Author: ~Keith Alan Hamilton~ (~KAH~)

as age passes along
its mark upon my body
I look at you and find
a sense of contentment
from feeling satisfaction
through the acceptance
found, as revealed
or firmly established
in your lines of character
symbolizing the struggle
for wisdom obtained
during lesson’s experience

Image & Words by    ~Keith Alan Hamilton~

~    as I walk this road
entering the land
for those laid to rest
a mixture of feelings
from sadness to joy
stir deeply my soul
with remembrance   ~
~   memories of lives
once lived for a time
facing head on reality
even if not knowing
what may wait ahead
yet amidst the struggle
leading them to death
their hours of effort
weren’t left in vain   ~
~    as I walk this road
leaving the land
for those laid to rest
I somberly, do turn
casting my eyes
one more time
upon the markers
of many lives lived
and smile to myself
ever so, so gently
for the honor
of being among
their noble presence
because they in life
helped to assure
through example
life is quite able
~    to go on and on

Image & Words by    ~Keith Alan Hamilton~

choo chooin’   ~   down the track
on a journey called life
saying, “yes I can”
saying, “yes I will”
I want to explore
I want to discover
I want to see
and come to know
every   ~   if not all
things possible
~ ~
livin’   ~   yes, really, really
doing it fully
using all those senses
experiencing the nonliving
those of the inanimate kind
also   ~   hanging out with
those filled
by way of process
having that spirit
flowing about in a body
being of energy/matter
~ ~
I   ~   being that me
as this individual
readily,
wanting to do
this living thing
within a curious manner
tooting my horn
~    so to speak
through poetry and prose
hoping I will alert
all I pass by
of the adventures
or even the misadventures
happening along
the snaky turns of life
~    communicating it all
in such a way
as if the spiking
of cross   ~   ties
to the railroad track
pointing out the link
~    between
my words and deeds
of how these acts
have added to the taste
ingested by my soul
sort of like salt
sprinkled upon
the evening meal
offering forth many
~    many flavors of lesson
~    surreal lessons
presenting challenges
‘cause of me being me
without leaving
any room for excuse
for overcoming them
or not
~ ~
oh   ~   how, how
during such times
me as the human
made that   ~  mistake
seemingly,
gotten a little off rail
losing my train of thought
almost to the point of
~    mental derailment
becoming behind schedule
from my dreamed for
hoped for itinerary
even though   ~
as I now see within
all my wrong choices
did teach me
a lot of things
of which shaped
~    even empowering
the resilience of my character
to this very day
beyond what
I could’ve imagined
~ ~
so then   ~   as I may
and shall do
~    I still
without hesitation
or remorse
will go on listening
as long as I can
to the clickety   ~   clack
of life   ~   expressed
through my words
as shared with others
~    poetry and prose
coming forth to fruition
~    while
choo chooin’   ~   down the track

Image & Words by    ~Keith Alan Hamilton~

at times   ~   I fully feel
the loneliness
a sort of abandonment
deep within my being
penetrating the depths
of my mortality   ~
I stand as naked
pale as a corpse
mentally subdued
as if to be
dead to all else
where no one
knows of   ~
this plight
my downtrodden ways
of suffocating despair
neither at all
am I to find   ~
a single bit of concern
within the reach
of what comprises
the bleak silhouette
shadowing   ~
my somber disposition
~ ~
as I wrestle   ~
struggle within the realm
known to me as darkness
I find   ~
my right
to acceptance
for being the way I am
without the stigma of guilt
upon my back   ~
nor the need for pity
shown from those
who have no capacity
for real understanding
beyond  ~
the quick fix remedy
and the proverbial scold
‘get over it’
echoing
its empty council
proclaiming a time limit
as to the affairs
plaguing my morose
condition
whatever   ~
I’ve dwelt in the pit before
alone   ~
and
I know my way about
its catacombs
filled with an anguish
designed to be debilitating
so to prevent my escape
of which I’ve done
many   ~   many times
to the chagrin of my keeper
and because of such
I have no doubt   ~
once again
I’ll rise up
from this grave
smothering me slowly
with this   ~
heavy melancholy
yes   ~   I will
with all I can muster
I’ll fight my way back
into the comfort of day
letting it saturate
my mind
with those light rays
of hope
lifting my weaken spirit
giving it a renewed vision
to walk once more
as I recall   ~   remember
upon the land   ~   as the living

“For me anyhow, mental lows are the aftereffect upon my entire body drained from a high-functioning mind begging for some rest; it ain’t no illness, but a natural, cyclical response to the ongoing process of mind within my body; I’ve accepted this and feel no guilt for me being me.”

Image & Words by    ~Keith Alan Hamilton~

for me   ~   there is no better way
to know and fully experience
the rich bounty of life
intertwined with the non-life
those inanimate aspects
integral to the formation,
the beauty   ~   the raw power
of which at times
bringing about a force
of horrid destruction
causing a loss to the living
and yet   ~   in spite of
comprising,
the very fabric making up
Nature’s splendid being
~    for me then
to get out into
the fray,
the motion of it all
and trudge along
a torrent and rugged river
like the east branch
of the Pemigewassent
barreling through a place
called Lincoln Woods
deep within the White Mountain
National Forest   ~

~    ‘cause while kneeling one day
upon a smoothed out rock
after jumping to its dwelling
amidst the rumbling stream
yes doing so   ~   with a mindset
to somehow sense the feeling
of what such a reality may   ~   be
suddenly   ~   a wave of energy
eerily and yet,
with a familiarity
passes as if some spirit
through the soul
nudging intuitively
the body to turn and look
seemingly   ~   towards
a preordained direction
where the sun’s light
filtered through the clouds
provides the ideal overcast
upon the waters
full of rock and stone
to be   ~   instantly captured
as if perfection
by the imperfect
and simplistic means
of a Smartphone camera
snapping a shot in Nature
creating a moment   ~   which
bestows an everlasting blessing
that gift of spiritual enlightenment

Image & Words by    ~Keith Alan Hamilton~

frozen within a wintry blue
casting a mental cloud
known as darkness
~    the drip of the icicle
under the sun
illustrates   ~
the release to be given
with a ray of hope
if you’d take the opportunity
~    earnestly basking
beneath the warmth
of hope’s light   ~   wherein
the spirit becomes uplifted
beginning with    ~
each and every new day

Image & Words by   ~Keith Alan Hamilton~

hearing the birds on this early   ~   rainy morn
vocalizing lively   ~   as if an obliging melody
filling the dew-damp air   ~   simultaneously
with a variety of tunes according to kind
as my stiff knees and not so limber ankles
and feet   ~   slowly and ever so persistently
become infused with an energetic rhythm
pulsating throughout my hefty-laden legs
a nudge   ~   prodding me to walk and then do
what I describe as a naturally evolving
self-adapting style   ~   this unspectacular
shuffle-jog   ~   a shadow of the full all-out
run of early years   ~   and yet   ~   this morn
now within this sort of melodic prance
~    I more willingly move upon a familiar
although   ~   unforgiving and duty bound
blacktop   ~   of which   ~   through its rough
and slanted surface this harden   ~   stern road
unwittingly does intensify those aching pains
aged into my body   ~   however   ~   within this
humbling process of not as once was mobility
~    my mind drifts back to those vocalizing birds
scurrying about here and there   ~   just doing
what they need to do   ~   in spite of whatever
as if illustrating by such an eager activity
teeming with the business of the morn
somehow this subtle message is embedded
purposely and obediently by the nature gods
who are assigned the noble task to spirit on
all routine matters   ~   recurrent patterns
revealing   ~   without pause a struggle for life
~    I’ve had to experience to more fully know
and thusly appreciate the following   ~
upon awakening from the depths of sleep
if I’m so blessed to hear again   ~   a liveliness
for life   ~   pulsating throughout the air   ~
land and sea with an energetic rhythm
I too   ~   heaven forbid   ~   shall not linger
for long   ~   dilly-dallying in hesitation or remorse
‘cause   ~   I must get up to get going   ~   willfully
and daily joining the ranks of the all-out commotion
the obliging melody possessing its meaningful
reason   ~   so I’ll keep moving   ~   running
or more in tune with reality   ~   me by way of my
unspectacular shuffle-jog will try to stay alive

Image & Words by    ~Keith Alan Hamilton~