just dream

Dream again.
Go big.
Go small, too.
Any kind of dream will do.

Just dream.
Let ideas grow your heart,
perhaps the perfect pasta sauce
or an amazing work of art?

Forget the fetters
can’t and won’t,
forget the doubts that others say,
in your heart you know the way.

So look inside
and see what’s there,
uncover your dreams,
lay them bare.

Like food and air
we need our dreams.
Unique and precious to each one
they touch the world like rays of sun.

Your new words now are
can and will,
the quest of your dream
only you can fulfill.

###

Stand for Freedom

sleepless

I lay still in the darkness 
fatigued but eyes alert
thoughts hissing and snapping 
loud in the quiet hours
trying to pray
searching for that place of solace
lips moving with words
even as the brain rushes over all
the din of my beating heart
that heart so wrapped around this earth
shouting down my whispered pleas
this worried heart, pistons throbbing
wake up wake up
yet the world rolls around again
merely jostling the slumberous herd
here and there a frantic soul arms waving
carried along in the sea of proud surrender
that one cries out
wake up wake up
exhausted with love distraught
still crying out
wake up wake up

###

Stand for Freedom

watchful

eyes finally flutter
awake
after all these years
scanning the world afresh
both familiar and strange
surrounded by multitudes
still deep in sleep
pacing and
retracing steps
over and over again
so much to see
awake

###

Stand for Freedom

a celebration, still

there would have been 
cake 
and candles.
the house would have filled up
the rooms would have come alive
with chatter.
there would have been
stories and jokes
and laughter.
you would have made a wish
and blown out the candles.
i would have seen
that light in your eyes
as you looked on
smiling.
even now
i smile
too.

###

Stand for Freedom

rosebuds

upturned faces
washed by the sun
wind tossed
the tender buds
reach up
strong, intent
each one tearfully beautiful
in its becoming
every moment 
suffused in the journey
finally one day unfolding
into extravagant bloom
the petals swiftly spent
drifting to earth

###

Stand for Freedom

awaken

crickets chirping.
a bird’s clear note.
a star-filled sky
slowly giving way
to the sun 
spilling pink into the horizon
reaching toward
ever more blue.
trees standing in silhouette
until the light infuses
every growing thing
and the air
whispers everything awake.
these, at least, are truth.

###

Stand for Freedom

ours

We belong in this world.
We are the elk standing silent in the mountains
we are the wolf treading the darkness
the polar bear crossing the tundra
the geese winging the skies
the person walking the trail
the whale plying the oceans
the honeybee tasting the nectar.
We, we are the ones that belong here.

We belong in this world
and the world belongs to us,
not to governments or institutions or corporations,
it belongs to us.
And when those constructs
fail to serve, and worse, destroy,
we need to remember
who we are.
This world is ours.

###

Stand for freedom

leaf on the tree

i am but a leaf on the tree
a petal on the flower
i am only one feather on the wing
what can i do
i feel the buffeting winds 
trace the sun’s inevitable path
abide in the falling rain
it is not enough to simply bear witness
as this strange scythe now makes its brutal swings
i do not wither and fall
but flutter with song
bloom with fierce color 
soar in defiance on the winds of spirit
i grow whole and full
abundant in my many dimensions
knowing i am essential 
for i am the weathered oak, the burgeoning lupine, 
i am the heron poised and ready at the river’s edge
i stand beyond the blindly grasping sweep
laughing
i am truth

###

Stand for Freedom

blank page

How is it that this blank page
is the only refuge
the only safe space for retreat
beckoning with promise of shelter
a place to finally breathe
and find nourishment
to discover the nurturing mother
and know hope
resting even, perhaps, in delight
while the demons scurry about
in their unending, frantic parade

###

Stand for Freedom

round the world

man would hold that sparkling orb
in his clasp of iron
to covet and to pillage
emboldened by
the might of his arm and voice
drawing on that glimpse of mind 
he espies from the shore
never cognizant 
those verdant greens and vibrant blues
are but the edge of all that matters
beautiful and resonant with 
joyful purpose

###

Thank you once again to Eugi’s Causerie. This week’s prompt, “Round the World.”

Stand for Freedom!!