The waters of my soul
are still tonight
the harshness of day’s
light, easing now
into quiet solitude.
I surrender to renewal
knowing that no matter
what tomorrow brings
I have peace within
to guide me.
(Submitted for Eugi’s Causerie weekly prompt: renewal. Image my own. Peace Within first appeared here June, 2018.)
Idleness is not a ploy
asserted by the river,
her banks, ever vital,
project confidence –
life’s continuum
Her waters, sturdy,
fluctuating, tame
the deepest emotions
I come to the river
hoping to imbibe,
to be intoxicated
in her presence
I come to the river
to be revived.
Insignificant enough
to go missing –
a single box,
stored away,
one, maybe two,
moves ago –
the absence
of its contents
now called into question.
Seems that redundancy
is not permanent –
what was once inconsequential
now has purpose –
gives me renewed hope.
(Today’s quadrille prompt is box. Visit dVerse to participate. Our host this evening is De Jackson.)
A simple shoebox, repurposed
with plastered images of dreams –
paper affirmations of aspirations –
shelved and forgotten, its contents
snapshots, faded and torn, remnants
of another time, a different future –
captured when potential was prime
and possibility untainted by illness
this one was retirement – a supposed
celebration – but note how the colour
has drained, the cracks obliterating
pride of accomplishment; and notice
how this one crumbles to the touch –
the fragments dissipating even as
my life has dissipated, the image
lost before memory resurfaces, so
much loss when circumstance dictates
direction, overpowers will, and plans
like snowflakes, vanish in the heat
of reality – pain and insult burning
but wait – this one looks promising –
the edges only slightly torn, the image
discernible – could it be that there is
hope yet – a future author I might be?
That’s the thing about times to come,
we fill them with imaginings, and pray,
our hope, like balloons set free in a sea
of unforeseen challenges, and seldom
does the end result reflect projected
plotting, and yet, there is power in
the dreaming, and so I’ll replace the old
with new photographs to store away.
(Originally penned for National Poetry month, I am repurposing this poem here for Daily Addictions prompt: generate, Fandango’s: captured, and Ragtag Community’s: reduce.)
Walking away is the only solution
I’ve ever excelled at, and yet
absence does not obliterate that
which dwells within – I can pretend
that I have nothing further to offer,
but life and circumstance require
more of me, a challenge to exhume
the remains of my potential – will
I be up to the task? There is flattery
in being looked up to, the feeling
that someone needs me, but is that
not akin to temptation – an ego play –
could it be that the knowledge I’ve
acquired has merit only when shared;
that we are all here to do our piece;
that by releasing what I’ve learned
I will find flow, feel in sync with life
again, restore my abilities and reignite
a passion for teaching? Dare I hope.
(Image: http://www.thebalance.com)
The emerald waters of
my crystalline personality
are only a reflection
of an external light.
Lurking below the surface
the murky tears
of self-deprecation
create further illusion.
Dive deeper,
beyond the cold chill
of darkening thoughts
and threatening despair
Weed through the silt
of bottomed out desires
and find an opening –
black and foreboding.
Enter with an open heart
and find the treasure within
rusted from neglect,
unguarded, with open latch.
Brush away the cobwebs
and with respectful caution
lift the dusty lid
and behold the divine spark
My true essence,
Tucked there in the darkness
an eternal flame
vibrant and vital.
Release it for me,
be so kind,
to light this dismal patch
and set my waters aglow again.
So that the emerald waters
of my crystalline personality
will reflect an internal
divine light.
(Reposted from September 2014)
Big city goals, and a skeptical side,
parked my independence, tagged
along with logic, pretended to fit in,
told stories tinted with wildness,
distracted by the me I’d left behind,
tired of my own game, too self-
conscious to ever belong, regressed
to the past, aging psyche crumbling
walls- time they came down, anyway –
emotionally soaked footings, leaky
pipes, memories are soiled, unfixable;
overwhelming sense of doom presides.
Youth visits, eyes innocent and full
of Springlike optimism, opens doors,
demonstrates possibility, breathes
new hope into this despairing mind.
One Woman's Quest 