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A rose on a notebook

The Notebook

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Regarding "The Notebook"

The most important thing I do
Every day is to write.
It is my life. It is my balm.
It is peaceful. It is
The one dependable
Action I take which is sure
Any raging waters
To calm. It is a gift to me.
Unmerited. It casts
A fence around me as
If I was reclined in the sweet
Sheepfold of Psalm 23.
It could even be
Viewed as my version
Of the Kingdom of Heaven,
That blessed seed
Bestowed within each of us,
Which has the
Potential to leaven into
A majestic, flowering tree.

Leo Carroll
October 2, 2018

 

Would this notebook
Be able to keep me afloat in
A raging sea, its paper,
Once wood, a life
Preserver’s giving me
Buoyancy, or,
Would last sight of
Me be with an arm
Raised high, notebook
Held up to the last,
And then down,
Down deep, gone,
Below the waves and
Into the vast…?

Leo Carroll
October 9, 2005
Westford, Massachusetts



Photo by Elaina Carroll

Elysian Daydreaming

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Regarding "Elysian Daydreaming"

When I am
Daydreaming,
My mind can easily
Glide to musings
Near and far, to
Wild imaginings as
If I was living under the
Influence of another
Time or star…
And so twenty
Years ago I had a
Daydream, and
A fantasy-image
Floated to me of
Being in a small boat
And rowing across
Surreal, placid
Waters. I was
Accompanied by
An unknown,
Mythical woman,
And we were
On a lake with no
Beginning nor
Ending, and seemed
Suspended in
Exquisite peace.
Looking back on that
Daydream, it was
Perhaps a metaphor
For Elysium, a
Glimpse of the
Afterlife of the
Ancient Greeks, an
Absolute abode of
Ideal happiness,
And occurring beneath a
Canopy of eternal
Blessing.

Leo Carroll
November 29, 2018

 


There is a lake in
Golden time, locked in place
Forever mine…
Upon that lake I
Gently move, bathed in
Light on waters
Smooth.

There is a woman
By my side, also peaceful
In that ride.
Upon that lake an
Image holds, of all my
Dreams to yet
Unfold.

There is a day I
Know not when, I’ll take that
Trip of which I ken.
Until that time
I calmly wait, and row
My dream upon
That lake…

Leo Carroll
July 1, 1998
Westford, Massachusetts



Photos by Kevin Shattuck