http://slow.writerscafe.org/wesleyldingler The original writings of author Wesley Dingler en-us Copyright 2026 WritersCafe.org 1775969749 WritersCafe.org RSS Generator 15 I offered myself to the night."Feed on me," I said."Feed me,as you feed on me,as I feed you,as I feed on you,"until we became the snakethat eats its own tail."What is to become of us?"A story only time would tell. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/3127198/ The gospel according to natureisn't written, as it needs no words.So when my time passes, let themfeast on all I've seen and heard.Nature has its own religion,one that still remains undisturbed.There is beauty even in the macabre,so won't you scatter me for the birds.So on that f.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/3125306/ I was born to love you.It has beenthe crowning achievement of my lifetime.Thirty five years led meinvariably to you(Or twenty-eight years led you to me...However you'd like it).If in my decades on earthhas meant anything,it has meant that;and it has meantthe Lord did not inte.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/3123606/ Do you remember walking through the snow?The sun with its crisp winter glow?The sound of the crunch beneath our feet...A sound we considered a treat...Do you remember walking in the wood,for no other reason than we could?The seeds of the Honey Locusts...Scattered like rose petals.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/3122902/ Somehow I missed you before I lost youSomehow I've missed you all this timeI didn't understand how much it cost youAnd now I am missing you every night http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/3120943/ It's a common misconception that everything will go wrong. I've learned this from our union,which has made us both strong. Just this moment,as I am awake and I watch you sleep,encamped in your silent sonnet,and dreaming so beautiful and deep,I begin to see,and I come to underst.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2956006/ Being a child who was born in the sunbeltI have never cared for the winter monthsBut now I am empowered by something I have never feltAnd it comes as much more than a hunchWhen the wind picks up the ways it doesEvery year this time of the yearI don't feel confined by all that once was.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2899825/ I turned into the drivewayOf a house you could never consider a home,And I took you to another placeSome feared would lead you beyond the rubicon. They had never seen you dancing in the twilight. They had never seen you so Unapologetic orUnafraid of the coming night. I'll never f.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2883533/ I've never lived life out of a suitcaseBut I have lived out of a clothes basket.You can get used to how that soup tastesOr you can get buried in a closed casket.And that's the gospel according to me. I lived for four months in a pop tentWith a shotgun and a box of shells by my si.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2878976/           For Allie...I see something inthe loveliness of your smile.  Something perhapsonly angels can define.I will follow yourlove,  and I will followyou to the ends of the earth.I would follow yo.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2851939/ To AllieI was here  and you were there,and there was no one else to be seen anywhere,  because we were all told to be vigilant,                    and we need to be aware.But pe.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2851932/ We shook off the winter down by a creek that was so stillyou'd swear nature's temper died without a successor or a will.The birds all gathered around to sing a chorus of praisethat proved God is happiest when all of His children are at play.And play we did, child, inspite .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2838651/ Outwardly, she seemed  like an ordinary girl--nothing more and nothing less.  But within she containedan extraordinary pearl unlike  anything I would have guessed.And after she asked me if I could spare just a moment of my timeI felt something unlike anything I had.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2831390/ I have reached the point where timehas started to work against me.Like the terra firma that once supported an island lighthouse,after being thrashed by the current for years and years,Innevitability has now fixed its eye upon me. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2824175/   I.Toooften,  The artist is a lazy man--Toooften,  Doing everything he can,Todo nothing at all.   II.Toooften,  The poet fuses with a lazy pen--Toooften,  Time and time, and time again--Bringingforth .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2461665/ The ShiftingWinds of Sanity (2011) Alas,how easily things go wrong!-GeorgeMacDonald   I.Inthe next apartment, I hear shouting--  The sound of love nearing its end,Thenit's followed by a soul's pouting--  The sound of lovers c.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2461664/ For Allie http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2441314/   I.Tobe sinfully nude,Andbeautiful, and comfortable--whether or not anyone sees;Tobe sinfully nude, (to be shamelessly crude)Evenif the upstanding and the prudish consider it obscene;   II.Tobe sinfully nude,Evenif the prudes look down .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2313677/   I.Thereis something in desire the  Wisest cannot fully understand.ShouldI claim I understand entirely,  I would be lying where I stand.   II.Thereis something in love the  Most astute continually miss--Anerrant force hov.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2313675/ Likethe lot of so many burning men,Whohave stood among the years before me,Iam a star farthest from the firmament,Hopingthat my Lord can still somehow adore me... Asonly He can now sayJusthow far this star can stray.Possiblytoo far even to pretend.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2313674/   I.Wedrink from the waters--Thewaters of Babylon--Neverwondering ever fromWhencethey have come--    No, never asking;    Onlyever baskingInthe shade of a silent corruption--   II.Wewade in the wat.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2313673/ ForLeslie Dingler. Iknow it seems like only yesterday  That we were drying our seeds;Andnow it feels like we may  Be the last of a dying breed... Thelast of a dying breed,  Amid a vast, undying sea.Oncea myriad of souls to se.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2313672/ Aking of oceans,  but not of the tide,conceivedof emotions,  and thusly, he died. Sirenscame to give his eulogy,  came to sing their lullabies--singof his shame and you too will see  how came the sea to be full of lies. .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2313671/   I.Toearth and flesh once compounded--Aftermirth and breathHavebeen ultimately grounded--  By night or noon--  Beneath sun or moon--  Let earth entomb--  Let earth consumeThisheart that once pounded.   II.To.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2313670/ (2016 Clay County Alabama) http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2160687/ I know I won’tever be sixteen again;  and I know I won’treach six feet in the end.But I'll remainsatisfied on the inside,  as long as you sayyou’ll remain my friend.  That’s why I'mspeaking in rhymenow, while I canstill remember how... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2160559/ Theloneliest dove has flown the coop,   AndI notice this from where I'm standing:Heisn't intimidated by all of this room,   Ashe is showing no sign of landing.Thoughhe's circled overhead in a loop,   Iknow it's more than just b.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2120816/ It dawned on me one evening,  as I drove home into a sunset,that I came with the intention ofspeaking,  but haven’t even begun yetto get my tongue wet.It seems like it calms thevoices in my mind,  almost as well as when I&rsqu.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2095446/                  For my old friend, Rose Shillito--                          Who moved to Hawai'i a year ago...&.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2088120/ These days, it isas easy for me  as turning over ahandful of leaves,and finding stanzasin full underneath.  But that has notcome to mean      that I have any lessto say.Let me do this withor without a name-- .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2088113/ Don'tknow just what's to come of us tonight;Butyou can take all your sympathy and move it aside.Howmuch of my soul is wasted just before our eyes?;   Nowthat I'm leavin' you   Noreason toLeavethe light on this time... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2086529/ Sing,sing,    Ofan honest night, Ofall that blossoms before my eyes,    Mayit never wilt or wither--    Agentle devotion    Towake and take me higher,   Whenall else is sile.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085765/ To my mother, Doris Ann Strickland. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085655/ A Tribute To Don McLean--An American Original. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085653/ Iwas born   anAmerican machine.Fewlayers beneath,   Butplenty of wiresto confusein between.Iwarn you,   Shouldyou beFroma state that simply mustsee...   Somethingbuilt uponbedlam can be .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085568/ Tosay the least,   Theday you met me(therein the dark,   lostto mind and heart),Iwas a damaged goodie,   Fumblingin an Alabama hoodie.Butyou taught me that spring   Somethingthat I bel.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085403/ Written as tribute to my band's drummer who died in a car wreck, on the tenth anniversary of his demise. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085402/    I.Underthe shade of the willow tree, Iheld you and you held me;Weloved and we loathed simultaneously-- Underthe shade of the willow tree.    II.Underthe blooming willow tree, Ourhearts .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085391/ Iwas always told   thatthis was the easy way out.ButI was told this by those   whomI now have every reason to doubt.Forthey have never stood just like this,   atthe edge of the precipice.   &nbs.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085385/ A tribute to the late great robin Williams. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2085380/ it’s sad to say  that creativity andamerican music have parted waysbut it seems thecase  if your listening tothe top-forties of today...there’s lady gaga  waving her hoo-ha ineverybody’s faceand justin bieber  mu.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2084908/    I.Weboth know this much,   Aswell as any two:You'realways nice to me,   ButI'm all wrong for you.   II.Iknow, as well as any,   I'vetoo much of my father in meFormo.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2084801/    I.Asyoung men speak, Anold man weeps--Withno time left to preach-- Withno time left to teach                 Sucha generation.   II.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2084776/ Dedicatedin this form ToCaroline LaVelle: "TurningGround," "Karma," "Firefly Night".   Seethis couple holding hands? Theyflex like rubber-bands Nota worry, not a care, just one another They’refund.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2084769/ Even I know not toquestion a lover’s heart.But you don’t knowjust how hardit was for me to seeyou happy in another’s arms. It was a starksight. So I turned to Jimbeam and hard light, to neutralize whatlooks like a bar fight, in .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2082875/                         For Rose Shillito... Still... p { margin-bottom: 0in; }I can’t deny this truth.  And it’s no mystery,  To.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2082663/ @page { margin: 0.79in } p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: #000000; text-align: left; orphans: 0; widows: 0 } p.western { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; so-language: en-US } p.cjk { font-family: "DejaVu Sans"; font-size: 12pt; so-language:.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/2008493/    I.Weweren't two ships passing in the night--  Wewere two ships chasing their own light--But both ships havenow run aground in spite  Ofhow we say we tried to navigate with all our might--   II.Itried to hold y.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/1979896/   Inloving memory of my mother,   andoldest preceptor,   DorisAnn Strickland...   Thereis nothing stops me missing you--   Evennow, as I feel your spirit continually .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/1895477/      IThere once was a time  When I sought to tryAnd bury my soul  Deep within the soil,Beneath a darkened sky.     III thought that might ridme  Of the roots to my misery,And leave my hear.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/wesleyldingler/1854951/