Death is such a hard task-master. A child's death is the hardest to understand. But, from all experience is born new knowledge. If we but look and hope, new life can be found beyond the tears of grief.

The Weight Of The Butterfly Flower

The flowering peach, a daughter's bloom, each February she lived in tiny pink bud. Her tree fed my memory, flitted across my vision with nectar so sweet with sorrow that the sky wept. Oh, such weight the delicate pink butterfly flower held. It took her place somehow and lived for her each year. A tree-gift from the fluttering girls and boys of second grade, now almost middle aged with children named Michelle, perhaps. She will always be eight, the bright and moving child of my youth, so spark and full of fire. The first that captured my heart and held it, she holds it still. She died again this fall, Michelle, her leaves turned and bid a final tremble to the ground. The tree no longer lives, just a sentinel stark and bleak its gamine trunk. But under the canopy that burned my heart again from brown and rotting leaves emerges the everlasting circle of creation, a fragile new beginning strong with claims of yes.

The Forever Friend

On my own, but mostly the savannah, Where the tumbleweeds fade away and die, Before the glassy sun burns a summer of crystals, The glistering waters of the high seas Of which was so far a place as of where vultures roam. I looked around but you weren't anywhere... You used to say that you would never die, But I took the wrong meaning into my heart. Now the sea is wild with despair, Deep blue like a prairie of flowers blue, Where all children of God rest in eternal peace. I saw you at the end, You and I, brother and sister of nature, Brother and sister of heaven and earth, Your usually calm and heavenly eyes full of tears, Bitterly falling one after one into a river, Then the river of life turned red in blood. My eyes watched in horror. Slowly and deadly your heart became poisoned, You disappeared without saying good-bye, Not a word came out of your mouth. You became like desolation in its grave. When once the skies were a realm of stars And the sun shone brightly in summer skies, You were there to share the calmness; But now I stand here in midst of the tall grass And only the savannah remains

I don't know if some of these have been posted here before, so here goes... Q: How do you keep a blonde busy all day?
A: Put her in a round room and tell her to sit in the corner.

Q: How does a blonde spell farm?
A: E-I-E-I-O

Q: How does a blonde kill a fish?
A: She drowns it.

Q: A blonde is going to London on a plane, how can you steal her window seat?
A: Tell her the seats that are going to London are all in the middle row.

Q: How do you make a blonde laugh on Saturday?
A: Tell her a joke on Wednesday.

Q: What is the blonde doing when she holds her hands tightly over her ears?
A: Trying to hold on to a thought.

Q: Why did the blonde snort Nutra-Sweet?
A: She thought it was diet-coke.

Q: Why did the blonde bake a chicken for 3 and a half days?
A: It said cook it for half an hour per pound, and she weighed 125.

Q: Why did the blonde put her finger over the nail when she was hammering?
A: The noise was giving her a headache.

Q: Why did the blonde climb up to the roof of the bar?
A: She heard that the drinks were on the house.

Q: Why do blondes work seven days a week?
A: So you don't have to retrain them on Monday.

Q: Why did the blonde fail her driving test?
A: Every time she stopped the car, she jumped in the back seat.

Q: How does a blonde turn on the light after sex?
A: She opens the car door.

Q: What do you call it when a blonde dyes her hair brown?
A: Artificial Intelligence.

Q: What do you call a brunette between management & a blonde?
A: An interpreter.

IDIOTS AT WORK: I was signing the receipt for my credit card purchase when the clerk noticed I had never signed my name on the back of the credit card. She informed me that she could not complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she explained that it was necessary to compare the signature I had just signed on the receipt. So I signed the credit card in front of her. She carefully compared the signature to the one I had just signed on the receipt. As luck would have it, they matched. IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: too many deer were being hit by cars and he didn't want them to cross there anymore. IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE: My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg. IDIOT SIGHTING #1: I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?" To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?" He smiled knowingly and added, "That's why we ask." IDIOT SIGHTING #2: The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with a coworker of mine when she asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?!" IDIOT SIGHTING #3: At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker who was leaving the company due to "down sizing," our manager commented cheerfully, "This is fun. We should do this more often." Not a word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare. IDIOT SIGHTING #4: I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the life of her couldn't understand why her system would not turn on. IDIOT SIGHTING #5: When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "It's open!" To which he replied, "I know - I already got that side."