Genya Ehrlich

San Francisco, CA, USA

I am a former teacher of English, was born in the Ukraine, former Soviet Union in 1927. My native language is Russian. I love poetry but got deeply interested in it in 1990 when I immigrated to the USA. Here, in San Francisco, I became a member of a creative writing class for seniors. Our instructor, Nancy Deutch, is young but very helpful. Many of the poems and stories that I wrote were published and liked both by my family and friends to whom I dedicate my creations. I am a kind of philosopher in life and love, nature and people.

What Is Time

Time is a killer,
it makes a person old.
Time is a healer,
it makes a person bold.

Time is a beast,
it fights with a man.
Time is a feast,
you enjoy it as you can.

Time is a wizard,
changing your life.
Time is a blizzard
in which you're to strive.

Life is your own creation
make it the world's sensation!

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the melted snow,
which, melted, simply goes
away with shattered ice.
Forgiveness is the never yet
forgotten home, the low wall,
the squeaking stairs, the dome
with sparrows high above.
Forgiveness is the pain of birthing child,
the sleepless nights, the silver tears.
Suppressed forgetfulness which
stays forever in the slow-beating heart -
- is not forgiveness. It starts
exactly at the end of life,
when you forgiveness want.
You see the ever-growing tree,
some branches dry and broken?
It brings so much forgetfulness to thee,
it's not forgiveness. Do not fret
for only God forgives, and you forget.

I Was A Seed Once

Who put me as a seed
into the earth?
Who gave me strength to grow?

I feel the warmth,
the tender rays of sun,
I grow.
I will not be a weed,
I know.

The rain has moistened me,
my leaves need freedom,
so, I break the earth
and there I'll feed them.

I am a rose now,
a motley-colored one,
but I have thorns,
afraid of none.

And I'll please the world
and act in tender ways
I'll send my thanks to God
dispersing warmest rays.