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POEMS
BY BOB BLANSHAN
BY BOB BLANSHAN
| Straight and Narrow There’s a road that’s straight and narrow Leading to my Father’s home above Where there’s never any sorrow Nor pain, nor aught but love This road, it has no turning For the straight way we must go Though I falter, my soul is yearning Onward, toward Him ever go This road, it leads by Calvary Where the Cross of Christ did stand I can see Him yet as He hung With nails through feet and hands As He pleaded with His Father “They know not what they do” It is here that I found my cross Yes, I, and others too We’ll lift up high my Savior’s cross Along that road that[‘s] straight And it will be our key, this cross To open Heaven’s gate Untitled (“9-10-06”) To many the Bible is an unknown book Because they seldom take time to look God in His infinite wisdom planned And produced a book you can understand We are told “Seek and you shall find” But there are those whose brain-washed mind Believe it is a fable produced by a man To fool as many as they can But they are the fooled who think this way And to those who are fooled, I’d like to say Read it yourself, friend, you will find How you too can have this peace of mind Get rid of the sin and all the strife That can upset you and ruin your life The book from God proves itself o’er and o’er It will take from you, but give a whole lot more Don’t let it be a book unknown to you Read it over and over and all the way thru God’s word will show you a life abundant and free I know it because it did it for me And the best part is yet to come An eternity in heaven with God and His Son The Bible is a book unknown by many A situation we need to help God change so that any Who may then read it will find God and His Son So that they too may overcome Aging My steps are getting slower The way seems all uphill My blood it runs so thin That I often get a chill My memory itself is just a memory I can’t remember when or where it went But it really doesn’t matter now to me Because my brain itself is spent My hearing aid is buzzing I can hardly hear a word My bifocals need replacing So my vision’s kind of blurred My pacemaker needs recharging Cause the battery’s getting low So it isn’t any wonder I take it kind of slow My rheumatiz is acting up I think it’s going to rain My knees are kind of shaky That’s why I use my cane They say no tears in Heaven No bifocals and no cane There’s no arthritis either Nor any other pain So come what may I’m going on Though maybe not so fast I’m looking forward to the time I’ll reach that place at last Aging Some More When young the years passed by on the shell of a snail And we wished they would fly swiftly but to no avail We wanted to be grown up and do as we wish No more lawn or garden, we’d swim and we’d fish We’d do our own thing It sure would be great Hurry up years before it’s too late The years in their courses did come at last But even more quickly went right on past And again we wished but this time slow down But like a rampaging merry-go-round They pass and accomplish it seems to me To make me older than I want to be Getting older is not so much the problem you see But the things it bring in company Failing sight and sound and smell Seems like nothing works quite as well As “used to” which seems to me To make up more and more of my vocabulary It brings a paradox involving my memory That works good or bad as the occasion may be Memory allows me to live in yesteryear But doesn’t work so well in the now and here My mind switches channels more easily Than the remote on your TV Though thru it all I think clearly enough To realize that although at times it is rough That even when things are slow in my head If years didn’t take their toll, I’d be dead So here’s to the years, may they come and they go Though my body grows feeble, my steps grow slow They are bringing me closer to my goal God’s eternal home of the soul |
Birthdays
(“For a birthday fellowship at Orlando”)
How quickly by the years do fly
To make us older, you and I
And as time passes on, we grow
Older, but…not only so
We show more skin where hair had been
And spread ourselves the more
But better that we grow too fat
Than what fate could have had in store
So here’s to birthdays,
'Though they come fast
We will keep celebrating
As long as they last
Birthdays
Birthdays are O.K., I guess
If you’re not over 22 yet
But older than this is not so much bliss
Except for the loot you get
It seems both gain and loss we share
With every passing year
The gain is weight, the loss is hair
But at the least we are still here
So here’s to birthdays, may they survive
As long as they do we are still alive
So when your birthday comes don’t say “nix”
Without it you’d be in a terrible fix
Birthdays
Birthdays come but once a year
But that’s a good thing from what I hear
Friends would have to spend more than they do
With cards, stamps, and presents and what have you
But birthdays are for children
With rattlers and whistles and hats funny shaped
Ice cream and candles on frosted cakes
And “Mama, I’ve got a tummy ache”
But birthdays add up to teenagers
A different event by far
With overnight parties and “Dad,
Can I use the car?”
Birthdays come to those middle-aged
And birthday cards pretty pictures conceal a page
Of men getting bald and ladies rotund
And snide remarks all given in fun
Yes, birthdays come to every one
Older, in between and very young
Yes, birthdays are fun, birthdays are great
But here’s what will happen as sure as fate
It’s as true as this story
Now being told
If you don’t quit having birthdays
You’re going to get old
Alathia’s 40th
How swiftly by the years do fly – to make us older you
and I
But in my memory today there is a little girl so far away
I didn’t often get to see,
But enough to have this memory
At 15 years, I was glad to find
You had other teen’s salvation on your mind
Only once since then and you full grown
Have I gotten to see this little girl I had known
Now you are forty and I’m seventy-two
So I guess the chances are very few
Of meeting for again you are far away
But not too far for my memory
Bernice Beall
(January 16, 1998, Lakeland, Florida)
They tell me your birthday’s come again today
Quite a few have come your way
But that’s okay, for I think you will
That birthdays are a state of mind
How many more? Well I’ve wondered
Leave off the hog jowls and you may make a hundred
Birthdays
(“Yearly birthday party at Madelia, 1966”)
Well, another one’s gone, Birthdays, I mean
They slip by so quickly it doesn’t really seem
That a year has gone by since the last time we came
To celebrate birthdays in the Masters’ name
Some changes may be noted here and there
A fewer less teeth and a little less hair
But as we grow older not all's loss I’ve found
For some of us have even gained a few pounds
Some have gained a friend or so
And one has even acquired a beau
The year brought places smooth and some with lumps
To some it even brought the mumps
To older mump sufferers this thought I would bring
Paul said ‘when I became a man I put away childish things’
Melvin said at night he gets to sleep ‘maybe’
Because the year brought to them a new baby
This year California started the flu
Treslers went 2,000 miles to get it too
It sure beats all what some folks will do
To keep in style and get the flu
Some got hit by the new car fever
It leaves one upset and wrought
One can hardly get rid of it ever
Until a new car is bought
Now some choose their church today
Like cars – watch and don’t lose your reward
Some were converted and bought Chevrolets
While some backslid and bought Fords
Tonight a new find is unveiled
They previously have been unhailed
The three flat trio of ladies
Bristol, Blanshan and Baade
(“For a birthday fellowship at Orlando”)
How quickly by the years do fly
To make us older, you and I
And as time passes on, we grow
Older, but…not only so
We show more skin where hair had been
And spread ourselves the more
But better that we grow too fat
Than what fate could have had in store
So here’s to birthdays,
'Though they come fast
We will keep celebrating
As long as they last
Birthdays
Birthdays are O.K., I guess
If you’re not over 22 yet
But older than this is not so much bliss
Except for the loot you get
It seems both gain and loss we share
With every passing year
The gain is weight, the loss is hair
But at the least we are still here
So here’s to birthdays, may they survive
As long as they do we are still alive
So when your birthday comes don’t say “nix”
Without it you’d be in a terrible fix
Birthdays
Birthdays come but once a year
But that’s a good thing from what I hear
Friends would have to spend more than they do
With cards, stamps, and presents and what have you
But birthdays are for children
With rattlers and whistles and hats funny shaped
Ice cream and candles on frosted cakes
And “Mama, I’ve got a tummy ache”
But birthdays add up to teenagers
A different event by far
With overnight parties and “Dad,
Can I use the car?”
Birthdays come to those middle-aged
And birthday cards pretty pictures conceal a page
Of men getting bald and ladies rotund
And snide remarks all given in fun
Yes, birthdays come to every one
Older, in between and very young
Yes, birthdays are fun, birthdays are great
But here’s what will happen as sure as fate
It’s as true as this story
Now being told
If you don’t quit having birthdays
You’re going to get old
Alathia’s 40th
How swiftly by the years do fly – to make us older you
and I
But in my memory today there is a little girl so far away
I didn’t often get to see,
But enough to have this memory
At 15 years, I was glad to find
You had other teen’s salvation on your mind
Only once since then and you full grown
Have I gotten to see this little girl I had known
Now you are forty and I’m seventy-two
So I guess the chances are very few
Of meeting for again you are far away
But not too far for my memory
Bernice Beall
(January 16, 1998, Lakeland, Florida)
They tell me your birthday’s come again today
Quite a few have come your way
But that’s okay, for I think you will
That birthdays are a state of mind
How many more? Well I’ve wondered
Leave off the hog jowls and you may make a hundred
Birthdays
(“Yearly birthday party at Madelia, 1966”)
Well, another one’s gone, Birthdays, I mean
They slip by so quickly it doesn’t really seem
That a year has gone by since the last time we came
To celebrate birthdays in the Masters’ name
Some changes may be noted here and there
A fewer less teeth and a little less hair
But as we grow older not all's loss I’ve found
For some of us have even gained a few pounds
Some have gained a friend or so
And one has even acquired a beau
The year brought places smooth and some with lumps
To some it even brought the mumps
To older mump sufferers this thought I would bring
Paul said ‘when I became a man I put away childish things’
Melvin said at night he gets to sleep ‘maybe’
Because the year brought to them a new baby
This year California started the flu
Treslers went 2,000 miles to get it too
It sure beats all what some folks will do
To keep in style and get the flu
Some got hit by the new car fever
It leaves one upset and wrought
One can hardly get rid of it ever
Until a new car is bought
Now some choose their church today
Like cars – watch and don’t lose your reward
Some were converted and bought Chevrolets
While some backslid and bought Fords
Tonight a new find is unveiled
They previously have been unhailed
The three flat trio of ladies
Bristol, Blanshan and Baade