Wherever the sunflowers are is summer
calling the butterflies to feast and the gold finch to sing
Wherever the sunflowers are is cheer
neither night nor stormy days could dim
Guileless faces, untouched by care,
in their heart is the certitude
the sun is always there.
A flower of the midnight garden,
I am cocooned in dreams and lullabies.
My petals are words opening to the moon
(aching to be born) –
The solitude of night is home,
The silence is sweetness welling
anointing me with its perfume.
Here I am, a thought, a bud
waiting to be
beneath the vast expanse of galaxies.
I am mist that rises
when daybreak comes.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, it’s been a while.
The days become a giant clock and I,
its moving hand, marking the hour
remembering the time, the same as
what is gone, the same
as what is to come. Days, hours
minutes fold into each other
indistinguishable. Perhaps, it is
all a trick of the mind – the walls
preserve life, the walls take away
life. Outside is as far as an arm stretched out
of the window, so within reach, so out of reach
are all those things I took for granted
in my solitude, everything has meaning
and everything means nothing.
Life seems a dream –
Am I awake or am I sleeping?
No more are the violins playing no more music float in the air Silence is descending and here I am. Alone. Why do my hands have thorns in place of a song? my shoulders sag in the weight of memory Those what-could-have-beens - If I only could set them in a tune - could be real embodied in a song Too many doors open the melody gets lost in the illusions. Clouds gather, lights fade out The plaintive voice of night enchants these shiftless thoughts and leave them lonelier than before.
_______
Just a random poem written on a rather lazy afternoon.
-i-
Dahlias stand upright against Autumn skies
long after the sunflowers have fallen;
Flowers have turned to fruits,
empty spaces grow in the garden.
-ii-
Flowered teapots speak of happy days,
sit pretty in the cupboards
waiting for the day
steeped in friendship and reminiscence.
-iii-
Voiceless faces roam the wilderness
drowning in words, seeking truth
heavy hearts seek solace in a drifting leaf
their shadows disappear in the mist
-iv-
weary feet trace the path of meditation
beneath the weight of silence
they go in circles
seeking answers to unknown questions
-v-
My heart blooms pink on this October morn
awash with blush in the horizon
The sun rises -
even when the night seemed endless.
Here’s hoping that this piece meets the bar with Dverse’s Poets’ Cadralor poetry form prompt.
Lullabies
From long ago
The rains sing
Tenderly
falling raindrops
Soothe the night
Even the stars
Dim their lights
For some rest
And wakeup
Twinkling inside
a dewdrop
Linking with DVerse’s Open Link Night
You have lost the vibrance of your hues
Your blushing pink, sweet lavender, or sky blue
Have long faded into sage green leaving
Faint traces of what you once were
Hinting of what will be.
Veins on your petals write
All the summer days and all the stormy days
That deepened your roots.
You have changed
You are changing
Yet in this world of mist and ashes
You are beautiful –
Always.
Sunflower, bent with age, lets fall her seeds
September brought the chill to August’s swelter
Summer’s grandeur is on the wane, and I
Squirrel away its taste and fragrance
Serene is the sunlight filtering through the window
Shining on memories
Songs and words have forgotten
Solitude hovers in the horizon
Sparrows dance a merry dance for the seeds in abundance
Southward flies the migrants
Steel shovel makes holes for the mums
Spring will surprise with what returns
A party of blue jays flew over my head
into the forest, going home for the night
I chase happiness flying with fresh wings
and dream of it well into the night
I ran here and there until the lights went out
Sitting by my window, I stared down the night
Stars glistened, the half moon smiled
night birds sang, what a peaceful night
quiet descended upon my spirit
I floated in the solitude of night
I only now see you in my dreams
The past comes back in the dark of night
That I could hold your hand again
My hand slipped into the emptiness of night
Moments by and by pass into oblivion
Light dawning breaks the hold of night
__________________________________
The first three couplets of this piece were written in the summer of 2019 after I surprised a band of blue jays in the yard. It was a happy moment and the inspiration for the title “Happiness”. I did not know how to proceed so I abandoned these lines until today. Perhaps, I needed things to happen in my life to find the next lines. I don’t think they fit with the original title though, but I can’t think of another one that is more suitable. So, Happiness it is.
Linking with DVERSE Poets’ Pubs’ Open Link Night.
I speak of wealth –
of golden hearts and golden time
Wherever I am is grandeur –
golden sunrise, golden grains
goldenrods, golden shrines
I am the magic of August nights
when fireflies flit about
In the gloom of winter nights
I bring hope twinkling from the heights
Truly, I am beauty
and treasure much desired
a desire that need be reined
as old King Midas
painfully learned
____________
Written in response to Mish’s DVERSE Poetics Prompt: True Colors
The counters are still empty
The cold floor is still clean
The sky is still grey –
The furnace wakes
sputtering and clanging as steam builds up.
I set the coffee to percolate
flour the counter
for the brioche dough prepared last night
to be kneaded and braided
and tucked in the pans
for one final rise.
Light spreads on the horizon
The children stir in their beds;
I take my first sip of coffee
savoring the last bits of silence –
The day begins.
__________
I wrote this for Grace’s Meeting the Bar prompt – Setting for DVerse Poets. I am not sure this meets the bar, but I am certainly glad that I got to write somehow (one way or the other) and to participate in the prompts again. I am also fairly certain of the joy of learning how to make bread after giving up on it decades ago because I could not proof yeast. Learning somehow set me free as now, I can make my favorite breads. The one above is brioche which take hours and hours to make.
MY WALL 