Brittany Downer

Brittany Downer May 2017

It was quiet
When the dog went out
into the backyard, he trotted
bravely away from the house
away from safety.
As he touches his nose to the dry soil
The world is alight
A shutter of white soon accompanied by
a roar
and then a shake
and then a cry
and then the tree across the street
is split…in two
with a yelp, he is gone
But if he had remained, and looked up,
rather than at the burning tree
he would have seen
White-blue lightning run across the sky
The rolling and buckling clouds above
The heavens parting and breathing
Gods tearing the world asunder…
But he is a dog.
It was enough.
so he ran back to the house
back to safety
Afraid.

A poem that I had to write for an assignment earlier this year. Found it on my computer so I decided to share it.

#dog #weather #storm #nature

May 2017

rose

rain & sun

This morning
everything is
~-laced-~
with raindrops
and sunlight

idk what this is but I wrote this yesterday after a rainfall.
everything was so beautiful and I had to write something
p.s. if anyone has a better name for the poem comment below
thx

#raindrops #sunlight #rain #sun #morning #laced #everything

May 2017

Jim Davis

You Can

Today is
Not just
Another day
Wake up
Get going
Live today
As if you've
Never lived
Ever before!
Just because
You can!

©  2017 Jim Davis

Inspired by a friend of mine, James A. McBride, who had a heart transplant!
His words below;

"Not everybody gets a do-over.  Life has a certain inevitability to it that is unavoidable.  It ends.  There will always be a mark on our headstones that says Lived 1952-2014.  But, it’s the decisions we make that can make that time between the dashes, that time that we are alive more significant.  Hell, a decision you make may even change the date that is after someone else’s dash.  It did for me.  That was the date my headstone was destined to bear until a young man, a total stranger, made his decision to be an ***** donor.  Every day I think about him and his family, about the hurt that they felt, and still feel today.  They mourn the anniversary of their young son, their brother and their kin on the same day my family and I celebrate my do-over.
     My whole life I have been trained, as a Marine, as a Police Officer, to put my life in front of others.  I am truly humbled to recognize that sacrifice someone made when they put their life in front of mine.  I will not find the cure for cancer; I will not bring peace to the world.  I will, instead, get to continue to be me.  Celebrating every beat of his heart by trying to be the best me, to make people laugh, to remind a stranger that they are beautiful and to share his gift the best way I can.
     My young niece asked my sister shortly after the transplant, “Will Uncle Jim still love us since he has a new heart?”  I told her that when they took my heart out, they poured all the love I had for my family into the new one, and they left all the love he had for his inside.  My heart was filled with love for people I had never met.  It made her smile, and it still makes me smile as well."

Brittany Downer May 2017

An Artist's Empty Chair

A blank canvas
was occasionally graced
with the sky and lake
in hues of blue
As the wind pushes
the sails of boats
Outside a window.
Inside a home
An artist in a chair
brings life
Into a still frame
Strangers unaware
Of the strokes that bind them
to an empty page
Here they will lay
for eternity.
Years later, far away
a breeze
seems to sing
a threnody
the tide will rise
and the sun will set
Here lie words
as flowers
An empty chair
No artist here
On a grave by the lake

#death #artist #painting

Brittany Downer May 2017

Chronophobia

Young: dreaming
of impossible possibilities
Unrestrained, untethered from reality
Unaware of the ticking, of the passing
of the seconds, of the hours,
of the years to the end
of eternity.

Climbing
Climbing and
Clinging
to the hope that one can dream forever
and as the feet are swinging
the child, fearless of pain, fearless of the fall, is ever
naive, and never expecting
that one day the dream may end.

For what was once a child is a child no longer

Mature: daydreaming
of the past, yet troubled of the future
Unfeatherd, grounded in reality
All too aware of the arching clock hands
and the hours that turn into seconds
and the days that pass into years
begin to fade into
oblivion.

Falling
Falling and
Failing
to realize that the feet now rest upon the ground
and the child that was once fearless, is fearing
the depths of a future not yet found
forever doubtful yet hoping
To continue to dream at day’s end.

What was gained was equally lost
And with this knowledge in hand
The child finally stands
Holding on to the dreams of tomorrow
Grasping the fantasies of yesterday

Indeed, what once was can never be again
To march forward never to return
What awaits are only questions, what remains are only “ifs”
But what stands tall is neither a realist nor a dreamer

What stands is a child no longer

#time #fearoftime #growingup #thepast #thefuture