Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
a tune that was never for play,
the notes were arranged in a language concealed,
and something was carried away.

The cow jumped over the moon in the dark,
not out of wonder or grace,
but fleeing a rhythm it could not escape,
a pattern it could not outpace.

The little dog laughed to see such a sight,
though laughter was not what it meant,
for joy is the mask that is easiest worn
when meaning is carefully bent.

The dish ran away with the spoon in the night,
two forms in a mirrored retreat,
not lovers, not fools, but a break in the shape—
a silence where structure should meet.

Hey diddle diddle, the words that you knew
were never as simple as said,
for nonsense is safest when truth is too near,
and clearer when something has fled.

So sing it again like you did when you were small,
let rhythm and rhyme take their place,
but listen this time for the thing underneath…

By Joel Barb

The order you never could face.

Revised:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
placed up there carefully, told not to fall,
set in a balance he could not defend,
with no understanding of where it would end.

They said it was safe, they said it was right,
that height was a measure of worth in their sight,
that being above was a thing to admire,
though none ever spoke of the cost climbing higher.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
not from misstep, nor by chance at all,
for what is a fall but the end of a place
that never was meant to be held anyway?

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
rushed to assemble the pieces again,
not out of care, nor grief, nor remorse—
but to prove they still held control over force.

But some things once broken refuse to align,
not out of defiance, but simple design,
for cracks are not flaws that can always be sealed,
and damage once done does not ask to be healed.

Humpty Dumpty lay where he fell,
while voices insisted that all would be well,
and somewhere beneath all the effort and claims…

no one admitted

They made it that way.

J F Barb

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
a tune that was never for play,
the notes were arranged in a language concealed,
and something was carried away.

The cow jumped over the moon in the dark,
not out of wonder or grace,
but fleeing a rhythm it could not escape,
a pattern it could not outpace.

The little dog laughed to see such a sight,
though laughter was not what it meant,
for joy is the mask that is easiest worn
when meaning is carefully bent.

The dish ran away with the spoon in the night,
two forms in a mirrored retreat,
not lovers, not fools, but a break in the shape—
a silence where structure should meet.

Hey diddle diddle, the words that you knew
were never as simple as said,
for nonsense is safest when truth is too near,
and clearer when something has fled.

So sing it again like you did when you were small,
let rhythm and rhyme take their place,
but listen this time for the thing underneath…

The order you never could face.

Revised:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
placed up there carefully, told not to fall,
set in a balance he could not defend,
with no understanding of where it would end.

They said it was safe, they said it was right,
that height was a measure of worth in their sight,
that being above was a thing to admire,
though none ever spoke of the cost climbing higher.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
not from misstep, nor by chance at all,
for what is a fall but the end of a place
that never was meant to be held anyway?

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
rushed to assemble the pieces again,
not out of care, nor grief, nor remorse—
but to prove they still held control over force.

But some things once broken refuse to align,
not out of defiance, but simple design,
for cracks are not flaws that can always be sealed,
and damage once done does not ask to be healed.

Humpty Dumpty lay where he fell,
while voices insisted that all would be well,
and somewhere beneath all the effort and claims…

no one admitted

They made it that way.

J F Barb

Universal shift
Whispering through the wires of dawn
Like heaven turning slowly
Saying the old world is gone

Called to rise
Though the weight still holds my chest
Every hard road far behind me
And we’re all part of the test

Through the universal lens
Even broken things align
Every loss becomes a lesson
Every shadow shapes design

Greater orchestration
Moving underneath my skin
Like the tide knows where it’s going
Before the waves begin

Pull of destiny
Stronger than the fear I knew
Like a voice beyond the distance
Calling me into the new

Gathering energy
In the stillness I once feared
Building something quieter
Stronger every year

No second guessing
No running from the unknown
The “new man” isn’t waiting ahead
He’s finally coming home

Moments of stillness
Carry much more truth than noise
For the Power lives in silence
Before the soul will make its choice

True growth comes from flow
Not force, nor hollow pride
Through the universal lens
I watch the self divide

And from the pieces left behind
Something clearer steps within
Not becoming someone else—
Just becoming whole again

Let’s create a masterpiece 

One that sells with time

Through lunar years and atmospheres

With galaxies aligned

The stars above, with virtuous love

Shining onto thee.

Then back to mother Earth again,

It’s where we have to be.

The secret now unleashing

Is prepared to save a soul;

When heart and mind,

Consider as one, together

You are a whole

Across the plane planes of an ancient skies

Where meteors collide

And whispers of the cosmos

Speak to mysteries inside.

A pulse of life runs to the core,

Connect connecting every birth;

From distant realms of nebula,

Back to the humble Earth.

In shadows deep with history

The sands of Time unwind.

Each grain; A story,

Waiting to reveal

The ties that bind.

For every whisper question

Floats to heaven, high above;

And every answer given,

Is the one that’s found in love.

Yet love;

A force eternal

Bends the shape of space in time

It moves beyond a fleeting breath,

Transcending every rhyme.

And through the void of distant stars;

A voice calls out our name.

The universe itself conspires

To set our hearts aflame.

But even in this grand expanse

Where dreams and futures flow

The truth is found within the now

Where seeds of wisdom grow.

For here we stand beneath the sun

Our feet upon the ground;

It’s in the silence of the soul,

The Best in Life is Found.

By Joel

I thought I’d write you one more time 

To tell you all that’s on my mind

It’s a sordid tail of not too long ago before I died

This may be the last I write

So I’m sure I’ll get this right

Cause sharing information is the best route to the heart

Call me just a silly guy

That just can’t find the reason why

Everything is shady here than daisies by a tree.

It wasn’t very long ago

We met inside this world, You know

It never treats a person well

And always clouds the mind.

So I am easy to prey you know

It’s just the way the story goes

Charlotte caught me in the web

And tied me up real good

She mesmerize me with her charm

It seems so much I was alarmed

At first, before she asked me

For my name then bank account

Then I said ‘ Oh sweet baby see, you make me feel so young and free

I’ll give you anything you wish as long as we’ll be one.’

She said, ‘ Oh yes,’ To venomize

A sultry tail with truth, for lies

They always seemed to sympathize

And make a lie seem less.

And this is where the story grows

To greater time than most would know

Was good for anyone to spend

Talking on her phone.

And there were then marriage request

Answered to formally ‘Yes’

vows were given and days were greater

Life would never end.

But then again

What we don’t know

Is exactly what we’ll kill us, so

Hence, the story being told

If you can read a rhyme?

I met her by the wayside in a manor

Then left with manners greater than the ones I had before

She never was a very prudent planner

But what the hell?

I tried to give her more.

I never knew what love could do to stop you

Stop you from a better choice

A better way of life.

I never knew what love would do to drop you

After being promised

For years of lovely wife.

And where the story goes from here

Is a question of the sort

Caught in mind shrouded with fear

Of combating retort.

Just remember

We all sympathize with simple lies

While hard truths are simple proofs

And never forget that if God gives us the same sign repeatedly;

It’s real.

By Joel

In the beginning, he pondered the tale

A journey through shadows

Where all dreams set sail;

With each twist of fate, he crafted his path,

Turning sorrow to joy and

Escaping the wrath.

Time dance with the sun,

Casting warmth on his heart

As love whispered softly

igniting the spark.

in the blink of an eye

Reality blurred

A canvas of moments, where

All hope was stirred.

With a pen as his wand

He conjured the past

Building castles of sand

Where memories last.

Wisdom etched deep

in the lines of his face;

Just a traveler of the worlds

Seeking his place.

Through shadows, he wandered

From light into dark

Finding God in the shadows

igniting the spark

Each truth that he held,

A reflection of grace

A tapestry woven

Unique in its space.

The masses may chuckle

But he knows the score;

For life is a journey

With lesson lessons galore.

in meadows of thought

Where his spirit takes flight

He waits for her presence

To bask in the light.

So let flowers bloom

And words intertwine

Love is the essence

That makes life divine

Through echoes of laughter

The whispers and sighs.

His solace is knowing

Sweet love will come by.

by Joel

Let’s create a masterpiece 

One that sells with time

Through lunar years and atmospheres

With galaxies aligned

The stars above, with virtuous love

Shining on to thee.

Then back to mother Earth again,

It’s where we have to be.

The secret now unleashing

Is prepared to save a soul;

When a heart and mind,

Consider as one, together

You are a whole

Across the plane planes of an ancient skies

Where meteors collide

And whispers of the cosmos

Speak to mysteries inside.

A pulse of life runs to the core,

Connect connecting every birth;

From distant realms of nebula,

Back to the humble Earth.

In shadows deep with history

The sands of Time unwind.

Each grain; A story,

Waiting to reveal

The ties that bind.

For every whisper question

Floats to heaven, high above;

And every answer given,

Is the one that’s found in love.

Yet love;

A force eternal

Bends the shape of space in time

It moves beyond a fleeting breath,

Transcending every rhyme.

And through the void of distant stars;

A voice calls out our name.

The universe itself conspires

To set our hearts aflame.

But even in his grand expanse

Where dreams and futures flow

The truth is found within the now

Where seeds of wisdom grow.

For here we stand beneath the sun

Our feet upon the ground;

It’s in the silence of the soul,

The Best in Life is Found.

By Joel

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
a tune that was never for play,
the notes were arranged in a language concealed,
and something was carried away.

The cow jumped over the moon in the dark,
not out of wonder or grace,
but fleeing a rhythm it could not escape,
a pattern it could not outpace.

The little dog laughed to see such a sight,
though laughter was not what it meant,
for joy is the mask that is easiest worn
when meaning is carefully bent.

The dish ran away with the spoon in the night,
two forms in a mirrored retreat,
not lovers, not fools, but a break in the shape—
a silence where structure should meet.

Hey diddle diddle, the words that you knew
were never as simple as said,
for nonsense is safest when truth is too near,
and clearer when something has fled.

So sing it again like you did when you were small,
let rhythm and rhyme take their place,
but listen this time for the thing underneath…

The order you never could face.

Seminary: Strong as Bone

A seminary of quiet halls,
where words are weighed like sacred stones.
The good principle stands nearby,
not loud, not sharp, but strong as bone.

He did not walk as one in war
against himself or breaking night,
but carried weight of what came forth
from choices made outside his sight.

For every act that others cast
still landed where his path would bend,
he learned that silence does not last;
for consequence will then descend.

He found that life is not just cause,
it ripples moving through the air,
and even what he did not choose
could still arrive and find him there.

And in that knowing, something grew—
not anger, not escape, not flame—
but steadiness in what is true,
and ownership without the blame.

She did not wrestle storm for storm,
nor measure life in breaking strain,
but saw the hidden shapes take form
beneath the joy and quiet pain.

She noticed how the smallest thought
can tilt the way a moment turns,
and what has silently been taught
is often where the outcome learns.

She held her life as something seen;
not only felt, but understood—
that meaning lives in what has been
and what is chosen to be good.

And in the middle, softly cast—
a line that holds what both paths show:
what lives within will shape what lasts,
and every life must learn and grow.

A seminary of quiet halls,
where words are weighed like sacred stones.
The good principle stands nearby,
not loud, not sharp, but strong as bone.

Seminary: Quiet Breath

A seminary of quiet breath,
where silence holds what words release.
The gentle truth does not demand,
it waits within a measured peace.

It does not rise with force or flame,
nor break the mind to make it see,
but settles like a patient name
that asks to be received with peace.

And those who come with hurried hands
find nothing loud to hold or prove,
for truth is kept in subtle strands
that only steady hearts can move.

A seminary of quiet breath,
where silence holds what words release.
The gentle truth does not demand,
it waits within a measured peace.

It moves through thoughts that overrun,and slows the pace of rushing fire,until what chaos had begun-is tempered into calm desire

It teaches eyes to look again,
not at the noise that first appears,
but at the place where meaning then
is formed through distance, time, and years.

A seminary of quiet breath,
where silence holds what words release.
The gentle truth does not demand,
it waits within a measured peace.

It does not shout to claim its place,
nor bend the world through force of hand,
but leaves a trace within the space
that only stillness understands.

And those who come with hurried hands
find nothing loud to hold or prove,
for truth is kept in subtle strands
that only steady hearts can move.

By Joel

Tomorrow’s Promise

I am praying, my dear friend,
that life will never end,
seeing things just as they really are.
I forgive your fault,
never knowing it’s assault,
and wish you peace to ease your pain of heart.

I have been around the whole wide world,
for decades tied the ropes,
and never lost the biggest cost of all—
for you,
my hope.

All man has ever come to be,
a lifetime script of history
that at times seems lost within the pages,
but believe me,
yours stands out.

I’ll tell you now the reason why:
from here,
you carry on—the vine.
The promise of tomorrow
will fulfill another dream.

J F Barb

A Seminary: Strong as Bone

A seminary of quiet halls,
where words are weighed like sacred stones.
The good principle stands nearby,
not loud, not sharp, but strong as bone.

He did not walk as one in war
against himself or rising  night,
but carried weight of what came forth
from choices made outside his sight.

For every act that others cast
still landed where his path would bend,
he learned that silence does not last;
for consequence will then descend.

He found that life is not - just cause,
it ripples moving through the air,
and even what he did not choose
could still arrive and find him there.

And in that knowing, something grew—
not anger, not escape, not flame—
but steadiness in what is true,
and ownership without the blame.

She did not wrestle storm for storm,
nor measure life in breaking strain,
but saw the hidden shapes take form
beneath the joy and quiet pain.

She noticed how the smallest thought
can tilt the way a moment turns,
and what has silently been taught
is often where the outcome learns.

She held her life as something seen;
not only felt, but understood—
that meaning lives in what has been
and what is chosen to be good.

And in the middle, softly cast—
a line that holds what both paths show:
what lives within will shape what lasts,
That every life must learn and grow.

A seminary of quiet halls,
where words are weighed like sacred stones.
good principle always stands nearby,
not loud, not sharp, but strong as bone.

By Joel

I often seem to wonder

just why the world was placed

beneath a moon of madness,

with oceans that embrace.

Mountains high and majestic,

only the truest eyes can see

the slopes and gentle hillsides

that run into the seas.

I often seem to wonder

of God and of the rain

that falls upon this mighty earth

and rises up again.

Glistening on the eagle’s wing

as it glides through open skies,

witness to the world below—

a life that lives to fly.

I often seem to wonder

at the work the Lord has done,

the beauty of His sculptures,

each one the only one.

Defined by personality,

each special and unique,

I often seem to wonder

why He’s done this all for me? 

WHY ME?

I often seem to wonder

just why the world was placed

beneath a moon of madness,

with oceans that embrace.

Mountains high and majestic,

only the truest eyes can see

the slopes and gentle hillsides

that run into the seas.

I often seem to wonder

of God and of the rain

that falls upon this mighty earth

and rises up again.

Glistening on the eagle’s wing

as it glides through open skies,

witness to the world below—

a life that lives to fly.

I often seem to wonder

at the work the Lord has done,

the beauty of His sculptures,

each one the only one.

Defined by personality,

each special and unique,

I often seem to wonder

why He’s done this all for me? 

by JFB

Revised:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
placed up there carefully, told not to fall,
set in a balance he could not defend,
with no understanding of where it would end.

They said it was safe, they said it was right,
that height was a measure of worth in their sight,
that being above was a thing to admire,
though none ever spoke of the cost climbing higher.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
not from misstep, nor by chance at all,
for what is a fall but the end of a place
that never was meant to be held anyway?

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
rushed to assemble the pieces again,
not out of care, nor grief, nor remorse—
but to prove they still held control over force.

But some things once broken refuse to align,
not out of defiance, but simple design,
for cracks are not flaws that can always be sealed,
and damage once done does not ask to be healed.

Humpty Dumpty lay where he fell,
while voices insisted that all would be well,
and somewhere beneath all the effort and claims…

no one admitted

They made it that way.

J F Barb

Universal shift
Whispering through the wires of dawn
Like heaven turning slowly
Saying the old world is gone

Called to rise
Though the weight still holds my chest
Every hard road far behind me
And we’re all part of the test

Through the universal lens
Even broken things align
Every loss becomes a lesson
Every shadow shapes design

Greater orchestration
Moving underneath my skin
Like the tide knows where it’s going
Before the waves begin

Pull of destiny
Stronger than the fear I knew
Like a voice beyond the distance
Calling me into the new

Gathering energy
In the stillness I once feared
Building something quieter
Stronger every year

No second guessing
No running from the unknown
The “new man” isn’t waiting ahead
He’s finally coming home

Moments of stillness
Carry much more truth than noise
For the Power lives in silence
Before the soul will make its choice

True growth comes from flow
Not force, nor hollow pride
Through the universal lens
I watch the self divide

And from the pieces left behind
Something clearer steps within
Not becoming someone else—
Just becoming whole again

I was 12, and too old for my tears

A boy with bruises on his spirit

And nowhere to rest his thoughts.

I cried anyway.

I didn’t know how not to.

She stood beside me, my teacher

With a leather book, she never shared.

And opened it like a Doorway

Into a room I have never seen

always

You were there Edwin.

With your sad lines drawn

Like Barb wire straps across the heart

With a love that could not bear to become betrayal.

With a woman that feared where she could not leave.

I did not understand at all

But I felt it

Like one bruise recognizing another.

Like a whisper under a steel sky.

You said things I couldn’t say –

About weirs, And age,

And the Judas we sometimes find when we reach too deep.

You told the truth in a quiet voice

And I believe you.

Now I am a man, or

Something close to it

And still, I think of your words

Still, I walk beside that woman

Who is not my mother?

But may have been every love I tried to save.

What drew her near yet held her back?

Another plan, a fragile track

Her years were marked by times, slow hand

And mother’s heart, a weary stand

She feared with shadow’s age woils cast

With futures fleeting never vast

Her lovely eyes and growing years

Were mixed with quiet, lingering tears.

He met her world with open arms

Unseen, where all the hidden qualms

Six years loaded by like peaceful tides

Yet deeper current found divide.

She Asked him go

No reason shown

A whispered truth in undertone

‘I’m growing old’ She softly said

’ can love survive when youth has fled?’

Not all love last beyond the storm

Some bonds must change

some hearts transform

Between the knowing and the loss

We find the lines we dare not cross

Yet here within this Silent space

Remains a truth time can’t erase

A loved once lived, those bitter sweet

Is woven in the steps we keep

Her past a child’s quiet gaze

A bond of friendship through a haze

She told him that she needed him

But never told him just what for

And time

Like a river with no bends

Would flow over his feet once more

Some nights she’d called

as if nothing had changed.

Her voice was as soft as candlelight

Burning with no promise

Just a warmth he could never hold.

She never meant to lie

But the truth she carried

Was too heavy to sit down.

So she Left it Right next to the place

She carved into his heart

He waited – not out of patience

But because letting go

Felt like tearing pages from a book

That had no end.

They Said love was kind

But he saw it as unsure

Timid

Like a deer that steps forward

Then bolts like a bullet

At the sound of its own heart

He built no alter

Only kept the lights low

And the door unlatched

Not because he believed she’d come

But because he didn’t know how to lock it.

There’s a burden in that kind of waiting

It’s a soft, constant pulling like gravity,

But lonelier.

And the world moved on

Like it always does;

He stayed,

Because someone had to bear

What both of them

Were too afraid to name.

by JFB