My dad greatly influenced me musically. He woke us every Sunday morning by blasting the stereo with Neil Young or Joni Mitchell. He played guitar and wrote beautiful poems. He never attempted writing a song and was private about the poems he shared with the family. After his passing we found a few poems he had kept hidden. They are included on this page. I hope you enjoy them.
Dad's Poems
Between The Hellos And Goodbyes
- Between the hellos and goodbyes
- In the passage of time when we touch neither's lives
- With words from our lips nor looks from our eyes
- In that time when our senses are not fed
- By the touching or feeling, the hearing or seeing
- There is only being
- Of you as yourself and I as myself
- With emotions to hold in line between pages
- Like a book on the shelf until the next reading
- The time in between the coming and going
- Is filled with doubt, with worry, not knowing
- With miles between-betweent the coming and going
- Yet in the end when our lives do cross
- There is no feeling of separation or loss
- That time in between dissolves with a smile
- And we are together again for awhile
- We wonder why we felt so apart
- When these feelings erupt from the heart
- There are no words needed-no questions no whys
- Where love lives between the hellos and goodbyes
Into My Keeping
- by Raymond Peter Cullari
- This sweet innocence given into my keeping
- I hold to my breast as he lay sleeping
- In peace for awhile
- I tenderly smile and stroke his soft cheek
- Through his dear peace, my own peace I seek
- And each breath that is taken
- Must in me awaken
- The joy of his living
- And the new life he’s giving
- To my heart and my soul
- Once more I am whole and fulfilled
- By this child-God given through love
- Into my keeping
- If only for a little while
What Matters Most
I Do Not Measure Time
My Father
