(A Ketek)
Within darkness, the stars dance for the Lost for the dance stars the darkness within.
In Gratitude
In gratitude I find the answer to the ailments of my heart, mind and soul. I am thankful for the way gratitude can lift me from a self-imposed prison and plant seeds of freedom in my heart. I am thankful for the way that remembering to be grateful helps me find love and humor in moments of fear and stress. I am thankful for the way expressing gratitude can shift another person's entire demeanor. Drawing a smile out of a frowning, serious or stressed out face with a thank you or acknowledgment of shared humanity is so powerful, is it not? I am thankful for those moments when it was my frowning, serious or stressed out face from which a smile was teased through that simple act being on the receiving end of a thank you.
I am so thankful for the kindness of strangers. The world (tv news - at least in America) sometimes can make you think there is danger lurking in every corner and there's nothing to be trusted out in the general public. But my experience tells me good, kind people are everywhere. And it inspires me to be kind and good in return, and look out for the well being of others. I am grateful I can see past and through the pain and sadness which perpetuates the tragic happenings and be open to and embrace the world in which I live.
I am so grateful for the written word and my natural ability to use it to connect in ways with which I otherwise struggle. Without exaggeration, writing has saved my life. I don't know how I would have dislodged the achings of my heart were it not for my ability to write on them and clear the path for healing. I don't know how I would have discovered that I am not alone if not for reading the written words of others. I don't know how I would have discovered who I am if not for writing and reading. I am so grateful for everything I have read which has pulled me to a new level of understanding of myself or the world around me. I am so grateful for everyone who writes. I am so grateful for everyone who reads.
There are, indeed, an infinite number of things about which to be grateful. Air. Electricity. Humans. Animals. Planets. Stars. Education. Logic. The list is truly unending. The crazy part, is that it is so easy to misplace gratitude. Even with all of the things which go noticed and unnoticed which make my life better, sometimes I forget and feel so lost and hopeless and helpless.
So I just thought I would make a challenge to help me remember to pay attention, because even when things seem insurmountably hard, gratitude can be a light in the dark. Even when I am struggling to find things about which to be grateful in my life (or especially?) I find I can reach out to one person or even one object and say thank you. And it starts to lift me or at least keep me from sinking more.
I am thankful to the barking dog, warning of danger.
I am thankful to the smiling stranger, adding that little bit of brightness to the world.
I am thankful to the darkness, for helping me feel safe all those years.
I am thankful to the light, for helping me see.
I am thankful to the laughter of children, for reminding me I was once young. And that I should definitely laugh more.
I am thankful to music. You know what you have done for me.
I am thankful, of course, to my family and my friends. To all my loved ones, and to all who seek love.
I am thankful to the rain, sun, seasons, nature in general.
I am thankful to plate techtonics.
Clearly, I could go on and on. Thankfully, I don't have the time for that. Thank you, for taking the time to read this, for liking to read in general, and for reading what I write in particular. I am grateful my heart has this outlet, writing, and my writing has this forum, The Prose.
Sunday Morning in Spring
When there is a moment
Such as this
When I feel
And see
Gratitude in every movement
Every moment
I know
It’s up to me
To pay if forward
For long
Were the days
Of damp, dark depression
Of suffocating sadness
And debilitating fear
So whisper to me
Your wishes
And I will hear them
And know
If I can bring
Their fruition near
Dear Inspiration
It’s not an exaggeration
To say
I owe my life to you
In every moment
The bottom
Dropped out of my life
And I free fell
Through space
And time
You
Were that spark
That one word
That one phrase
That hand up
From my darkest days
It was prestidigitation
In so many ways
You are magic
You are fire
You are all things
That I desire
The love
In the world
The answer
To hate
The blank space
We all need
To draw
Our own future
The one
We hide
Behind our eyes
And can only be seen
If one’s senses
Are keen
An extra perception
A spotless reception
I
Have a void
I seek to fill
But I know
The answer
Is not in this pill
This bottle
Or this needle
And that’s only
Because
I know you
I know you
So deeply
You infiltrated
My heart
In such a way
My day
Cannot even start
Until I acknowledge
You
Are my purpose
My reason for being
My light
In the darkness
My one
True
Love
You
Are inspiration
And
There’s nothing
Above
I Try to Remember
The humanity
In each of us
The cries of an infant
Silenced
By the knowledge
That crying does nothing
But tire oneself
A tiny heart broken
Before it has beaten
That beautiful song
Of love
Even once
Becoming a child
Who doesn't think
Or act
Like others
Their chest cavity
Devoid
Of humanity's
Tender touch
I try to remember
Hurt people
Hurt people
And what grows
In the absence of love
Is what I allow
By not
Loving enough
By not
Sharing enough
Of my blessings
By not
Looking into the eyes
Of the haunted
And seeing
My reflection
Looking away
Keeping silent
Closing my hand
Walling up my heart
That's how I allow
Hatred
To exist in the world
So I try to remember
The humanity
In each of us
I look
Even when it hurts
I listen
Even when the tears come
I reach out
Even when I want to run
Because I
Could have so easily
Been them.
You broke apart
My solitary hue
You crept inside
And colored it
With parts of you
You painted my life
With solid undertones
And shimmery
Overtones
And now
The whole picture
Has shifted
And I can't remember
What it looked like
Before I met you
But I know
It dripped with sadness
Where now
I taste the rain
And think of you
Because you
Taste like sunshine
And your kisses
Feel like hope
You changed the landscape
Rearranged my tableau
And now
My kisses
Tell the story
Of how I came
To love you
And never want
To let you go
Without Reason
But with rhyme
I find words to write
During the in between time
A friend is visiting
But we've yet to meet
I was ready at six
Yet at nine, her work day's not complete
Mucus has invaded my brain
Making my eyes twitch and my nose run
I sit here and wish for more rain
Allergy season is no fun
With time, my thoughts turn to love
I am blessed to receive so much
Still, I yearn for true love's touch
The Deep, Dark Woods
Condensed water vapor collects in the troposphere. Clouds, if you want to name the phenomenon. Sometimes, it's nice to not name things. Just let it be what it is. Condensed water vapor in the troposphere.
You can't see it from my vantage point. In the center most point of the deep, dark woods. It could be sunny up there, above the tree line. That's for the birds to know. I watch them, and their behavior lets me know, a storm is coming.
They sing of the storm. They sing in the storm. They sing to the storm, even. I should transform my heart to a bird that it may sing through the clouds gathered around. A storm is coming. It won't be in the troposphere this time. It will be in the center most point of my heart. One lightening strike to take my life, a second to restart it. How much electricity can I handle? How many lightening strikes are destined for me?
I close my eyes to gather strength. To shift perspective. I can hear the rainfall, but the canopy keeps the drops from wetting my face. My face becomes wet anyway. Stormy thoughts fall from my eyes in their own silent deluge. I open my heart to the song of sorrow, and let it sing away my troubles. Somehow, I feel stronger.
I continue to listen. The storm is steady, increasing in strength, perhaps. But I feel ready to face it. I just have to remember the way out of the woods.
Tuesday Morning When My Clients Cancel
The day
Stretches long
In front of me
Unbound
My soul craves
A seat in nature
Profound
My mind
Gathers silence
Resound
My body
Forgets itself
And then remembers
Astound
Saturday Morning Questions
The changing river
And
The changing sky
The unchanging nature
Of the question
Why?
The poems
Which have escaped
My pen
The question of escape?
Simply,
When.
The taste
Of atmosphere
Assemblage of air
Forces the next question
Where?
Sinking into here
Acknowledging now
Growth blooms
On barren branches
Hardly anyone
Asks how
My mind fills
With fractions of you
In a kaliedescopic hue
I'll stop asking questions
If you answer
Who?