Michael O'Brien

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There is an old belief,
That on some solemn shore,
Beyond the sphere of grief
Dear friends shall meet once more.
Beyond the sphere of Time and Sin
And Fate's control,
Serene in changeless prime
Of body and of soul.
That creed I fain would keep
That hope I'll ne'er forgo,
Eternal be the sleep,
If not to waken so.

One Fine Day

One bright September morning in
The middle of July,
The sun lay thick upon the ground,
The snow shone in the sky.
The flowers were singing gaily,
The birds were full of bloom;
I went upstairs to the cellar
to clean a downstairs room.
I saw ten thousand miles away
a house just out of sight,
It stood alone between two more
and it was black-washed white.

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Happy, Happy Christmas that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days,
recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler
back to his own fireside and quiet home

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Upon love's currents I eternally row,
Fruitless labor; love's seed I seek to sew.
I am powerlessly held by its whim,
A favor I've not captured; its opinion grim.
I bathe amidst love's buoyant flow,
Yet the more time 'lapsed within its grasp,
The liquid flow e'er more eludes my clasp.
I swim and splash and tread within its bounds,
And yet my attempts fail; my woe compounds.
So onward dance the eddies; ephemerally they dart.
I know not why they taunt me nor why they drown my heart.

A Reflection on Humanity

Forgive,
People are often unreasonable, illogical and
Self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
You will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
Someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
They may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
People will often forget tomorrow;
DO good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
And it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
It is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

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"I have gone to bed hoping that she might somehow find me in dreams.
If this is impossible then I will wake once more, saddened and alone.
If this comes to fruition my tears will drown themselves in unabated bliss,
and God in his heaven will look down upon us with infinite glory. "
- for Alisia

From Your Darkness, Comes Dawn's Sweet Light

Peace and War, two different times,
like soft white silk, with stains of grime,
and puishment rarely fits the crime.
Buildings ripple into sand, and then together survivors band
to search for those they've lost.
The neigbors gathered on our lawn, one small child lets out a yawn,
for it only is the crack of dawn.
Not one sound is heard, except the song from a single bird.
My brave grandfather tells us how, our lives will change,
just mere moment from now:
"The attack will come both harsh and fast, though only minutes it may last,
the time which it began." I remember those words, the last he'd ever see,
his truthful warning, that cool spring day.
We all held hands and silence fell, as they releashed that fatal bombshell.
The neigborhood burst into flames, and then the Hands of God came,
to pull me away from this twisted game, to save me from an unfair fate,
and leave me beside Heaven's Gate.
Staring up, with teary eyes,
at the Heavenly, golden skies, I wept no more,
for my fear was gone, I was no longer alone,
and united with my family, once more..