I’m the space between light and shadow
The dimness just beyond the headlights
I’m the silver lining of a storm cloud
The pause after crescendo
The top of the rollercoaster, just before the drop
I’m the hum between beat and rhythm
The echo in the valley
And the wake of the ship
The air that moves between hummingbirds’ wings
The scent of gardenias on the night air
The wet sand that makes castles but clings to your feet and never leaves the lining of your swimsuit so you never forget that day at the beach.
Someday you may spot me in the background
Shield your eyes against the floodlights and peer into the urgent quiet at stage left
You’ll hear the scribbling of last minute changes;
And know that:
I’m that improvised line
on everyone’s mind
at the end of the night.
The essence of a memory
You can’t quite place
Christmas mornings
Summer jobs
The undertones of that familiar perfume
The elusive je ne sais quoi
That sends you back to the food stall
With no name
On the corner of that park
We used to love
to cut through
On the way back from grandma’s.
You’ll recognize me
In the dying applause
Bonfire smoke on the morning air
The late afternoon breeze that reminds you to pick your kid up from school
The coolness of a glass of water after the first rain of the season
The third chew of an intensely flavourful bite of food
Music at a wake
Bourbon at a graduation
Coffee in a hospital waiting room
I am the crease of your forehead between tears and laughter
The glowing ember of a discarded matchstick
I am the space
Between footsteps
And words
And silent chants
Between your hands
When you fold them
And hold them
And raise them up
To touch the sky
And lower them down
To return to earth
I am the space between Light and Shadow
Between earth and sky
When you need me, I’ll be there.
Even if you don’t know it.
Oct 13, 2022
Oct 13, 2022 at 9:18 PM UTC
Customs. Blind beliefs and fears.
Pride and rage. False idols.
Beating drums. Grand parades.
Sisyphus and Midas.
Ideologies abound
Left and right, north and south
Day to day the sun will rise
Moonlight shines through passing clouds
Rain and rainbows pause, delay
'What' and 'Why' are cast about
'Why' and 'When' and 'Where'
- I know not - nor do you
Who prevails today, and then,
Tomorrow, what falls through
If souls live on, past reaper's call
Or must abide by Earthly bounds
One answer, only, may be known
- 'How' you go about it counts!
Sep 29, 2021
Sep 29, 2021 at 9:00 PM UTC
Is it where you come from that matters?
Is it your history, your line of descent?
Do they really know you, they chatter
Would they sit down with your friends
Where do you come from they ask
What is your story they say
Will you do away with your mask
Let them know you if they may
What went before doesn’t matter
Only the present counts
It’s a fresh start you barter
For your past in the ground
But when it comes down to it
They still want to know
Where did you come from
Where will you go
You choose your own fate
Your life is in your hands
Your future’s for you to make
You’re not bound to the land
Let them know you by your deeds
By your words and by your song
Do they need to trace your feet
To know where you belong?
What is a reputation -
But a binding rope
No leeway to stumble
For it’s a slippery slope
If the days gone by are to colour
Every speech and action
Where is the scope to discover?
Aren’t our lives but a fraction -
Of what they could be
If we believed we were free
To set forth and make waves
Or float along with the sea
But then again you may say -
Do people really change?
Can they let go of the hate -
Washed clean by the rain?
And can we trust someone who lays
No claim to yesterday -
For whom nothing can vouch
But the words of their mouth?
If one is constantly changing -
Then where does one stand?
How can the others trust you -
How can they shake your hand?
Is trust merely an illusion
We conjure up for ourselves -
To alleviate the confusion
To put reason on the shelf?
One day we all must choose
When there is much to lose
Whether to cling to the family tree
Or take flight and be free
Those you grow up with are forever
They’re the ones you never leave
Where you came from is your start
The first page of your story
But it can’t tie you down
It can’t hold you back
You mustn’t be afraid
For in the attack
They may have the armour of the known
And the weapons of their forebears
But you will have freedom
And an army of others
Your brothers in thought
And ideals and humanity
Sisters with whom you fought
The winds of disparity
So I suppose what I’m saying is
The only story worth telling
Is the one that unfolds
In the final reckoning
Sep 16, 2021
Sep 16, 2021 at 7:06 AM UTC
And the leaves alight,
One by one by one
Float, dance, twirl, in the sun
A bright and beautiful end
To a season well begun!
Nov 16, 2020
Nov 16, 2020 at 3:19 PM UTC
Those whose souls aren't stirred by -
The pleasant and slightly unsettling fragrance of fresh earth
The cold enveloping light of the moon
The delicious warmth of a light breeze on a hot summer's day
And when I say stirred,
I don't just mean some passing feeling
I mean that joyful painful yearning from the bottom of your soul
That spreads through your whole being and consumes you
For that moment - however brief,
Of spiritual bliss, if you will.
And when it passes,
You are not the same you
From a few seconds or minutes ago
You are the earth,
The moon, the breeze
The pain, the joy
The moment.
Dec 24, 2018
Dec 24, 2018 at 4:22 PM UTC