The Biggest of Lies

When you know 

that the sun will always shine, 

the wind will always blow 

whether your life 

spins out of control or 

is as placid as a lake on a summer’s day, 

you will also know that your heart 

will let your spirit and soul soar 

despite the naysayer’s surrounding you. 

And when one of those naysayers is

your own voice

telling you all that you can’t do 

let your spirit and your soul 

guide the way past that biggest of lies 

to the facts that are true.

“The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes 

to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him.”

~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, novelist

(1821 ~ 1881)

On the Rise

August 2024

Over a year ago, I began

a sourdough starter ~

bubbly and full of life. 

Flattened and lazy,

On the watch for 

mould or a flat taste. 

no mould appeared

taste is sharp and sour! 

What was I doing wrong? 

Too long in the cold

fed once a week! 

No reason to bubble.

    ~~~~~~~

So it is with spirit

Excitement in life 

shrinks in the cold

flattens without life 

stirred and kept warm, 

danced and out of breath

What excites me?

ideas that beg for the written word

story that stirs my soul to laughter or tears

music to tap my toes and sway my hips 

What excites your heart and mind?

“For here I hope begins our lasting joy.”

~ William Shakepeare

(Re: Sourdough restoration: I’m keeping it on the cupboard and feeding it once a day for a while until it’s back to it’s bubbly self. Maybe a week? In this cold weather, I’m not going far from home.A metaphor for life - it I keep my life in the cold)

Baby Steps

Continuation of a walk 

through life seems obvious. 

After all each child is 

born to do just that. 

How we teach our children 

to walk is important. 

And when we have grown 

past our adolescent years and try 

to balance our tentative adult steps, 

we will want to fly like the geese in the fall, 

or race like a thoroughbred to ‘get there’ 

with spirits indestructible and brave.

And so we are and can continue to be throughout 

our lives no matter the heaving and buckling of the road

as long as we remember the baby steps of our youth.

“Perhaps it was not a destination I sought but merely a continuation.”

~ Ocean Vuong,  On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Paper Thin Balance

 

inner strength is merely hidden, 

sleeping with feet up, 

while the busyness of the day 

rides rough shod over 

your mind and spirit; 

your body merely dragging 

its way through each moment 

barely making it to the time of night 

when it too can sleep.

How can one not be grateful 

for this amazing balancing act?

“Without balance, a life is no longer worth the effort.”

~ Olen Steinhauer,  The Tourist

Inspired by: A Cure is Needed for the Present, Sometimes by Fiona Bolger

Spirit Rising

 

Spirit, strong but hidden, beneath 

the should haves and  must do’s 

until it vanishes 

in life’s beautiful image. 

With abruptness, 

this quiet spirit will rise 

and step into any fray.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.”

~ Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

(1872 ~ 1945)

Underneath

Underneath it all 

the soft voice of spirit 

conducts a rhythm 

for us to walk to, 

to dance to or 

to be still and 

know that peace is 

as close as our next breath.

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Colour between the Lines

Nuances that shape 

our lives, are in colour; 

the shading of our words 

slip between absolutes 

Right or wrong, 

black or white… 

forgetting the space 

between is filled with 

the creative human spirit.

“It’s partly true, too, but it isn’t all true. 

People always think something’s all true.”

~ J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

There Are Times

There are times I want to say

I am growing old. But when 

I look at the numbers attached 

to my name they don’t make 

sense. As though they belong 

to someone else with a  

visage different than the one I remember. A photo from a 

skating event, or beginning Grade One, or a family 

wedding. But then I look in the 

mirror and see the face I see every 

morning. Older and, if the saying 

holds true, wiser. In my heart, all 

the added years fall away and I am 

that child, that teen, that young adult, 

that 30 something, and a few more 

decades. Those smile and worry 

wrinkles, dark hair streaked with 

white, and a few creaky joints? 

Merely a gentle sculpting of my mind, 

my spirit, my soul and my body.

“The great thing about getting older is 

you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”

~ Madeleine L’Engle, author

(November, 1918 ~ September, 2007)