Category Archives: Poems

What Will Be (A Poem)

Posted on by learning to live like water

front door

Today, I imagined
That someone came up the steps
to the orange door
To my bright yellow bungalow.
He was following behind me,
And I opened the door,
I turned to smile at him
And took his hand
And led him inside.

I’m not telling any more about that,
(She says, with a wink and a smile).

But it was nice.
It was fresh,
And sweet,
And loving
And fun.

There were no games.
There was no pain.
There was steamy breath
In the air conditioned room.
The palm fronds swept against the porch
And a tropical wind blew across the deck.

I didn’t think about my past.
I didn’t think about my future.
I was happy
In the moment
With this man who was no longer
A stranger to me.

He’s waiting for me there.
He may not know it, yet,
But sure enough,
He’ll tell me that he has been
After we meet,
When we dance up the steps,
Into my front door,
And close the door on the world.

Awaiting Rebirth

Posted on by learning to live like water

free falling

Free falling
Can’t find the ripcord.
Headed straight for a fall
A hard,
bone-breaking,
Spirit shattering,
Intersection with reality.

Oh God, that I could change it
That my parachute would appear,
And carry me safely on the wind
To land softly, on my feet.

Prayers rise,
As I fall
Unable to stop the momentum
Unable to grasp
What I reach for.

How does one
Overcome
A fall to earth
Destined to hurt,
Seemingly unavoidable?

If only there were arms to catch me
To soften the ache
That grows larger
As I grow closer to
The impact.

It is total ruin
Of my psyche.
I know not
How to breathe,
Or laugh,
Or cry,
Or feel.

I am dying
Every second it comes closer.

If ruin is the road to transformation.
Into what will I transform?

This pile of skin and bones
Head and heart.
Somewhere,
Among the broken, scattered, pieces of myself
Lies my soul.

Awaiting rebirth.

ribirth.jpg

By Deborah E. Dayen

Pictures from Google Images.

Letting Go of You, A Little Bit at a Time (A poem)

Posted on by learning to live like water

IMG_2193 (1)

Sunrise from the town dock, Longboat Key, Florida

I let it go
On the summer wind,
With the sun in my eyes,
I let it go.

I remembered what we did here.
I remembered how it felt then.
I smiled, and I cried, just a little.
I will always miss what was
and I will always miss what wasn’t.

But letting go is something I’m getting good at.
Knowing that letting go
Opens the space
For something new and wonderful
To come in.

Entering the autumn of my life,
I cling to summer.
So, I go where it is warm,
Where I’ll not be reminded
Of the summer dreams that
turned into nightmares.
Where new dreams will be born.

I wish you love and light,
I wish all good things for you.
Even though we don’t talk,
We talk, on levels we don’t understand.
I still feel you, all the time.
I hope you are happier than what I feel.

Let us both feel good about what was,
Just between us, when there was no one else.
Peace to you. Peace to me.
Love always and all ways.

How I Got My Breath Back (A Poem)

Posted on by learning to live like water

You took my breath away
Quietly,
I didn’t notice
That it was gone
Until
I couldn’t breathe.

I wanted to breathe again
‘Twas not my lungs you stole
But my heart
That you constricted.
I gave my heart to you
And you began to squeeze it
Sweetly, gently, at first.
I let you continue.
Not realizing
You wanted all the love that it held.

Greedy, you were.
And afraid.
That I might have some left
For myself
For someone else.
Never knowing
You could have it all
Without taking.

It flowed freely
Till you squeezed it dry.
And when it stopped….
You let go,
You dropped it on the ground,
Like an old cigarette,
Squishing it with your foot
To make sure it was out for the count,
And walked away,
To find another victim
Whose heart you could crush
With your gentle greedy squeezing.

What you didn’t realize was,
When you let go of mine,
I refilled it.
I won’t give it back to you.

You’ll always be a vagabond
Searching for a heart to clutch
And steal the lifeforce from.
But like mine,
When you let go,
Each one will fill up once more,
Never letting you touch them again.

Rising, A Poem

Posted on by learning to live like water

A thin layer of morning dew
coats the world in the early morning hours.
The sun rises,
and the dew transforms.
Curling, rising,
Finding its way back to source.

When I came outside early this morning, the morning dew was steaming off of every surface.  It was so beautiful.  I captured it in video, but cannot put the video up here.  I hope you can envision it, and share it with me anyway.   Love and light.

By Deborah E. Dayen

Self Regained, A Poem

Posted on by learning to live like water

whatyouseek

I was at that place today
You know the one.
You’ve been there too.

Daydreams collide
Fiction and fantasy
What was and what wasn’t
What could be and what can’t.
What is, and what isn’t.

Confusion and conflict wove
My head and my heart
Into a chaotic tapestry
Of love and pain, regret and hope.

Things I’d forgotten,
Or, tried to,
Danced rings around my psyche
Spiraling around me
Squeezing the breath out of me.

Days yet to come
Jousted for position
Among the dancers
Painting the pictures with the wind
On the surface of my soul.

I stayed there til it settled.
The spinning stopped,
The dancers grew tired,
The jousting painters dipped their brushes
Tentatively, beginning their work.

And I, in the center,
Of all that commotion
Regained myself.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Art

Posted on by learning to live like water

socs-badge-2015

This is a Stream of Consciousness Saturday post.  The writing prompt this week is “Art”.  for more information on this fun writing prompt, see https://lindaghill.com/2016/07/29/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-3016/.  Linda Hill has a great blog, and great ideas for writing prompts.  This is my second attempt at her SoCS.

ART

A picture was painted this morning
By the artist-at-large
In this world.

It is a sensory work of art,
the green of the leaves on the trees,
The blue of the sky
the scent of lavender,
the cool, almost imperceptible breeze,
rustling the leaves,
gently caressing my body.
The rich cup of coffee in front of me.
The sound of birds singing,
Neighbors dogs barking
And oddly the sound of cars on the road in the far distance.

I try to recreate the painting
With my words.
I try to make the reader feel it,
Because it seems too fabulous not to share.

I suppose that is what art is, to me.
The sharing of our emotions in such a way
As to evoke a similar response
Or a response at all,
From someone else.

I love art that makes me feel.
I love a book, or a post, or a movie, or a painting,
Or a piece of jewelry or pottery or a poem
That can make me cry, or laugh hysterically.

I want to feel.
Feeling lets me know I’m alive.
Art lets me know I’m alive,
When it makes me feel.
Inspires me to feel.

I hope that I also do that
In some small way
With my art.
With my writing,
Or my jewelry.
I hope it inspires people to feel.
Mostly to feel good.
To broaden their perspective,
To lift their gaze.

Or, just leaves someone a little happier for having run across it.
Art, is, it seems,
A wonderful way to extend love in this world.

The Gift (A Poem)

Posted on by learning to live like water

sun and moon

Dogs barking,
A plane hums overhead,
Crickets chirping,
The smell of fresh cut grass,
Children laughing,
And screen doors slamming.

And then,
The stillness takes over.
Not even a hint of a breeze,
Not a single dark cloud in the blue.
Momentarily,
Not a sound.

Summer.
A peaceful summer’s eve.
She sits in her sacred place
And listens to the sounds of the earth.
This earth,
This planet.
This body.
This heart.

She’s grateful,
Because, what else is there?
Day and night,
The sun, and the moon.
The breeze and the stillness.
The green trees and the blue sky.
The ocean and the stars.
Life, the gift.

Not Yet (A Poem)

Posted on by learning to live like water

flower

Her heart is singing
Sweet melancholy.
Aching tenderly.

A haunting melody
Carried on the morning breeze
Loss and gain
Love and sorrow
The journey continues.

Hoping to be heard
She looks to the sun
Seeking the comfort she gave away,
The direction for her footsteps.
Looking for the joy
She is sure will come.
But afraid, it may not.

Still missing the pieces that were lost
And fearful for the fragile ones
Hanging by gossamer threads from her soul.
She’s hoping to find starlight on the way
Sparkling shards that will give her breath shape
Into a formless solid.

She fears she will not find them.
She fears she will lose more.
Yet, she continues.
The journey beckons
Relentlessly,
Giving her no choice
but to sing the song,
Hoping it is heard.

Her heart steps
Tentatively
into the day.

What can she know?

Only that she can love
And once did.
Only that her child
Is the miracle of her life.
Only that the love will stay
If she allows it to.

Still, tears form in the recesses.
A longing for something tangible
To hold onto
To grasp in the night
When the new moon casts darkness.
An ache, making a beautiful song
Love, not fulfilled
Yet.

By Deborah E. Dayen

Picture from Google Images

To Remember, and Forget

Posted on by learning to live like water

standing in the water 2

There was a nice sea breeze,
filling my senses,
With some undefinable tranquility.

The tide was high when I got there.
It ebbed as the day went on,
Taking with it some of my overwrought emotions
Rolled into the energy of the waves
Soaked into the silky salinity of the life giving sea,
carrying them away from shore,
To another choice
To another place.

My hair blew free,
My lungs inhaled the scents of the green sea,
My eyes took in the dazzling sparkling water,
A crown of jewels on mountains and valleys unseen.

I walked into the water,
Cool,
Refreshing my tepid arms
My cramped up heart,
My distressed mind.

Turn me into cool liquidity.
Let me flow with the currents
Easily, through my life.
Let me remember all that I’ve forgotten,
And forget, all that I remembered.