Try To

I challenge you…

to try to remain focused
on your mind’s troubles
when fallen tree-blossom petals
keep playfully popping
your bubble,

IMG_5827.jpg

to attempt to cling
to the dust
gathering on
your dream’s wings
when gusts
of spring breeze
keep gleefully
sweeping,

IMG_3248.jpg

to keep your head down
from the weight
of the world
when the sky keeps trying
to tantalize your gaze
with bursts of new-morning colors
and clouds ever-shifting
into signs and shapes,

IMG_2457-1

IMG_7611.JPG

FullSizeRender-1.jpg

to stay lost
in your desperate search for
home
when the endless paths
keep beckoning you
to put on your shoes
to walk your soul
to where it needs you
to go,

IMG_7058.jpg

IMG_9666.jpg

to bury in the cold, dark ground
the hope you’ve written off as false
and walk off
just before the spring
emerges again
with new buds that bleed
leaf-green and rose-red.

IMG_7763.JPG

IMG_8156.JPG

I challenge you…

to try to keep
focused on your woes
and grief
when Mother Nature
and Spring
are teaming up and waiting
to scoop you up
and take you away
for a while;
why do you resist
their free gifts and service,
all the ways
the wonders all around you
persist
in letting you witness
how beautiful
life is,
especially with you
in it?

IMG_0375.JPG

 

IMG_7997.jpg

Poem and all images ©LauraDenise

This May Day

A beautiful May Day,
a time to celebrate
spring and me,

the blessings He
continuously gifts,
I continuously see;
may I never lose that
heightened ability,

for with it, the awe
of every petal and leaf
seeps into my being,

and with the scents
and colors, I give back
in letters arranged
to the best of my ability

beautifully

to use the talent
He granted me,
and on this day
especially,

I wrap myself
in the love
He endlessly offers
unconditionally

and treat
myself with self-love
humbly
for on this day,
He put such care
into creating me.

He saw me through
every storm
and brought me
to the sea.

I can’t wait to see
what He has in store
next for me.

I continue to follow
faithfully,
as I have for so long
blindly,

but now all about me,
it seems,
are bits and pieces
leading

to some great revealing.
I am getting nearer
to where he wants me to be.

I’m getting nearer
to the highest form of
love and happiness
that can only bloom
from the seeds

He has planted
specifically
in me.

Waiting for the Storms

Waiting for the storms…

unlike the personal of yesteryear,

these come with forecasts and warnings,

and I greet them with cheer,

 

for I’ve always felt empowered

by the rising up of nature,

pretend I can tame

the benevolent, moody creature.

 

I have always felt connected

to the earth, sea, and sky,

know someday, it will be revealed

exactly why.

 

As much as I have non-roamed

in restlessness for a home,

the closest I always come

is solitude out-of-doors,

witnessing rising and setting Sun

 

among the birds, the forests,

the waves, the clouds,

my heart leaping up

while stilling myself.

 

The aves of the Aves,

the secrets whispered in the breeze,

the knowledge from a shell,

they all speak clearly to me.

 

The mysteries of life,

the purpose of it all,

seems less of a riddle

when humility makes you small,

 

for the bigger picture,

the Higher Powers,

the calling to the soul,

is all about us.

 

I will never lose this sight,

this faith,

never look gift horses

in the mouths

when they grant blessings

each day.

 

It is difficult to succumb to,

to drown in, the woes

when the good counters

and keeps refilling

the soul

 

with the sustenance and the clues

to keep going and giving

back what we can,

 

for love,

I believe,

 

is the purpose

of living.

Lifting Spirits

To lift the spirits…

My spirits,
today, at this moment,
are sky-high.

Far from perfect is my life,
but I keep my eye
on the prizes
all about me,

for it is neither cliché
nor fantasy
that beauty
and blessings

are ALWAYS
present,
even in the darkest
moments;

sometimes our eyes
get clouded
with tears
and doubt
and distractions
and fears,
but the goodness
never disappears.

When you lose sight,
use your other senses,
breathe deeply in the scents
of the season,

reach out to touch
another
or the textures
nature offers,

taste the sweetness
of your lover’s kiss
or the fruit
that the earth selflessly
gives.

There is love
in abundance
even if you can’t see it,
for love is best experienced
through the spirit.

Sense all that the One
who created it
gives to all
without discrimination,

for you are loved
by the One
who created you.

Feel that spirit
wrap around you
when you are feeling
lonely or blue.

Poem and images (taken yesterday) by Laura Denise

Light in the Clouds

Every cloud has a silver lining,

they say,

and that light framing

the shadows

fills me with hope,

 

but it’s the golden emerging,

its illumination

reflected from the gates

of heaven,

that hushes

my soul.

 

The silver, it seems,

dries my tears,

and the golden

produces them,

 

for one eases

my fears,

and the other

reminds me

I am held

by Him.

 

Poem and image (this morning’s sunrise) ©LauraDenise

The Bridge

Version 2

 

Sometimes a bridge is a portal

between states of mind,

but those trolls

keep you from crossing

to the other side.

 

img_4419

 

But happiness comes from within

and the colors to paint with ample,

so if fear keeps you trapped,

start making your own side beautiful.

 

And before you know it,

your side will blend

so smoothly

into the place

you used to dream of,

 

Version 2

 

and you will show others the way,

how to dissolve the illusions

of trolls and hopeless horizons…

 

Version 2

Poem and images ©LauraDenise

The Lines We Grip

IMG_3345

I don’t know

if time heals as much

as it wears us thin,

loosens our grip

on the line,

not giving up hope,

but giving in

to the realization

that whatever was on the other end

is not coming back,

will never be able to be

reeled in,

and eventually,

we reach for the tail end

instead

with our other hand,

of the kite,

not knowing what

it looks like

hidden

in the white clouds,

but sensing that

up is universally better

than down,

and little by little

our cut and blistered fingers

relax on the line

that sinks under

and without realizing,

we let it slip

to reach with the other hand

for that kite string,

believing, hoping,

again

in what it might bring…