"I Don't Care What They Say... In a World Without Love"

(with thanks to Sir James Paul McCartney)

I do not believe that success is equated with having lots of money. 

To me, wealth is measured by what one gives back, and not what one takes in. 

No one person, one family, one group deserves, or needs more power, or influence over everyone else; more cash than they can use for a good life for their family without willingly using some of their excess funds for the purpose of "healing the world" rather than an excessive lifestyle. 

Having money and property does not make one better, of more importance, or special... 

It is as much, or more the luck of birth and circumstance than talent, hard work, and deserved. 

I laud no person for greed and compound interest. I celebrate the open mind, hand, and heart.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 07 August 2014

“And it seems like I’ve got to travel on…”

(with thanks to Robert Zimmerman)

We all have landmarks in our days;
our lives are made up of moments,
scents, sounds, pictures that bring us back to where we were.

We have places that trigger the realisation that we’ve reached a momentary goal;
an intersection, an hour, an action that we’ve done what seems an infinite number of times.

We might stop and acknowledge their existence in our lives,
or never even notice that another milestone has passed.

How we live our lives, mark the passing moments,
acknowledge the steps and stops of daily existence
define who we have become…
stopping to view the landmarks, or driving past to the next objective.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 4 March 2015

“Everybody Says Don’t” …With thanks to Stephen Sondheim…

   Sometimes I feel so alone

  even when I’m not feeling lonely.

  Sometimes I just need to talk

  even when there’s nothing to ponder.

  Sometimes I just want a touch

  even when I don’t need embraces.

  Sometimes I want different answers

  even when there aren’t new questions.

  Sometimes I don’t want to be me; 

  tho’ I know there’s no else I can be.

“Make just a ripple; come on be brave, 

this time a ripple, next time a wave”

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 2 March 2015

“Do you hear me now?”

( with thanks to Bert Jansch)

I am soft

I am strong

I want romance

I want respect

I am tender

I am tough

I want to be embraced

I want to be understood

I don’t want to be seen

I want to be heard

I am loyalty

I am flexibility

I am unpredictable

I am security

I am enigma

I am empathy

I am perception

I am paradox

I am Woman!

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 23 February 2015

“Good to be older, would not exchange a single day or a year… Good to be older ah hah, less complications everything clear”

(With thanks to John Lennon)

If it isn’t one thing it’s t’other; 
if it isn’t famine it’s feast.

When the rain stops the draught there’s a deluge, 
and innocent grows into beast.

A moment’s too long or too fleeting; 
all life is too short or drags on.

Life’s oft’ too hard or too simple 
the losses too easily won.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 13 February 2015

Voice-less “When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too.... and a new day will begin”

( with thanks to Andrew Lloyd Weber, Steven Sondheim, 

and to the memory of my father )

The days slip away
hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second.

The longer passed… the easier to remember
the scents, the sounds;
except for voices…

I can’t recall my father’s voice.

I can recognise voices I haven’t heard in just as long
but to just recall his in my mind’s ear… I can’t.

Events, conversations, stories, visual memories seem sharp
even from a childhood long gone;
some more vague, embellished or diminished when reminiscing…
but not his voice.

The details are all there
the arguments, the trips, the late-night discussions;
our frustrations and successes, our desires and our dreams.

I remember them all
the advice, and admonishments
the battles neither won;
and yet his words are there…
but still no voice.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 6 February 2015

“People who need…” “Who are the…?”

(with thanks to Bob Merrill)

I have lost my trust in the People;

I have lost my confidence in their humanity.

My abstract faith in spirit and benevolence still glows;

my hope that People still have the ability to access it is intact,

but my belief that the People still care wanly flickers.

Have the People lost the ability for compassion?

Have they lost their desire for thought,
to make up their own minds,

to act out of basic kindness and goodwill 
instead of blind self-interest?

Have the People exhausted the innate ability to nurture, to support,
to take an interest?

Is it now always going to be ‘munitions rather than munificence?

Is there anyone left that “will risk his neck for his brother man,”

or have all those in need of a hand, an arm, a shoulder, help forward,
or a step up been permanently given the shaft?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 28 January 2015