Convergence

Into the stillness

Of the waters 

A single stone is cast

Creating ripples

Growing outward

Ever widening

Reaching the edges

Bouncing back

Returning to the place

The stillness was broken

Simple physics

Convergence 

Standing in the turmoil

Of the present

A word

A deed

Cast into the stillness

Of an undisturbed future

Creating ripples

Growing outward

Ever widening

Reaching the edges

Of our influence 

Bouncing back

Returning to the source

Simply life

Convergence

Into the stillness

Cast goodness

Cast mercy

Cast grace

Cast love

"Give, 

and it shall be given unto you; 

good measure, 

pressed down, 

and shaken together, 

and running over,"  

Luke 6:38

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 31, 2020

Turning

I Have a Voice

I am only one voice

But I am a voice

If there will be change

I must speak out

I must cry out

I must reach out

With my voice

If I do not step up

And speak out

My silence

Speaks for me

I am only one voice

In a cacophony of voices

Mine may get lost

In the cries of the crowd

Yet, on every platform

On every stage 

In every pulpit or soapbox

I have a voice

I may be crude and raw

I may lack finesse and eloquence

But my silence

Is far less acceptable 

You may not hear me

You may choose not to listen

This changes nothing

I still have a voice

I will speak my pain

I will speak my rage

I will speak my love

I will speak my peace

Some may not give attention 

Others may not care

Still, I must speak

I have a voice

There is hurt there

But hope lives there as well

In the nuances and inflections 

The sum of my experiences 

This 

This is my voice

These

These are my words

I have a voice

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 30, 2020

See Color

I hope I know what your heart meant

Or at least what it was trying to say

When you spoke these words

“I don’t see color”

I hope you were trying to say

“The color of your skin 

Doesn’t make a difference

In how I accept you as a human being”

While your heart and sentiment 

Were living in the right place

It is time to change our words

It is time to see color

The haters have always seen color

The oppressors have always seen color

It’s time the peacemakers and peacekeepers

See color as well

I see your black skin

I see your heritage

I see your pride

I accept and honor them

I see your brown skin

I see your customs

I see your beliefs

I accept and honor them 

I see your yellow skin

I see your ways

I see your legacy

I accept and honor them

I see your white skin

I see your traditions

I see your philosophies

I accept and honor them

I do not accept hatred

I do not condone violence

I do not tolerate oppression 

Regardless of the color it wears

I see you

I see your humanity

I see your worth

I see your color

I see your color

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 28, 2020

The End

If there is solely this life

Only these counted breaths

If there is no next life

Merely decay and worms

Still, how sad is a life

Filled with only getting

When it is all said and done

And all we have amassed 

Is wealth and it’s accoutrements 

Lands and houses which remain

Art and jewelry not following us

As the lid is closed, titanium or oak

It is inconsequential at this point

It has been written and said

We enter this life with nothing

We will leave it just the same

Even though it is only partially true

The sentiment is about half truth

We enter this measured existence 

With a finite number of heart beats

Each one bringing us closer to the last

How will I be remembered 

When I have used up all of my words

When I have spoken and heard my last

Who will remember and rehearse

When I have left behind

All my material gains

Small or vast

There are still questions

Have I made a difference

Have I helped others

Have I left this shared world

Better than I found it

Beyond the tomorrows

After my eventual end

Will there be remnants

Of my grace and kindness

Will I be loved

For the love I’ve shown

After all, it’s what matters

In the end

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 16, 2020

Love and Need

You are family 

I love you 

I always will

Somehow 

You've translated that 

Into needing you

So, let me be clear 

I don’t need you

I don’t need your help

I don’t need your opinion

I don’t need your approval

I don’t need you to agree with me

On this, or anything else, for that matter

I, really, don’t even need your love

If we are getting down to the core of it

You are a part of my life

You have been for years

But, I don’t approve of how you treat others 

I don’t have to do so

I don’t agree with your stand on some issues

However, I don’t have to approve

I love you 

I don’t need you

If you think loving you 

Means needing you

You don’t really understand either

Love and need

Different things

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 16, 2020

Was ist?

What is, or (German) Was ist 

(Merely for the sake of being a rhymologist

I know it’s a stretch, but who’s a perfectionist?) 

I am not a fatalist

More of an idealist

With a hint of a pragmatist

A healthy dose of nonconformist

Just enough socialist

A downgraded insurrectionist

All requiring a contortionist

With the skills of a ventriloquist 

Like a carny barker or televangelist 

I do not claim to be a psychologist 

Far from a psychiatrist 

More like their nosy receptionist 

Which does sort of make me a specialist

Breaking it down like a fundamentalist 

Adding a twist like a propagandist 

Enough history like an anthropologist 

Throwing in emotion like a dramatist

Tossing half baked conclusions like an alarmist

I’ll share them liberally like a philanthropist 

Reminding all we have to be a separatist

If we are going to remain a survivalist

I’ll twist the words of the immunologist

Throw in some words to be an impressionist

Make you think I know a microbiologist 

Include some jargon from a neurologist 

Spreading irrational distrust like a terrorist

When all I am is a glorified illusionist

I’ll throw in some fear for the federalist

Some loss of control for the feminist

Some in the other direction for the misogynist

Too much control for the anarchist

Yet not enough for the conformist

Chaos for the ceremonialist

A vaccine injury for the toxicologist 

A rallying cry for all to resist

Drowning out the cries of the optimist

We’ll get judge to order a cease and desist

Making everyone feel the need to re-enlist

All with a cause requiring their assist

The sinner and the theist

The archeologist and the futurist

The primitivist and the technologist

The Darwinist and the creationalist

Threading the line like a funambulist

Cutting like a divisionist

Still, when we take a close look at the list

Even using a different hairstylist

A different nail tech, you know, cosmetologist

Employing the best makeup artist

We are all just a plagiarist

Returning like a recidivist

To bad habits like a behaviorist

So I’ll abandon this like a parachutist

And leave you with this, ‘was ist’

© Ron Simpson Jr

(Vocabularist)

May 17, 2020

Memorial

Today isn’t the day we remember or glorify war

It isn’t the day we honor individual battles

It isn’t a day about keeping score 

However, it is a day to remember warriors

It isn’t a day about who gave some

Or only about those which gave all

It is about all the those which gave

It is about everyone answering the call

War is never to be sought after

It should never be the first response

The greatest ability of any military 

Is the courage to hold and maintain peace

It is training to be ready

It is praying to never be called

It is to stand side by side

It is to be the line in the sand

Today is about every individual 

Everyone which raised their hand

Everyone which took the oath

Everyone which served, in peace or war

Today is about a flag flying high

It is about a flag at half mast

It is about a flag draping a coffin

And every man and woman saluting

Today isn’t about war

Today is about warriors

Thank you

One and all

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

Memorial Day Weekend 

May 23-25, 2020

The Chains of Freedom

There are those which toss the word about

As if it were the newest toy in the box

There are some which drag it through the mud

There are others which place it on a pedestal

Exalted but out of reach for others

Look at the word itself, ‘Freedom’

It is a compound word

‘Free’ and ’dom’ 

Free, from Germanic ‘freo’ 

From an Indo-European root

Meaning, ‘to love

Dom, meaning ‘dominion’

Compounded to mean

To be constrained by love

No man is free

Which cannot love others

If love is the fuel of freedom

Then hatred is the fuel of bondage

One cannot place restraints

On the love of others

Without diminishing 

Their own love

One cannot place constraints

On the freedom of others

Without placing chains

On their own freedom 

No one is truly and wholly free

Until we all are conjoined

In the cause of freedom

For one, for all

When we learn to love

All men and women freely

In the kingdom of love

We will all be free

We are bound by love

We are bound by freedom

The burden of love 

The chains of freedom 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 25, 2020