A Winter Night

Softly still the snow is falling,
To the quiet world below,
Muffled in its veil of crystals,
Blown in cold wind to and fro.
Through the shifting, cloudy blanket,
That covers up the dark night sky,
A flash, a twinkle, I see the radience,
Glittering from the stars on high.
Spears of moonlight rain down to me,
Shattering o'er the frosted earth,
I wonder if each were a diamond,
Could we even price their worth?
Softly still now I am walking,
Through this quiet winter scene,
While frosted breath floats to the heav'ns,
My thoughts rise up unto my King.

The Traveling Salesman

"Drink a drop of life today,
Drink a drop and live,
Seen things never seen before,
See things that are hid,"
That's what the salesman calls aloud,
Holding out his wares,
Inviting in the interested,
And all the curious stares.
"Sir," said he, "I ask of you,
Can you harness the strength of giants?
For what's the use of hidden means,
And is your shoe leather pliant?
And madam, surely you could use,
A jar of beauty cream?
It smoothes out wrinkles, spots, and scars,
It's every woman's dream."
So on and on the salesman went,
Peddling here and there,
Shoes and rope, and other things,
And ribbons for pretty girls' hair.
I simply smiled and walked on by,
Though he called twice to 'stop',
For I was drinking a bottle of life that day,
Each smile another drop.

A Distinction

Life is made of minutes,
And days, and hours, and years,
But all is simply seconds,
That soon will disappear.
Yet something I have noticed,
Perhaps you've noticed as well?
Is that seconds are not most important,
They are not where our memories dwell.
The time wasn't measured in seconds,
When your baby brother was born,
Or when you went to your Mother,
In the midst of the raging storm.
It wasn't the seconds that counted,
When you were fishing down by the lake,
With Grandpa casting your line out,
While Dad took a coffee break.
No, it wasn't the seconds that mattered,
But the moments, wherein they lay,
So don't forget to take time
To live in the moment each day.

Autumn is Coming

Can you see the gilded cloak,
As lazy summer's spell is broke?
It flashes red, and gold, and brown,
o'er valley and the tall tree's crown.
A flash of white as bounding deer,
Run through thickets and disappear.
The placid blue of silent lake,
The silver flash the fish do make.
A chocolate blur of little squirrel's hide,
Gathering food for winter-tide.
Or perhaps you smell the crisping air?
Or of ripening apples are aware?
The musty scent of falling leaves,
and the swaying of the gold wheat sheaves.
Autumn is coming, can you hear?
The wind is whistling far and near.
And through the wispy clouds on high,
The geese are flying, side by side,
Warning of the chill to come,
As they go to find the sun.
The crackling of the leaves below,
Soon to be muted by ice and snow.
The laughter of the children small,
As once again they greet the fall.

The Adventures of Sir Malchance, Part 2

When we last left Malchance and Loyal they had just sighted a burning village. Seeing a group of dejected villagers, they go over:

"What happened here?" asked Malchance. A sooty mayor stepped forward,
"The dragon, Sir Knight!" Malchance quickly scanned the sky,
"What dragon? Where? I don't see a dragon."
"The dragon that burned down our village of course!" replied the mayor.
"Drat!" said Malchance, "There goes my quip about playing with flint and steel. I don't suppose the dragon was playing with fire, was he?" The mayor looked at Malchance, perplexed,
"ou're wasting your time, Sir Knight! What about the visiting princess? The dragon carried her off to it's lair!"
"What's this?" asked Malchance, smiling, " A damsel in distress?Why didn't you say so? Which way?" He paused. "If she is a princess, where are her guards? I don't see anyone here, begging your pardon, who looks like a castle guard." The mayor sighed. This knight was giving him a headache.
"The guards ran off when they saw the dragon coming. They weren't very good guards."
"Oh," said Malchance, "Anyway, which way is the dragons lair?" The mayor pointed, and Malchancerode off, leaving behind a very confused group of villagers.

TO BE CONTINUED....

The Adventures of Sir Malchance; Part 1

Once upon a time there was a knight named Malchance. Being newly knighted, he had set out with his steed, Loyal, to find great deeds to do. Loyal was not an ordinary horse, he had the gift of speech. Having no idea where they were going, the two heroes traveled aimlessly, hoping to come upon a damsel in distress, or something like that. Malchance was just about to remark on this when a gang of thieves ran out into the road and surrounded them. That was just his luck.
"I can handle this." muttered Malchance to Loyal.
"Hand over your coins or pay the price!" sneered the man whom Malchance took to be the leader.
"Why don't you just say one or the other?" asked Malchance. The leader was caught off guard,
"I don't see what you mean."
"It's quite simple, really," replied Malchance. "You said 'Hand over your coins or pay the price'. Handing over my coins will be paying you, and if I pay the price you'll probably take my coins anyway. So why say both?" The leader pondered this for a moment.
"I never thought of it that way," he paused, "If you help me you can go free." Malchance agreed.
"Why not try 'Hand over your coins or else'? That could imply almost anything, and would leave victims to ponder their fate."
The thieves murmured amongst themselves in approval.
"Or," said Malchance, "you could accept gold coins from me, go to King Arthur, and ask to be of service." The leader shrugged,
"How may coins do we get?"
In the end, Malchance gave them ten gold marks, which was a sizable amount of money then. Malchance and Loyal soon left the bandits behind.
"I can't believe you actually thought of that," Loyal remarked. Malchance smiled happily. Coming over the ridge of a hill they saw a burning village.
"What happened here?" asked Malchance.
"I don't know," replied Loyal, "Let's find out.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Just an Update...

Dear Reader:

As a change from my normal poetry, I have decided to post a short story series I have written. I will post the first section today, and each next section every other day. I hope you enjoy this change of pace!

In Christ,
Molly