Monday, September 29, 2014

Lonely Is A Velvet Chair

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 Linking with Poetry Pantry #220

"Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty." 
~Mother Teresa


In the old house I grew up in, there was an antique velvet chair that sat in the corner of the living room draped with a sheet. It was never used as far as I could tell.  Mother said it was too fine a chair to be dirtied up by our sweaty little bodies. So there it stood ,while I sat on the floor to watch television.

Years later after she passed away, the chair ended up in my grandparent's garage once again draped with a sheet. I came across it searching for old photos of my family. I had spent many nights there at my grandparent's and other friend's houses throughout that difficult time.

Looking back now, I realize it was simply my Dad's way of protecting me from the emptiness that so filled our home. I suppose he did not understand that loneliness is not merely solidarity, for I learned then, that it is also magnified by being kept apart from where you are meant to be.









Thursday, September 25, 2014

Like the Unfolding of a Flower


a storm to move mountains by Brook Shaden click here



I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die....
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Cloud"

Linking with dVerse for the Brook Shaden prompt and with Poetry Jam "clouds" prompt


Like the changes we face in life, clouds can represent the passions of the heart.  They can be soft to the eyes on a peaceful day, and then full of darkness and bolts of lightning in a thunderstorm.
Life is full of changes like the sky can be filled with clouds; each one unique and ever evolving into something more.



Clouds evolve like the unfolding of a flower
from a bud into a full bloom

and so do our hopes and passions in life
they spark within and then evolve into view
 
 like the vapors that make up the clouds
these hopes and cares we hold dear stay alive
 
this magnificent move from sea to air
is part of the growth of what makes us truly thrive.
 
 
 
 






Monday, September 22, 2014

The Water's Reflection

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For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It’s always our self we find in the sea.
~e.e. cummings

The Unspoken


Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title.  ~Virginia Woolf

Bending Over Backwards



Linking with Imaginary Gardens for "Open link Monday"
 
 

"Suffering isn't ennobling, recovery is."  ~Christiaan Barnard




 

 I am not an agile person physically.  I could never do a back bend and land on my feet, nor even do a forward roll or somersault.  Yet when it comes to the matters of the heart and relationships, I will mentally do  an acrobatic dismount off the high beam followed by a cartwheel and the splits.  All the while smiling as if it is an easy feat, but inside I will be groaning with pain.  It is a behavior that I have acted out for years.  So like a heavy oak branch, it is a habit that will not be easy to break. 



One night a few weeks ago I had plans to go to dinner with a dear friend of mine.  I have been sharing my car with my son who was home with my car and she was going to pick me up from work and then take me to my ride so that we could meet up at a farther location to go out to eat.  As I got into her car I realized that she was having a bad day due to a bad phone call, and very much in a hurry to get to our destination. 



 In her presence of frazzled behavior, I found myself wanting to hurry to diminish the stress that lingered in the air.  I rushed out of her car to my apartment, hoping to get my keys and a couple things to head out to my outing with her.  Once I got into my apartment in a whirl of haste, I found another predicament. 



 My son was not feeling well and hoping to be taken to the store to get soup and medicine.  Knowing that this would make me late and my friend even more annoyed.  I reacted with animosity as I scurried around the apartment grabbing my purse and my keys to head out the door.  Of course this made him upset, because I was not going to tend to his problem at the moment, so magically I had another agitated person to deal with.


I dashed in my car with more stress than I entered the apartment with.  I was now carrying the load of two people's dismay, and it was stealing the peace right out of my hands.  As I drove away, I got the big idea of calling a friend of mine that helps me out a lot.  I asked him if he would call my son and take him to the store for me.  The friend commenced to call him, but there was no answer.  I then asked him to try to text.  Unfortunately, that was at no avail.  In the process of urgently asking him to keep trying to get ahold of my son, I found him getting more and more annoyed.  The next thing I knew, he practically hung up on me. 

It had become an eloquent little mess that I could not have planned if I had tried with all my might.  By the time I reached the restaurant I had 3 aggravated people to contend with.  Fortunately my friend calmed down at the restaurant and we had a nice time, and everyone else eventually got over it, as they always seem to do. 

Later that evening as I laid in bed thinking back over the day, I realized how ridiculous the whole thing was.  Each situation perpetuated the next.  My effort to prevent one person from being upset made the next person mad.  It was like a snowball that got bigger as it rolled.  Only I was the ball rolling down the hill trying in vain not to upset the scheme of things. 

It is funny how life has a way of teaching us what we need to know.  I don't need to take gymnastics or psychology to understand that no amount of magic and tricks up my sleeve can keep everyone happy all of the time, but my lifetime habit has been to do just that.   Do whatever it takes no matter how awkward or painful to avoid controversy or dismay.  It holds good intentions, but usually becomes problematic for both me and those I am related to.




Saturday, September 20, 2014

Harvest of the Brave

image by Musin Yohan

Linking with Poetry Jam for Mary's prompt "Harvest Time"

Our battle-fields, safe in the keeping
Of Nature's kind, fostering care,
Are blooming, - our heroes are sleeping, -
And peace broods perennial there.
~John H. Jewett


We gather our fallen like crop in the field and then set them up in rows.
Those that bore the burden of fighting freedom's greatest foes.

They stood among the strongest and brave upon the land
and gave the greatest sacrifice for liberty of fellow man.
 
An offering of plenty that no civilian can give back
providing for generations the rights that only heroes grant.
 
 Now we reap the benefit of the harvest of the brave
so let us give the offering reverence and live a life that's great.


Thursday, September 18, 2014

Open Your Present



Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I am with you kid. Let's go."
 ~Maya Angelou





They say that when you are riding in an airplane with a child that the proper procedure for emergency oxygen is to put the mask on yourself first and then on the child.  If you put it on the child first you may pass out before you can manage to get both safely on.  Then you are not conscious to make sure that the child keeps their mask in place or protect them in general.  This action proves to be true in more situations in life than just aircraft emergency codes. 

We get so caught up in trying to take care of those around us that we forget that if we do NOT take care of our self, that we are not much use in the care of someone ELSE.  We survive instead of thrive.  I believe that many women suffer from this mishap.  Instead of gaining strength and growing from rejuvenating in the light that God gave us first, we set our cares utterly aside and carry on the mission of lighting everyone else's fires.  As a result, we are listless and overwhelmed, running on what little steam we have left to get by.  So we end up going through life, not really enjoying the gifts it has to offer. 



Life is a packaged gift that was meant to be opened wide
tear off the wrapping like a 5 year old and toss it wildly to the side.

Take it into your hands and then hold it to your chest
like a prized trophy in gold you worked so hard to get.

Once you have it opened, keep it ever close
like a beautiful lover that you never want to go.

Enjoy all it has to offer with each experience and every kiss
cherish the moments and savor all of life's gifts.

For it was not meant to be cast aside like a vase upon a shelf
it is yours and what you make it, it can be poor or full of wealth.


 

Monday, September 8, 2014

The Mistress and a Man

 
 
 
 
"What is to give light must endure burning."  ~Viktor Frankl
 
 
We hold a certain attraction the two of us.
I need to be needed and you need too much.
 
My light keeps reaching without falter or rest
as you love the luxury of being my returning guest.
 
To be your beacon is what I always yearn
yet I am the recipient of my constant burn.
 
We have a certain attraction like a light and a moth
for I long to sustain you, but you cannot be caught.



No I am not having an affair with a married man.  I just thought that the wording in first person held more power.  The picture represented a painful relationship to me and I went with it in this direction.  That's my story and I am sticking to it.

What do you see when you look at the prompt?
 
 
 

Friday, September 5, 2014

Calling All Bloggers

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This is an official SOS....I have a blogging question and figured someone out there can help me with it.  I have tried to figure it out at no avail, and am ready to ask for help.
 This is my question:
 How do you add "You Might Also Like" at the bottom of your posts.
 I have fiddled and fiddled with it and I give up.

HELP!?%$@*

Pretty Please of course :-)