Solstice Sunday

 

Candlelight ~

softly ~ gently

illuminates.

“A candle, a book and a peaceful person

mean three candles for the world!”

Mehmet Murat Ildan,

Playwright, novelist and thinker

Artistic License

I have seen one or two 

before ~

blank white canvases

with one thin 

red, blue, or yellow 

brush stroke

across or diagonally

and I wonder ~

did the artist look at

that white blank canvas

~ pace and pace ~

brush poised, 

pick up a palette of paint

 ~ suddenly inspired to

gently stroke in that line

and there it is

a finished, priceless canvas.

Much like this 

blank screen

covered with only 

the thinnest attempt 

at open verse.

“Artistic license sneered through the thin fabric.”

~ Ingmar Bergman

Before the Summer’s Dry

Landing gently on

snow melt ponds draining 

through the trees of Wascana 

park, pairing ducks and geese

enjoy this bounty of nature

before the summer’s dry.

“There is something infinitely healing in the related refrains of nature - 

the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

~ Rachel Carson

Crumbles

Cinnamon crumbled blossoms

in love with the sun

gently lean from leafy shade.

“O fairest flower! No sooner blown but blasted,
Soft silken primrose fading timelessly.”

~ John Milton

Gentle Easy

And ‘nothing is as easy as it looks’ 

~another of Murphy’s Laws~ 

uncertainty beckons!

What if I can’t do it?

What if there’s too much?

What if I don’t get done on time?

What if ???????

breathe

step back

gently grasp 

each piece of the puzzle 

steadily take 

one step at a time

Complexities are as easy as the smallest piece.

“Just this once, let it be easy.”

~ Cynthia Lord, Rules

Snowscape

Snow fell

softly

gently

Silencing dark blemishes

softening sharpness

disguising icy slides

Snow fell

glittering

ghostly

Graceful trees

branches outlined 

rough bark crevices filled

Snow fell

artful

coldly beautiful

“When snow falls, nature listens.”

~ Antoinette Van Kleep

Back to Basics ~ 2

I don’t like this.

this blankness

this gray-white silence

like a low thick fog

settled in my mind

letting go 

of daily episodes

storied fictional lives 

necessarily set aside

has left a void, a vacuum

Beginning again

to find the other

stories, lives and loves

gently pushes me 

back to basics.

“Check your heart and make sure your 

intention steers you in the right direction.”

~ Norhafsah Hamid, Back to Basics

It's a Real Stretch

Slowly, gently forward

Feeling length and strength

Side to side to waken 

Feeling balance and calm

Slowly, openly reaching 

Feeling softened edges of space

Coming back to centre

Acceptance of all that I am.

“At the centre of your being you have the answer; 

you know who you are and you know what you want.”

~ Lao Tzu

Water Fall

Steady beat of water 
tipping from above 

parting my greying hair

rivulets tracing their way 

down my slender neck to wash over the fragile cliffs of my shoulders, sliding down the strength of my arms 

dripping from worn fingertips 

sheeting down my back 

between a small boney outcropping of my winged shoulder girdle 

like a lost river finding it’s way 

through moistening bumpy plain

my curving spine lending focus to the water fall

bouncing from arcs of solid hip bones

gently surfacing over soft fleshy mounds 

water warmed sliding down resting thighs, 

tapping gently behind soft waking knees 

leaving spray drops rising up in the mist of water falling 

soft gurgles curl down the drain 

carrying day-night debris of matter and energy 

to sluice away into nothingness.

“There is deep wisdom within our very flesh, 

if we can only come to our senses and feel it.”
~ Elizabeth A. Behnke

Defying Gravity

City lights wink on
outlining streets and avenues
over mountains and water
dusk settles and is still,
a thin gauzy mist of peaches 

and cream floats gently over 

a textured horizon ~
shining silver plane banks
and into early evening
to defy the principle of gravity

“Every arrow that flies feels the pull of the earth.”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Author's note: Edited February 3, 2024

Listening with Intention

Listening and hearing the voices of others.
Paying attention with intention.
Listening for clues, hearing ideas different and yet the same.
Turning old beliefs on their heads to see the ceiling from a different angle.
Gently bending rigid intolerance 
to find reason and acceptance.
Listening to others with intention wide open 
adds clarity to muddy waters of self-righteousness.

“Never allow your ego to diminish your ability to listen.”

~ Gary Hopkins

Circles

Souls gently rain from Source,
settle on water’s surface in 

ever widening ripples.

Lives lived ~ hurried or slow.

Mortal frame slowing ~ sinking,

joining silt of ancestors to softly 

support deep and flowing water.

Souls rise once more to join Source.

“Behind your image, below your words, above 

your thoughts, the silence of another world waits.”

~ John O’Donohue: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

A gentle day...

...learning to live.

Another day newly opened,

shaped and moulded by

my own dance and sway,

in time with each passing moment.

Nothing eventful or grand, except to me.

Nothing earth shattering.

Nor even a map to a buried treasure.

Just today....lived gently.

Learning, kindness and self care the order of the day.

“The delights of self-discovery are always available.”

~ Gail Sheehy