Requiem

Remembering Patrick Swayze and Annie Le;
The Guiding Light is Gone

Requiem
Remembering Patrick Swayze and Annie Le

In Ghost we watched him and we cried.
This week that dirty dancer died,
but Patrick Swayze showed us all
just how to waltz with death.

With courage he embraced his foe
and tango-ed with him toe to toe.
I’m hoping Patrick also knew
four steps to peace with God.

And don’t forget young Annie Le
discovered on her wedding day
within a wall, inside a lab.
A plot for CSI.

I grieve for her Annie’s fiance
whose greatest fears proved true Sunday.
A day for which he dreamed became
a nightmare that won’t end.

There’s so much sadness in the news.
We weep inside, our psyche’s bruised
when those quite famous or unknown
are taken much too soon.

Another Soap is Down the Drain
The Guiding Light is gone

The Guiding Light has shined its last.
The seven-decades beam it cast
on radio (and then TV)
has been unplugged for good.

It’s gone the way of other soaps
like Edge of Night and Ryan’s Hope
for all my children never watched.
Did yours? Most likely not.

Our daytime viewing habits changed.
What we once watched, we now think strange.
Those steamy plots have given way
to talk shows and the news.

And with the fact more women work,
their rating dropped into the dirt.
No longer do young housewives while away
days of their lives.

But lest we think we’re so mature,
our night time shows aren’t all that pure.
Both Bones and Grey’s Anatomy
are rated R for sex.

Soap operas aired at night or day,
will leave our souls a dingy gray.
What we allow to fill our minds
eventually leaks out.