Five Days of Florida Poems

A change of scenery, a different muse

It’s been a busy week. These poems result from the places I have been, what I have seen, heard, and felt.

Have Mercy

Have mercy,

Granny used to say.

I didn’t know then,

That this was a cry of

Humility,

A recognition of need,

A plea for help.

Instead, we want the surest certainty

The right answer,

The dust settled.

A line defined

A clarity both

Visible

And immovable.

Surely, what we want is

Mercy.

Grace.

Even forgiveness.

Certainty says

I am right.

You are wrong.

No discussion.

How can we build a house

Together,

When it is wood framing

Or metal?

When it is hardwood floors,

Or carpet?

When it is my way,

Or not at all?

This is no way to live

Together --

In a house,

In a family,

In a marriage,

In a church,

In a nation.

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our prayer:

Undo our illusions

Of power and control.

Shatter our certainty.

Lead us into the mystery

Of faith,

Of life together,

Of relationships

That nourish and

Encourage.

Have mercy.

Amy Vaughan

January 20 2025

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Lucky Dog

I saw you with your human

At the dog park.

You have a human who

Wants so much

To make you happy,

He is willing to hide behind poles

Playing “gotcha” peek-a-boo,

And run with abandon,

Arms and legs

Swinging wildly,

Because it seems to amuse you.

The visit was brief,

Because he knows you only need

So much running around,

Chasing your own tail,

Before you are ready to

Head back home to your

Comfy spot on the sofa,

And perhaps a little treat.

Oh, to be such a

Lucky dog!

Better yet,

To be such a human

To love and care so much

About someone else,

That understanding

Someone else’s needs

Are sometimes more important

Than anything else in the world.

Amy Vaughan

January 21, 2025

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On Being an Instrument of Disruption

Can a person will themselves to bravery?

Is it possible to subvert

The introvert in me,

And let the other half,

The extrovert,

Come roaring out?

Make me brave enough to speak up,

Strong enough to hold up,

Confident enough to look up,

And when I see the clarity

Of right and wrong,

When human dignity hangs in the balance,

Let me drive a spoke into the wheel.*

Amy Vaughan

January 22, 2025

*“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

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Epiphany

My carefully crafted plan

Has been shattered.

Expectations that fell by the way

Seemed at first a loss.

Now they are smoothed out and form a path forward.

An unexpected melody

Rises from the keyboard,

As tentative, halting voices

Rise and intertwine

In harmony.

These sights and sounds

Lift a spirit sodden with worry,

Fed by anxiety.

We rise, we fall,

And in a sacred sigh,

Hope is born anew.

Amy Vaughan

@ Compassion UMC, Ocala, FL

January 23 2025

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To The Worker I Will Never Know

You did not understand my words,

Here, on this soil,

With a language I don’t know,

Living in a land with a language you don’t know.

You are planting flowers outside this center,

Planting beauty in the loamy dirt.

My feeble attempt

To say hello,

To make a connection,

To tell you that your shirt

Meant something to me,

A reference to a place I know,

A college town in our home state,

Here, four states and some five hundred miles away.

The distance between you and me

Seems farther,

Somehow.

I want to hear your story,

But you speak no English,

And I do not know your native tongue.

I wonder, if your story would help me understand,

Why you would want to leave your home,

Or need to leave,

To come so far away to plant flowers and trim shrubs?

Could I be of any help to you, or comfort, even,

If we could just talk with each other?

Or would my words be as hollow as the

Lack of words,

Meaningless, or worse

Condescending.

Most of all,

I wonder what your hope and dreams might be,

And if you sense or know the

Precipice on which we hang --

On which you hang --

At this moment in time.

How can I possibly tell you with my eyes

With how I try to let you know

The words across your chest

Are just a way in

To bridge that gulf

Between us,

And let you know that you

Are not alone.

I am painfully aware of the inadequacy of

My feeble attempt to tell you all

Without words, without shared anything,

That we do share in this moment,

When our lives cross paths.

I will not know any more about you,

Or you about me.

It was a passing moment, after all.

But, you are my neighbor,

And I am yours.

I wish you well,

And hope you find your way

To whatever it is

You dream your life can be.

Brother, be well.

Amy Vaughan

January 24, 2025