The Day

– that was –

Listen to audio

The Day                 

       – that was –

The day
Set as was,
Did have a play
Despite faux pas,
Would find a way
Bearing the cause,
Of one’s living stay
Thus, to make room,
For a fated new day
Fixed next to come,
And find its allay
Hence while alone,
Will not be at bay
Tho set afar home,
Holds shy of say
Had need to roam,
Implied being alive
For allotted time,
Be ne’er very long
Ye will soon find, 
The day long gone
Next to be, that was!


                           © Jean-Jacques Fournier

Photo - Marianne Dessis
Music - except of Almost Blue, by Chet Baker
Audio - Jean-Jacques Fournier

               					Written in Sweetsburg
						   November 1, 2022

I Awake

– should fate so will –

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I Awake

– should fate so will –

That I awake
Another day,
To live a fate
With little say,
Save to amend
My errant way,
Before the end
Thus to renew,
As to contend
Said life anew,
The while fend
As destine wills,
But a scant stay…

Time tallies still
Tho be few days,
For failing gods
Now dated skills,
Tend fall behind
Too aged to fulfil,
In garbled minds 
Verge on placate, 
Yet decreed still
Our waning state,
Hence so fate's will!

                 © Jean-Jacques Fournier

 written in Sweetsburg
ov February 19, 2017
edit published, August 15, 2022

Music - Ethereal Thoughts, by Victor Wayne
Imagery - Wikimedia Commons
Audio - Jean-Jacques Fournier

Butterflies

– fluttering bye –

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Butterflies

– fluttering bye –

A butterfly
Searching
Blossoms,
Pursuing 
The mote
To provide,
Held florae
Need of alive 
Ye find dote,
On their array
Hence to adorn
Tho its short stay,
Be of iffy longevity 
Not butterfly’s say,  
Dancing in brevity…
 
Pushed by currents
He floats consciously   
On breezes apparent,
While ever so mindful
Found be lepidoptera, 
With beauty’s warrant 
Would remain pleasing, 
Thru a short summer fly 
Has butterflies trapezing,
All the while fluttering bye!

    Ode to butterflies, that they maybe forever…


                © Jean-Jacques Fournier
	                                                        written in Sweetsburg
                                           	                     August 2, 2022

Music - Endless Beauty, Pixabay							
Photography - Marianne Dessis
Audio - Jean-Jacques Fournier

A Man

– called Marc –

Wanderer Above the Sea by David Friedrich

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A Man

– called Marc –

He’d not stay long,
In life’s short run
Be too soon gone,
As if one shunned
To an early dawn,
From a place won 
In a shortish song,
He as a brother be
Far too young gone, 
Gods fixed not see,
As life span of a pawn
Alas was short-lived run 
Thus, alike an early dawn!

                   Might you have parted
                               without telling your friend,
                                      dear Marc, until it was too late…? 

                               © Jean-Jacques Fournier

  Ode, two scores late, for the passing
        of Marc Tetreault, the rarest of dear friends.

          written in Sweetsburg
		April 17, 2022

Imagery - Wanderer Above the Sea by David Friedrich
Music - No Problem by Chet Baker Quartet
Audio - recital by Jean-Jacques Fournier

PS: If there should be an afterlife or such a thing as a next life,
                Marc is the one true friend I would seek to befriend again.

                                

                       

                                

My Valentine

           – be forever and a day –

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My Valentine

           – be forever and a day –

Of that valentine
I ought to write,
Holds all the lines
I thought be right,
And of many times
Thru days or night,
Be of a love to find
Ye sought it might,
In every way of love
Holds yours and mine,
The many years above
To validate my valentine,
Would find its way to stay
The while fate chose in time,
And ever so beyond life's play
Thus, to validate my valentine,
Hence find be forever and a day! 

			                              Ode to Marianne,
                                                                                 forever, the love of my life…

                        © Jean-Jacques Fournier



                                                                             written in Sweetsburg
                                                                                  February 14, 2022

Image - Source Wikimedia Commons …
Music - Chet Baker – my Funny Valentine …
Audio – Jean-Jacques Fournier …

“ Today ” – a gift –

Listen to audio

“ Today ”

– a gift –

 I am alive
 Today,
 The gods provide
 Another day, 
 Thus be a gift
 To find its way,
 As they so deemed
 That I might stay,
 Be not a dream
 For on this day,
 Again it seems
 I am alive,
 Tho by all means
 Perhaps again, 
 Yet be but for today! 


                     © Jean-Jacques Fournier 

 Poem recital,  by Jean-Jacques Fournier
 Music - Excerpt of Time After Time, by Chet Baker ...
 Pictures – Private, unknown and audio closing,
 epitaph excerpt, of John Maxwell Edmonds...
  
                    written in Sweetsburg
                         January 9, 2021  

“ A Space ” – held in awe, be our planet earth –

                                  Listen to audio       

A Space

– held in awe,

be our planet earth –

 ‘Tis a space,
 Held in awe
 Our planet earth,
 A place we crave
 Thus so we may,
 From birth to grave
 Tho be fates play,
 One you can’t save
 Nor meant we stay,
 On its passing wave
 We’ll not want stray
 Tho holds your breath,
 With its waning taste 
 Wouldst suffer death, 
 To extend embrace... 

 Held in veiled guise,
 Tho bares one’s face
 Who finds will hide, 
 Said man’s disgrace
 And denigrating bide,
 Of our earthly prize,
 Whilst apathetically
 Man in kind deface, 
 To discombobulate
 Our memory’s state,
 Tho while held in awe
 Insentient of its worth,
 Denies many having place
 For all to be on planet earth! 

                       © Jean-Jacques Fournier 
                                          November 17, 2020
  
 Photos - public collection...
 Music - Excerpt of, If I should lose you, by Chet Baker...                     

“ Distant Faces ” – etched on my mind –

by Claude Théberge 1987
ceramic mural 12 ‘ x 9’ for Eastern Topographies,
Ossipee, New Hampshire, USA

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Distant Faces 

            – etched on my mind –

 There are traces
 From prior times, 
 Of distant faces
 Etched on my mind,
 That stay forever 
 Hence so adorn,
 A place of musing 
 Where past ground,
 Be worth pursuing
 Tho but a semblance,
 Might now be found…  

 As memories falter 
 Thus in mind’s eye,
 Imaginings alter
 And fall beyond,
 Familiar places 
 Of aging optimism, 
 In mature zeal 
 Be timeless isms,
 Scarcely notes real
 With fading traces,
 Of now distant faces… 

 Tho wishful thinking  
 Could yet show trace, 
 That offers an inkling 
 Alludes to per chance,
 A faint hint of passing
 Mightn’t ye remember,  
 Enough of such places
 May outlive December, 
 Has ye find the more, 
 Of now held distant faces!   

                 © Jean-Jacques Fournier 
  
                          Ode to Hilary, Natalie and Wayne, old friends! 
                                    
 Mural - by artist Claude Theberge ...
 Faces - Personal & private collection ...
 Music - Excerpt of,  Night Jazz, by Chet Baker ...   

“ Reaching ” – the edge, of life’s design –

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“ Reaching ”

  – the edge, of life’s design –

        

I’ve journeyed    
Far and long,
At times hurried
Thus to prolong,
That meagre stay
Palpably foregone,
A notable evidence
Recall diminishes,
By limited passage
Thru hazy distances
Now on the ledge,
Blurring defines
Life may allege,
Tho be insistent
Prays on a mind,
To suffer existence
In dwindling time,
Tho but an instant
By recall’s decline,
Reaching the edge
Of life’s design,
Fate shan’t pledge
Be shadows assign,
To offer life hedge
On finale it deigns,
Past illusion held fast
As image perceived disappears,
In the dusk of a lifespan once cast!  

  
              © Jean-Jacques Fournier 
    
                  written in Sweetsburg
                                 October 25, 2020
 
Imagery – MD & private collection –
Music - excerpt from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade op.35

“ A Hyphenated World ” – held fitting guise –

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“ A Hyphenated World ”

                   – held fitting guise –

‘Tis a fitting guise

A hyphenated world,

Of hyphenated people

Barely joined together,

By shortest of lines

Save in desperate times,

If but to stay alive

Until next apprise,

Holds indefinite man

If he is to survive,

Until discord subsides

Tho wanting to encage

He’ll once more fractionize,

By manipulating stage…

In a language to divide

That largely means create

A hyphenated bide,

Trusted so to populate

Heedless of unwise,

Words fixed to engage

By language brigade,

Who spreads confusion

Among the lesser wise,

Maximize demand

To maintain disguise,

Of the hyphenated men

Who power world divides!

                                               © Jean-Jacques Fournier

Photos – by Marianne D. & private collection –

Music – excerpt from Leaving, by Chet Baker –