Naivety misses the mark ~
perhaps.....
Belief in humanity's good heart,
before nodding hello
to the wide world,
leads us down a garden path that
‘just needs a little sprucing up’
Yet belief remains even after
cruel blood shed and
hate filled lies abound.
Goodness is in the souls
of one person at a time.
Hands reach out as a candle's flame,
warming this darkened world.
“The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.”
~ Mary Shelly
Original beliefs of my family
down south, and my years
working down south have
almost been tarnished with
the raucous goings on between
here and there ~ such a quaint
couple of words to define that
big noisy country ‘down south’;
‘across the line’ another quaint phrase defined that invisible border we crossed when going to see Grandmother and Granddad.
And across my living room
I see the first piece of furniture
I bought when I moved there in 1988. It’s a comfortable reminder of
those years and a place where I seek
its comfort to rock me into solace.
I have believed in the goodness of these
families and neighbours;
even though the spelling
of a few words that drop the ‘u’
jostles my spelling sensibilities.
One brother lives and works ‘down south’;
uncles who fought in WW2, and
cousins, aunts and uncles; colleagues and friends
make up those original beliefs and memories ~
tarnished by today's uproar but only for a moment.
“Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs
as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Mending with silken threads
that slip and slide
through fabric woven of
many strong lives;
Mending when no outsider
has been invited in to
fill the invisible tears and
‘fix’ what is only ours to fix.
Mending with our own
strong voices and firm resolve
is to stand together
against any intrusive outsider.
“There are plenty of other ways to mend a broken heart
and doing some list full of stuff that you don’t
want to do doesn’t have to be one of them.”
~ Anna Bell, The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart
Respect means
little to me tonight ~
vanished with the
flip flop of my stomach
as I contemplate the chaos of
our world gone mad.
I'm angry and frightened.
But respect
will return to me ~
respect for my family,
my neighbours,
my friends, and myself ~
choosing kindness and consideration
over money and greed.
“Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.”
~ Tecumseh
Agreement comes
not with
loud, angry words
at its close,
but with
compassion and humility
for the other.
There will be
struggle and differences aired
to find a right way
but that is
where agreement begins.
“Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.”
~ Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. President
Only after the work has been done,
can harmony be felt and enjoyed.
Just as it does not appear magically,
so it will disappear in the fog without
the creative work of humanity.
“It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess.”
~ Jackson Pollock
