Remembering D-Day 73 Years Later

Remembering D-Day 73 Years Later

Men some young, some old

Some in between

Scared, shaking in their skins

They find the inner courage

The stamina and the bravery

To go to war    

On distance shore

They battle waves

The wicked weather

To face tanks, big guns and men

Trying to take land

To end the war

To save their families

For tyranny and strife

To find peace

Who gave their all

So we could end the war

To have peace again

And enjoy the fruits of life

So on this day 73 years later

We remember their sacrifice

And every day

For their love of country

And home they forfeited

Peace of mind, fear and life

Some gave their lives

Others their peace of mind

There are now words to thank them

We shall never forget

Their sacrifice 

And remember them forever

American, British and Canadian

Londoners from Ontario, Canada

One and all remembered

Forever more
 ©Sheilagh Lee June 6, 2017

Courage

Courage

Courage, bravery, defiance

Strange words

When it comes to battling

The results of terrorism

People with bizarre ideologies

But if life goes on

What have the terrorists achieved?

Nothing senseless deaths

Bring out people to the good fight

Helping others their priority

Showing the rest of the world

How to overcome

Adversity, strife and mayhem

With generosity, love and light

They shall overcome

Showing people society can be good

As long as they filter out

The demons who seek to harm

Turning them in so they can’t strike

Before they use religion
Distorting it and turning inside out

To harm those who would demolish

For the sake of destroying
Spreading their evil ideology

These must be stopped

When they start to falter

Becoming ready to be prey

For the evil minds who then

Convert them to minions

Who care not for life

Just to destroy

It takes a village to raise a child

Let’s raise good people

With love and acceptance

And step in when we see wrong

Let's stand together strong

And brave
Don't let hate win

Love can lead the way

©Sheilagh Lee June 6, 2017

Chrissy Archibald a Canadian woman from British Columbia,was one of the first murdered in the London Bridge attack. Her family in Castlegar, B.C. released a statement through the federal government saying Archibald had been working at a homeless shelter until she moved to Europe to be with her fiance.Her family in her honour and those harmed is asking people to “Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter. Tell them Chrissy sent you.”

R.I.P. Christine Archibald, Kristy Boden, James McMullan, Alexandre Pigeard. Sara Zelenak, 

 Missing:  

• Xavier Thomas, 
•  Ignacio Echeverria, 
• Sebastien Belanger, 

Brave Manchester

Brave Manchester

I flinch as if struck

Gape hopelessly 
At the evil 
That can so easily
Hastily dispatch
Innocent children
Who are simply 
Having fun

My heart aches

Broken by the evil

That has descended

My eyes fill with tears

For the children 

And adults who died

Then I hear the stories

Of courage and help

Given to the victims

And I realize

Good people will not let them win

There is bravery and love

There is goodness in this world

And only light and love 

Can drown out the bad

We must however be vigilant 

And not shut our eyes

To those who radicalize themselves

To do harm

England and the UK 

Showed the world the way

To cope during

The Second World War

Stay alert 

Go on with daily life

Don't let them win

That's how this war is won
Is the cry again and again

But still we shall 

Forever mourn

Short lives

Stolen by evil deeds

Tears in our eyes

Pain in our hearts

Forever more


Rest in Peace dear ones~

Three Word Wednesday-Politicians

Three Word Wednesday-Politicians

Prompts : Crisis, noun:  stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined; turning point, a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change, a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life.

Decayed, adjective: decomposed, decomposing, rotten, putrescent, putrid, bad, off, spoiled, far gone, perished; moldy, festering, fetid, rancid, rank; maggoty, wormy.

Embarrassment, noun: mortification, humiliation, shame, shamefacedness, chagrin, awkwardness, self-consciousness, sheepishness, discomfort, discomfiture, discomposure, agitation, distress; shyness, bashfulness, difficulty, predicament, plight, problem, mess, imbroglio, bind, jam, pickle, fix, scrape, surplus, excess, overabundance, superabundance, glut, surfeit, superfluity; abundance, profusion, plethora.

Politicians

A crisis of leadership

Shakes the beliefs of the citizens

The decayed relationships

An embarrassment for the government

The citizens campaign for better management

Change is made

A star is born

Fences mended

But still the citizens worry

Politicians are politicians after all.
Thank goodness for the journalists
Who call them on their bull!!

©Sheilagh Lee May 17, 2017

Three Word Wednesday- Doc & Take me out to the ball game

Seductive, adjective, tempting and attractive; enticing.

Tilt, verb: move or cause to move into a sloping position, change or cause to change in favor of one person or thing as opposed to another, engage in a contest with; noun: a sloping position or movement, an inclination or bias.
Urgent, adjective: (of a state or situation) requiring immediate action or attention, (of action or an event) done or arranged in response to a pressing or critical situation, (of a person or their manner) earnest and persistent in response to a pressing situation.

Doc

The seductive way

You tilted your head

The urgent noise you'd make

And then the words came

"Doc's a good boy. "

So we knew that

You'd been truly bad

©Sheilagh Lee May 3, 2017

 




My Grandmother and Doc

My Mom and Doc

NB:Doc was an intelligent crow my mom and dad rescued. They rescued three eggs when the cat killed the mother. Two eggs hatched but only one survived. Doc imprinted on my mother and grandmother; but he was always my mother's bird and called her Maw or mom. Doc had a huge vocabulary for a bird unfortunately he also picked up a few swear words from his misdeeds of taking things from neighbours that were shiny. My mom was always returning pins, rings etc. Luckily he didn't do that too far from home so they could be returned. Doc would always say he was a good boy when he was scolded or when he knew he' done something wrong. Doc lived 27 years until a skunk sprayed him and it killed him.

~0~

Take me out to the ball game

Take me out to the ball game

where the stadium's

one hundred and forty years old

The seductive lure of cork

Hitting home runs

And men tilting at the bases

Urgent running to beat the ball

As many a game was won.
©Sheilagh Lee May 3, 2017

Happy Birthday Labatt's Memorial Park!!

Three Word Wednesday -Fight

Pluck, verb: remove, pick (off), pull (off/out), extract, take (off),  pull (at), tug (at), clutch (at), snatch (at), grab, catch (at), tweak, jerk, yank, deplume, remove the feathers from, strum, pick, plunk, thrum, twang; play pizzicato; noun: courage, bravery, nerve, backbone, spine, daring, spirit, intrepidity, fearlessness, mettle, grit, true grit, determination, fortitude, resolve, stout-heartedness, dauntlessness, valor, heroism, audacity; informal guts, spunk, gumption, moxie.

Rebel, noun: revolutionary, insurgent, revolutionist, mutineer, insurrectionist, insurrectionary, guerrilla, terrorist, freedom fighter,  nonconformist, dissenter, dissident, iconoclast, maverick; verb:  revolt, mutiny, riot, rise up, take up arms, stage/mount a rebellion, be insubordinate,  recoil, show/feel repugnance,  defy, disobey, refuse to obey, kick against, challenge, oppose, resist; adjective:  insurgent, revolutionary, mutinous, rebellious, insurrectionary, insurrectionist, renegade,  rebellious, defiant, disobedient, insubordinate, subversive, resistant, recalcitrant; nonconformist, maverick, iconoclastic.

Shady, adjective: shaded, shadowy, dim, dark; sheltered, screened, shrouded; leafy, bosky, tenebrous,  suspicious, suspect, questionable, dubious, doubtful, disreputable, untrustworthy, dishonest, devious, dishonorable, underhanded, unscrupulous, irregular, unethical, fishy, murky.

Fight
They say she has pluck

Because she seeks to battle

Shady characters

Who seek for their own gains

Maybe she’s a rebel

But she wishes others would fight

For their fellow citizens

It would make this so much easier

If they all fought for each other’s

Ability to do good

In the world

Instead of fighting for the almighty dollar.

Trampling the weak and the poor.

 ©Sheilagh Lee April 26, 2017

Three Word Wednesday- Jungle Game

Prompts: Meander, verb: zigzag, wind, twist, turn, curve, curl, bend, snake, stroll, saunter, amble, wander, ramble, drift, maunder, mosey, tootle, toodle.

Nameless, adjective: unnamed, unidentified, anonymous, incognito, unspecified, unsourced, unacknowledged, uncredited; unknown, unsung, uncelebrated, unspeakable, unutterable, inexpressible, indescribable; indefinable, vague, unspecified.

Oafish, adjective: stupid, foolish, idiotic, cretinous; ungainly, loutish, awkward, clumsy, lumbering, apelike, cloddish, Neanderthal, uncouth, uncultured, boorish, rough, coarse, brutish, ill-mannered, unrefined, rough-hewn; informal blockheaded, moronic, boneheaded, half-witted, lamebrained, thickheaded.

Jungle Game

                Smart little bird                   

Hiding in the grasses

Hiding from the oafish cat         

Next door who thinks my yard

The cat’s own

      Poor little bird             

It’s red plume however

A dead giveaway

Pray the meandering cat

That nameless fiend

Doesn’t come

Or the bird      

Can fly away

In time

To beat the kitty

At its jungle game

©Sheilagh Lee April 19, 2017

Three Word Wednesday- Osler’s Lake

Jabber, verb: prattle, babble, chatter, twitter, prate, yap, gabble, rattle on, blather; yak, yammer, yabber, yatter, blab, blabber, bloviate; noun: prattle, babble, chatter, chattering, twitter, twittering, gabble, blather; informal yabbering, yatter, blabber.

Knowingly, adverb: deliberately, intentionally, consciously, wittingly, on purpose, by design, premeditatedly, willfully.

Lasting, adjective: enduring, long-lasting, long-lived, abiding, continuing, long-term, surviving, persisting, permanent; durable, constant, stable, established, secure, unchanging, irreversible, immutable, eternal, undying, everlasting, unending, never-ending, unfading, changeless, indestructible, unceasing, unwavering, unfaltering.

Osler’s Lake

Dad it seems like such

A short time ago

I was six and

Jabbered incessantly

You listened intently

Baiting my hook

I bagged my first fish

Up at Osler Lake

A tiny little sunfish

I was so proud

Until I realized

 It would be dead soon

I began to cry

You took me aside

Told me not to cry

Put the fish back in the water

And we watched it swim away

You explained

We don't knowingly harm them

We only take fish we eat

Not to torture them

I saw humanity in your eyes

How the creatures suffering

 Affected you too 

I admired my strong father

Who could carry me on his shoulders

And be so tender too

Who could fix anything

With his brilliant mind

Who could quote poetry

At the drop of a hat

Who could wax

About every subject under the sun

Who told me stories

Which made my imagination come alive

The lasting memories we made

Still live on

How I miss you so
But take comfort that you're with mom

©Sheilagh Lee April 12, 2017

Happy Birthday. Dad

Three Word Wednesday- Vimy Ridge-100 years

Gloomy, adjective: ark, shadowy, sunless, dim, somber, dingy, dismal, dreary, murky, unwelcoming, cheerless, comfortless, funereal, despondent, downcast, downhearted, dejected, dispirited, disheartened, discouraged, demoralized, crestfallen; depressed, desolate, low, sad, unhappy, glum, melancholy, miserable, woebegone, mournful, forlorn, morose; informal blue, down in/at the mouth, down in the dumps, pessimistic, depressing, downbeat, disheartening, disappointing; unfavorable, bleak, bad, black, somber, grim, cheerless, hopeless.

Haunted, adjective: possessed, cursed; ghostly, eerie, scary, tormented, anguished, troubled, tortured, worried, disturbed.

Intense, adjective: extreme, great, acute, fierce, severe, high; exceptional, extraordinary; harsh, strong, powerful, potent, overpowering, vigorous, passionate, impassioned, ardent, fervent, zealous, vehement, fiery, emotional; earnest, eager, animated, spirited, vigorous, energetic, fanatical, committed. information on the

Information on the battle of Vimy Ridge April 9-12, 2017 see: http://www.warmuseum.ca/the-battle-of-vimy-ridge/

Vimy Ridge- 100 years 

Gloomy, haunted, and intense

Vimy Ridge protected with artillery

It’s view a gift to German troops

Their ability to see all

Kept the ridge from allied troops

The Canadians sent to take it back

Came in like a railroad train

A barrage of machine-gunners,

Rifle-men and grenade-throwers

Fought bravely to succeed

Pounding the enemy

Incredible bravery and discipline

Even when those in charge were killed

They battered on, weary and threadbare

Four days of hell and death

All four Canadian divisions attacked together

Win the battle to advance

To win the war

A decisive battle over hundred years ago

The sacrifice of our men

A country’s men united to take the ridge

Hill 145 the land

The Canadians lived and died for

Became a monument

To those brave men

A gravestone

A poignant reminder

Of 11,285 Canadian soldiers

Killed in France

No known graves

Forever remembered

In our hearts and minds

We thank them still.

©Sheilagh Lee March 29 ,2017