Hope is in the soil beneath our feet
Ready to grow seeds in the lengthening days
Until beautiful souls flower and fill our needs.
Tag Archives: change
ABUNDANT CHANGE
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025
Worn and weary I
run away from words hidden
in the dark of night.
Pained and poured out I
slowly ascend the mountain
reaching toward the light.
Strained and so sore I
peruse the new horizon
coming into sight.
Battered but brave I
reach into my open heart.
Love overcomes fright.
VOTE BLUE
This blue earth,
this place of our birth,
grounds us against flight
from this tiny iron rock
hurtling through the dark.
And so, we hold on tight,
bathed in blue light,
sun reflected off ocean’s face,
keeping us in place.
We are cleansed by earth’s air,
a clear and free atmosphere.
We breathe in and then out,
Each breath removes any doubt
that we are of this world, in this place.
We hurtle through darkest space
on this earth, this hard rock
with all its hard knocks.
It is not our imagination.
The gravity of our situation
keeps us awake at night.
We are blue light
against a dark sky.
Help earth and its people survive.
Help keep freedom alive.
VOTE BLUE!
FUTURE WAITS
Future refuses to talk.
She holds her cards close.
No expression crosses her face.
Her fierce calm holds us in place.
We gamble our fortunes, our lives,
within her unfathomable space.
Withholding breath we wait
to discover our curious fate.
“Play the cards you have,”
she says,“before it is too late.”
The game here now will last until
each card has been played.
Holding onto cards
means new presents are delayed.
The young know this better
than their elders do.
The young play with greater abandon,
unconscious of the heavy stakes
that keep my eyes open all night through,
awake, until light from a new day
through the closed blinds seeps through.
A new day.
A new game.
Time to play.
Future cuts the cards.
No time to waste.
Vote!
Filed under POETRY
DOLDRUMS
The in-between times
seem wanting but never bore,
filled with dread galore.
Filed under POETRY
LATE SUMMER DAZE
The shades of summer pull slowly closed.
Sun drops quietly behind.
Shadows lengthen across grass carpets
moistened by the dew of cool nights
and warm days peaking through.
Autumn is on her way to paint
hot colors against cool blue skies.
Summer still lingers behind the shade
ready to surprise
with summer heat intent
on a hot reprise.
BEHOLD THE SKY
The river of color flows through the sky
weaving its way beneath and between
all that is seen and unseen.
Undulations of colors entwine
the energy of the divine
with the hopes of humankind.
We fear the sky’s fall
bending our knees
hiding our eyes,
until we lose sight
of the wonder of it all.
Motion and change delight
and yet, we cannot grasp hold
of what is before our sight.
And this loss of control over the diversity
and complexity of colorful skies
entraps and belies
a sense of self so small
it frightens us all.
The skies are not falling
simply because its colors shift.
The movement within the sky
can never send us adrift.
Gravity holds us all together,
keeps us spinning, it is true;
but, never allows us to go too far, too fast.
It helps make the moments last
until we can understand
what we stand under,
an open sky which belongs to all.
Look up and behold the sky.
Reach up to touch the clouds.
Dance in the wind, bathe in the rain.
Never lose hope ever again.
Filed under POETRY
GRIEF
Everyone grieves in their own way, so they say.
But, steadfast Grief remains the same.
Lips once tilted in joy, Grief holds tight with the strain
of holding back anger and keeping screams at bay.
Grief tightens the brow and hardens the eye
to hold back the tears which threaten to slide
tearing apart all that we hold deep inside.
Cheeks held too tight crease
and create runnels where tears may glide.
Grief clutches jaws held fearfully tight.
Once tears escape, will our held-back sobs fight
with a pulse so strong they can never be stopped?
Like a street thug, Grief pounds us into submission
and never takes time to ask our permission.
It pushes us down with pummels fierce and powerful.
Grief uses its bruising punches to keep us sorrowful.
We lie on hard pavements praying for the end to our suffering.
We feel we are losing our grip on reality.
We clutch at old truths, begging help to appear and lessen our sorrow.
Even Grief grows tired over time and lessens its blows.
Help comes when we unclench jaws and scream,
and shout, and let our tears and fears outwardly flow.
Soften the eyes. Relax the brow. Let the tears flow.
Tears wash away sorrow that new faith can be planted
in every tomorrow, with new ways to love
and new paths to follow.
Signs of grief always remain in new lines
that furrow about our lips, across the edge of our eyes,
and on necks which will, henceforth, our heads tip
slightly down, with greater humility, a bit.
Over time bruises heal, muscles grow stronger.
We learn we can handle the tough thugs who sit
on the sidelines, hidden in shadow.
We learn love again, embracing those who came to help.
We learn faith again, embracing those who prayed by our side.
We learn hope again, embracing those who helped us to our feet.
We stand again on loving, faith-filled, hopeful feet;
and, find a new path where joy and laughter can leads us.
We see our new selves in the eyes of those we pass.
We are stronger and last longer than Grief ever could.
Filed under Uncategorized
SNOW!
We often think that Spring brings our first hopes
of a new life, a new world, a new cause to celebrate.
We need not wait for Spring to hope.
Eight inches of snow fell silently and cloaked
the surfaces of note that set our scene,
a scene fearfully bleak which clouds all thoughts
of a fearless life, and hides the fear which lies below
our greatest hopes, limited by what, we do not know.
We fear the worst after watching the news
meant to keep us watching, our nerves hanging on every word.
Snow!
Snow changes our landscape in a moment.
The deeper the snow, the greater the wind,
the more we see of all the possibilities
to change the world we ache to know.
All darkness and decay disappears by end of day.
White whorls of snow cover every branch of every tree,
and shrub and shed. No tracks yet made by others
who share this place with me.
The sun rises in a fiercely blue sky and tracks appear
upon the new world of white light strewn across its face.
Snow!
Snow allows us to dream we can make all clean.
Our purity glows within each crystal caught by sunlight,
raising our spirits, capturing our innocence.
We believe we can change, too. All is right in a world draped in white.
My first hope does not wait for Spring.
It comes alive at the sight of the first big snow.
Snow reminds me that landscapes can change swiftly,
purely, beautifully aglow. Even war’s wounded landscapes
appear at peace when covered in snow.
Impoverished neighborhoods where crime rules breathe softly covered in snow.
Snow!
KEEP BREATHING
The world is wider than I recall
and emptier than it should be.
Where have so many millions gone?
Covid took too many from me.
Now, As I venture forth again
I note the changes new to me:
Fewer check out lines open
where I can chat with clerks
who may offer the only conversation
I shall have that day.
Longer waits in self-check-out lines,
for coffee, burgers, groceries, medications,
buses and airlines.
Play dates carefully screened and often up-ended
by bouts of surprise illness, unintended.
Careful scrutiny of each gathering attended
by risk-takers and isolaters frustrated
and ready to accept the fate
breathing without masks indicates.
The pace of life becomes a distraction.
Forward process toward goals proceeds
in fits and starts reducing our momentum.
It amazes me how well we all cope
with uncertain patterns not before seen,
futures unknown yet still filled with hope.
The one thing which has not changed
is our determination to remain the same,
to keep on the path to parts unknown,
to find an adventure far from home,
to explore new people, places and things.
We are still alive. We bravely take wing.
There is life to live and love to give.
There is love to receive and life to accept.
We constantly find faith deep within
that joy is still ours, if we only give in
to the need to connect with others
and breathe life in.
annarino writes 