My Son, Listen to My Words of Wisdom

My son, there are a few things you ought to know,

First off, don’t eat the yellow snow,

When a girl tells you she likes you as a friend,

She means, adios, goodbye, the end,

The tongue has the power of life and death,

Say something nice, or save your breath,

When you think you know something, speak out,

Listen and look wise, when in doubt,

Son, life has no easy answers on how to be smart,

Being always observant is quite an art,

If you look at the friends who surround you,

Your own character comes into view,

When people are angry, listen to what they say,

For what they believe is true will come your way,

Now for the things that can make you better,

Hold these truths close right to the letter,

If you hold anger inside and don’t turn it loose,

It won’t be long before you stew in your own juice,

In colloquial terms, you have to dig,

If you stir a stink, it only gets big,

If you’re knee high in clover you’re doing well,

You’ve hit pay dirt as time will tell,

If you’ve got it made in the shade,

You have no worries, your fortune is made,

The best things in life are not gold or shiny rings,

Love, respect, and honor, are what happiness brings,

Be a person of action, be a person of thought,

Keep out of trouble and do what you ought,

You are wise when you know others and what they say or do,

You are wiser yet, when you really understand you,

My son, I’ll tell you a secret, don’t ever get old,

It’s only for the tough, the simple, and those who are bold,

Now for the real things you asked me about,

The differences between sexes that you have doubts,

If you think you understand women you’re in danger,

The simple truth? Men are strange, women are stranger,

Know that women think differently than a man,

You’ll always be wrong if you don’t understand,

If you ever think you’re perfect, it’s time for a wife,

She’ll love you and correct you the rest of your life,

Men want women to stay the same always,

Women want men to be different every day,

Women can’t keep secrets, you should know that,

If you have a secret to keep, keep it under your hat,

Love builds bridges across unchartered lands,

Everyone is richer, no matter which side you stand,

Love can be magical when your heart it does claim,

Love also can be an illusion that you’ll never tame,

Love takes normal things and dims the light,

You won’t see faults and everything looks right,

A beautiful woman? If you wish to be wise too,

A beautiful woman is the one who loves you,

The best thing in life I hope you soon learn,

Is to love completely and be loved in return.

The Most Efficient Path

The Most Efficient Path

As I take my walk through the woods,

I see untold beauty unfolding before me,

But I peer closer for I want to really see,

Nature’s royal form wrapped in fractal cloaks,

Natural occurrences as in the leaves of oaks,

Complex patterns rising from simple rules,

Fractal recurrences of nodules,

Using a mathematician’s way to explain,

How nature is not so complex but plain,

There is so much simplicity, yet elegant math,

Because nature follows the most efficient path,

Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio have a say,

How beauty even exists in such a way,

With so many stimuli to overwhelm the mind,

I have to concentrate if the beautiful order I’ll find,

Branches, layers, spirals, are everywhere displayed,

 Concrete examples that can be touched and weighed,

Pine cones with the Fibonacci spirals, feathers of owl,

Gathering specimens with camera as I continue to prowl,

Later to change the pictures into numerical models to test,

Analyze, and record patterns from this treasure chest,  

Everything studied and written down as planned,

Like William Blake, “See the world in a grain of sand,”

Then once more I’ll be free to soar and see with eagle’s eye,

Chaos unchained and let my imagination fly.