©1986 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

I wonder how they felt that night
as they attended there.
Were they filled with sacred sentiment
to see the child so fair?

©2012 Susan Noyes Anderson

Happy birthday, baby.
Every year, you just get better.
(Let’s see if we can make that
handsome face a little redder!)

©1989 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Leah Hetteberg on Unsplash

What do baby brothers do?
Mine eats and sleeps and goes poo-poo.
He doesn’t play a single game,
He doesn’t even know my name
or his name, either. Not at all.
He stares right past me when I call!

©1989 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Axel Marty on Unsplash

Have you ever used Mom’s rocking chair
to sail the skies without a care?
I do that all the time, you know.
Just rock real hard, and away you go!

©1989 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Filip Strueven on Unsplash

“I want to live in Zion,”
said the small boy to his mother.
My Primary teacher told me
people there love one another.

©1994 Susan Noyes Anderson

Image by Alex Gallegos on Unsplash

Help, Police! I’ve lost my voice.
It’s gone away and not by choice.
It disappeared without a word,
the nicest voice you’ve ever heard.
It’s loud and soft, goes high or low,
whispers and shouts – Oh, let me know
if you have seen it. Tell, me please.
I’m left with nothing but a wheeze.
I gasp and croak. I rasp and squeak.
The thing I can’t quite do is speak.
My voice is missing! I’ll reward
whoever finds my vocal chord.
It wouldn’t leave me, not this way.
We’ve been together since the day
that I was born. That’s seven years!
My sight and hearing are in tears.
My body parts are in a spin.
Won’t someone turn the rascal in
who stole my voice? Reunite us.
Can you catch this Larry N. Gitis?

©1991 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Getty Images on Unsplash+

We have feasted on the bounty
of young women here tonight,
who have shared with us a harvest
that was sown in faith and light.
Seeds planted in the sun of each
young woman’s love for truth
were nurtured by the hope and dreams
and purity of youth.
New life took root and seedlings grew
under the tender care
of these young women, daughters whose
divinity we share.

©2025 Susan Noyes Anderson

1st image by Chandler Cruttenden

Hope is a lark with joy-notes on –
rising up and taking wing –
warbling streams of sweet birdsong
to make even the sad heart sing.