Family – Al's Painting and Poetry

A Peaceful Night

“Tillamook Twilight” depicts Tillamook Bay, Oregon about twenty minutes after sunset on late winter day. Centered in the scene is a small fishing boat coming home after a long day on the Pacific Ocean. For many people in the world, night-time is coming-home time, a time to rest, and a time to be with family.

NIGHTGOWN
By Al Vester

How soft is the night when the wind takes a rest
From blowing the clouds from the east to the west,
While all of the crickets are humming a tune –
A midsummer ballad to welcome the moon.

The starlit clouds make a gossamer nest
Over valley slope and mountain crest
Wrapping each creature in a silvery cloth,
It’s the fabric of sleep that’s so light and soft.

Thus, each soul is nightly dressed
In fragile garments of dreams and rest,
With warm silky touch, they caress the skin
Stilling the turmoil, we each hold within.

A Peaceful Night

We live in a world where neon lights and traffic noises often mask sunsets and nighttime stars. However, for those who live away from city lights and noises, the setting sun can paint the sky in delicate shades of blues, pinks, golds, and oranges blazing briefly before fading into a star-studded night. Continue reading “A Peaceful Night”

Marriage, the miracle of separate beings becoming one

Forty-two years ago, this month, a miracle began in my life. A lovely, intelligent, and gifted young lady became my wife. Just prior to our wedding, I wrote the following poem called the Treasure Chamber.

The Treasure Chamber
By Al Vester

The ruddy glow of life ran from the ruby walls
Into the swirling darkness of the outer entrance hall.
A tune is singing softly, a pure and simple call,
To beckon someone worthy to come within the hall.

Come, behold the treasures earned by years of work
Of faith, integrity, honor, and courage not to shirk.
For within this ruby hall with ivory beams over-bending,
Resides a heart that’s filled with hope, a soul that needs befriending.

Come my bride, my joy and life, open doors to exaltation;
Come within and be my wife by a priesthood coronation.
God’s the one who lit this chamber, built its throne and made its treasure.
All that’s good is His and mine, and now through Him it shall be thine.

Why choose marriage?

It always seems miraculous to me that women can and do put up with men. Most women are softer, gentler, and more emotionally connected with the world around us. Continue reading “Marriage, the miracle of separate beings becoming one”

Why Show Compassion?

Both the poem and the painting are based on an actual incident experienced while commuting to work. My heart went out to the unknown woman, weeping alone. In the painting, the trees have been shaped to represent the depressing voices that she hears within her head. My own daughters were having struggles at that time and I was worrying about them even as I considered the sorrow of this poor lady.

A Woman Weeping at the Bus Stop
By Al Vester
A woman sat weeping softly by the bus stop,
Fair hair hanging curtain-like around her face.
Slender fingers tried to comb the matted mop,
Failing, where tangled locks remained in place.
The passing hand showed sunken cheeks,
Evidence of bitter days and dreary weeks.

Sorrow separated from the world, she bent
Alone, unloved, unsheltered from the sky,
Her bowed back being her spirit’s only tent.
The bus arrived, but still she stayed to cry.
What path had brought her to this state?
When did accumulated errors grow so great?

Passer-by’s ponder while they wait
Brooding as they board their morning bus
Praying that their daughter’s fate
Would different be, and not end thus
Sitting at a bus stop as if traveling somewhere
Sadly saddled with sorrows going nowhere.

Compassion

In a world filled with many sorrows, there are good people everywhere who are moved with compassion to alleviate the suffering that those around them. Continue reading “Why Show Compassion?”

What Is Your Family Heritage?

Years ago, as we moved in to a new house and lacked furniture for all the empty spaces, we put plants in one corner. Included in the arrangement were a wood sculpture of a crane by my father and a ceramic pot created by my son. My painting linked the creations of three generations in the light of a summer morning.

The Green Corner
By Al Vester

Calmly crane and pot do sit
Revealing now our family’s wit
The crane by Dad, the pot by son
Loving gifts which they have done.
Now among the plants they fit
And to that verdant clasp submit.

Where fish remind us of the fun
Of swims beneath a tropic sun,
Those woven palms, shaped with skill,
Remind us of those travels still
Then bring us back, where we’ve begun,
To this corner set in slanting sun.

Sunrise lights the distant hills
Spilling hope through window sills,
Then and now are closely knit
As past achievements now are lit,
Our prayers ascend up that His will
Does smile upon our beings still,
And grants us power by His might
To welcome life in morning’s light.

Family Heritages

Every generation builds their accomplishments upon the works of previous generations. Countless of prior generations have left the current generation a legacy of language, art, science and a host of inventions ranging from toothbrushes to rockets capable of carrying men to the moon. Continue reading “What Is Your Family Heritage?”

What is the Worth of a Child?

The Tender Soul
By Al Vester

The clay of the mind is soft and fine
In youth’s well watered garden.
Impressions hold both quick and bold
And soon the mold does harden.

Loving words add gentle curves
But hate is rough and jagged.
The rounded soul all joy beholds,
But shunned are the cold and cragged.

The tender soul will ever know
The path you have sought to guide him.
So teach with care those children dear,
You have power to free or bind them.

A Child’s Worth

To look into the face of a new born child is to see the greatest of all gifts in the lives of a young couple. Continue reading “What is the Worth of a Child?”

Are Women truly equal to men?

A friend once asked for a portrait to be made from a small photo taken forty-four years earlier. It was a photo of his wife when he first met her. Years later this was how he still thought of her on her 62nd birthday, the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

So often in life women are busy with a multitude of tasks that keep families fed, clothed, and functioning. Many have very responsible positions in society, but most have the continuous responsibilities involved in raising families. Without the influence of women in our societies, families would fall apart and cease to exist. The following poem is in honor of these sweet heroes of a strong society.

Gentle Gifts
By Al Vester
I dreamt I saw a shining creek
Which she did cross on dainty feet
Quickly hopping from rock to rock,
Never daring to pause or stop
To see the bobbing elfin fleet
Of golden leaves beside the peat.
The dream’s too true, I’m sad to say,
For she does hop from day to day,
Failing still to pause or stop
To see what fleeing time has brought,
Those gentle gifts so bright and gay,
The precious thoughts that come her way.

Womanhood

More than a year ago, a convocation was held in the Vatican about the importance of families and marriage. One of the quotes that was read during this convocation is as follows: Continue reading “Are Women truly equal to men?”