Guardian Angel: All My Tomorrows, Poetic Passions

By LTC Roy E. Peterson

Guardian Angel is a kaleidoscope of vivid poetic imagery and begins with To all the angels I have known and some I never knew a thousand pardons for the stress I must have put you through. Guardian Angels protect the good from bad consequences. LTC Roy Peterson is the embodiment of the renaissance soldier, statesman, and literary gentleman and harkens back to the likes of Poe and Longfellow, but with the romantic urges of Hemingway and Lord Byron.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477211274

LTC Roy E. Peterson

LTC Roy E. Peterson authored three books of poetry “Beyond Darkness and Light” (2011), “Guardian Angel” (2012), and “American Heartland Poetry, Wit, and Wisdom”. In recent years he authored six more books of fiction, nonfiction, relationships, and juvenile literature. LTC Peterson was born and raised in South Dakota, the American Heartland, and then moved with his family to Texas at the age of thirteen. His writings bear testimony to his diverse experiences both in growing to manhood and then becoming a Military Intelligence Officer and analyzing Soviet/Russian military and foreign policy. A graduate of Hardin-Simmons University (BA degree) in Abilene, Texas, LTC Peterson holds three Masters degrees in Business (University of Phoenix), International Relations (University of Southern California) and Political Science (University of Arizona). His first poem was published while at Hardin-Simmons University. LTC Peterson served in the Army as Commander, Portal Monitoring, of Soviet missiles under the INF Treaty for the On-Site Inspection Agency, Military Intelligence and Security Advisor to the Army Staff in the Pentagon, Commander of a Military Intelligence Company in Germany for the 66th MI Group, and Assistant Army Attaché in Moscow. Roy Peterson was selected by the US Department of Commerce as the First Foreign Commercial Officer in the Russian Far East at the newly opened US Consulate in Vladivostok, Russia and as a Visa Issuing Officer for the US Department of State. IBM offered and he accepted a position as the first IBM Regional Manager in the Russian Far East, a territory the size of the continental United States. More recently, Roy Peterson taught Elites in Government, American History Since 1945, Marketing, and Global Management for the University of Phoenix in San Diego and Southern California. He opened an international trade business and sold product to foreign countries.

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© 2012 LTC Roy E. Peterson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 5/30/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-1129-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-1128-1 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-1127-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012909381

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Part I Guardian Angel

I Believe In Angels

I Am Your Guardian Angel

Part II Love Forever

Precious Promises: Now We’re Engaged

All My Tomorrows: Wedding Song

Love In The Afterglow

Part III Legends And Lore

Introduction To Part III

The Legend Of Texas Trooper Sammy Long

The Trapeze Artist Who Never Left

How Maximilian Lost His Treasure

Billy Sol And The Fertilizer Tanks

My Texas Hometown Confessions

Million Barrel Oil Tank

Part IV The Living And The Dead

Someone Who Wasn’t There

Poe Would Approve

In The Dark Of The Night

My Soul To Take

Phantom Girl In My Dreams

What Sweet Madness

There Is A Secret Garden

Heavenly Body

Part V Retrospect

I Am The Keeper Of Memories

Ode To Toilet Paper

If I Could Go Back In Time

I’m Yesterdays Fool

A Birthday Wish To A Friend

My Heart Was Foolish Once Again

Part VI Holidays

A Furtive Valentine

Impish Irish And St Patrick’s Day

Memorial Day 1955

If There Were No Christmas

I’ll Never Forget The Christmas

Part VII Unlocked Treasures

Wisdom For The Ages

Peterson Formula For Success

Decisions, Decisions

Avoiding The Abyss

Explaining The Unexplainable

Facebook

Coffee Song

I’m Sorry I’m Not Perfect

Part VIII Peterson Lists

Christmas List For Santa

Top Ten Signs You May Be A Scrooge, If…

My Lumps Of Coal For Christmas 2011

Ten Things I Learned Not To Give A Woman As A Christmas Gift

Ten More Things I Learned Not To Give A Woman As A Christmas Gift

Ten Gifts Women Should Not Give A Man

Ten Things I Want To Know

Top Ten (Fun) New Year’s Resolutions For 2012

List Of Ten Things I Learned In The Military

List Of Ten Things I Learned In The Army

Why I Am Not A Muslim

My Ten Favorite Political Quotes

Ten Texas Cultural Expressions I Learned When I Moved To Texas

Ten More Texas Cultural Expressions

My Last Ten List Of Texas Cultural Expressions

What Are You Doing At The Supermarket Today?

Journeys And Trips

Horoscopes For March 4-10

Consequences Of Following Advice

Advice For A Good Day

My Favorite Quotes

Lent Bent

Ten Ways You Know It’ll Be One Of Those Days

Part IX Introspection

Baggage

Roses And Dirt Bags

If I Were An Animal, Which One Would I Be?

The Poet And The Painter: Introspection

On Greatness

Some Things Drive Me Crazy

Books Authored by LTC Roy E. Peterson

Albert: The Cat That Thought He Could Fly (Juvenile)

American Attache in the Moscow Maelstrom (Cold War History)

Between Darkness and Light (Poetry)

Fight of the Phoenix (Vietnam War History)

Guardian Angel: All My Tomorrows (Poetry)

Iron Ikon (Historical Fiction about US Foreign Commercial Officer Service/Diplomat/Foreign Service)

Magnetism to Marriage (PreMarriage Relationships)

Russian Romance (Historical Fiction about IBM Penetration of Russian Far East)

Soviet Intelligence Process (Out of Print)

Books Planned by LTC Roy E. Peterson

American Agenda: Regeneration Blueprint (Politics)

Maturity: Mind Over Matter (Relationships)

Intelligence: Collection, Collation, and Communication (Government)

Order of the Delta Dragon (Historical Fiction)

Power of the Pentagon (History)

Precious Promises: Engagement Means Commitment (Relationships)

Victorville Visions: Development, Disappointment, and Drama (Historical Business Fiction)

Dedication

GUARDIAN ANGEL: All My Tomorrows

LTC Roy E. Peterson, April 2012

Guardian Angel is dedicated:

To all the angels I have known and some I never knew

A thousand pardons for the stress I must have put you through.

While the poetry enshrined in my first poetry collection, Between Darkness and Light, was slowly written and accumulated over half a century, the poetry contained in Guardian Angel is recent and vexed my mind over a year up to the date of publication.

Roy Peterson

Tucson, Arizona

April 2012

Foreword

Why I Believe in Guardian Angels

If there were a fear factor, it seems to be a gene I never inherited. At the risk of maudlinity (I love to taste new words that seem recognizable, but have not been tried), I wish to give you a taste of why my Guardian Angels were kept busy.

At the age of two, my mother opened the door to the outside cellar in Belleview, Nebraska, now a suburb of Omaha. She went down to get some canned goods in Mason jars. I rode my tricycle to the entrance and then tried to ride down the steps. I made it down the first two and fell the next ten. On another day I tried it again and failed again. I never did have fear of trying it again, but mother never opened the door with me around. At the same age, one of