Category Archives: Poems

An Evening Out

Posted on by learning to live like water

mangia

The evening air was sultry.
Sea breezes blew across our shoulders
from the bay
From beyond,
Giving us respite from the heat of the day.

Quiet music charmed the diners
As we sipped our tea
And carried on intimate conversations,
Or laughed together,
And met new people,
Under the lights strung through the trees
Like twinkling stars.

We clapped our hands
For the singers
Who got up and sang for free
For the joy of singing.
Only happiness and contentment
Filled the air.

Sometimes it’s not that way
Sometimes it’s more raucous
With singers belting out the blues
Or rock and roll,
And people dancing.

But not that night.
That night was just laid back
And perfect.
Evoking memories
Of hot summer nights
In another life
Long ago and far away
And intimate conversations
Under the stars
With people that I loved,
Still love.

There is a continuum,
From then to now.
The energy and the love survive all,
Love always, and all ways.

Lucid Moments

Posted on by learning to live like water

lucid-moments

Lucid moments
Amid the vast expanse of confusion.
What?
Why?
How?
Where are the answers?

The lead weight of truth
Casts me prone,
As I acknowledge it’s substance
As unbearable,
And slide back into bewilderment.
I cannot answer.
There is no answer.

I lay still,
Asking for clarity.
Begging for charity.
For a reason that is palpable
To explain
Why it is this way.

Radiance from a half moon,
From stars not hidden by a haze
of confusion.
Choices that resonate
At least
With some kind of universal absolution.

I needed a hand,
Strong, and vital.
Pull me off this cold ground
And show me that the world is not cruel.
Let me see the imprint
I have made on the grass,
And watch it dissipate
As the grass recovers.

As I recover and recoil
From the answers I cannot get,
From the words that I cannot say
Or hear.
The lucid moments have been harsh.

I wade in,
The moonshine is deep,
But easier to bear
Than the overbearing weight of blatant callousness.

By Deborah E. Dayen

The False Cloak

Posted on by learning to live like water

cloak-of-time

I feel time
draped around my shoulders
As if it were real.
As if there were
The time before,
And the time after.

As if, the moments,
All the present moments,
remained,
And cloaked me in some false identity.

What was,
Was.
What will be,
Will be
When it’s present.

Memories are woven into the cloak I wear.
Some are gentle, and warm.
Some are angry,
And wish to rub through
The thin skin on my worn-out shoulders.
Some are painful,
Pricking my skin with reminders
That what was, will not be again.

Let me shed the cloak that weighs me down
That hides me from the sun that shines
Continually.
Let me learn to dance
In this moment and then,
let it go.
Let the warmth of the light
Heal the weight I’ve carried.
The weight of all those moments.

They were never meant to hold me down.
But to teach me, how to let go.

By Deborah E. Dayen

Leaving

Posted on by learning to live like water

leaving

Asking for strength
To get through the next days.
Friends buoy me,
Mark my channel.
Keep me centered
Grounded,
In the flow.

Looking back at my life
Here
for so many years.
Easy to have regrets
But I balk at regrets.
Lessons, not regrets.
Things I needed to learn
To grow my soul.

In the end,
I have loved,
much more than
I have hated.
I have laughed
More than I’ve cried.
Joy has filled
What pain tried to take away.

So young when I came here
Just legal age.
I leave 44 years later
The largest part of my life behind me.
At least, of this life.
Time for change,
For the next great adventure.

Love and light.

By Deborah E. Dayen

Picture from Google Images

SoCS: View

Posted on by learning to live like water

The poem below is written for the prompt Stream of Consciousness Saturday, or SoCS.  It’s hosted by Linda G. Hill.  If you’d like to try it, check out her page for all the information. https://lindaghill.com/2016/09/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1016/

socs-2016-badge

 

View.

To see. An opinion.
What you see looking out the window.
A year ago, I looked out the window
And the view was my dream.

11 months ago, the view went gray
And dismal.
A thick gray wind
Blew in off Long Island Sound
And hung around
for awhile.

Thought it blew away
with the new year.
For a few weeks,
The view was clear again.

But then the view turned into winter.
Cold, ice, snow.
Harsh winds blew in.
Window slammed shut
Shades pulled,
Curtain drawn.
Hunkered down,
Asking, Why?
The answer lay in the selfish, self absorbed grayness.
An answer, hidden from view.

Packed a bag and left town.
Heading for a warmer view.
Transition underway.

Leaving the winter view behind,
And the ice, and the icy hearts
No more slip-sliding on the sidewalks
in that mystic town of whaling ships and old fishermen.

Going, going, gone
Where the view is of manatee, dolphins
And soothing breezes rustling the palms.
Where the water is warm,
Icy winds never blow,
And thick gray mysts never hide the truth.

By Deborah E. Dayen

Colors of Transformation

Posted on by learning to live like water

rainbow-leaves

I loved in the fall
And my heart was broken.
I healed through the winter and the spring.
Summer came,
With its heat and its memories,
Wrapping it hot sweaty arms around me
Reminding me of the summer of passion,
the summer before.

This fall is full of transformation.
My life transformed,
Barely recognizable.
As if the maple tree turned purple
Instead of deep brilliant red
Like the blood coursing through veins
Older, and wiser
The old pain is old hat,
Insignificant.

Love, love will always be.
The colors of the leaves
Are the colors of the rainbow.
The colors of love
Remain the most brilliant.
The cacophony of color
Announces the transformation of life.

By Deborah E. Dayen

Picture from Google Imges.

Legalities

Posted on by learning to live like water

Gummies
Chocolate bars
Brownies
Drinks
Smoke
Capsules
Oil

All the choices at the legal dispensary.

Seems crazy
To this aging hippie
That its all legal.
And no one thinks twice about it.
It’s cool.

But I have not quite
wrapped my head around it.
Even though I just ate a gummy.

Legalities.

Funny, the state where it’s legal
Is the healthiest state in the country.
Are those facts related?
I don’t know.
Maybe.

Somewhere on the Plains

Posted on by learning to live like water

Somewhere on the great plains
He blew out of my psyche.
Maybe it was the distance
Maybe it was the vast enormity
Of seas of grain rolling past me.
Windmills pirouetting on the grass.

I don’t know when
Or why.
But with each mile
He just became a memory.
And not a very happy one.

All the games,
All the lies,
All the tempers
All the pain.

It’s just done now.
Love is always,
But there’s no room
for the games he loved to play.
Let him play them with her,
She seems willing.
All those years
And they still have so little.

There are so many amazing ways
To live our lives.
I’m on a roll, to choose one
That will bring me joy.
What will be, will surely be.

He’s gone. Finally, fully, completely.
Free.