#rejuvenation
Frigidity wounded the tender palms,
numbness nestled in beards,
crystals of snow hung from her earrings;
all now photographs that have creased.
The souls stare into the windows once mistaken for walls,
recalling their shadows chained to the stagnant snow,
but the seasons are meant to spiral,
and amidst the mosses osculated by winters,
there bloomed petals adorned by renewal.
Some cling tight to the yarn,
afraid of pointed crystals shredding the weave,
while some recall the cold, garbed in a tender sweater —
the tender sweater spun by bleeding hands,
pricked by needles and lost amongst the threads.
Once one with the pine tree,
trembling in a blizzard,
they now converse of and with past,
clad in fabrics of rejuvenation.
Sep 13, 2025
Sep 13, 2025 at 11:05 AM UTC
Shimmering light, gleaning
In my eye, million
Shades of green
Among the trees
What is it
That I see?
When I look at you,
Is it a reflection of me?
Or an abstraction of you?
Is it really you,
That I am looking at,
Or am I looking at me,
Through a part of you?
Jan 30, 2025
Jan 30, 2025 at 12:27 PM UTC
Somedays my body feels numb
Like the world is on my shoulders
As I sit in my rundown car
Smoking my cigarette
Starving myself from the cold
That's outside my window
I feel a desperate breathe of life
Try to flow into my lungs
And I realize it's not just me
It's my angel with the burning wings
She shelters me from the ice
Just as she does my life
She protects me from myself
I slice through the foggy air
Just as I do to myself
I feel my life running dry
I'm cold; I don't feel alive anymore
Then it comes, that soft warm touch
Trying to revive me one last time
And I realize it's not just me
It's my angel with the burning wings
She shelters me from the ice
Just as she does my life
She protects me from myself
I bleed out into my crimson bath
The last drop of blood leaves my veins
And as my red sea starts to part
I feel an angel touch my heart
My soul leaves my body
And I become one with her
I realize it's not just me
It's my angel with the burning wings
She sheltered me from the ice
And tried to give me life
She'll protect me now from hell
I look down at my body
With new eyes I can see now the life it went through
It deserved to die
It was never really me
I was born to die
This is me
I am the angel with the burning wings
Dec 12, 2021
Dec 12, 2021 at 5:46 PM UTC
Mary, Mary
Quite contrary
Egressed from the East Indies
A lost child
Grief is a long hallway
With sketches of pain
Adorning the walls
Hope is a drawer
With a hidden key
Bottled-up
Mary Lennox
Jumps rope
Out in the cold
Hopscotching
And exploring
Follows the red robin
Enters the garden
Long forsaken
Befriending life within
Evoking life without
With the one exception
Of herself
Mary had a little plan
"Might I have a bit of earth?"
To plant
And to chant
To sow
And to grow
To return a loved one
To both father and son
To open the secret garden again
And feel the inner workings
Of her heart begin
Mar 21, 2020
Mar 21, 2020 at 9:26 PM UTC
Sweet coma canopy,
brain bath in solemn loops,
a gentle washing away
of handprints,
Makes the bed,
blanketed by dreams,
rest upon reimagined partitions,
instead of the jagged edge,
But there are holes
in the architecture,
pliable infrastructural tunnels
to navigate through,
Lucky termite splinters
the mind, this delicious library,
and feasts upon before all acquired
souvenirs settle into books,
It's then a young turtledove lifts
off toward October next,
searching for the dry twigs
with which to build closure.
May 4, 2020
May 4, 2020 at 7:38 AM UTC
When it feels
like my mind
is falling apart,
do I need
rest and rejuvenation
meditation and
philosophy
to consolidate
my emotions and thoughts
and achieve peace of mind
and clarity of thinking
so I can be more effective
at striving
for joy and happiness?
Jul 24, 2019
Jul 24, 2019 at 8:38 PM UTC
When striving
for joy and happiness
becomes fatigue with stress,
do I need
rest and rejuvenation?
Jul 24, 2019
Jul 24, 2019 at 8:36 PM UTC
Hold your shattered pieces together,
Don’t let them go.
Don’t leave your mistakes behind; never forget them for they were there for a reason.
You must rise after every fall, just like a phoenix.
Dust yourself from the sadness and misery you put yourself in,
The fiery flames in your eyes should never dim despite the endless salty floods that strike them.
The confident smile you form should never relax or vanish.
You are strong; you will persist.
You are noticed; you shall resist.
Leave the ashes of the past behind; learn the lesson and just move on …
Jan 18, 2019
Jan 18, 2019 at 6:29 AM UTC
Let the soft waves
rock you to sleep
before they crash
Let the foam
wrap it's advice around you
(it sticks around for a while)
claw through the sand
when it's said and done
when you come to
scallop edged waves, you could watch them for hours
the salt cleanses, washes wounds clean
(it may take a while)
Are you there yet?
Are you aware yet?
Is your reflection as it was before?
How does this ripple effect you?
Salted air, open the eyes
Fill the lungs with newness
Let the sun dry you
Let the rays hug you
in your new beginnings.
Jun 5, 2018
Jun 5, 2018 at 1:54 AM UTC
And the crisp air
caressing her face
at the start of each new day
reminds her of the clean slate
she has
The fall begins,
the rejuvenation,
the fresh start.
Apr 2, 2018
Apr 2, 2018 at 10:45 PM UTC
archangels banish the devil
in the depths of your heaven
like a non-violent exorcism
the likes of which I haven't witnessed
sentimental plague covers our
binary consciousnesses
until the veil burns off
and the ashes feed the land
till it softens
wiping clean the mourning
desiccating grief
from the haunting
worshipped debris
embedded rootless
to the thick of the longing
to the excised fat
of past-time reveries
yet the ivory towers
still stand bared
amidst newborn flowers
sparing no sand
from the hourglass
for an epitaph
for only tomorrows
carry redemption
promising blossoming
Oct 23, 2017
Oct 23, 2017 at 6:33 PM UTC
You can't see the light.
The candle in the dark,
Is lost to you.
No amount of love
Can conquer you.
I'm lost to you.
You lost yourself
And claw at my health.
I needed to regain a
Sense of self.
I needed to count
The love as true wealth.
And disregard all else.
Because without Family
Love or even yourself,
You are left with nothing else.
I count my blessings,
And with that
All else lessens.
Through trials and tests
This world is wrought
With lessons.
Sep 2, 2017
Sep 2, 2017 at 3:52 PM UTC
summer always feels the best
and it shares all humans
with no explanation.
summer holds innumerable quests
and they hold within them
lessons and learning.
summer can’t quite compare to winter
with devoid gales holding ransom
to the inside of an insulated wok.
summer isn’t an escape
from rough workloads and energy
spent from winning all that bread.
summer is a connection with self
that permeates all fibers
of the self and rejuvenates the soul.
Jul 9, 2017
Jul 9, 2017 at 4:52 PM UTC
petrichor
in spring the verdant tresses
waves under blossoms
Mar 3, 2017
Mar 3, 2017 at 5:48 PM UTC
once seen, this
hillside--a chill stone, dropped
in a hotspring
Feb 27, 2017
Feb 27, 2017 at 4:19 PM UTC
six lanes
in a sight line
past the cedar shims
and trim tempered insert
past the washed mural
and water stained tiles
covered eyes
fight for focus
over cork strung ties
and dark distant bridges
foot crawlers on lemon pegs
teaming
under clouded halogen light
dreamers contend
in a variation of chant
(throwing it off in a
drawl sequence)
a glimpse of the guard
and warm towel assignment
forge comforting relief
in a task filled day
Dec 2, 2016
Dec 2, 2016 at 9:17 PM UTC
Look up and breathe it all in
The sky is crying, exploding
with a torrential waterfall.
Inhale natures’ showering
an unblemished symphony
The black cloud’s unavowed weight
lingers invigoratingly overhead
Emotions ebb and flow
with the moment’s
immanent spirit of light;
there is a liberating sensation
that excites anticipation
of the sky’s impending
purposefully fated release ...
Heavens… flood down holy water
in a drenching act of baptism
a merciful drowning in a river
of celestial tears
Dowsing rains wash over
in a cleansing rain
Refresh the dust and ashes
the fallow summer leavings
What once was a blossoming presence,
evolving into a dimming
cold winter reign...
Now all that remains is but
a shadow of what once was;
hearts and bones nearly eroded away
by the years of fallen tears
To rinse away unrequited love’s
stagnant inversion, washing away
the invisible bonds that bind
to the loathsome heavy ball
of an unforgiving chain ...
Know the cleansing rain
is the spirit of love, washing over
a malnourished heart of soul;
exposed and bared naked
to a remiss world
Looking out with thoughtful eyes
into the boundless universe
Never to stop believing
rejuvenating dreams course beyond
this long road
Imagine the storm clouds
parting in the ominous
threatening sky
as an uplifting awakening light
comes shining through;
renewing the promise
that surrendering to love
shall renew purpose
and it feels like rain...
baby can you feel it (?)
December 2012 © harlon rivers ... all rights reserved .
Oct 5, 2016
Oct 5, 2016 at 7:24 PM UTC
Oh ferocious angels,
lionesque children of Eden
on narrow streets and polluted alleyways
whispering cruel things to each other,
you're radiant in your belligerence
and as my enemies you are virtuous.
Beside me in this carpeted rectangle room
a faint glow exhales
from the tall alpine ivory lamp illuminating
firefly wings of blossoms
alluringly exuberant in the afternoon sun-ray
diamond shine and shimmer.
Dusty tin roofs billow
firewood smoke in the thick violet shade fog over-top cabin potted
mountains and hills sprouting firs and rose bushes abounding.
Spectrum cast chandeliers echo staircases which
jot up and up arduous ruby landings,
hardwood floor cracked
and stacks of novels ballast the senescent hallways
of bookshops where poets works and journals diaries and memoirs blur
the serpentine walls with memories.
Angelic the soul which is too often contaminated with
avarice rebellious to concord living
harmonious midst dew grass and calm waters in residential lakes
empathy equanimity, far from Bodhisattva.
Few kinds of darkness transcendental
subduing other darkness to a weak shadow.
There's an importance to admiring the delirium of metropolitan roads on roads
this intricate unspoken connection to those who
rest by stoplights and crawling traffic metallic molten aura of
cars in July heat.
Paying attention to the open window of adjacent apartments
where Mr. Norris waters his tulips and shares this moment
modern meditations practiced
finding a balance in such an anxious
volatile world like this.
Oh ferocious angels, impetuous
forlorn seraphs,
sing! sing and soar!
Boundless is our ardor
and our passion.
Unenclosed is the lion
in it's bloom.
Apr 1, 2015
Apr 1, 2015 at 3:09 AM UTC
Vibrant waters
Flowing with life
Every drop an elixir
Deserts of feelings
Let’s take a plunge
Rejuvenate our soul
Drenched with vibrancy
Ablution of negativity
Taking a deep breath
Under the water
There’s another world
Vibrant waters
Shall water the paradise
Flowers shall bloom
Of hope and gratitude
Mar 12, 2015
Mar 12, 2015 at 7:18 AM UTC
Above and beyond
you soar, rejuvenating
yourself and others.
Feb 11, 2015
Feb 11, 2015 at 12:17 PM UTC