Standing Up

For the first time in a long time,

I knew exactly where I was.

Not lost in the shrouded fog,

Which overtook me when you left.

Not dangling from the precipice,

Where I trapped myself searching for you.

Not adrift on harsher tides,

Within my own self-doubt and regret.

Not in the darkness of my own making,

But standing tall in the light.

Author’s Note: It was extremely foggy today where I live, which must have been part of the inspiration for this. I stood up from doing something else and this just started writing itself in my head, images of challenges in nature contrasted with some feelings of loss, but ending on that resolute note.

Once upon a Snowy Morning

Freshly fallen snow
Covers world in cold blanket,
I once again wake alone.

Early morning light
Unveils frozen beauty,
I once saw in our past.

Sparkling ice crystals,
Shimmering with a glow
I once saw across a room.

Clear azure sky above,
Color of kind, sparkling eyes
I once gazed into endlessly.

Golden sunbeams reach down,
Strands of long blonde hair
I once ran my fingers through.

Tranquil untouched snow,
Smooth as soft, warm skin
I once gently caressed.

Fleeting pensive moments,
Memories of beautiful scenes,
I once and always wished for you.

Author’s Note: I was looking outside after a recent snowstorm and remarking on how beautiful everything looked in the early morning light. The snow hadn’t begun to melt yet, nor had anyone else gone outside and trudged any paths through it. Everything seemed so perfect for a moment, each little piece of the scene transported my thoughts to other seemingly perfect moments in my memories. The trouble with a beautiful winter scene is that the beauty fades as the snow and ice melt away, but fortunately the memory can endure long after.

Tidal Force

Getting better all the time,

Space between worlds increasing.

Quiet times, all on my own

Thoughts inexorably moved

Your direction, past memories

Unfulfilled plans, future dreams.

Invisible force pulls like

Moon pulls blue ocean waters,

Tranquility disturbed as

Waves crash up against the shore,

Waiting for change in the tides.

Author’s Note: This is meant to address how hard it can be, at times, to have friendships (or relationships) separated by large distances. The clash between the first two lines is intentional: sometimes it seems like there’s a bit of a paradox, where when you help your friend with a problem, or vice-versa, your connection is enhanced but then as the problem fades away, it seems like that connection may also fade away for a time. There might be less time to do whatever long-distance hangouts you had enjoyed, but many things remind you of past fun times and whatever additional things you had hoped to do together in the future. At times it can seem like some unreachable, unfeeling, invisible thing is pulling on you, perhaps even disrupting your regular situation. My science side took over here as I thought about how the moon’s gravity pulls on the earth’s oceans and creates tides; but there is no ocean on the moon to be pulled upon by the earth’s gravity. But in truth, both sides are affected or else they never would have been friends to begin with, and eventually some change may help them along.

Cloudburst

Step outside
Rain all around
Nowhere to hide
Storms surround

Water covers
Faces soak
Darkness hovers
Spirits broke

Lightning flash
Thunderous boom
Dreams smash
Fill with gloom

Clouds part
Rage through
Fresh start
Storms renew

Author note: This was inspired in part by watching one day as people at work struggled to get to their cars in the parking lot during a sudden, massive downpour. Some had some serious looks of dismay on their faces, probably that they had meetings to get to elsewhere on our compound and would now be showing up soaking wet. At the time I was also feeling kind of down, but as I jotted the first version of this down on a Post-It Note I remembered: a passing storm may seem violent, even destructive, to us but to nature it’s a form of a renewal.