If I were born one hundred years ago

Ah, if I was born a hundred years ago I believe I would have been a poet.
I would have written pages of things so beautiful that people would not have believed I wrote it.
things that come, things that go, things that live, things that died
things that go unremembered and for which none have shed a tear or cried
things of beauty uncompared,
things of great mysteries not yet shared,
things that make you laugh,
things that make you cry,
Yes, these things I would like to write about before I die
and be thus remembered by
-J. Thomas Schutzman

Spring

As the cold subsides and the snow turns to rain

So also do men’s hearts yearn to see the life of nature again.

With that same fervor that yielded cold and snow

Nature now produces life that begins to blossom and grow

The mist and cloud that absorbed even the sun

Now rolls back to reveal a world that is now hidden to none

The forest and snow-capped mountain

Is transformed into blooming life bubbling over like a fountain

With a heaving sigh and a whistling farewell

the winds of winter yield their occupations in forest and dell

the warmth of spring sets the frozen waters to liberty

as the warm soft ground begins to germinate and sets new shrub and flower free

With screams of delight and curiosity unleashed

Little children go forth and feel the growing ground beneath their feet

With new plant to discover and new butterfly to catch

Nature’s new adventurers go about in happiness as the door to life is unlatched

The new fawn learns to walk as a baby bird begins to chirp

And moles go about in the forest homing in the turf

The foals prance on the meadow as their mother looks proudly on

And roosters alike go through the dike to crow loudly at the dawn

For everyone spring is a season of joy and plenty

A season that starts life anew with all of its growth and beauty

To whom do we owe all of this life and grandeur? This beauty? This goodness?

It is God, my friends, who showers all of his blessings on us.

-J. Thomas Schutzman

A General in Defeat

Lee rode out of Appomattox
with nothing less than weary gaze
Men were crying all around him
some screamed for the blues to go to the blaze

I looked on our general and I cried too
for there was the man who had sacrificed everything for the good we knew
I just could'nt stand there and let things go this way
But I just didn't know what too say

But as he passed on his mount
I opened my heart and let it out
"Oh, general our hearts bleed for you
you are exhausted with fighting the boys in blue
Will you ever be the same
after seeing your boys on the battlefield slain?

You said sorry to us for the victories the Union won
But we still surrounded you and cheered you on
Don't blame yourself oh general for defeat on the field
for there was greater glory in your stubborness and unwillingness to yield

General, you glorify the Lord
even after defeat and you lay aside your sword
You say we should reconcile with our brothers in blue
well, guess we'll do it, for you

You also say to return to our families now
we will comply and return and mend the plow
we will rebuild the buildings the enemy burned
and teach our children what we learned

I, see sadness in your face
it is, I know, because you lost the race
but in that face I see a glint of hope
that blue and grey will again to cope
After we are settled we will not forget
the battlefields where we fought, where the blue and grey met

We will not forget the man who was our brave chief
the one who was glorious in victory, gallant in defeat
we tried to save the South and our rights too
you led us to the end and we still love you."

Not an eye was dry, not a voice without a sob
and I stepped back from the road, knowing I had done my job
The General seemed touched all the way through
"Thank you," he said, "God Bless you."

With his eye on the horizon and his lips tightly closed
our brave general rode away down the road
And as he turned around the bend
you could see his upright figure, a soldier to the end

- J. Thomas Schutzman