Mystery to Me

Heart-sensors

extra sensitive,

picking up mixed signals

of every human emotion,

eyes brim with

unidentified sadness

but do not spill over,

for tears that mix

simultaneously with

happiness

get recalled to the cauldron

to start over

in the feelings-concoction,

stirred not by hand

but all that I am,

have been through,

have yet to see,

and the substance

that holds it 

all together

in the center

comes from the faith

I feel

He has

in me. 

I am transforming

into exactly who

I was always

going to 

be,

still a mystery

to me.

Lord, keep making me

an instrument

of Your peace. 

 

The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi 

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Drops of Time

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Sometimes you need
to let go
of both the past and present
to make room for
your future

waiting so patiently
to embrace you
if your heart
and arms
were not so
full

of nonliving yesterdays
and unfulfilling todays;
though they may haunt
and though they may sustain,

it is only your future
that can bring
what you can’t help but
need

and deserve.
Eventually,

the future, too,
moves on.
And before you know it,
you’ve achieved

survival
until you’re

g
o
n
e
.

Let your future
bring you

love…

 

Present Turning

footprints in the sand

headed to the sunset,

the present turning

to memories

with each leisurely step

time stands still

yet it doesn’t,

simultaneously

moving

while holding forever

the moment

 

no turning back

as history proceeds,

no undoing

impressions

once the pressure

is released

 

and the shape

is ingrained

indelibly

 

though the tide

may wipe

the slate clean

 

and the imprint

may no longer

be seen

 

only time

may be able to change

the feelings

 

what kind

of trail

are you leaving?

 

footprints in the sand

headed to the sunset,

the present turning

to memories

with each step

Alongside Me So Faithfully

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Paths cross.

Some, like I,

believe for reasons.

I get disheartened when

the trail diverges

and someone again

leaves me,

 

but even in that,

as I take more steps

into the great unknown,

I know

so many

are not supposed

to walk with us

all the way

home.

 

You came along

and were soon nested

in my mind and heart;

your patience,

your shoulder,

your understanding,

you offered so selflessly

from the very start.

 

My laugh

you seemed to arrive with,

the greatest gift

I continuously unwrap.

So many fears

you convince me

to relinquish,

that together we

can combat,

 

my biggest being

the path diverging

up ahead

again,

 

but you assure me

you’ll keep walking

the way I go,

like our path together

has no end…

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Poem and images ©LauraDenise

Evergreen Autumns

 

Motherhood memories

framed in faded fall foliage

stay forever green in me

and bring me messages––

 

younger, naive eyes,

somehow knowing,

look to me as a reminder now

that time keeps moving,

 

and I try not to count the moments

we could have made better,

for forward is the direction of

and lesson from nature,

 

and each year of these passing seasons

brings more (numbered) moments

we can make evergreen

for we are never too old

to catch

snowflakes and leaves.

 

Don’t Blink

Flight

 

There is a certain trust

that is birthed, it seems,

when we let go of those things,

the ones,

we are not meant to be gripping,

for the wind cannot carry

that which is so willfully tethered.

If we simply allow ourselves

to float and let go,

all that is meant for us individually

will work itself out.

 

I am in no hurry

and my hands are empty,

the pace and weight required, I think,

to be light enough to be picked up

by the breeze.

 

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Poem and image ©LauraDenise

Leaf Boats

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A peaceful creek flows through me,

not babbling despite how much I speak,

its waters every day turning clearer

from the runoff of the mud from yesteryears,

and the leaf tossed from the bridge

by my younger self

comes into view

“racing” still,

but the current is gentle

and the waterway meanders,

and I follow the trickling

barefooted

into my future…

 

 

Poem and image ©LauraDenise

In the Ashes

I walk through the airy white ashes

of all the extinguished yesterdays;

along my cheeks, I rub the dark soot,

not like blush, but battle paint

for strength in a war

for internal peace.

There is always a sadness

buried in remains

after the combustion and fall

of what used to reign

so steadfastly,

in the end of the life

of the final ember’s glow

when the rain

saturates the last ignition hope.

The clean up and rebuilding

takes time and effort;

no amount of it can

ever restore the devastation,

for nothing

should ever burn,

save the passion

of united hearts, pure.

I walk through the airy white ashes.

I wish I could have saved it.

The soot tickles my cheek

and encourages me to go on

living,

while remembering

and making out of this,

a difference.

Not all loss

needs to be buried.

We can both move on

and carry,

as long as what we take

is fertile,

so in the worst of conditions,

it will grow

the sprouts and green

of the happiness

we refused to leave behind

in the ashes.

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Poem and image ©LauraDenise