Sendings

By Shirley Segev

Shirley Segev

© Shirley Segev

Permission is given hereby to all who want to use these poems personally for their enjoyment and/or share them freely with others: verbally, in writing, online, or otherwise, by copying them without making any changes, and as long as they do not receive any payment in return.

Contact: shirley.segev@sympatico.ca

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If i knew

If I knew that I will live
only one year, or five, or
twenty,
I could do some sensible
planning,
just like they taught us
in accounting, you need a
time frame.
If I knew that I had only
one year to live
I would know exactly
how,
I would breathe every
flower
and ice cream and kiss.
They say the fastest
growing
age group is one
hundred,
best to plan for the worst.
And then, how about my
acquaintance
who, fifty years old
was struck by a car, out
cold.

— By Shirley Segev

I am Relieved

I am relieved
you're dead now,
no tubes, no pain, no guilt.
I can be with you,
— as if —
smiling in your kitchen,
tasting that cake you baked,
chocolate moist and smooth,
it melts.
Thumping, the frozen
clumps of clay
fall into your grave —
"The Lord giveth and
the Lord taketh away "
they say, and I,
The Sinner,
" Indian giver "
I say.

— By Shirley Segev

If I knew then

If I knew then what I know now
I would have been too wise,
anticipation of a futile kind
dictating "you know how "
and "no need to surmise ",
or even, "they are blind ".

When looking back respectfully,
the wisdom left behind,
relief is on its track,
forfeiting the false right to glee,
just happy to be back.

— By Shirley Segev

Index

    Page 1 - 4

  1. Last month, in early March
  2. The Sound of the Clock
  3. At ten I thought
  4. All the worlds that I slip into
  5. When Sadness Overcomes
  6. Who should I tell
  7. Looking Back
  8. Pie in the Sky
  9. The climbing vine
  10. Your Breath's warm caress
  11. Not more than
  12. Pain Cuts Deeper

    13. Page 5 - 8

  13. The leaves that fell
  14. How fast joy's sparkles turn to dust
  15. The quiet hum of humdrum life
  16. Coming battered and bruised
  17. As much as I would love to think
  18. Solitary Confinement
  19. I am a
  20. One thing that makes my day
  21. When you said
  22. Two trees I'm Looking at
  23. What I want
  24. Is holiness in the exalted heavens

    25. Page 9 - 12

  25. Tomorrow They'll Come
  26. last year's brown leaves
  27. The stories told
  28. the sheer Luxury
  29. The broken Pieces
  30. Whenever I count the Days
  31. Last month, in early march
  32. I hesitate to tally
  33. When I said
  34. Fireworks Touching
  35. Usually I believe in God
  36. I am Recycling

    37. Page 13 - 16

  37. I feel better when I Look outside the window
  38. Are you asking me
  39. last night
  40. Just when you think
  41. Research Says
  42. Life's Expectations
  43. This Fame
  44. the Grand Scheme
  45. Where are the people
  46. The exquisite south sea pearls
  47. The sheer relief
  48. How easy

    49. Page 17 - 20

  49. The valley
  50. Opening your eyes
  51. I look up
  52. I am looking forward
  53. Time Stretches
  54. Do I decide
  55. The day in its full thrust
  56. What do I want
  57. When you point
  58. So Many Weeds
  59. Focus Your Thoughts
  60. I know it doesn't matter

    61. Page 21 - 24

  61. What do you want me to do
  62. Intricate Designs
  63. Time has gone by
  64. It's the moment before
  65. to think
  66. and make sure
  67. The morning Porringer
  68. the fallen petals
  69. indulge
  70. my trick
  71. when i came
  72. this new house

    73. Page 25 - 28

  73. she's trying to take
  74. i swear it said
  75. What's the matter
  76. The rooting and Uprooting
  77. Don't let me go on
  78. The callback beckoned
  79. The Moments that rolled into
  80. Scratch and Win
  81. Because I asked him to
  82. This well
  83. As a rule, you said
  84. Here

    85. Page 29 - 32

  85. The day is gone
  86. I'm Dizzy
  87. The little black bear
  88. I came
  89. i am sitting here
  90. This trip
  91. His haunting
  92. Fear Came home
  93. Surprise
  94. All the computers
  95. Monday Morning Deaths
  96. What keeps

    97. Page 33 - end

  97. Unleash the heat
  98. He said
  99. If disease is not
  100. She is so smart
  101. This rare a happy day
  102. Remember When
  103. If i knew
  104. I am Relieved
  105. If I knew then