Peace in Pieces

Linking with the Wed Muse # 7 "A Beautiful Mess"

Thank you for another wonderful prompt Toni!

Today Toni is having us explore the Japanese art of Kintsugi and how to make the most of breaks, cracks, mistakes.  Kintsugi is the repairing of a break or a crack with gold. It was created in the 5th century when a shogun broke his favorite tea cup.  He didn't want to throw the cup away but he wanted to continue to use it. 

 She is asking us all to write a poem in any form about the healing in your life - how you have repaired the cracks and breaks, about your scars, how you have triumphed or are trying to persist.  How you let the light shine through the cracks, how you grow stronger. 

If a mistake is not a stepping stone, it is a mistake. ~Eli Siegel

Note:

I could write many things about this, because if mistakes were worth money I would be rich indeed!

If I were a bowl sitting on the table

I would be cracked in countless places

No more soup eating in this one

 Maybe a place to put sweet-n-low

Or ketchup packets

You see

I have a tendency to fall

Not just the slipping on ice kind

I make decisions with my broken heart

Leaving my whole mind out of the equation

Not everyone and everything

Can be alright at the same time

But I would sure try to make it so

It is a behavior that has

Taken away my peace

My money

My health

And others sobriety

Slowly with glue

And a lot of growth

I have healed

Seeing others heal

And they grew

With God’s help

Not mine

There is a peace now

I did not know before

Holding the burden of other’s hurts

Is a heavy and weary place

That only adds to our own pain

Letting go is such a simple thing

Yet so profoundly hard

It is a lesson I have learned slowly

And will be learning for the rest of my life

 piece by piece

Like fragments of broken glass

Being placed back together

One piece at a time

To make me complete again.

Note 2:  I have talked about it many times in my other posts, but I am the mother of a recovery addict alcoholic.    I am so very thankful that he has been clean and sober for going on 5 years in July, but looking back, I know in my heart that I slowed that process.  My trying to help kept him from truly getting the help he needed.  That is something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life.  All I ever wanted was for him to be whole, happy, and live a good life.  By the grace of God that is now so. 

What Injures and What Saves

"War Horse and Peace Horse"  by Sue Halstenberg

Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse # 42


Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~Lao Tzu

Love is a beautiful horse that only a few truly ride

It takes courage to try to tame it and hold it by your side

You cannot be blind nor selfish, you must look it in the eyes

And be willing to give it the food it needs for the journey’s ride

Love is a beautiful horse that some see but do not embrace

They do not appreciate the colors and wonder upon its face

And those that fear the loss are not willing to take the chance

For love is a risk in falling and getting hurt for any heart of man

Love is a beautiful horse that when ridden there is no turning back

One never wants to let go once the feel of freedom is within their grasp

But many a heart has been broken and many a sad song has been played

For love in all it’s true beauty is a wild ride that can both injure as well as save. 

©Carrie Van Horn 2019

Life Feeds us Truth

Image Source

Linking with ~The Sunday Muse~ for Muse # 41
Also linking with Imaginary Gardens for the Tuesday Platform
Come join us!


"Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen - that stillness becomes a radiance."
~ Morgan Freeman

Sometimes when you wait patiently

opportunity picks you up and your purpose is finally in place

the fruits of your past labors come to pass

and other times

you must hike a ten-mile stretch to a hidden tree

 and pluck it up yourself.

life is like that

apples or oranges

but sometimes pears

be patient

be courageous

be still yet quick and strong

we all are bruised from a fall

wanting approval and purpose

no matter our condition

not wanting to be left and forgotten

like a hidden fruit at the back of the fridge

yet sometimes being courageous means

being still in the storm

or staying in the shadows

and letting someone else

sit in the spot light

yes we grasp this slowly as we move forward

learning to reach

when to let go

and how to be still

life feeds us truth

to nurture our journey

but we must be willing to accept it

and truly take it all in

partake my friend

it may be sour now

but at times it will also be wonderful and sweet. 

©Carrie Van Horn 2019

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.

Hush

River, Marina Moevs, 2005

Mag #98

"There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story."  ~Linda Hogan




STOP!
Can you hear it?
Its not a siren in the streets,
nor the click of high heels upon your feet.

WAIT!
Can you now?
Its not the swish of sales bags in your arms,
nor the clatter of rushing grocery carts.

HUSH!
Try again!
Its not your Apple iPhone's latest ring,
nor the latest news on your T.V..

LISTEN!
Have you never tried?
Its not the lawn mower 2 doors down,
nor the passing train's lonely sound.

....it is the story that God loudly speaks
in the lovely quiet of nature's peace.


Also linking with lovely Emily at Imperfect Prose.



What The Trees Know

Magpie #35

The trees know a certain unity that we do not understand.

They face what the wind blows in, and together they shall stand.

When autumn's wind reaches out to them her subtle hand,

the leaves turn hue and fall and still together they do land.

The forest knows a certain hope that lingers in winter's cold.

It is the certainty of spring when new leaves will all unfold.

Yet, in the swelter of summer, at the hand of man alone,

a flicker becomes a flame and takes back what nature has bestowed.

Still, trees know a certain peace that man cannot recall.

For united they will stand, and still together they will fall.

I have always believed that nature has her own sweet knowing that mankind has not quite grasped.  All of creation thrives and co-exists like an elegant dance to a beautiful song.  It is God's other textbook to teach us how to live, yet we take it for granted, awkwardly disregarding the steps.  If we would only take time to listen to the rustling of the leaves in the breeze, it is then that we could hear God's voice, and we to could learn the dance.

 

Serenity

One Shot Wednesday

It lingers in the waters at the stillness of the dawn.

It stumbles with the awkward grace of an innocent fawn.

It glides the sky underneath the wings of a snow white dove.

It glimmers from the eyes of a young woman deep in love.

It's fragrance fills the air of a rose garden in the spring.

It is heard from the cathedral as the choir begins to sing.

It roams the hills with wild horses that have ventured afar.

Yet, it cannot be captured until you search inside your heart.

The Open Road

Poets United Thursday Think Tank Prompt # 9

When the world closes in on me like elevator doors

and life's troubles send me to the basement floor

one cure that rescues my spirits back up

is not an elixir you pour in a cup

you cannot buy it and place on a shelf

no roadmap or guiede book can really help

it is simply the freedom of the open road

that clears my mind and sooths my soul

it can be sunny or stormy weather

and if the destination is grandkids thats even better

I don't need to go far you see... I just need time to think

so give me the car keys and some gasoline.

I know to some this may sound very environmentaly unfriendly, but if it helps your view on it; I do recycle. :-)

Green Off The Vine

Magpie Tale # 22 ( A great site for writers!)

You were always hungry to hold freedom before your time.

I grew fat on hopes, content to linger on the vine.

On earth you never found the purpose you longed to hold.

I hope that now in heaven, peace is yours to know.

For Vaude

October 10, 1956  to  December 25, 2002

So many times over the years I have wondered why my brother, and I chose such different paths.  Both of the same vine, we shared so many things as children, but how we accepted and dealt with the troubles of our adulthood was so diverse.  We were like different fruits of seperate gardens.  I often thought that maybe there was something more that I could have done to help him.  Now through life's hopes, struggles, and recoveries in my own life, I have come to realize that our lives are part of a bigger plan that our hands could never completely hold.

His struggles taught me to be strong.  His searching helped me choose hope.

His shortened life was my teacher more than he ever knew.