wind down stairs into the basement
what say you to this contemplation
do beauty and truth prevail
when so much of the ugly persists
hiding in corners of controlling
spaces and people and things
here we are deeper none else
could be finer to find in hearts open
than this loving creator of all things
who loves to love and gives and gives

You're like smoke
so faintly I can see you
but when I go to feel you
kiss you
love you
you arent there
youre like snow on a summer ground
you melt away so quickly
you course through my cells
Kind of like cicle cell
you cause me pain
You left scars
two inches deep
on my left wrist

I don't know why you're so painful to me.
Breaking me down,
every time you come and go.
I'm regret to you,
a sore spot on your heart.
You only see your past when you look at me,
A reflection of the destruction your leaving caused.
Ultimate ruin in your wake.
I can never shake these shoes,
Worn Maryjanes of a girl who doesn't know how to stop loving you.
I reach for you and you pull away,
So I stopped wishing,
Learning that it never has been about me.
You called today,
6 years of absence leaving me hollow.
I don't want it,
This time I just can't.
I don't know why you're always so painful to me,
Or how I can be so forgettable.

My thoughts form like raging waters crashing on the shore
Deep, moving fast, like a gun blast, then quickly dying down until they are no more
Telling me what's truly on my mind, then disappearing after showing me what to find
Squeezing out details from the far corners of time,
Subconsciously thinking of a new way to rhyme,  
Knowing all along,  the truth behind my thoughts that I mysteriously put into song
Is it wrong, that my thoughts strangely have the same tune
As every depressing country song that puts me in a bad mood?
It's a serious notion, to think there's no magic potion to put a smile on my mind
Yet, there's always one person in my life, truly one of a kind
Who's jokes and antics run my misery to the ground, turning that frown around
And knowing all the time what my thoughts are, making sure that a smile isn't too far.

dark butterfly emerges at the taste of the moon
both fragile and strong with bent gossamer wings
she lifts towards the sky and drinks full of the light
and dances in moonbeams in celebration of flight

Linda Pahl, 7/10/14

Be your own hope.
And find the one that makes it stronger.
Be your own love.
And find the one that makes it romantic.
Be your own light.
And find the one that makes it brighter.
Be your own inspiration.
And find the one that makes it into art.
Be your own determination.
And find the one that makes it happen.

Be your own fight.
And be your own victory.