Souls & Horses

Photo by Tatiana from Pexels

Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse # 58
Come join us!

Horses and children, I often think, have a lot of the good sense there is in the world.  ~Josephine Demott Robinson

Like ghosts we walk through miracles never knowing how close we come

For we cannot see what we do not believe

But in another life we were horses

Where no fences gated our hearts

Free to be what we truly were

We galloped far beyond what could be seen

Grazing truth all the while

And always hungry for more

Like a mighty wind our spirits pushed through

Making themselves known to all

For freedom does not linger on regret

Nor feed on darkness

It moves on gallantly in the light of day

and those willing to let go

Will dare to jump any fence that comes their way

But that was another life and time

The rising dust of a distant star

Here we walk through miracles never knowing how close we come

Ghosts cannot touch, but merely pass by in silence

And we cannot see what we do not believe.

©Carrie Van Horn 2019

Two Poems

Photo by Pixabay at Pexels

Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse # 51

I decided to be different and write two different poems for the photo.  I would love to hear from you which one is your favorite and why?
 Have a great weekend everyone!

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.
 ~G.K. Chesterton

Looking Deeper Within,

Sometimes great cathedral windows seem like eyes

That when you look into them, it is like peering into the soul of humanity

So much history

So many prayers within those walls

The architecture of our great grandfathers

Standing the test of time

Magnificent and still full of humility

Yet, in its solidarity, there is still so much division

It makes me sad looking in

However, when I step into its foyer

It makes me look deeper within

The halls of myself

and my hope is again renewed.

*************************************************

The Blue of Longing,

My heart has been here before in dreams

Outside the stained glass window looking in

The wind is high with longing

and my hair is lose like a harlot

Flying all over the place

I long to enter the cathedral

To be a part of the congregation

To sing as sweet as birds do

but I wake up with a tickle in my throat

Like swallowing a fallen feather

With amazing grace upon my lips

and a thicket of questions upon my breath

I am certain If longing were a color,

 it would be a deeper blue

A stained glass menagerie

My heart seems to know too well

but it is hope that keeps me searching

For answers within that blue abyss

It is hope that shall walk me down the inner aisle.

©Carrie Van Horn 2019

Mighty is the Prayer

Image Source

Linking with The Sunday Muse for Muse # 29


Prayer is glue for broken souls. ~Terri Guillemets

The most powerful

 weight lifting we will ever do,

 is reach toward heaven

 with our troubles in hand

 and give them to God

Amen.

The Uncertainty of Rain

The Angelous by Jean-Francois Millet

~This painting hung on the wall of my grandparent's living room all the years of my childhood.  It has always been my favorite painting in it's powerful and beautiful simplicity.~

The uncertainty of rain keeps us strong

holding on to hope with a tiller in the field

but with hard work and prayer you can't go wrong

knowing something greater is our strength and shield

the humility of needing and knowing grace

is a strength that feeds more than one

for hope is a cousin of tried and true faith

and when two kneel together it shall be done.

Butterflies and Land Mines

The Mag #255

Reason is our soul’s left hand, Faith her right. ~John Donne

Faith is a white horse that must run in the black of night
and the soul is the rider that must hold on with no reins in sight.
It is a treacherous journey that requires a lot of guts.
The kind that walks through land mines with eyes completely shut.
 So let go of your logistics and reach out for something true.
A credence that is mightier than any scientific proof.
For genuine conviction is a force that moves through hardy walls
and the voice that drives it onward has an ever gentle call.
 You see the cement of the soul is full of both tenderness and might.
For faith is a true force yet enigma like butterflies and land mines.
 

The Story of My Life

The Mag #217

 

 

"Forever is composed of nows."  ~Emily Dickinson

 

 

 

The story is this, I have always wanted to know the ending at the beginning.  It's a weakness that I have clasped on to tightly, like an alcoholic and a bottle of gin.  Uncertainty is a double edged sword of dicing truths.  Either you learn to have faith in something greater than yourself or find yourself working hard to prevent the inevitable as if you are the greater power which proves to be a big mistake. However, both sides of the road hold the power to make you a little bit tougher, like a slab of meat that needs preparation for the grill.  I want to know that everything is going to be okay. That the last part of the story has a comfortable feel like a cozy room and a loving companion, but that part of the story is not yet ready to be told.  There are lines in between that must be written upon the page.  Experiences that must happen, like roads and highways make paths to destinations that people want to go.  My road is not yet paved all the way, it is an awkward gravel path, and the journey's end is not yet in sight.  It is a pilgrimage of schooling that no one graduates from with honors, only scars, and a little more wisdom that on the first page.  Faith is an acquired art like cigarettes, coffee, or gin and tonic on the rocks.  You don't begin the process with ease nor grace.  There will be some coughing and you may choke before you get the first couple swallows down.  And yet after all my ramblings about the "why's" of life, certainty,  and the journey I still struggle with the need to know what I cannot yet know.  There is an excerpt that eloquently speaks of this from the famous book "The Hiding Place"  by Corrie Ten Boom that goes like this:

 

“And so seated next to my father in the train compartment, I suddenly asked, "Father, what is sexsin?"
He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case off the floor and set it on the floor.
Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he said.
I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.
It's too heavy," I said.
Yes," he said, "and it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.”
~Corrie Ten Boom

 

 

So I guess the story is this:  I am still trying to pick up baggage that I am not yet strong enough to hold.

The End.

 

   

 

 

 

The Sheerest of Gowns

photo by The Fox And The Raven

The Mag #158

"You are a beautiful soul hidden by the trench coat of the ego."  ~Mike Dolan



If the flesh of this world
 was as thin as the sheerest of gowns,
 what of the soul would man's eyes see?
Would its essence penetrate through like a light
shining right into our own eyes
or float like air beyond our sight?
Could we see it dance embraced within our skin
or would it fly past our vision with us unaware?
And could one's hands clasp hold of it
and keep it in one place?
If possible would one soul touch another
like a caress of a lover's hand?
These are answers I long to hold
like soft satin within my hands
yet as the sheerest of gowns does
soon descend quietly to the floor undressed
so shall my questions go fallen
upon uncertainties profound fabric of silence.

First Cousins Once Removed

"In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't."  ~Blaise Pascal

They touch just at

the fringe of brilliance

and the edge of the obscure

as their descent

both rises and falls

from the same force

where one's exhale

is vapor for the other

a lineage that spans

beyond our vision

above our own design

they are relatives

in a world

where oracles

can only be found

by blind faith

light and shadow

both accentuate

the other

each one

showing contrast

serving a purpose

to decide

what is

and what is not

consider this

a test

that no other

can answer for you

you must see it for yourself.

linking with Poetry Jam This week's theme is "Shadows".

Holder of The Sails,

Linking with Poetry Jam

So much depends on

the strength of the sails

the force of the winds

the size of the waves

 the courage of the man in the boat

and the reliance he has on

The One truly holding the sails

 God.

Touch of Heaven

a grave at the Novodevinchy Cemetary, Moscow

The Mag #103

We reach out beyond ourselves

in a leap of faith

touching eternity.

Complacency Is A Cowardly Sailor

Image by Mostafa Habibi

Magpie # 95

"A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for."  ~John A. Shedd

A place that becomes too comfortable to move forward

is actually a very dangerous place to be.

For the longer you remain inside it's stead,

the tougher it is to escape the hold it has on you.

It is a deceptive theif whose sand will only sink you wear you stand.

What you thought was safety, was in reality a slow demise.

So take hold of some faith and take a couple steps out where it leads.

What do you have to loose? 

Maybe some sand in your knickers?

Somewhere In Your Life

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on." ~Havelock Ellis

Hi my name is loneliness I am somewhere in your life but if you dry your tears and simply look above

you will see that in your life there is love.

Hi my name is fear I am somewhere in your life but if you uncover your eyes and walk out into light's beam

you will see that in your life there can be peace.

Hi my name is discouragment I am somewhere in your life but if you pick yourself up and open the closed door

you will see that in your life there is hope.

Hi my name is doubt I am somewhere in your life but if you walk out on a limb all the way

you will see that in your life there is faith.

Hi my name is bitterness I am somewher in your life but if you open up your heart and let go of the pain

you will see that in your life there is forgiveness to take it's place.

Linking with One Shot Wednesday

Also Sharing with lovely Emily at Imperfect Prose

Just A Glimmer

With just a glimmer of strength you could stop the raging sea.

With just a glimmer of grace you could set the captives free.

With just a glimmer of hope you could clear a stormy sky.

With just a glimmer of light you could make a rainbow in the night.

With just a glimmer of faith you could heal a world of scars.

With just a glimmer of love you could build a bridge between two hearts.

With just a glimmer of truth you could open up people's eyes accross the land.

With just a glimmer of compassion the whole world could reach out a helping hand.

With just a glimmer of forgiveness you could turn a war into peace.

With just a glimmer of God all mankind would fall down to his knees.

"A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul. " ~Author Unknown

Sharing with lovely Emily at Imperfect Prose

 

Here and Heaven

Imperfect Prose take a look you will love it!

Sometimes the distance between the deliverance and the trial

can seem to be a million hard miles.

And at times the distance between bitterness and peace

can seem to be a far ocean we could never reach.

sometimes the distance between despair and hope

can seem to be an endless gravel road.

And at times the distance between our doubts and our faith

can seem to be many worlds away.

Yet, the distance between each one of these

is simply the space between the floor and our knees.

Hope Whispers When It Speaks

Inperfect Prose

I spent many frightened nights
in a stupor creeping down the stairs
with the subtlety of snow
drifting to my father's bedside
afraid to truly awaken him
yet softly calling his name
and tapping his arm
as uncertain as a scarf in the breeze
I stood there for what seemed to be hours
waiting for him to notice me
like I had done so many times before
but he never did
years later he still never knew
of my presence those weary nights
yet I had been there
just the same.




"Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark."  ~George Lles

Life can be hard, and sometimes it can seem too uncertain, but I have learned that no matter how difficult it may be...there is always hope...we just loose sight of it sometimes.  Like dry land to a sailor, we venture beyond the horizon, but that does not mean that the land vanished from exhistance, only that it is out of our direct sight.  The continent of hope still rests on the oceans of our life.

Crawling Inside Someone Else's Shoes

To know what bravery means we must crawl inside the shaking knees of a soldier standing behind enemy lines, that has no choice but to face what he has feared.

To know what prejudice means we must crawl inside the closed eyes of someone who cannot see beyond the wall of hate they have themselves built

To know what trust means we must crawl inside the open arms of a child that holds on to their faith in the unseen with all the might they have.

To know what grief means we must crawl inside the heavy tears of a mother that cries when faced with children at joyous play, for she is only reminded of the child she has lost.

To know what love means we must crawl inside the full heart of a person who has lost everything for the sake of someone else, and done it gladly.

To know what strength means we must crawl inside the still back of a paralyzed man who has learned to accept his frailties.

To know what loneliness means we must crawl inside the weary voice of an old woman whose words are only silenced by her own ears.

To know what mercy means we must crawl inside the mighty hands of God after we have let Him go.

Containing The Stars

It has been whispered in my ear yet forever is such a mighty word we use with such frequent casualty flinging it around like a kite on display

with the recklessness of dreamers and earnestness of poets

as if we could truly contain the stars in a tin can

we chase forever's essence as if it could be caught

it has been written before me yet religion is such a fragile word

we say with such power

shuffling it around on desk tops like legal documents

with the harshness of scientists and disregard of fools

as if we could truly contain the stars in a tin can

we try to see the face of God

ignorant to the revelation that we have already seen the sparkle in His eyes.