Many bottles on the tables,  
All properly labeled, clear,  
Yet contents hidden, veiled within,  
Their secrets disappear.  
  
Some hold water, pure and plain,  
Some with wine refined,  
Juices sweet in some you'll find,  
While others stand confined.  
  
A few are lifted, sipped with joy,  
Their purpose fulfilled with ease,  
But many sit in silent wait,  
Left alone, to only tease.  
  
Some are empty, void of worth,  
Disappointment's quiet toll,  
For not all bottles, neatly placed,  
Can satisfy the soul.

Every where there is Everything …
Yet Nothing.
Controlling Everything.
Yet Nothing.

All around there is Something
Yet Nothing…
Feeling Something
Yet Nothing….

My tears are witness to my sorrow,
my suffering flows like a river.
It pools at my feet and I drown
for a moment within its fluid of
moving emotions.

Like paint, my tears artfully express
the pressures that try to compress
my life into a singular point in time.

Trauma defines nothing of my life for I am more than
my strife and I know how
to fight and rise above
my ruins.

My tears are witness to my struggles, my strife cuts me
like a knife and I bleed.
It pools at my feet and I heal
slowly as my pain gathers
at the surface.

This life is a tapestry of moments, sewn together
with scars and memories,
my experiences is
my unique design.

My tears are witness to
my forgotten dreams.

Now you witness me
drinking my pain,
its in my words that
I am throwing out
into the world and
here I share my suffering.

I sing in my soul of clear
days and starry nights,
of better times heading
my way.

Here I float on words
sailing on my tears,
I'm heading your way.

My tears will be witness
to my peace once again.

©️ 2024 By Amanda Shelton

The agonized grimace makes me think
death is deliverance.

No more suffering
the torment of hunger
sores and scabs
kicking, beating, stoning
burning in blazing fire
freezing in numbing chill.

I offer the selfish prayer
more for own comfort
it's all passing into
the kinder kingdom of God.

Life goes on
the living barks as usual
and the warm sip redeems me.

Only, the surround is a sound less.