing this thank-you note to him ...  and another 6 months to finish it.  My mother always told me to slow down.  (Bob, please tell her I'm OK.) 

_____________________________________________

Part II.  More Memories of Bob -- some big, some small.  

• I remember being puzzled about Bob's last name being different from his brother's.  This was long before Bill Shatner decided to become a Kirk, too.
• I remember when Bob took me on my first airplane ride, sometime in the late 1950s, perhaps 1957 -- on a twin-engine plane with propellers, probably a DC-3, Mohawk Airlines from Boston to Rochester, NY.  It was nighttime -- and pouring rain.  Back then, planes didn't just roar:  they whined and rattled, too.  The flight  was awfully noisy, very dark, quite turbulent and terribly exciting -- but not scary, because Bob was there.
• I remember the house on Seneca Parkway in Rochester.  I recognized the street 50 years later, when some of my NY "family" bought a house a few doors down.  
• I remember a compliment that Bob gave me in that house. Bobbie had tripped over the cord of a big ceramic lamp, which was on the end-table next to my chair.  The flying lamp would have crashed on or near her.  Only a skinny kid could have made that diving catch behind the chair.  I was surprised and pleased to hear such a loud, enthusiastic "Fantastic catch, Vinny" from Cousin Bob.   
• I remember being delighted to learn that Bob was bringing his family back from Rochester to the house they bought on Front Street in Weymouth. 
• I don't remember if I ever thanked Bob for splicing the mast on my first sailboat, the first time I somehow snapped it -- half-way up.
• I remember being impressed by Bob's oil paintings, and those by my own Dad -- and I listened when they talked at the Cape with Van Coleman about technique and composition.  
• I remember, when many a Christmas morning was winding down, the joy of realizing that there would be more fun in the afternoon, when the Kirks arrived like gangbusters.  Sometimes, I didn't realize it until the door burst open.  Suddenly, the day had new life.
• I remember thinking that my Cousin Bob had the ideal family -- better than the Nelsons -- and I confess that there were one or two times when I would have preferred it to my own.
• I remember how Bob told me, as an adult, about his remarkably successful battle with arthritis.  He got me interested in Hatha yoga; and it has helped a lot.  That was one gift from Cousin Bob for which I did express my thanks to him.

Thank you, Bob, for all the inspiration that you gave me through the years.  We miss you here -- but I do believe that you and Jeannie are together again.  I also believe that if we could see you now ... Well,  there's a song about that.*  Please tell  Fr. John that we miss him, too -- and ask if he read what I wrote when he crossed the bar not so long ago.**  You do have Wi-Fi there, don't you?

With Love,
     Cousin Vinny

    

___________________________________________________________________
*   Click HERE  or Google "If You Could See Me Now - Don Moen".
** Click HERE or Google "Meus Deus Pater".

Glory to God (St. Cecelia's Mass of Hope )

Free sheet music

Lucid, Vincent Glory to God (St Cecelia's Mass of Hope) + MP3 (digital interpretation) / MIDI Choral SATB Mass; Choir; Sacred / 2010 V. J. Lucid © All rights reserved Make a donation to Vincent Lucid Powered by Free-scores.com

Ave! Maria

My Ave Maria has been downloaded nearly 400 times by visitors from about 70 countries, including: Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, China, Jibouti, Ivory Coast and other surprising places. Thanks to Google and the other search engines that put it on page 1 of an image search.  Go figure !

Lucid, Vincent Ave Maria + MP3 (digital interpretation) / MIDIPiano and Voice Mass; Choir; Sacred / 2003, 2010 Vincent J. Lucid © All rights reserved Make a donation to Vincent Lucid Powered by Free-scores.com

The Prayer of the Children

If you happen to recognize this men's a capella group, please let me know.

I'm breaking my own rule and posting something that's not my own work.  I wish it was.  Click to the right of the "YouTube" logo to get the full screen video -- and grab a tissue.

THE LORD'S PRAYER -- St. Cecelia's Mass of Hope

Free sheet music

Lucid, Vincent The Lord's Prayer (St Cecelia's Mass of Hope) + MP3 (audio extract) / MIDI  Choral SATB a cappella + chimes Mass; Choir; Sacred / 2008  Recording is an excerpt from the premier performance, December 7, 2008, by the Syracuse Chorale, conducted by Warren Ottey, at St. Paul's Cathedral, Syracuse, NY V. J. Lucid © All rights reserved Powered by Free-scores.com

A PCYNICAL PSALM

Note:  The P is silent, as in swimming.


This is the day the Lord has made;
but let's not get too overjoyed.
For minute by minute it's destined to fade;
and once it's gone by, it's destroyed.


This little gem is just a reminder that I'm still on the planet.
I've been busy writing music -- soon to be presented on DrSpeedbump.com

A SPECIAL BLESSING for SOMEONE I'VE KNOWN ALL MY LIFE

FOR ME

May Wisdom find me.
May Enlightenment guide me.
May I be marinated in Serenity, day and night.
May my Confidence and Humility learn to get along.

May my weaknesses become my strengths.
May Anxiety be transformed into Enthusiasm,
Obsessiveness into Endurance, Sadness into Serenity
Restlessness into Motivation, and Distraction into Imagination.

May I love myself as I love my neighbor.
May I be aware and accepting of whatever Love is offered to me.
May my Expectations of others dissolve in Mindfulness that they, too,
      are learning how to give and accept Love; and they may be repeating a grade.

May I notice the absence of physical pain, as well its presence.
May my pain remind me of the agony Christ quietly accepted for me.
May it serve as my offering on behalf of one of the multitude of Innocents
      who are suffering today from Hunger, Disease, Injustice, Oppression and Abuse.*

May I never forget that I am a Child of God.
May I have Faith in Him to match his Faith in Me.
May I realize that I do not have to earn His Guidance, Protection and Love.
May I muster enough Courage, each day, to show up for the Life He has planned for me.

*Even as I write this, the pain in my feet subsides considerably, replaced by warmth and a gentle tingling. I hope this means my offering was accepted -- and I wonder who and where is the beneficiary.

A SONG of THANKS

Thank you for the Dawning
  of one more newborn Day.
For the Innocence of Morning
  and Fog that burns away.

Thank you for the Sunshine,
  the Warmth of Afternoon.
The Stillness of the Evening,
  the Brilliance of the Moon.

Sometime after Midnight,
  I’ll choose one distant Star,
And ponder in the shivering light
  what Miracles we are.


Note:  I plan to write a refrain and set this to music.

A QUIVER of PRAYERS*

This is just an advance promo
for yet another new collection of poems,
destined never to be completed.
The theme this time is “prayers”.
May God have mercy on my soul.

I seldom pray with words.
God already knows the situation here ~
and the odds are (7 to 5)
that He’s going to give us what we need
rather than what we want, anyway.

Thus, most of my praying,
even the majority of my music,
regardless of what the lyrics say,
is more like a Vulcan Mind-Meld
than a Vatican Message with a Nihil Obstat.

Nonetheless, language-based prayer is poetry.
So, I do write some LBP on occasion;
but I really don’t expect that the Vatican
will be adding new beads to rosaries,
at least not any time soon.

BLESSINGS - The Final Four

I have been blessed with three of the four best blessings imaginable.
I regret that my gratitude is no match for that grace.
Death is nowhere in sight, and I'm already learning
how to live,
how to love, and
how to be loved.

I have yet to be graced with the ultimate blessing:
to learn how to die.
Whether Death is crouched around the next corner,
or asleep behind the moon,
I do hope to be ready when we meet.
I know of no blessings beyond this.