#ForgivingFridays – Page 4 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Opposites

Sorrow from the clearing goes.
Joy there lost today.
Rejection grips as sadness grows.
The woods of darkness stay.

I’ll follow sorrow, if I may.
It wanders mindfully.
“Don’t waste your time,” the wise may say,
“Those woods are dark. You’ll lose your way.”
Forgiveness strengthens me.

Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics. Lillian is hosting with the theme of opposites. Also linked to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

Photos: “Light Green Dark Green”, above, and “Upside Down Reflection of Right Side Up”, below.

Rest and Motion

Forgiveness is a sacred motion
Like waves expressing deeper ocean.

Text: Linked to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays. I will be featuring couplets like this in honor of the solstice this Thursday, June 21st, at dVerse.

Photos: “Bubbles in Rest and Motion”, above, and “Trees at Rest, People in Motion”, below. These are linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme: “Bodies at Rest, Bodies in Motion”.

One-Liner Wednesday — Happy-ness

The heart is the safest place to store what’s valuable.

Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday and Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

#1linerWeds badge by Cheryl, at dreamingreality646941880.wordpress.com/

One-Liner Wednesday — Glue

Kindness is a kind of glue.

Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday and Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays since kindness presumes some forgiveness.

One-Liner Wednesday — Monsters

Tell the monsters they’re forgiven. They won’t understand but maybe you will.

Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday and Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

I might add, if you do take my advice and talk to those monsters, don’t get too close.

Learning to Write

By second grade I learned to write well enough to make short sentences. My teacher wrote that they were “Very good”. So, I wrote more and I showed them to her. She gave me another sheet of paper which encouraged me. My third grade teacher was less impressed. I stopped showing her what I wrote. That gave her more time to focus on what was bothering her.

I am older now than either of those teachers were and I realize that I’ve been like both of them at different times of my life, sometimes unreasonably patient and other times unforgivably impatient. Looking back. I forgive the impatience in my third grade teacher and hope I can forgive it in myself as well. I understand the many reasons for impatience that torment adults. I hope her life was happy because today she looks more like my daughter than a teacher.

Given all the reasons for impatience, it amazes me that any of us are blessed enough to enjoy any patience. Nonetheless there it is again as a commonplace miracle.

MOTHER SAVES THE WORK
FLOWERS YEARN TO BLOOM AGAIN
LATER OLD LEAVES FADE

Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday where Toni is hosting and to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

Photos: “Very Good”, above, and “Alice in Wonderland”, below.

Confirming Forgiveness

I saw her
In the living room
Before I
Heard she died.
Wipe away the guilt and gloom.
Go with peace inside.

Text: Linked to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays and dVerse Poetics where Amaya is hosting featuring the shadorma poetry form.

Photos: “Light in Snow”, above, “Snow Up Close”, below.

One-Liner Wednesday — Alone

Forgiveness may be hard to do, too hard to do alone, but should it happen anyway and burden’s lifted in some way, perhaps we’re not alone.

Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday and Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

One-Liner Wednesday — Overcome

Forgiveness won’t untwist what’s done but let’s the present overcome.

Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday and Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

Winter’s Grey and Sparkling White

Saturday afternoon the snow started slowly. Being warm the flakes became thick. I started my walk catching some of it, missing most of it. I am not aware enough to be aware of everything. I must leave some for the saint’s creative contemplation or the monk’s mindful meditation.

The snow came down thicker and more beautifully as I walked back through sparkling white. I did not expect so late in my grey year to have so many blessings as if my impatience and despair had been forgiven.

GREY SKY WITH WHITE OWL
WAITING IN THE SNOW-FILLED TREE
LOOK–HE FLIES AWAY

Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday. Björn is hosting with the theme “grey”. I am also linking to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

Photos: “Snow on Bush”, above, and “Snow on Branch”, below.