Lyssandra works as a manager
From behind the counter
At the local bakery and café
On my quiet, little street.

Her mind is full of youthful energy,
Dreams and ambition.
She knows what she wants!
She clearly sees where the line is drawn
Between Right and Wrong, Good and Evil,
What should and shouldn’t be.

In short, Lyssandra is
The very opposite of me!
My aged mind is full of blurry lines,
Just waiting to be crossed.
My dreams are gone, my ambition, lost.
How we got to like each other
And sometimes even empathize,
We will never know.

I will miss annoying her,
Teasing her, and then,
Repeatedly apologizing to her
For my many transgressions,
And for the endless narration
Of my morally questionable life.  

For Alas, all good things
Must come to an end!
Lyssandra is leaving us.
She will never again have to fear
What nonsense might fly out of my mouth
While others are patiently
Waiting to be served.

Dear Lyssandra, you will never be replaced.
You will forever leave a space
In my dark, slightly twisted, but
Well intentioned heart,
Where you once paced
From behind the counter
At the local bakery and café,
On my quite, little street.

I went to a pet shop.

Seeking comfort there,

I asked to be petted.

They turned me away.

What kind of *******

Is this???

Letting go of
Dreams and
Desires,
Giving one's self away,
One discovers that
In the death of Wanting,
Needing, Grasping,
The Whole World,
Clouds, Trees, Rocks,
Moon and Sun,
Is one's Inheritance,
Just
Waiting to be
Claimed
By no one,
By everyone!

When I think of you
I have to smile!
Your eyes so bright
Your heart so true.
Lips so sweet,
Smile so fresh!
Words so soft
Like morning dew.

They light my night
These thoughts of you,
Make me sing
When I feel blue!
Make me laugh
When I want to cry,
Make me say aloud
"I love you!"

It warms my soul
In my solitude
When I'm alone
And feeling lost
That you love me
As I love you!

Thank you, Sue,
For being the first
To answer my call for help,
For being the first
To want to understand me
Through and through
And see and hear my suffering
From my point of view.

Thanks
For unconditionally accepting
And even appreciating
The shameful parts of myself
I tried to hide away
For so long from the world,
Especially from
Myself.  

Thanks
For holding my hand
As together, we explored
My version of childhood,
My personal nightmare,
And changed it for the better.
For letting me see what happened
To everyone, not just to me,
From a new perspective,
A wiser, more caring one
Than I ever had before.

Thanks
For not trying to change me,
Although I begged you
With your magic wand
To make me become
Someone else, anyone
But the inferior person
That I was convinced
I was
From birth.

Thank you for letting me see myself
Though your loving,
Compassionate eyes,
For teaching me how to
Forgive those who I believed
Had hurt and wronged me,
Especially myself,
The hardest one of all
To forgive.

Thanks for showing me
That my painful self image
That made me suffer so,
Never is, nor ever was,
the same as me,
But rather, a self portrait
Badly painted,
A gross distortion
Of my true self.
Somehow, you showed me
That there was nothing
inherently wrong with me,
Although
I had spent a lifetime
Trying to discover
All my imperfections
And fix them,
To no avail.

Thanks for loving me
Without any strings attached, or
Hoops I had to jump through
To deserve your loving kindness,
And for showing me
With your sweet affection
And honest appreciation
That I was lovable
Through and through.

Finally, thanks Sue
For letting me love you,
And in my loving you,
To somehow
Turn that loving around
And begin to love myself
And others
Again.

It's so hard to believe
That we are each so amazing and wonderful!

It takes someone else, it seems,
To awaken us from our nightmares of
Being so much less than what we are.

We kiss each others eyes open
With our love,
And in doing so,
we awaken each other to
Our true, whole, glorious selves!

She never sleeps!
She is has no time
For mortal rest,
For the timeless bliss of a
Mortal's dream.
Her fate is, each day,
To encircle the world,
On swift feet,
For eternity,
Until the Sun
No longer burns bright
In the heavens,
And darkness, sadly,
reigns supreme.

She is forever trapped
Between night and day,
In the narrow, moving corridor
That separates the two.
Wherein, she spreads
Her fingertips of rose
And kisses the world's eyes open
With her pink, soft light.
She does this each morning
For us,
As she once did for Odysseus
And his brave crew
As they headed home
From Troy, victorious,
And lost.

She stirs all of us who sleep,
Either gladly in our dreams,
Frightened in our nightmares,
Or those who lie sleepless,
Alone and lonely in the dark.
Responding to your kiss of
Light and warmth,
We awake to face yet another day
Of our impermanence.
However, once gripped by
Cold, dark death,
We will never reawaken,
To feel again, at first light,
Your warm sweet lips
On our cheeks.

Some will greet you with joy
In appreciation of a new day,
While others,
Trapped in pain
Will curse you,
In anticipation
Of more of yesterday's
Joyless suffering,
Hoping for the light
To finally go out
Forever.

Awaken me from my slumber,
My wondrous Goddess.
Rescue me once again
From my unwelcome solitude,
And let me fear not
Another day of light.
I promise to embrace it anew,
As another unique and
Precious gift
From you!