Travels Through Time

My sweetest memories come in flashes,
Unexpected, fleeting, rare,
Triggered by some word or image,
Causing me to stop and stare.


And once again old times surround me,
Songs of long ago enthrall,
Friends long gone now rise around me,
To my eyes and ears they call;


And for a moment, time's suspended;
Once again I dance the dance
Of youthful dreams and aspirations,
Now by memory enhanced.


But only for a fleeting moment,
For my feet betray me now,
And falter with the fading image
Which I can't call back somehow.


For memories I try to summon
Lack the luster of the rays
Which flash unbidden through my mind
And whisk me back to other days.


Saralyn McAfee Smith
Written About 1979

Remains

Fragments of dreams
Half remembered,
Remnants of song
Partially sung,
Glimmerings of words
Once immortal---
These have my heart
Sorely wrung.

Saralyn McAfee Smith
Written About 1980

Cry Freedom

Written Immediately After I had Seen the Movie "Braveheart"

Knew we how the war would end
When first we drew our swords,
Knew we that our lives were spent,
Would we take back our words?


Nay, every lad would still fight on,
And every lass would cheer!
For freedom's cost has ne'er come cheap
And liberty is dear.


Our bodies sleep beneath the soil;
Our spirits linger yet,
And rise again in every land
Where tyranny's a threat.


Saralyn McAfee Smith
Written in 1995