She hates hospitals
They’re so sanitized
The floors, the walls, the smells, the talk
She’s driven by this one so many times
and always looks the other way
They reassured people about covid19
«All those people are isolated »
« Those people », really?
Her husband’s undergoing tests
and she has to wait it out
The guy coughing in the corridor
is making her think twice about
« those people »
The doctor looked a little too young
but he had a nice smile under his mask
She noticed his empathetic eyes
But how will she manage
if he can’t work any more?
The insurance company will say
it’s a pre-existing condition
She’ll have to go back to work
Maybe her brother-in-law can find something
at the supermarket he manages
But how will she cope with those
incessant checkout beeps all day long?
Her daughter will have to quit college
How will she even begin to tell her?
She’s doing so well and is so close to graduating
The white walls are staring at her reproachfully
and the woman across the room
has a contemptuous look on her face
Could this be her doing?
Has she been pushing him too far about overtime?
She told him they couldn’t afford that car
but she finally gave in cause his heart was set on it
She seldom gives in when it comes to money
It’s going to be hell and she just doesn’t know
How long is this going to take?
Oh there’s the young doctor with the gentle gaze
He’s slowly walking towards her
She just doesn’t know!
He’s keeping his social distance
but his eyes are smiling
Mrs. Collins the tests came out fine
Your husband’s just overtired
With some rest at home
he’ll be back on his feet in no time…
Mar 2, 2021
Mar 2, 2021 at 2:28 AM UTC
I’m going in and out of thoughts and emotions
Some linger, others vanish
But you stay
You’re permanent
You’re engraved in my mind, my heart and my soul
You never waver
You just belong
I wish I could belong too
I need to be that enduring, immutable thought in your mind
I need to find that place in your heart
that has no boundaries, no limits, no obstacles
I know it’s there
But it’s clouded by fear, doubts and uncertainties
Once the clouds disperse and pure light abounds
I’ll be waiting to abide
in the only place where I really want to be
Mar 2, 2021
Mar 2, 2021 at 1:19 AM UTC
There is a star above you
Enter its light and see yourself
as you are
and have always been
Beautiful
Loving
Caring
Pure
A joy to behold
and cherished
Don’t mind the surroundings
Just penetrate the light
and rejoice in its splendour
For it is you
You are the light
and you have come home
to yourself
Mar 2, 2021
Mar 2, 2021 at 1:13 AM UTC
On the road to Bimington there’s a sign
I don’t know why it was put there
It just says « stay strong »
I suppose it’s meant for everyone
But it seems to resonate so personally
It just lingers there
With nowhere else to go
but into people’s minds
so they can cope with life and carry on
On the road to Bimington there’s a lake
that glistens in the morning sun
and never fails to catch the eye
of anyone who passes by
whether by chance or by design
in whatever mood or state of mind
All are attracted to the glittering light
that adorns the pristine water
and reveals the secrets within
On the road to Bimington there’s a cottage
where an old woman sits in her garden at dawn
praying it may seem, but without words
She’s there but very much elsewhere
There are flowers and birds all around her
that appear to be imparadised by her presence
Their colours and forms are exalted
Their fragrance and song are sublime
and their graceful chorus never seems to end
On the road to Bimington there are woods
Where a heedful doe peeps out from behind trees
and caresses your heart with her large, soft eyes
She never ventures to emerge until you’re gone
but at a distance you can contemplate her beauty
and the peace that she procures
The woods are graced by her presence
The air is blessed by her bleating
and souls are warmed by her gentleness
I haven’t been to Bimington of late
but I remember lots of furrowed brows and clenched jaws
People there just seem to plod through life
Perhaps that’s why someone put the sign on the road
If only they would venture out of their confinement
and journey on the road that leads to their abode
They could experience the universe as it truly is
and be replenished with all they will ever need
to « stay strong »
Mar 2, 2021
Mar 2, 2021 at 1:11 AM UTC
I’ve had it with love
Days of expectation
Nights of rumination
Battered with emotions
Sinking into the ground
I came to your door
and gently knocked
You sent me away
saying I was drunk
Perhaps I am
drunk with longing
drunk with pain
drunk with despair
But how could you know
if you won’t even open the door?
Jul 28, 2020
Jul 28, 2020 at 7:01 AM UTC
The road to love is narrow
It winds around hidden feelings
and into tunnels of emotions
There are signs everywhere
warning you to slow down
or yield the right of way
There are potholes
that jolt and revolt you
You try to steer clear
but they re-emerge
even bigger and deeper
The adjacent countryside
has its sweet sensations
but it’s so transient
so elsewhere
not on the asphalt
not within the lines
you have no choice
but to stay the course
or lose control
and weave off the highway
back to dim reality
The road to love is illusive
but so enticing,
so unearthly
Jul 26, 2020
Jul 26, 2020 at 7:08 AM UTC
In my mind, I’ve scaled Mount Everest
and conquered ancient Rome
I’ve solo sailed the seven seas
without ever leaving home
In my mind, I’ve been a sultan
an emperor, prince or czar,
waged cosmic wars in spacecraft
without venturing very far
In my mind, I’ve built a mansion
with gardens prim and neat
entertaining famous people
never moving from my seat
In my mind, illusory thoughts abound
to delight my worldly sphere
but I ponder how my life can change
when it’s focused, calm and clear
Jul 24, 2020
Jul 24, 2020 at 8:20 AM UTC
Sitting on the pavement
in front of a department store
that people enter for no good reason
mostly because they’re bored with life
and need some retail therapy
Taking the last puff of a cigarette
he bummed off a homeless woman
He had to clear out
It was all shouting and no silence
all ego and no sharing
all reproof and no support
No connection
No feeling
No love
No nothing
At eighteen he has to fend for himself
but he’s free, and that’s a start
They won’t look for him
They won’t declare him a missing person
He could feel the scorn in their eyes
when he walked out the door
Courage and resilience
he keeps repeating to himself
That’s all he needs now
It’s just a chapter of life that’s ended
And a new one eager to begin
with words that keep flashing in his mind:
Be patient in darkness
The dawn is coming
Jul 24, 2020
Jul 24, 2020 at 4:57 AM UTC
A delectable day in a flawless forest
Trees embracing
with sprawling boughs and branches
yearning to touch each other’s essence
Gracefully green
Profoundly perceptive
Effortlessly effusive
in their undisguised beneficence
A beetle crossing an untrodden pathway
incessantly changing his trajectory
carefree and unsure of his destination
but steadfast in his resolve to get somewhere
A bee fluttering over flirtatious snapdragons
as if he were prudently selecting his bride to be
A nightingale singing her diurnal hymns
recounting a love once lost and another regained
A hint of honeysuckle fragrance meandering its way
to and fro
enrapturing all the denizens
of this sublime fragment of creation
A community of leafy, feathered, winged and petalled beings
united in selflessness, serenity and symphony
Heartening one another with a message of consolation:
Mother Earth is scathed but resilient
and she will pursue her sacred mission to nurture and protect
despite the follies of mankind
Jul 23, 2020
Jul 23, 2020 at 7:55 AM UTC
The moon is tormenting me tonight
It’s not that it’s new, full or crescent-shaped
or that its glimmer is enticing me with its beguiling grace
messing with my mind and unsettling my soul
It’s the reminder of our alienation
the line that I drew in the sand
and that you chalked on the pavement
that burst the bond we thought was impermeable
and made us drink from a shattered cup
How could such wholeness have become so severed?
We needed no words to reveal our emotions
No colours to portray our dreams
Now even volumes can’t mend the wounds
And colours have faded to the greyness of grief
I am not afraid of being alone
It’s your solitude that plagues me
It’s your suffering that is breeding mine
Your despair is piercing every cell of my being
Your tears are so harrowing that I have none left to shed
I can only cry into the pool of agony that has been bored into my heart
What was has been and can be no more
We were on the verge of mutual annihilation
And pleas to God could not have saved us
For we, not God, were makers of our fate
We’ll reenact this again in lives to come
As we’ve done so often in those gone by
The cycle is vicious and will only end
When the sand in our hourglass has run out
And found its way back to the sea of eternity
Jul 20, 2020
Jul 20, 2020 at 9:40 AM UTC