deborah-downes
66/F/Gainesville FL
My life has been defined by the sixties, my marriage of 38+ years, & parenthood. My inspirations & values are profoundly ordinary, which is why I love poetry. It has the power to transform a mundane & often cold world into a thing of beauty & passion.
Maybe I’d be better off alone
I could eat what I want
sleep when I’m weary
go where I will
hang out with whomever
….or not
Allow my muse to rule the day
Or….
I could spend my life with you
feeding your consuming need
bearing witness to the pain of your sleepless nights
trying to mend your brokenness, at first tenderly
….then hopelessly
Until my heart and spirit atrophy
adrift without oar or rudder
on the turbulent sea of your emotions
With you, I am bound by love
without you, I am selfishly free
but either way….
I am deeply alone
Jan 4, 2019
Jan 4, 2019 at 1:18 PM UTC
Can God be God
Without His creation?
Would He be Truth
Without the testimony of His Spirit?
Could He be Love
Without the objects of His affection?
Is He Beauty manifested
Without observation?
Can He be the Father
Without the Son?
Jun 11, 2017
Jun 11, 2017 at 2:38 PM UTC
Profoundly alone
Without faith nor friend
Plan nor purpose
Only subsistence
Do I exist if I cannot see myself thru the eyes of another?
Jun 11, 2017
Jun 11, 2017 at 2:17 PM UTC
Your paradigm of perfection
Is not mine....
I’m the squared round peg
And the squeeze pains me
The house in the ‘burbs was bleak
.....it never felt like home
That nine-to-five racket
Bled me like a leech
Bowing to the money god
Twisted my back and brain
Varied brands of religious rectitude
Felt elite and hypocritical
I need to unchain my heart
And embrace who I am
Others’ perceptions of me
Are suffocating my soul
I should follow My Muse
Wherever she leads
Only there will I find
Truth, Love, and Beauty
Only then will I find God
Apr 15, 2017
Apr 15, 2017 at 10:05 AM UTC
Faith believes what the senses belie
Its roots go deep tho the flower is shy
Strongly waxing in impoverishment
Meekly waning in fulfillment
Almighty is Faith’s power
Ever gentle, but never cowers
Binding humanity to our Creator
Loosening the chains of the destroyer
Though often flawed in its conception
Faith elicits near perfection
Though smaller than a mustard seed
One's greatest hopes it may exceed
Dreams become reality in its presence
While reality turns to nightmare in its absence
Faith is a mystery I choose not to ponder
But rather prefer to bask in its wonder.
Apr 8, 2017
Apr 8, 2017 at 9:25 AM UTC
He walked along the garden path
cloaked in silent beauty
tho His soul screamed out in agony
as He struggled with His duty
Too soon would time arrest Him
and assault His mortal bones
stripping Him of dignity
to leave Him so alone
He stood before the judges
who questioned what He taught
jeered by crowds of skeptics
for the miracles He wrought
Soldiers cruelly flogged Him
with words and leaded lash
till His wounds were sorely bloodied
and His Spirit nearly dashed
With razored thorns they crowned Him
pressed roughly to His head
to mock his royal status
yet not a word He said
Upon His back they laid a cross
that no mere man could bear
weighted by a world of sin
no more could one man care
Every step toward Calvary
was afflicted with such pain
though each was taken willingly
to mankind’s greatest gain
Along the way was little solace
His mother’s tears, most anguished
a woman’s veil, the Cyrene’s hands
His pangs could not extinguish
At last He reached the journey’s end
but relief was not to be
His hands and feet they did impale
to hang Him from that tree
His death laid shadow ‘cross the sky
the ground beneath was shaken
at last they knew God’s only Son
was the one whose life was taken
They thought that death had conquered Him
And His flesh would turn to dust
That His memory would fade away
while His flock would lose their trust
But the Son fulfilled God’s promise
His temple twice erected
Against all human logic
His life was resurrected
On that Blessed Sunday
men born in any age
could now accept salvation
and be freed from sin’s outrage
For all, and for eternity
He duly paid the cost
which guilt and sin does yet incur
so no soul need be lost!
Apr 8, 2017
Apr 8, 2017 at 9:15 AM UTC
Like so many
Lemmings
they rush to southern climes for
greener pastures
year round golf a
Slower pace
Cheaper prices and
Tropical temperatures
Leathery
Tanned
Unnaturally taut and
Sun-spotted
they crowd the local haunts and
Clog the highways.
At best they tolerate whoever is not
Pensioned or
Privileged
At worst they ban the
Underage
Unfortunates
from their gated communities
and social gatherings
The pendulum has swung from a time
when the Old were at the
Mercy of the Young
to the present
when Youth is
Oppressed by Senescence
Once democracy’s backbone they now wax
Conservative having obtained their
Slice of the pie
Now there is no pie
Mother Earth has been trampled to death and the
Toiling hands of those who
Stoke the fires of industry are
Blistered and discouraged
Feb 26, 2017
Feb 26, 2017 at 2:27 PM UTC
Faces
Bodies
Clothes
that taunt us with perfection
On TV
Ads
and Billboards
too numerous to mention.
Exercising
Motorizing
Proselytizing
so it goes….
Everywhere you turn to
are solutions to all woes
If you
Use that scent
Drive that car
or Take that pill
Great looks
Good health
More wealth
are yours
and never mind the bill!
But are We, the people
so easily deceived
that we can trust an item
to meet our every need?
Or have our minds’ convictions
unwisely been conceived?
Feb 26, 2017
Feb 26, 2017 at 2:08 PM UTC
Instant coffee
Microwave meals
Quick-pick lotto
The faster the better! is society’s motto
Fast food
Faster cars
and Service
Waiting at all will might us too nervous!
ATM’s
Drive-thru windows
Internet hopping
Choose any sort of one-stop shopping
Test-tube babies
Mail-order brides
and Personal ads
Has living, itself, become a mere fad?
Same-day delivery
Photos
and Surgery
Such claims often prove to be but a perjury!
Whatever happened to haste makes waste?
How can we enjoy without savoring the taste?
Instant gratification is truly ironic
Nothing good comes easy is a much better logic
God made it all,
in only one week
Through our feeble attempts
is it His power we seek?
Feb 26, 2017
Feb 26, 2017 at 1:43 PM UTC
Love is patient
Love is kind
It does not envy
It does not boast
It is not proud
It does not dishonor others
It is not self-seeking
It is not easily angered
It keeps no record of wrongs
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth, it
Always protects
Always trusts
Always hopes
Always perseveres.
Feb 11, 2017
Feb 11, 2017 at 8:32 AM UTC