take rain from sky
take the way tall men straighten your stance
take the students of dance
see the little ballerina stretch her toes
see her mother warm with the floodlight

take your plea to the judiciary
take your eye to the statue of David
smear on the dust of Somalia
rub raw the frost of Croatia
refresh your aim in the heights of Angola
but do not stop only at this

breathe every impediment
trust every promise of clemency
stumble if you will
fall under cease-fire
take it all

take the watchmaker
bent over time
with fine tools
clasp each second

take the sculptor who
chisels and scalpels for the grandiose

later in your armchair
fold creases in your newspaper with care

be with every nourishment
be with the cloth of your nakedness
make sail for your harbour of origin

remember the milk of your mothe?r
warm or cold or sweet if it is so
appease hunger
with the ambidextrous mouth
of a soldier
fed with death in his jungle

be the bystander, be the bi-partisan,
the *******, the timeless,
the dancer
be it all

breathe each increment
do it now
measure the infinite
the possible


MChallis © 2015

I am sometimes hit with a
heavy dose of doubt,
does anyone care about
what I write?  

maybe I shouldn't write?
no one wants to read this stuff.

but then I remember that
I write for me,
and I write simply
because  it comes
out of me.  

who am I to stand in
the way of creative expression?
So I just get out of the way,
and put pen to paper.

I stand a moment and gaze at my cloud of thoughts
What comes to mind is limitless;it is all sorts
The third hand seems dishonest.
For to love is a risk that one must be modest

Concealed in my heart I hide the truth of my being
I am not proud; but I am not satisfied to be fleeing
A cynical cycle, which  appears with a paradox ending
One should knot their laces now than later for pending

How can I ever be such a mockery that I hesitate, but rather be called a fool
I hate to feel abnormal with friends ,when I act like a tool
I cannot release this barrier that will restrict my trust
The matter has developed as an infant where bullying was a must

I forgot what it’s like to be up in the clouds,
to breach the haze and see how the sky
makes the Sun feel at home.
I forgot how from my window seat
there’s a movie out there, an ocean
of difference between us that’s not
so different at all.
Today we defy gravity.
What movie will we see tomorrow?
Will it be like this, one we never tire of?
One we can watch over and over again.

I saw the Universe—
     flowers opened before the morning Sun.
     The Moon smiled rolling aimlessly
     through the night sky, and the
     Sun cast its own shadow at your feet.

Rivers ran uphill to meet the rain
     while oceans stayed high for longer.
     Trees swayed to windless days.
     Night became day, day became night.

And the clouds, they swirled
     against blue hues that ran forever.
     And I— I stood in awe of
     what I saw when I looked
     in to your eyes.

I await the coming of spring
with patient longing

I yearn for my cold heart
to be warmed by the sun

in loving you
I realized spring has been
in my heart all along