What I Can Do

I can think of many things
I can speak with knowledge,
I can learn most anything
I can teach when you listen.

I can observe through my eyes
I can hear the softest notes
I can touch what is there
I can teach these things to you.

I can comprehend complex problems
and solve them most of the time,
all these things I can do
and give them all to you.

When I try to think of God
I cannot speak nor comprehend,
nor even imagine
who God is.

I cannot speak
I cannot say the words,
I cannot imagine
or conjure up a thought.

I cannot teach;
you cannot listen.
Each of us is on our own
in knowing who God is.

Paul J. Wolf 3/3/11

A Prayer

When I want to pray
and have nothing to say,
sitting in an empty room
uneasy with nowhere to go;
my thoughts wander through the
forest of my life, leaving
footprints in the snow.

As a bed of crocuses gives color
to the black and white,
so a past filled with memories
gives passion to my life.

God’s blessings of special people
shaped where I should go
as I wandered though the forest
leaving footprints in the snow.

My persistence in pursuing
an education and degrees
like pine trees ever green
in that forest of memories.

The people who were there
when I needed them,
trail markers for me to follow
through the forest of my life.

When that trail was hard
causing pain and strife
I was blessed with loving people
helping me though that forest
which was my life.

Feeling God was with me
when I became the helper,
setting me on the path
that leads to a better life.

Then I know what my prayer
must be as I sit in that empty room.
Thank you God for all you’ve done,
without you I could never have traveled
through the forest
leaving footprints in the snow.

Paul J. Wolf 2/24/11

The Zoo

We went to the zoo the other day,
my Mama, my Grandpa and me.
I had never been to a zoo before,
I was excited about animals I might see.

We got to the zoo’s parking lot,
and I grabbed my Grandpa’s hand
as I was taught. I held it too,
til we got into the zoo.

Then we went into a little
house where they gave us maps
and told Mama where to make
bathroom stops.

First we went to the children’s zoo
to see the small animals
some in little cages, a small owl in a tall one.
There were a bunch of frogs,
a few little snakes, and the owl,
that was about all,
except for a furry little animal
asleep by a waterfall.

We walked by a woods
where wolves ran free.
There was a high fence
between those woods
and me. I was kinda scared.
If it wasn’t there,
we would have been eats
at a wolf-feast.

We saw some giraffes,
they were really tall
like they were walking
on stilts and they didn’t fall.

There was a white bear
which swam in a pond.
There were other bears too
but they were brown.


There were lions and tigers
and other big animals with
names I couldn’t pronounce.
Grandpa called them big cats.
I said, “ No Grandpa, they can’t be that
because they won’t fit on my lap.”

We saw monkeys in bunches
some with white beards
which looked like my
grandpa’s except they had more hair.
There were these great big monkeys
who sat and did nothing. Someone
called them gillas or something like that.

Then we ate lunch at the zoo
in a building with lots of things to choose.
I got a hamburger and some fries too,
as usual, Grandpa paid for our food.

We passed a wagon which sold
peanuts and popcorn.
Grandpa bought a large cup
of that good stuff.
He and I ate it as we walked
until Momma said, “That’s enough!”

We went to a farm in the zoo
and saw horses and cows
a pen full of goats which I could pet.
One of them followed me and tried
to eat the shirt on my back. The lady in charge
told me to give it a whack.

We came to the pen
where the seals swam,
it had large rocks
where the seals
could sun themselves.

It was the best fun
watching a man in the pen
play games with the seals
feeding them fish
when they did tricks.
The seals would swim
down to the bottom of the pond
turn in circles around and around
then come back up to eat again.

On the way out my grandpa
bought me a gift.
I chose a seal doll,
it was of soft stuff.

When we got to Mama’s car
and I was put into my seat
I snuggled down
holding my seal
and went to sleep
all the way home.

I have-ta say
I had a good day.


Paul J. Wolf 11/9/2010

Growth

When I was a child
in a small town
looking at the stars
in a darkened sky,
it excited me.
I didn’t know why.

As a young man
living on a farm,
I knew more about
those lights up there.
I expected it.
I didn’t think why.

When I moved to the city
I could never see the beauty
of those dots of light.
I knew they were there.
I didn’t care why.

Now that I am old
when I look to the sky
I see one or two dots of light.
I wonder why.

I know there are uncountable
planets, suns and galaxies,
an awe inspiring array,
more beautiful than I can imagine
I marvel why.

What minds human’s have
to see into space and pierce
the grandeur
of all the heavens above.

Of course there is no answer
it is a miracle to me.
It stops my heartbeat as I gaze
at those two little lights
knowing what is beyond
in the middle of the night. Paul J. Wolf 9/21/10

The Vagabond

The Vagabond

I am a vagabond spirit
knowing what I seek
traveling from place to place
desperately wanting peace.

My travels have sent me
where other spirits have not been
taking me from ecstasy
to the depths of despair
all in a youthful year.

My spirit followed a call to prayer
which ended after trying years,
and I was left
rudderless in an endless sea.

Then what seemed by chance
a course was given me
the work of helping others
guided my spirit through the waters
no longer lost, still searching for my peace.

Then I married, had a family
my spirit soared with worth
until illness took my wife
and left my spirit drifting in the sea.

So I floated, losing faith,
still wondering if my spirit would
find that special place
where peace could touch
my wandering spirit soul.

Again I was blessed with
my daughters love and my grandchild
I met another lady who
loved me and I loved her.
Yet I wandered still.

As I grew older and more unable
to live so many lives,
my spirit found the peace it sought
it was no special place.

I await the end
of my many journeys
treasuring all the turns
I took to find the peace
to satisfy my wandering soul.

Paul J. Wolf, 7/25/10

A Sunny Morning

When I wake up and there is sun,
things are bright throughout the house.
I feel like a gift has been given me
that particular day.

My thoughts are lively, my step is quick
my pains seem diminished,
the burdens dismissed
as I go about my daily tasks.

This doesn’t happen all the time
only when the sun does shine.

Paul J. Wolf, 7/5/10

Soul Search

I opened up my soul
to find the guts of it,
the thoughts and feelings
deep inside
its terrifying essence.

What I saw immediately
were memories of long ago,
shame and fear, but most of all
hurt from slights, rejections
from those I wished acceptance.

Then anger spread throughout my soul
like spores from some unearthly fungus
touching every part of me
pushing hate, energizing action.

Hate crawled in slowly
moving like a hunter
sneaking upon its prey
unseen until it kills.

I looked in horror
watching this unfold
seeing it as the damnation
of my sinful soul.

More memories poured out of me
of greed devouring my mind
focused on material
forgetting the spiritual.

Despair began to enter
as I cried out in my fear,
“there must be more to my soul
than what I see deep inside.”

Then memories of people
who loved me young and old
came forward in my soul.
Love evolved like a flower
blushing as it opens its petals.

Hope then entered slowly,
quietly calming my fear
ordering the memories
to focus on what is real to me.

Peace came to me quickly
when all this was seen,
I closed up my soul
to live with it.
It is everything I am.

Paul J. Wolf 5/20/10