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The sky grew dark, from crimson to gray,
Shadowy clouds mounted in swirling arrays.
Torrents of sand eclipsed the sun,
Earth and Sky became as one.

From this mystical play of Earth and Sky
Came a shrieking, thundering, mighty cry -
Like the shrieking call of a million birds,
Like the thundering hoofs of a mighty herd.

Swiftly this tempest of swirling sand
Raced the lightning across the land.
Then God reached out, seizing this whirlwind force,
And from its fury formed the Arabian horse.

The creature's beauty was unsurpassed,
Its gait elegant, its speed lightning fast.
Intelligent, graceful, a regal force -
God's masterpiece, the Arabian horse.

© 2000 James L. Manniso

The startling ring of the fire bell
Sends firefighters rushing down pole and stairwell.
The doors spring open and out they go;
The night is alive with the engine's glow.

The siren screams, the bell is stirred.
The roar of the powerful engine is heard.
Down the street they travel fast
Stirring excitement as they pass.

From a distance there can be seen
A glow in the sky with a reddish gleam.
Drawing near to the brilliant light,
The night becomes day - it's a frightening sight.

All make ready for what must be done.
There's a battle to fight and it must be won.
With screeching brakes and shouting men,
The fighting of fire will soon begin.

Chief car, engines, ladder trucks, too,
Spring into action from every view.
Up go the ladders, the hose lines are laid.
All preparations are quickly made.

Firefighters with water line, axe, and steel bar
Go into the smoke and stifling fire.
There's coughing and shouting, the deluge of water,
The breaking of glass, the crumbling of mortar.

The flames, the smoke, the crackling fire,
Puff and hiss from the steaming pyre.
Rescues are made, people are helped,
Their expressions show the fear that is felt.

After some time the flames subside -
The path of the battle has changed its tide,
Grimy-faced firefighters wet down the debris.
The smoke has cleared and their breathing is free.

The battle won, the victors depart,
Only to wait for the next fire to start.

© 2000 James L. Manniso

Worn, whipped,
Battered, beaten,
Blasted, eroded,
Erupted, uplifted,
Over time and tide
And baked by the fiery heat of a billion suns,
Most of all shaped and formed
By the relentless flow of a great river
Called by man "the Colorado."

Each ancient rock of stone faces has a story to tell;
No storyteller can tell the true tale.
Words pale, inadequate to explain
The work of wind and rain, sleet and snow,
Tectonic plates and lava flow
That shaped this canyon grand.
Only the omnipotent hand
Could create the Grand Canyon -
Not from might alone; no, and not just art.
The omnipotent worked with power and heart
To create this magnificent canyon,
A masterpiece of soul and art.

Great minds puzzle over how this came to be,
This tumultuous love affair of earth, river,
And a mighty, raging sea.
The canyon's story is incised in a cryptic code.
The little gopher knows but cannot tell
The mystery of creation
That wove this magic spell.

Before the great canyon,
Before the mighty sea,
The relentlessness of nature ran wild and free.
Volcanic eruptions from deep within the earth
Were the beginning of the canyon
As nature gave it birth.

From the fiery womb of nature
The canyon was born.
Its infant cry was thunder,
Its release, torrential storms.
The storms formed the waters,
Waters, the sea.
The sea spawned the river -
Nature's mysterious alchemy.
The afterbirth of nature
Was the hot lava flow
That exploded in the waters
As the sea began to grow.
The sea and its river
Cut the mighty gorge.
In this cauldron of creation
The Grand Canyon was forged.

The story is a majestic love affair
So amorous, deep and hot,
That in its fiery passion
It cut through a trillion tons
Of earth and rock.
To join its Spanish lover,
The Great Sea of Cortez,
The Colorado River
Left nothing in its stead.

This was a wild marriage
Between the river and the sea,
Held within rock cathedrals,
Blessed by principalities.
Witnessed by stone faces,
The wedding dance began.
Rock music played on fluted organs,
Thunder and lightning
Struck up the band.
Then the trembling river
Embraced its lover grand,
As sea and river were joined
By omnipotent hands.

They danced with mighty fury
As the waters became one.
Nothing could contain them
In their wild water run.
The first kiss drew blood of fire
When the waters bit the lips
Of the scarlet flaming lava
So hot, it exploded with a kiss.
Two forces of fire and water
Clashed and panted with wild pain.
The fire became the lightning,
The hot steam became the rain.
The lightning lit the stars
And lit all the things we see.
The rain refreshed the earth,
Sprouting flowers, grass, and trees.
The water, earth, and sun
Produced this vista grand
While the mighty Lord above
Nurtured it with loving hands.

This tumultuous love affair
Has left a story rare -
Of canyons and gorge,
Mountains and plains, granite, schist,
And sands of fine grain,
Of rivers, falls, and rapid runs,
Of tragedy and awesome fun.
Day in, day out, from night to sun,
The Grand Canyon's work is never done.
At night the stars light its canopy,
By day, the sun projects its majesty.
From its beginning to eternity,
The beautiful canyon remains a mystery.
Now flowers grow, eagles soar,
In this womb of earth - God's open door

© 2000 James L. Manniso

The merchants and the masters dreamed
Of a vessel great in length and beam -
A capital ship, a lofty argosy,
Built to weather the mightiest sea.
Upon the blocks was set the keel
And fastened true the ribs of steel.
A structure of wondrous symmetry,
Towered above both land and sea.
"Unsinkable," some would say,
As each plate was riveted fast,
”This giant ship would rule the sea
And forever last.”

From steel of forge and steel of will,
This mammoth titan rose.
Stem to stern, keel to stacks,
She was elegant in her pose.
Her bridge was built to oversee
The oceans vast, the seven seas.
The wheelhouse with its mighty wheels
Would steer the ship through calm and gales.
Staterooms, ballrooms, and cabins, too,
Were luxurious through and through.
The finest woods from distant lands
Were carved by skillful, mastered hands.
Crystal hung from ceilings high,
Her graceful staircase reached the sky.
She was built to carry the aristocracy
And care for them in great luxury
Also those of meager purse
Were afforded passage of lesser berth.
But for all her, all and all
The Titanic had two fatal flaws -
The bulkheads were not tall,
And not enough lifeboats for all.

After thousands of pounds and the pounding of men,
From the captive earth she was ready to fend.
Then the great ship left her cradle of birth
And spurned the soil of mother earth.
Along her keel she slipped and groaned,
As the womb of earth delivered her home.
Into the arms of the waiting sea
To write R.M.S. Titanic into history.

From Southampton Docks she got underway,
Crowds shouted farewells on that memorable day.
From the “Gateway to the World”
The Titanic set sail.
To master calm seas
And the mightiest gales.
Then down in the depth of this mammoth wonder
Her powerful engines roared fire and thunder.
Like a humpbacked dragon with four stacks high,
She spewed her hot breath into the sky.
The mighty engines turned the shafts and props
As tugs nudged her from the White Star Docks.
But her propeller suction caused the ship New York
To bob and weave like a helpless cork
And snapped her lines, setting her free
On a collision course with the “Maiden of the Sea.”
Happily, the mighty tugs caught hold
And steered the ships into their folds.
Secure was she, out of harm’s way;
The Titanic was safe, for another day.

On April 11, 1912
At 13:30 bells,
The Titanic raised anchor from the depth of the sea
And set her course into history.
She had some 2,207 on board,
And tons of food and drink were stored.
Gaiety and fun ran high
As the sight of land was lost to the sky.
Into the Atlantic she set sail.
“A routine voyage that surely could not fail.”

On Sunday, April 14, 1912,
All was calm, all was well.
Near midnight a cry went out –
“Iceberg right ahead!” was the shout.
The watertight doors were shut to the sea,
The wheel was spun port instinctively.
But the ship struck the berg on its starboard side –
A fatal wound; the mammoth would die.
Lifeboats were lowered so some could flee
Amid great confusion and much misery.
Women and children first was the cry-
As the brave stood on deck prepared to die.
“C.Q.D.”, “C.Q.D.”, “C.Q.D.”
The help signal sparked through the air
The Titanic’s cry for help and its beckoning prayer.
Some would survive this awful fate
Which revealed both cowards and heroes great.
Most men stood bravely on the sinking ship.
But a coward into a woman’s dress did slip
And into a lifeboat he did climb;
A seaman’s revolver protested the slime.
There were heroes, like “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,”
Who cheered frightened souls, soothing tears and frowns.

On April 15, 1912
The Titanic tolled its final bell
As the band played solemnly
“Nearer, my God, to Thee.”
The great ship sank into its ocean grave,
Only some 705 souls were saved.
A survivor said of this ghastly scene,
“It appeared as a horrible nightmare, an eerie dream –
Because as the great ship sank into the sea,
Its lights glittered like strings of toy jewelry.
Then slowly, one by one, the lights went out -
Darkness fell. Death was all about.”
Mercifully, the good ship Carpathia came to aid,
Saving many a soul from a watery grave.
All were grateful, but all were sad
For the loss of friends and loved ones was horribly bad.

Then a great hush descended,
The world waited for the news.
Who would be saved? Who would we lose?
“The Titanic sunk! The Titanic sunk!”
was shouted from the streets.
She’s gone, she’s gone,” the cries faded
To mournful weeps.
“What are we waiting for, Mommy?
Why are we waiting so long?”
“We’re waiting for news of your father –
I pray that he’s not gone.”
Slowly the names were posted,
Bells were tolled throughout the land
For people of humble birth and people eminent and grand.
The sea did not discriminate
Between the humble and the great.
Those who survived and those who died
Were lifted or swallowed by sea, time and tide.

The disaster of the Titanic rings throughout history,
For its toll of loss resounds in hypocrisy,
Because the disaster began in the minds of men
As arrogance and greed had its way with them.
Arrogance, because they believed nature could be tamed –
“Surely, the Titanic can beat nature at its game!”
And greed took on penny-pinching schemes,
As the moguls of gold made profit their dreams.
Thus, the “Saga of the Titanic” has lessons to teach:
The achievements of men have limited reach.
For when the love of money steers men’s goals,
From the depth of the sea can be heard the poor souls
Who cry in whispers from their watery graves
“If not for arrogance and greed, we would have been saved.”

©2000 James L. Manniso

Proudly we served
Though little understood we held our ground
We fought and died and cried and sometimes laughed
But, proudly we served

Proudly we served
Like so many others who have gone before us
We fought for our country
For ourselves
For each other
We fought for you
But, proudly we served

Proudly we served
We paid the awful price that war demands
And only ask that you our fellow Americans remember our task
For proudly we served

Proudly we served
And left behind our friends
Those who hallowed the battle grounds of Viet Nam
Our country chose us to serve so that you who did not go
Who stayed at home would know, would say
Proudly they served

© 1987 J. L. Manniso

We are second to none
We do our jobs
On land, air, and sea
Wherever our nation sends us
To keep our country free

We are Army, Navy, Air Force -
Coast Guard, and Marines
The Fighting men and women
Who protect the “American Dream”

Sons and daughters of America
When our nation calls us to “war”
We take-up arms and armament
To fight on foreign shores

From the Halls of Montezuma
To Iraq’s ancient shores
We take the fight to the enemy
And come crashing through his doors

And when the call is, “we must fight”
To the folks at home, whether left or right
Please keep this thought in your sight,
That bullets kill, both black and white

So when our nation calls us
To shed our blood and tears
We only ask that you support us
With love, hope, and prayers

Then in the raging battles
When we are standing tall
That you stand tall beside us
And give us your best, your all

For we will fight the battles
Until victory is won
And come home to friends and loved ones
When the battle for peace is won

And to the buddies who didn’t make it
Who died on foreign shores
You are the true heroes
The brave souls of the wars

We will always remember
And hope you will remember too
The sacrifice of the soldiers
Who fought for country, for me, and for you

The price of peace is high
For freedom is not free
The tyrant’s levied cost
Is the death of liberty

For we are second to none
We do our jobs
On land, air, and sea
Wherever our nation sends us
To keep our country free

We are Army, Navy, Air Force -
Coast Guard, and Marines
The Fighting men and women
Who protect the “American Dream”

©2004 James L. Manniso

Do you remember
That magic moment
When a teacher
Touched your heart and mind
And opened
The doors of knowledge
And a light began to shine

Do you remember
The students sparkle
When in your heart
You knew that magically
In that moment
Your teaching had gotten through

The teacher
And the student
From the dawn of history
Have paved the way
To knowledge
For all humanity

A most noble
Profession
Of science and art.
Great teachers
Weave their knowledge
With mind and heart.

So thank you
Noble teacher
For the joy
I have today
Your gift of knowledge
Is appreciated
More than words
Can say

For I cherish
That magic moment
When you touched
My heart and mind
And I hope that
You remember
When my light began to shine

I do remember:
My memory
Holds the stories
Of many a shining face
And the success
That knowledge
Brought them
As they entered
Life's great race.

Stories of families
Stories of success
Not just in dollars
But in accomplishing
One's best

So it is I who
Thank you
You made my dream
Come true
For when you received
The light of knowledge
I received
It too.

Copyright 2003 J. L. Manniso