Lessons From a Newborn

Rest. Nap as often as you need;
life can be exhausting – store up.

Cry. Let your feelings be known –
your voice is your saving grace.

Joy is a whole body experience;
immerse yourself in total delight.

Hold on to those who love you;
your survival depends on them.

See the world through new ideas;
you never know what thrills await.

Listen intently when others speak;
they will be your captive audience.

Imitate other. Practice until you
have found your own expression.

(Image mine)

Trust the process, living fully
in each moment. Be present.

Honour the miracle of existence;
embrace the blessing that is you!

(Lessons from a Newborn first appeared here June, 2016. Image my own)

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Discord

Does illness have a voice,
and if so; is it melancholy,
or dark and dank, divulging
deepest despair, or revealing
a vileness of nature?

Discord creeps along my veins,
disrupts muscles, systems failing
under the oppression –
“Stay strong,” friends counsel,
cannot hear the gathering storm,
feel the heaviness cloaking me.

I am not myself, but then;
who am I? Is disease a mutation
of the original sin – punishment
for fatal sins, or redemption
wrapped as trial – the whispers
gain clarity – I am faltering…

(Discord originally appeared here May, 2019. Image my own. Living with chronic, often debilitating disease, is an ongoing challenge. There is no cure, no end in sight, and yet, we must go on. This is for my fellow warriors, wondering, some days, what it is all about.)

Save Us

Discharge the gun –
protection a vessel
through which our depths
are undefined…adrift

Fear is a burrower
wears a false crown
births loss
trusts danger

Hearts beg,
amid this trigger-readiness
for a guardian – unafraid
to court this meaningless

Futility unchecked –
to study productive options
unimaginable in the current
state of chaos on repeat.

(Art my own)

Climbing Out

Bottomed out
sanity failing
nerves MIA
mind akimbo

Ladder building
walls of abyss
lack footholds
airless desperation

Rung one: faith
believe in God
believing in me
climbing blindfolded

Rung two: children
a reason for living
grasping strength
carving a path

Rung three: writing
ink bleeding pain
expunging futility
clawing for purpose

Rung four: friends
holding space
remembering self
blotted forgotten

Setting goals –
minimize focus
count progress
millimetre milestones

Surviving:
knuckles scraped
ego bruised
perspective altered