Small Steps and Choices

Entertaining choices:  

not all that entertaining 

when seen as drudgery or 

maybe challenging to the soul. 

Both involve a deep breath but 

that’s where the similarity ends. 

Housework chores are visible 

~ have a beginning and an end. 

Fears, nervousness, anxieties 

creep in slowly, silently 

Colouring today, tomorrow and 

yesterday in shades of darkness 

that can’t be washed away until 

tiny fragments of courage and hope

allow small steps and choices 

to blossom and brighten each moment.

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

~ Nelson Mandela

(1918 ~ 2013)

A New Tapestry

Yesterday remembers 

plans pushed aside for 

  plans from the day before 

forgotten and revived

Yesterday remembers 

the crazy busyness of the phone 

 or someone coming to the door or 

breaking a favourite ornament

Yesterday remembers, 

in the midst of today, 

 as a dream that vanishes 

all frayed and gauzy.

Yesterday remembers 

what must be done today with 

 hope that we will pick up the 

loose threads and weave a new tapestry.

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”

~ H.G.Wells, writer

(1866 ~ 1946)

Into the Green Grass

When I let my thoughts

roam free

some wander into tomorrow 

~ into the green grass 

of a nebulous future,

feeling my mind’s toes curling

into that distant moist wet grass 

with a longing 

that pulls me away from today.

“You must give everything to make your life as beautiful 

as the dreams that dance in your imagination.”

~ Roman Payne, novelist and poet

A Whisper of Hope

 

Tomorrow is a day 

I will never have to remember 

for when the stars welcome it

with that gossamer shift 

from tomorrow to today, there is 

a whisper of hope for the future.

“If you’ve got a today, don’t wear it tomorrow. 

Tomorrow never happens it’s all the same day.”

~ Janis Joplin, singer

(1943 - 1970)

Today's Hope

I hope you felt kindness today

A salesman accepted the item I had not used. Rewrapped he could have denied it.

I hope you heard wonder today

The clerk told me she loved my hair ~ how the white has framed your face."

I hope you gave back today

At the bus stop, I helped a stranger make a phone call

No strings attached.

I hope you felt the sun today

Between the rain clouds the sun shone with warmth and comfort. No rain fell while I walked.

I hope only goodness for you today

It may be only one bright spot

A smile, a kindness, a cup of tea

Your goodness deserves it.

“But I know, somehow, that only when it is 

dark enough can you see the stars.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Delicate Hope

Branches grey and bare

Is there no life?

bright pink amid green, 

~ tiny pink flowers

opening for spring

gathers nourishment

before unfurling 

delicate beauty.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

~ Lady Bird Johnson

A Next Good Moment

Caring for the hope 

I have in my heart 

helps me to find 

slivers of joy in each day. 

For joy is often in-glorious, 

but is aroma of good food, 

   the kindness of friends, 

      the feeling of soft grass on bare toes, 

         a babies gurgling laugh, 

           the rhythm of well loved music. 

When I add up all these sparks of joy, 

hope is restored to know

there is always a next good moment.  

“I inhale hope with every breath I take.”

~ Sharon Kay Penman, novelist

(1945 ~ 2021)

Snow Fall

As if to convince us that 

it was still winter, 

the snow fell lightly, 

a steady east wind brushing 

it through the air. The beauty 

of a gentle winter day. But 

most of us are smart enough 

to know that after today, 

it’s time for winter to take 

its frosty flakes and go home. 

Just not today. 

I hope

“…..winter is an exercise in waiting ~ for relief, for a bird to sing, 

for the first purple crocus to push up through the snow” 

~ Michelle Obama, Becoming

*Authors note: At the risk of repeating myself, this is the third year in a row that I have used this March snow fall picture. I’m still acclimating myself from my years away in locations when March is spring time!

At this Time of Night

April 2021

To write a piece of poetry 

at this time of night when 

there is little that has occurred 

in the day to warrant such writing. 

I could write about the whoosh 

of the traffic on icy streets, or

the soft roll of the bus as it stops 

to pick me up. Oh, the tall man, 

40ish, waiting for the same bus, 

not dressed for the cold, carrying 

a multicoloured skate board;

spiky hair and bejewelled fingers. 

he was quiet and not quite sullen. 

I could write about the swish of 

the dishwasher as it takes care of 

my days worth of dishes, including 

the bowl that held my bread dough 

in the fridge for the night.

But it is getting late and 

I have much to finish up before 

I greet my pillow. Hopefully, 

I’ll find some poetry tomorrow.

“I can feel my Thoughts

Tiptoeing about in their bedrooms

Getting ready for the night.”

~ Prudence Gager, Bedtime