How can you be truly tough
In this painful world?
How can you stand firm
When the spears of agony are hurled?

Most people in the proud US of A
Don't have a clue of the
price they have to pay.

Western people do not know
What hardship really is.
So gratitude is lacking...
It is this...


Gratitude is having a ***
That doesn't leak,
To walk miles for diseased
Water from a creek.

Gratitude in thanking God
For the dry wood
To cook the rice or millet
For your food.

Gratitude is finding
A pair of shoes
In a garbage heap
That you can use.

Gratitude is finding
Pesos in your hand
When you beg the streets
In a poor land.

Gratitude is escaping
Vicious thugs
Who deal in human
Trafficking and drugs.

Gratitude is Hellen Keller
With no hope
Finding Annie Sullivan
To cope.

Gratitude is having NOTHING
And in pain
On one's deathbed, but yet
The fact remains

They are redeemed
And they have Lord Jesus' grace
So they know that they
Will look in his sweet face.

Being tough is seeing life
As is and still not breaking
Being brave and looking
Not forsaking

Being tough is a
Mental attitude.
Loving God and thanking Him

It's GRATITUDE.**


SoulSurvivor
Catherine Jarvis
(C) September 28, 2014

The subtle slide of your gaze across mine
Weaves through a maze of our bonfire sparks
The gypsy twitch of my star-lit hips
Has your mouth monsoon season
Give it to me soft and sweet
Liquid honey tongue swirler
Closer, gotta get closer
To this ache
Fill it up, work it out, make me beg for it
Pleeeaasseee
Hissed moan whisper plead prayer yes, yes, YES!
Muscle spasm star spangled black out vision. convulse. flood.
This is why you keep on coming back
You've got a spine archer, a mind ******, a tongue twister
And she's all your's

If you are uncomfortable when you look in the mirror,
keep in mind:
We spent thousands of years
trying to convince the earth
she was flat.

We wrote her maps as evidence of the things we saw;
and she believed them.
She cried tsunamis, and had earthquake breakdowns.

Keep in mind: the Sun never gave up hope.
The earth will keep spinning and breathing
the star-dusty space void of encouragement.

Next time you look in the mirror
and second-guess your potential divinity,
remember you will keep shining and living.

Because the Sun is out there
believing in you,
compensating for lack of the human capacity
to treat each other empathically.

You don’t need proof or approval
to be exactly what you are;
Eventually everyone will see
your infinite beauty.

Moon oh moon
Bring back those nights and higher tides

Drifting my love closer to shore
Instead of taking her away

Moon oh moon
Light the path we once walked together

Guiding us safely home

Moon oh moon

When you see my lover tonight
Tell her I said goodnight

I woke up on your side of the bed this morning... it was empty
2. I cut myself while shaving cuz you didn't attack me with Barbasol like you usually do
3. I cut myself while shaving again to try and wake myself up
4. This is real life
5. I looked through our old pictures
6. I couldn't breathe
7. I dialed your number
8. I hung up
9. Your favorite song came on
10. I sang along
11-50 are things I'm sorry for
51-70 are things we never did
71-97 are how many apologies I've worked on
98. Even though I have a heart of stone you'll find your name engraved on it
99. I still love you
100. Its time to come home

With our last kiss, I think you took my love.
With our last embrace I think you stole my heart.
With our last goodbye I think you kidnaped my mind.
Because I can’t love another and my inside are like these bottles …. Empty, and I think I lost my mind.
I miss the dimple on your left cheek because it was only visible when you smiled
I miss your voice because it always led me home
I miss the soft brown eyes that could see straight through me
I miss those 4pm texts saying good morning cuz you knew where I was
I miss those late night calls talking about absolutely nothing but just to hear each other
I miss the looks you gave me when I say everything wrong
I miss the touch of your lips against mine when I say everything right
I miss when you would tuck your head under my chin and it just seemed like the perfect fit
I miss waking up to you
I miss you
I look back down the road at all the arguments and problems we had, and I noticed one constant theme
It was me
I ruined a lot of things
I made a lot of mistakes but taking you for granite was the biggest one
I enjoyed the 465 days with you
I want 1,000 more
I realized what I want
I realized what I had
I realized what I lost
Many people don’t believe in second chances
But that doesn’t matter because all that matters is
Do you?

I am fatal
I am consuming
I am fear
I am stage 4
I am your cancer

I'm what's slowly killing you
I'm the pain that comes back after every remission
I'm what causes you to cut pieces of yourself out
I am your cancer

I'm the sleepless night
I'm the dead feeling
I'm the reason for the pills
I'm the tumor in your head
I am your cancer

Cut me out and be survivor
Leave your cancer behind
I am your cancer