That was it.
You felt it, hovering,
the possibility of change.
You knew you only had to take a step
and life would never be the same.
You felt the moment filled with possibility
and stepped back urgently,
to familiar
mediocrity.
poem-wear January 8, 2016
Remember how you’d mock him
tell us his weaknesses, laugh about him.
Remember how you voiced your petty irritations
in every letter or conversation?
He would never utter a word against you,
as you wore him down, year after year.
Water on stone. Cutting through bedrock.
And now she writes constant words of joy in him,
gushes over him like a waterfall,
and he pools around her with pleasure.
It’s a relief to see his happiness, someone appreciating him.
I watch and wonder whether you wish you’d chosen
better words, or whether you savour being alone?
.
.
.
I could have written this about so many people I know or know of. It’s such a common pattern. One sows seeds of one’s own destruction.
poem-hearts January 3, 2016
Isn’t it strange
how what you imagine will captivate you forever
can become stale and disgusting with time?
Like fruit fallen too ripe,
stinking beneath the tree,
time sometimes does no favours
to distant hearts.
poem-preservation January 2, 2016
Distance offered safety
Communication was a precious gift
words in letters to save, tied up in ribbon,
opened and savoured.
Today how do they preserve memories?
poem-new December 30, 2015
It’s time:
sublime possibilities await.
Face the gate of the new year
coming near,
without fear.
Can’t wait!
It’s here.
poem-circle December 29, 2015
The year is circling.
The light returns again.
Minute by minute
it’s a new dawn.
Loss is behind us
What’s coming is new,
so welcome beginnings
and good things for you.
poem-exorcise December 23, 2015
Pen strokes
Keyboard strikes
Ghosts exorcised by words;
Freedom found from phantoms.
New worlds
opened for exploration.
poem-learning November 29, 2015
The journey brings learning.
What do you do?
How has it evolved this way?
What do you want to change?
Eyes open.
Ears open.
So much to learn from those
who’ve gone ahead.
poem- next! November 15, 2015
The spring of a new adventure
has been wound up.
It twitches, waiting,
ready to explode into excited possibility.
poem- wild geese November 8, 2015
In half a V,
a line of five geese flies to the lake.
Moments later,
another half, line of eight
flies from the lake.
I’m waiting for the perfect V of twenty
or thirty birds, but times have changed
and half the flock
must choose to take the bus
these days, or perhaps, to walk.
Shawn L. Bird 