A candle is never quite the same,
after it melts with the beauty of a flame.
Emanating such blazing warmth,
enchanting in its glimmering form.

It's just like intimacy,
being known in vulnerability.
Being held in warm embrace,
as they gently stroke your face.
Soft kisses planted on your cheeks.
And the moment your lips meet.

Certain things I wish I never felt..
For once they are felt,
they are never forgotten.

And I am never the same.

Sara L Russell, 23rd October 2014, 01:01*

She was sunlight and cinnamon;
all wide eyes,
auburn hair, fair complexion
freckles and fleeting laughter.
She was an enigma to her friends,
a golden girl to her parents…

Dappled sunlight turned her into
fragments of an autumn impressionist panting;
all her reds, golds and peach tones
wildly blazing,
vividly flaming in a sunset's haze.

She could make people laugh
with a dry turn of phrase.
She could silence a room just by walking in
through the door.
She could silence cruel words
with a withering look.

She was going to be somebody;
the world was going to know her name,
the future was forever -
until
he caught her, used her,
left her under autumn leaves
in a ditch by the roadside;

and he became somebody
and she became the face
of the girl killed by him.
Hollywood made a thriller about him
and his crime;
and her mother made an album of photos of her;
and the local paper published
her brief obituary.

She's an alphabet artist
she paints in words,

from a palette of adjectives,
nouns and verbs,

the landscape she finds
in the folds of her mind

she exhibits in volumes of verse.

Let me start off at the start
Where this tale begins
I was turning 5
Wishing I were 10

Always did I feel
Youthful years they held me back
There was so much more that I could do
But so much that I lacked

As sure as I live
Then I turned 10
Hoping soon to be
The tinder age of 13

I knew as a teen that I would be
Footloose and fancy free
13 seemed to hold me back
Had to be 16 is where it's at

16 soon arrived
I took the car to drive
But had nowhere go as an adult
Hoping 21 would make it so

Say hello 21
I took it on the run
Never looking back
Still something that I lacked

The big 3-0
Would be the age I know
The one to satisfy
The apple in my eye

What 30 did
Was came and went
40 hit me up side the head
Like an angry brick

Then I blinked and
50 learned my name
Nothing since that moment
Has ever been the same

Now with 60
Staring me in the face
Can I go back to 5
If there is any way

My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
     universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I
     reach my hands and play with pebbles of
     destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs
     reading "Keep Off."

My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive
     in the universe.

You don't need to sneeze rubies and diamonds
You don't need to cough out pearls
Nor have the golden touch of King Midas
To be able to spin my world

No need to vacation in China
To let a few tigers loose
Or fly in on a magic bus
For me to notice you

You don't need to be the president
Or some international spy
On me all your money need not be spent
For me to want you in my life

You don't have to hold onto your breath
And turn the deepest shade of blue
Or at my dumb jokes laugh and laugh
For me to want to love you

For the common cold you don't need to find the cure
Or the perfect mouse trap
You don't need to bring peace to this world
For me to need to hold your hand

All you need to be is yourself
And to that self hold true
Because all I need above all else
Is to be madly in love with you

When I finally close one door,

In spite of myself

Another one opens.

People like doors
And people are like doors.

People like to be open
To new people and
New experiences.

People like to be closed
So they can keep themselves
Free of unruly things like
Feelings and protect themselves
From getting hurt.

People like to open doors
To new opportunities and
Things that will make them feel secure
Or jettison them into success.

People like to close doors
Behind them so that you can't follow
When they decide that you're not good enough
And walk away from you.