Fear finds its fortune in ignorance,
cashes in on hate – set the dial to love
weed through propaganda, decode
the depraved, aim to rise above
education and openness, mechanisms
leading to a lasting treasure.
(Image from personal collection.)
Tag: perspective
A Bird’s Eye View
It’s a bird’s perspective I envy –
the ability to perch up high,
balanced no matter the weather,
unaffected by the drama below –
I shall never know such calm,
being afraid of heights.
(For Reena’s Exploration challenge: perspective.)
Even Trees Fall
Majesty is a tree
quiet strength
and vulnerability
no more sheltered
from acts of nature
than I – none
impenetrable,
although youth
believes it –
days when strength
equates with rigidity,
resistant arrogance
A right fighter, was I,
iron will, in control –
never measuring up
such foolish nonsense –
destructive, no doubt,
took illness to educate
recognize courage in
withdrawal, merits
of inviting understanding
physical limitations
birth potential –
gracious acceptance
surrender of struggle
open, vulnerable,
rooted, like a tree.
Beholder
(Inspired by Ragtag Community’s prompt: sumptuous, and Fandango’s: common)
Modern Perspective
Suspended animation –
apt descriptor
for a culture
mesmerized by screens,
distractions altering
perspectives – how few
the non-adherents,
whose focus remains
firmly forward facing.
(For Reena’s Exploration Challenge: featured image.)
Revelation
No sound, no movement
the bullfrog obliges lens –
I am conqueror,
superior – then espy
miniscule me in his eye.
(A tanka for Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge: sound/ motion. Image from personal collection. I am pondering the unanswerable this week, and I think this poem fits – conjures questions about where we all fit within this universe.)
Maybe
Maybe I just needed a new perspective –
like the famed Hanged Man of tarot –
committed to some deep, internal need,
willed a horizontal shift, landed with intent.
Maybe it is not my legs that are disabled,
but a soul longing to escape the continual
discord of perpetual motion, a never-ending
to-do list of the success driven persona.
Maybe there is a greater purpose for being
that is not encompassed by outer drive –
a mysterious meaning that is revealed only
in the quiet stillness in which I now dwell.
Maybe I have been called to a personal
pilgrimage – a Camino of sorts, a crusade
of spirit designed to cleanse and enlighten –
the journey is certainly arduous enough.
Maybe it is through acceptance, finally
having released a need to control, move,
achieve, accomplish that I am able to
embrace the true lessons of suffering.
Maybe this cocooning is an act of Grace
demanding surrender before the actual
transformation occurs, and I will emerge
legless or not, winged and ready to soar.
Maybe, just maybe, this stripped down,
barren existence is not a penance for
shameful living, but a desert crossing,
offering re-alignment, hard-fought peace.
(Maybe first appeared here in February of 2017, three years into my journey with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. I am posting it today as it fits with this week’s theme: upside-down. Image is the mirror reflection of trees across the canal – from personal collection)
