The music helps the fire throw heat.
Tom and Jane dance with the beat.
The wind turns snow until it’s gone.
Through cold or warmth the dance moves on.
When we let go then we may spin
And let whatever’s out there in.
Jane and Tom would understand
But now they’re resting hand in hand.
Linked to dVerse Poetics where Victoria C. Slotto is hosting on the theme of “fire” and to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.
Forgiveness brings the softest touch
Yet smashes walls to let in light.
We throw away the leper’s crutch.
The snow that bothered us so much
Now sparkles like bright stars of night.
Linked to dVerse Poetics where Sarah is hosting with the theme of “touch”. I am also linking to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.
Photos: “Morning Snow”, above, and “Trail of Leaves Through the Snow”, below.
Once upon a daydream
The sky turned gray-cloud blue
While changing leaves
Of maple trees
Distracted me from you.
Forgive all these distractions
I wonder could we be
That key once lost
Found at great cost
Unlocking mystery?
Linked to dVerse Poetics, where Lillian is hosting with the theme “once upon a…”, and to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.
Photos: “Distracted by a Maple”, above, and “Once Upon a Memory”, below.
I usually walk somewhere nearby every day, often to the library just to have a destination. There are parks nearby and a botanic garden. What do I see? Sidewalks, trees, ponds, residential buildings, stores, town offices, game fields, skies, grass, clouds, birds of all sizes and there are even people, many of whom are familiar. I should not take this gift for granted.
I miss most of what there’s to see,
most everything there is that’s real,
most every thought that comes my way.
Forgive me for that every day.
Should my walks lead me past you
while daily wandering as I do,
forgive me most of all for that.
You smile. I know. I’m smiling back.
Linked to dVerse Poetics. Sarah is hosting with the theme of the journeys we routinely take. Mine would be simple walks. I am also linking this to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays since I need to learn to forgive myself for missing almost all of it.
Photos: “Evening Panorama”, above, and “Sun in Autumn”, below. I didn’t miss these.
Whatever part I’m here to play
I hope I play it well.
Although the vision of the day
With ugliness may get its way
May beauty cast some spell.
Linked to dVerse Poetics. Mish is hosting with the theme “beauty in ugliness”.
Photo: “Ugly Cracks”, above, and “Ugly Fungus”, below.
Smell the dawn through breaths of air
Walking past these waters where
Quietly the healing night
Opens up with morning light.
Linked to dVerse Poetics. Gina is hosting with the theme “comfort smells”.
Photos: “Morning Mist”, above, and “Morning Air”, below.
My circus has the highest tent,
The wildest acts of all.
The tent’s the sky.
The birds up high,
They show the way to loop and fly.
They never fear to fall.
Linked to dVerse Poetics. Sarah is hosting and the theme is circus.
Photos: “I’d Get Dizzy Doing That”, above, and “The Birds Wouldn’t Sit Still So I Took a Picture of This Bee”, below.
This is linked to dVerse Poetics. is hosting. The theme is to take a post from a year ago and post a revision of it. On September 11th, 2017, I posted a poem called “Free”. Here is a new version.
New Version
I wonder what this fall will bring
When wind caresses me.
Waves come when the oceans sing
Yearning to be free.
Winter comes to freeze my dreams.
There’s nothing I need do.
The hardest lesson left to learn
Is letting love’s warmth through.
Original Version
My heart felt peaceful but constrained.
The wind blew over me.
The waves hit hard. The land complained.
I wanted to be free.
Eventually through darkened night
The waves revised their song.
I assumed it’s now all right
Though some say it’s still wrong.
While walking I recall whom I once was,
Some child, perhaps, more often someone who
Did not do what I now would do, because
At that time that was not what I thought true.
Was that child only me or was it you?
Defiled and broken, not worth much at all,
I catch it in my arms and break its fall.
Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics. Jilly is hosting with the theme of giving twisted adages. I twisted the adage “forgive and forget”. I am also linking this to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays since the poem was inspired by her four-step practice of forgiveness.
Photos: “Rays and Blue Circle on Green”, above, and “Room to Grow”, below.
Because a yellow road is there
We follow hoping it may lead
To lands beyond our present where
Our dreams may plant a fertile seed.
I would like to grow some brains.
The tin man wants a heart of gold.
The lion wants his fears restrained
And Dorothy would just go home.
Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics where Michelle Beauchamp offers us the challenge to pick a character from “The Wizard of Oz” and write from that character’s perspective. I picked the scarecrow.
Photos: “Bridge”, above, and “Trail”, below, taken at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 