As night falls, the sun
serenades my soul –
Beauty wraps my heart
in somnolent ecstacy
paints my mood
with shades of love
reality out of focus –
imagination floats, full sail
into a dreamy mist,
delightful course,
a symphony of hues
coaxing welcome slumber.
(Image my own)
The woman in the mirror is flawed
age spots where freckles once sprouted,
streaks of white, peppering former auburn,
inner scars marking discontent.
How then is she expected
to know wholeness?
In days when mind was sharp
self-confidence wobbled;
where spirituality was planted,
self-judgment undermined.
The path to wholeness
pitted with potholes.
How often emotion overrode
common sense, and choices
led her astray, how thick
the mud of guilt she mired in.
Repulsed at her own reflection
she was anything but whole.
Less self-defacing these days
she examines the worn bits
with wry acceptance –
acknowledges the toil.
If wholeness is perfection,
she’s ready to let go.
(Image my own. AI enhanced)
A wren showed up the other day,
heard him before I saw him,
took over the Chickadee nest,
killed the babies and settled in.
Nature is like that.
I witness with horror and awe
the chickadees move on –
reproduction is industry –
I watch the wren couple now
build their nest and sing aloud
Goldfinches love the chase,
yellow darts of joy;
I shoo away the Grackles
bully birds from my angle
but they know I mean no harm
Only the Cooper’s hawk
commands silence
birds scattering in cover of green,
fierce eyes scour the yard –
I cannot look away
Someone’s been digging
in the flower bed,
hibiscus tops disappearing
the gardener outsmarted,
and delighted, at every turn
A bobcat showed up at dusk
prowling the perimeter
the lush offerings tempting
despite the proximity of a house.
Coyote has braved it too
Heat confines me indoors,
sun twinkling off swaying leaves,
humid the breeze that compels them.
Later they’re calling for storms
a tumultuous reprieve
Sunrise and we’ll begin again
routines and surprises
birdsong and animal antics;
me in my chair, mesmerized.
Nature is like that.
(Image my own)
I chase dreams
never daring to rise
beyond the water line
keeping to the reeds
and shoreline of familiarity
afraid of being shot down
Afraid that dreams aren’t mine
to claim, that I am damned
doubled cursed as woman
and child of sin
I will fall often
drown in pools of stagnation
till one day these wings
A mind of their own
will lift me up
and catch those dreams.
(Image my own)
This breach –
this ever-widening gap
fear induced
pits us
against them
as if humanity
can be divided
salvation
a selective process.
We need a balm
to soothe societal
wounds, a tonic
to calm the angst
until clarity
quells the uproar
and kindness
replaces this sin.
(Poem originally appeared June 2019. Image my own)
One Woman's Quest 