Mama shrugs nervously

Stretches her lips tight

Does that squinty eye thing

When cashier says card is maxed out

Embarrassment heats her cheeks

Shame wants to tango

Its crazy how the bank account

Mama works hard to build up

Can drain away

Whenever Daddy’s around

I try to tell her

Do not trust

And all she does is give

After years behind bars

My orange jumper clad dad

Didn’t learn a thing

He snatches the firmness beneath us

All we ever longed for

Maybe after all

Some people never change

no I believe...

we don’t really

like maybe...

we’re born in

all our aspects

complete as in...

a full course meal

our tectonic plates

shift by weight

and in different

flavours and 

temperatures

glow or vibrate

- - - - - - - - - - -

someone close

had asked me...

this once before 

I pictured for us

a ven diagram...

with circles that

overlap just so...

to encompass

some of this &

some of that...

lassoing more or

less certain traits

as our experience 

accrues or our

interests dissipate

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

all the flakes and

grains of colours

in an old-fashioned

kaleidoscope type

of looking glass...

are herein ourselves

sealed & contained

and our differential

patterns do reveal

by the twists &

turning of our fate

- - - - - - - - - - -  

focusing on those

illusions of us too

mirrored quadruple

upon ourselves...

we change in look

by season in extent

of emphasis and 

within as well by

a gradual blend

of character grit

but not outside 

the Original of

our own special

Concentrate...

#DoPeopleEverChange #Challenge

Change

Prison can change a man,

so says the system,

but truth told,

and always known;

you change you, nothing else will.

Some things you never change;

love for family,

love for whom you vowed eternity with,

love for friends who stand beside you;

yes, some things never change.

Then there are the stay-the-same things.

That winding river in the country,

mountain peaks that seem to call out to you,

green blades of grass representing the calm;

yes, just a few of the stay-the-same things.

When held away in darkness,

deeper than despair or horror;

when held back from embracing beauty,

it’s only then, having to do without,

you change you.

When next you see the sun,

let its brightness bring a tear.

When next you see the moon,

shrouded in a glow … quarter, half, or full,

let its calmness fill you with the same.

The system so they say,

can change a man,

but they can never alter, never change,

those stay-the-same things.

You may change,

but true beauty remains forever.

He was an athiest in a Christian household.

He was an alcoholic in a clean family.

He was a drug dealer-and-doer in a family who despised drugs.

He followed girls he knew he wouldn't have and left those that he could have had a decent life with.

He followed the wrong friends.

He joined the army.

He wanted to straighten up.

He got worse.

He met a woman.

He loved her when he first saw her.

She'd never seen him before.

They started to talk.

They began to get along.

He stopped drinking.

He stopped taking drugs.

She began to love him.

He drank.

He had one.

One beer.

She left him.

Her father came to her.

He told her one thing.

"People do change"

They got married several months later.

He refuses to drink.

He refuses drugs of any kind.

He has found Christ.

People grow

And learn

And suffer.

What life

Puts people through

Gives them

A new shape.

But underneath,

They are

The same.

Underneath

All the layers

Of experience,

You will find

The same person

They have

Always been

And will always be.

People can grow

But they will never change.

Have you ever looked at an old photo of yourself? Do you look at the different haircut

you had or maybe the missing scar on your face? Do you notice the difference between

that old you and the person you are right now? One is younger, more naive, while the

other is older and wiser. That is the difference. See, you changed. You became in a sense, a

completely different person in those few short years. It’s like you went to bed a nine-year-

old and you woke up a nineteen-year-old. In the blink of an eye, you changed into a

completely different person.

So, do people change? You tell me.

I feel as if people don't change,

yet they might seem one way and be another.

I feel as if change is a misunderstanding,

A word asking if we really know each other.

I feel as if I haven't changed,

Just haven't met certain sides of myself yet.

As they are piling up ready to explode,

And I'll meet a part of myself I haven't met.

But it's always been inside me,

Despite the paths I take,

Because it's part of my life map,

My decisions are my fate.

But do people ever change?

They do in a sense.

They 'go back in time',

Break and make amends.

But certainly,

The soul within,

Does not suddenly

Do a 360 spin.

And certainly, there's parts of ourselves,

That haven't quite come through,

But in the right situation they will,

And that's what makes up me and you.

Because life is full of surprises

And you might even surprise yourself,

With how good or bad you see your choices

And how it affects your mental health.

Change is the only constant in life.

Some people may change an aspect of their life

to stay away from trouble,

to keep the loved ones from leaving,

to lead a better life.

While others may struggle with their personal demons and retreat to their old ways.

But I’m sure that even when they do, something is them is changed through experience and dealing with the trauma and guilt. People grow, learn and change. That’s how our species has evolved..

Some people may change everything about themselves

depending how hard life hits them

how much pain or fear they endure

Pain from loss of a loved one, physical or mental abuse

Fear of loosing the life they have love, wealth and status.

People change everyday.

Sometimes willingly, sometimes against their will

We change physically- we grow old a little each day.

Mentally- we learn, adapt and change

Emotionally- our experiences change us for the better or worse.

Like the water,

people are.

How the flow changes,

people change.

How the current differs in every location,

people differ.

How the moon sways the ocean water,

people depend on circumstances.

And like the essential being of water,

people are.

How the water will always be water,

people stay.

It may crash down in waterfalls or slowly seep though between rocks,

but it's still water.

The soul remains the same.