Life, Love, and Gems That Shine

By Arthur Weil

Arthur Weil is an avid participant in the Bay Area theater, music and art scenes. His rhymes reflect his love of nature and the arts. A widower, Arthur graduated from Roosevelt University (B.A.) and DePaul University (M.A.) in Chicago. Arthur was a Ph.D. Candidate in History at U.C. Berkeley. He taught history and German in Chicago and Northern California public schools for over 25 years.
Arth

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arthur Weil
• Release date: Aug 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452417967

Arthur Weil

Arthur Weil 85 years old Arthur Weil is from Piedmont, California. He is a retired high school teacher and real estate agent. Arthur Weil's poetry examines all facets of life while paying tribute to them with wit, wisdom and whimsy. His words inspire the reader to look at life in a new way, to pause and appreciate, and, always, to chuckle. He has been published in a number of anthologies and newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune. He has published 17 books of poetry since his first, “Life, Love and Gems That Shine,” in December of 1999. Mr. Weil escaped Nazi Germany in 1938 as one of 1400 children of the kindertransport. He spent his formative years in Chicago, completing his BA and MA degrees, finished his PhD coursework in History at UC Berkeley. He taught in the public school system for 27 years, and went on to run his own real estate business for 24 years before becoming a full time writer. Art is a strong supporter of the arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has two children and three grandchildren. At the age of 85, Art recently finished a book of poetry for teens, “Eat My Words.”

Book preview

Life, Love,

and Gems That Shine

by Arthur Weil

* * * * *

Copyright 1999 by Arthur Weil

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or article, without written permission from the author.

For all inquiries or to order additional printed copies of this book, contact

Arthur Weil, 208 Pala Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94611, or email Arthur at: [e-mail]

Pricing: $8 per printed copy, 5 or more $6 each plus postage & handling

Some images copyright www.arttoday.com

* * * * *

Dedication

To Charlotte Weil-Kaufman, my mother,

who had faith in me more than any other,

and to my family, teachers and friends

who shared with me life’s exciting dance.

Acknowledgments

To Sasha Gottfried, with special gratitude,

who edited and arranged this book.

Her patience and her fortitude

gave it this present look.

To Maggie Morley, who helped compile,

and diligently made all the effort worth our while.

Table of Contents

To Live!

In the Woods

Holocaust Victim

The Moon

To My One and Only Daughter

Why I Write

In the Heat of City Night

To Lillian

Dear Heavenly Deity

Just Happiness

Magnifying Glass

Simple Thing

Portrait

Rest

At the Peak

Opportunity

For Lisa

Lafayette Reservoir

Newsreel of World War II

Golden Age

Crash, Not Me!

Meal and Consequences

Frolic Holiday

God Watches

Second Time

Wondering

The Clip

Who Will Ever Know?

Eternal Hope

Ladies, What Do You Want?

Moon Visit

Even-Handed Writer

Contest

Heartbeat

Four A.M.

Wait for the Date

Dare Do It

New Resolve

Good Intentions

Edifice Complex

Boxes

Life Bypassed

Yesterday

Resiliency

Power, Recognition

Birth Pain

The Grandchild

Aspire

The Headache

Never Blank

The Games

Fleeting Stranger

Planetary Balance

Will You Listen?

Another Chance

Dark Moment

Upon the Death of A Good Man

Maniac or Mortal

Age and Youth

Date Delighted Legions, Yet Beware!

Let Me

Starting Over

Why Rhyme?

Silent, Loud and Crazy

Today

Script

Stock Market

Tired

We Talk

The Power

Pray and Do

I Love You

Licorice

The Gift

Ideas

Benign

Leaving

Adolescence in Old Age

I Wish…

Soup of Life

Mutti

Live Parchment

I Find Writing Easy

Window Shade

The Pier

Atone

Epitaph

Were I To Know

Biography

* * * * *

To Live!

Hours before flying

Hours before dying,

Years of trying

To live!

Thoughts of beach and sun

Thoughts of mind undone,

Food, play, joy, fun.

To live!

It’s the doing, the new,

Free thought, sights, so true,

Partaking in God’s pleasant brew.

To live!

I, too, depend

On love, dear friend,

I know the end.

To live!

There’s joy in relief,

God gives a reprieve,

There’s strength if you believe.

To live!

* * * * *

In the Woods

The evergreen, the Ponderosa, the Sequoia

Tower so high—so great,

So high they reach out to lightning fate.

High up, birds hover near the nest;

Far beneath them, peace and quiet give us rest.

They even hide us from the stars,

From Venus, Jupiter, or Mars.

We tranquil land bound creatures search,

Enveloped in our tree-branch church;

We are so impotent, so puny, frail,

Surrounded by these trees and trail.

We rest on beds of branches and leaves,

As if to hide from bandits or thieves.

Truly memorable this short nature tour,

A momentary gift … a lure,

Then back to life’s reality … so soon,

Under the watch of a friendly moon.

Now daily chores and obligations

Erase the pleasure of man’s primal sensations.

The rustic forest shall await

Those who search beyond heaven’s gate.

Holocaust Victim

Robbed of my childhood,

Bundled in smelly rags,

Humiliated to the lowest ebbs of Hell,

Stiffened with fright

Cannot distinguish day from night.

Swollen stomach, gnawing sickness,

Sunken, hollow eyes.

The heart beats, the heart beats,

Little hope.

Why survive? Why stay alive

Like a beaten, degraded animal

That has felt man’s inhumanity

to man,

Loved ones torn apart,

Castration, damnation.

How can other dominant creatures

Partake in such ghastly features?

Maimed, demonstrably scarred for life

I must