As images float before my eyes,
caressing the Autumn's velvet skies;
With multi-colored sparks they shed,
beyond the window beside my bed.

Gossamer angels of light and life,
teach wondrous tales to ease our strife;
While flying high in such a mystical place,
of constellations covering this saintly space.

The wonders of nature run through my mind,
while the opal moon shimmers like a dime;
I lie awake and watch the starlight fantasies,
which embolden my senses--feeling calm and free.

As I pull the covers toward my face,
yet wondering if reality has taken place;
My eyes close as sleep overcomes every care,
while the stars still twinkle in heaven's lair.

Looking to turn the page of indifference,
spiraling out of control in our world;
Folks gather to share their misgivings,
about whether this will ever be cured.

In equity there's the soul of humankind,
we struggle to meet the expectations;
Of freedom to be who we are and accepted,
to some folks these feelings are just flirtations.

Yet it's important to realize we all have to gain,
the promise of love deep within our spheres;
And touching one another's hearts with understanding,
is the way to create a world without tears.

Without setting goals to be more compassionate,
to use the God-given sense of empathy within;
We're lost in a world that will soon crumble,
and be buried by the neglectful notions and sins.

Look to the heavenly skies above,
and follow your heart to the world of love;
Where night and day are always sure,
to lighten our moods in miraculous cure.

Follow the dreams of your desire,
don't let strangers put out the fire;
Family and friends will stay by your side,
while you enjoy this emotional ride.

Elegant movements among the clouds,
speak to the folks that gather in crowds;
To share the time we have on this earth,
each loving hour of bliss and mirth.

And when you're old and memory dims,
your mind will be filled right to the brim;
With glances of years that meant so much,
easily reached again through a sacred touch.

Saying goodbye to all you've known,
can cause frightening moments--overblown;
But grab onto those memories that rise within,
and follow the pathway--you're bound to win !

I am too old for this reckoning,
I am too old NOT to reckon
     with past promises,
     Of life outside myself-
The shadows call me home,
yet where exactly do I land ?

Only words define the substance
   of Art, Growth, Humanity itself;
I dare to tell tales of which I know
    very little,
But imagining them is how
   I conquer fears,
   create escapes,
Follow my own footsteps through
a tunnel of RECKONING--and REPOSE.

You have walked into the destruction
of your mind and found a place there.
The detritus of a life lived in the face
of cancer, storms, and death abandoned
of the private letting go of acceptance.

You screened a life worth living
and found it wanting of love and
poetry.

Someday we will meet and
our faces, full of knowledge,
will know the relief of a rest
realized. The
nourishment of a kindred
moment of unmitigated
silence.

I will be your welcome.  I will
solve the enigma of two
lives waiting for a single
explosion.

We run now,
members  of the
cloister of our lives


forever.


Caroline Shank
2.1.22

She keeps songs
locked away in boxes
like secrets.
She will take them out
like postcards
to help her remember
the feeling of
a different time,
a different person
by her side.
She likes the one
that makes her
eyes close
to see the lights.
She smiles at
the one that  
makes her stand
up on tiptoes,
the one that
helps her forget
she doesn’t know
what to do
with her hands.

The tune
will carry her.

Like it did
the times when
voices broke
like a heart.
When instruments’ strings
would snap
and hurt.

Meet Jane, she squanders her life chasing love
Now everyone thinks she squanders her life
On sweet nothing but
By Jove! what a thing she has experienced in her lifetime:
Only God knows;
Yet they thought she squander her life on sweet nothing

Meet John he lives his life struggling
Now everyone thinks he is in love with struggles,
But is life not full of struggles.
O! What a thing he has seen in his lifetime,
Because he struggled with it, yet they though
He squanders his life searching for fool’s gold
And empty dreams.

Meet Jack he spends his time drinking and partying
Now everyone thinks he squanders his life having fun.
Hmm! All work and no play make Jack a dull boy and this
Dull Jack has the hounds of hell on his heels when he is
Sober, they had no idea what he was going through;
Yet they thought he squander his entire life
Being miserable and drunk all the time.

Meet Matt he works all his life to earn a living
And everyone thought he squander his life working,
Ah! Is not more work the reward for hard-work and
No one cares that he has promises to keep and places to
Be, yet they thought he squanders his entire life working
And may end an old lonely fellow.

Meet Abby she squanders most of her livelihood on fashion and
Material things and everyone thought she squanders her livelihood on useless things.
Oy! Some things have to give, that’s the way it has been but
No one cares she had a craving to satisfy and insecurities to hide
With cloth that glitters, yet thought she squanders her life on material things; so that she could be the center of attention.  

Let them think all they like. Let them say whatever they think of
We all have our crosses to carry, our insecurities and habit, and promises to deal with.
Life is meant to be squandered on something whether it's on a noble deed or a selfish act?
Life is meant to be squandered on something whether it's on a
Meaningless or meaningful Things?  
Life is meant to be squandered on our wishes and whips and
We have seconds of it to squander,
We have minutes of it to squander,
We have hours of it to squander,
We have days off it squanders,
We have weeks of it to squander,
We have years of it to squander,
We have a lifetime of it to squander till we are no more,
Till we return to the very dust that we are created out of.

If I have not wronged someone today I will not have told
Him that our ability to be able to forgive is what made us
the most compassionate beings alive to ever walked
The earth, like how our ability to forget also made us humans

If I knew someone that I like that keeps meeting disappointment
With every turn of events in life will it not be alright to cry a river
On his behalf, the moment such a thing happens and to comfort
Him with kind and loving words that could do amazing wonder

For his broken spirit by lifting it up and enabling it to be free
As free as the North wind that brings colder weather to Irving,
Or as free as the air that we breathe without paying any fee.
If not for circumstances beyond me I will have not done a thing

For wrong, for forgiveness, for compassion, for forgetting,
For disappointment, for events, for comfort, or for loving