Tag Archives: humanity

TAMP: Honorarium

From the forest comes the howl

Loam of earth’s dead rise

Ascending lift of sacred fowl

Imminent his demise

The snort of buck calls to a doe

A blue jay alarms the wood

Hastened river onward flows

The frigid dusk holds good.

A witness to the story

He is silent in the still

Accolades and glory

Abandoned from his will

His legacy is found abiding

In maple, in walnut, or oak

His spirit freely residing

Among his beloved folk.

From the forest comes the howl

Loam of nature’s rise

Ascending lift of sacred fowl

The undertaking of goodbyes.

The Heir

You were a human being

With a life as precious as my own

But, I’m alive and you are not

To me a path was shown

I’ve inherited your voices

I’m heir to your bright beacon

I will not turn away

My resolve will never weaken

I spend my inheritance freely

With loud pride from your source

I magnify it ideally

Your oppression no longer enforced

The lynching tree will bear no fruit

The crucifixion of branches

Will decay, not take root

It’s time to play with matches

Altar Building

Holy light ripples from one prayer to the next

Candle to candle

Continuous Hope lit liberally

From one heart to another

A sustainable support

To ease burdens

To celebrate joys

To guide one another

With wisdom and reverence

A catalyst towards Universal Love

Progress towards Justice

A beacon towards personal truth

A stable trust in sacred communion

Of torchbearing faith outwardly

Reflection of our own hearts

Rising like the morning mist in a meadow

The Visitor

I saw the shadow of death holding your hand at your bedside.

You couldn’t see me because you were seeing what it showed you.

Your breath came in sharp sudden bursts as if you were forgetting how

The blankets were white like your skin, clean

But contrary to the warmth they offered, you cooled

I greeted you by name, nodded to death, said a prayer of comfort.

The blue of your gown shrouded your emaciation

I stood next to you whispering words of loving comfort

As I took my leave, you prepared your own version.

Tomorrow, it’s likely I will see the rising sun.

Tomorrow, you will offer your hosanna to God in person

Vacillation

Sometimes when I’m alone

feeling sorry for myself

Lonely for the company of another,

I think of you.

I look around and see artifacts

gathered around me like ghosts.

I remember how much we laughed.

But I also remember how much I cried.

I feel the warmth of your hand.

I feel a longing for what was; not what is.

I miss you terribly

but not enough to give up the happiness I’ve built.

I refocus on my own company

I think of everything I’ve accomplished since “we”

And yes, I still miss you, but you’ve become

a fond memory of abandoned dreams

Liberation TW

What you see before you

are the skin and clothes of the living

and my dead.
A result of generations of love

or hate

or boredom on a Tuesday night

and a potluck of chromosomes
The gene pool of my ancestors

drying up in my shallow end
Distilled into hereditary faults

that I forgive them for because they resulted in me.
I observe through my mother’s eyes
They show me that inaction causes stagnation
That stagnation causes resentment
That resentment causes a paralyzing fear
THAT fear festered rudely in my cradle

visited by vacationing cockroaches from upstairs
Unlike my one-eyed father, blindness is not mine.
My eyes are opened

when my mother reads me lies from a book of fairy tales

because I know that imaginary monsters aren’t real
That the real monsters look like people

they tend not to hide under my bed
instead, they sneak into my bed

a candy-colored catastrophic cruelty
Thieving my innocence,
Shackling me in guilt and shame
reinforcing that there is nowhere to hide
No closet is deep enough,
no blanket is tightly wrapped enough
No pillow will help my breath
Swaddling complacency
Nurturing tar black secrets

Forbidden by death
To verbally vomit
My truth abandoned in cobwebs

Chronological milestones

Amalgamated rubble

Duct taped together

Glued with lies, rejection,

Abandonment, and

A visceral faith that I was the broken one.

denunciation was not implanted

on those who blighted me.

Conversely, desperately

I believed.

I once had the courage to tell a student teacher

When I was 9 years old that I didn’t want to be a girl

I didn’t want to feel the way I was feeling anymore

I wanted to have the power of being something else

Because even then I knew that what I was,

WHO I was

Wasn’t like the other kids.

I had no lighthouse to guide my loose sailing

I had no anchor to throw over the side

To halt the rocking, storm-battered ship

That I’d been given to captain with no skills.

That teacher gently corrected me

to crash on the rocks instead

There was no safe harbor in which to moor

But…

There was something inside of me

A luminosity that crusaded for freedom

A light so obscured to me

by external destruction that I was blind to it

But I could feel it, warm in the darkness.

Growing exponentially with each fear abated

With each discovery excavated from shame

With each box opened, musty and dusty

The contents returned to owners

Who gave me their rejected anger,

shame and guilt disintegrated with antique fragility

I piled them up in the middle of the room

And I burned every bit of that judgement.

The fire rampaged uncontrolled

Scorching anyone who stood too close

Its flames reached unprecedented heights

With a destruction as violent as my life

Every step a new fire ignited

Every truth a testament

Every act defiant

No obstacle an impediment.

My raised fist declared my power

My resurrection burst forth from within

I am no longer defined by what was taken from me

But by what I bring with me to this world

What I create, nurture, give and receive

Is a reflection of that glorious light

I was destined to be.

EOL Doula

With trepidation I wait

Better too soon

than way too late

Asking answers of unskilled sight

Maybe so

Maybe tonight

Indecision holds me fast

Supportive heart

as he breathes his last

But will my service be enough

to smooth the edges

of the emotional rough?

Will I be able to be a guide

through the darkness

with my brilliant light?

Will it be enough to attend

the final hour

the welcomed end?

Liminality

I am, but I’m not.

I’ve evolved from the broken baby-steps

No more a child but rather child-like

in wonder and awe which astounds my senses

in a warm bath of spiritual baptism

that cleanses recklessness from my history

within acts of love, compassion, and kindness.

A comprehension of seeing the unseen

breathing in unison in emotional repose

Setting down the burdens haunted

at the threshold of forgiveness

where retribution crumbles bitterly

into the dust from which it was born

Troubled Days Relieved

You try so hard and often fail
a “good” day is a holy grail
Pain and sorrow reign the hours
stealing of your personal power
Weary of the troubled world
wishing innocence again unfurled
Worry feels like a normal skin
horrid lotion on the chaotic spin
Limping through dystopian despair
Certain, no comfort, is found anywhere
Then:
A gentle connection of a caring friend
Abruptly ceases the atrocious trend
Wrapping trouble from stem to stern
Purging anguish of lessons learned
Heart to heart, flourishing peace
Engaging time bereft of grief
Hold on tight and live your life
instead of striving simply to survive
Protected in the shield of love
Uplifted strength to rise above

The Wound of Sorrow

The earth is opened to allow you in

my heart is heavy with sorrow

I no longer know where to begin

promises lost on the cusp of tomorrow.

The daisies and roses adorn your stone

The cloudless sky rains violent with tears

Bereft at your side, I stand to weep alone

I expected to be with you throughout the years.

The chill in my body, despite the warm day

feels alien in a world without you in it

As if shock and grief would wash away

any day, any hour, any minute.

As I weep at the open wound in the soil

I’m reminded of your loving embrace

No longer of this mortal coil

Extended beyond time and space