Share in what you have
right now,
an give what you can give
share a meal today -
with love
and help another
live,

Life is full of bounty,
seek for all to taste -
of deep seeded -
inner worth,
take another's hand now,
on our lovely journey
of the timeless
an ever- changing mystic Earth.

Ma Cherie © 2017

In the far back of my mind
Is where I house all my paintings
There are aisles and aisles of blue
Dark and light hues clashing with white
The ups and downs of chapters in life
This is my safe space.
In the center of the gallery
A painting does not belong
Red and black flames
Shooting across canvas
Angrily wanting to burn down
All the rest that I have created
I can't recall painting this
It just appeared one day
This canvas is taking over the gallery

I'd leave you in the middle of the night
Just to have you wonder about me
Where I went
What I was thinking
If I was with someone else
I would leave all these things behind
The papers mean nothing to me
The fabrics mean nothing to me
I want to prove to you
That you too, can mean nothing to me
I want you to hurt in ways I cannot explain
In many ways you have broken my heart
In many ways I realize you have not
But I'd still leave you in the middle of the night
To prove what cost is to me

You rid yourself of the poison
The one that lived inside your cells
It felt like 100 years
With that one change
An entire new light
A new love for life
Your children
Your own body

I wanted to be your warrior
Your protector
The keeper of all evils
From entering your new safe realm
I laid down everything to protect
These brief few years
Of sobriety
Of happiness

I was reminded this was not my journey
For this was something for you
This road was yours to travel
I had only wanted to guide you
To keep you seeing the light
Away from the dark
I found my own darkness in your light
I took your pain and tried to make it my own

And now you are back on this path
This ***** life full of white lies
Full of anger and distrust
Who led who here?
It is easy to ask you to be stronger
It is hard to ask you to give back up
You almost rid yourself of poison
I almost rid myself of light

There once was a man who lived in a tower
He had orange skin and fools gave him power
His hands shook with fury at every critique
While his family's obligations were to remain chic
His head began to swell while his eyes grew smaller
But his silly little brain it began to falter
This was a man who thought ****** assault was a joke
Until Women around the world began to hope that he'd choke
Women gathered and rallied and screamed for their rights
They took to the streets in ***** hats and tights
The man did not like this, how dare they disagree!
With the world he was trying to create
Full of misogyny

Push my limits
Hot water on my skin
Until it grows red and itches
Boiling water on my lips
Until I can no longer feel them
Steam on my hands
Until my palms and wrists begin to sweat
Ice on my back
Bringing me in all together
Giving myself chills
Scream at me
Do anything
To show you are here
The mirror gives such a poor reflection
I want to break you
This is not the inside of my head
I wish I could see her

I

has she and the countryside
ever driven you so mad that
before you've even thought about it
your runners have laced themselves up

you're running in the dark
your feet beating the wet gravel road
you trip on a cattle grid
it is mostly your own fault
but you curse this ******* anyway

each note from the music in your ears
releases that pent-up frustration
until suddenly you drop
the gravel drags the skin off your knees

they bleed. You kneel there for a second
gasping
throw your head up to heaven
or the stars
or whatever is up there
you ask for an answer

but you get nothing.
her voice ringing you can't run from your problems
but here you are, once again
proving her wrong

II

The trees either side of the road you run on
are mangled and twisted
like a witch's fingers
they're judging you, towering over you

little girl go home to bed
don't you know it's dangerous
to be out on your own
on a boithrín this late?
this is how people get taken, or *****, or -

oh shut up!
you scream at them in the dark
words and anger drown your lungs
*you're not my ****** mother