Stepping into the creek with a pedicure-be-damned  attitudethe cool, cool water and earth shifted under foot lifting weight of my heavy worried thoughts of late and brightend my introspective retrospective melancholy mood…If only for a moment…. I forgot about all the discord and ugliness in the world.It was sublime.Despite an urge to give up or even kicking the bucket so to speak, it reminded me to keep filling it drop by drop.For one drop can begin movement towards becoming more moments like this. It may have been just one drop in the bucket yet,  a series of drops will eventually fill it. We decide with what to fill our buckets. We all have them… some are really heavy… sometimes we have to rest and put them down for a moment. The key is to when once again picking them up we decide what to keep and what to let wash away.

Deciduous Earth

πŸπŸ‚πŸΎπŸŒΎβ€ πŸπŸ‚πŸΎπŸŒΎβ€ Autumn is a delicate shift letting us know that all things change. We rise. We fall. We regroup and rejuvenate. We bloom again. It’s a time to be patient. That yes, brisk days and frosty air are around the corner. If we pay attention, it is
telling us to slow down and appreciate the changes not fear them.
I love the shifting landscape, the way the light becomes golden and soft, the sound of leaves falling as they touch the ground, of them crunching underfoot, kicking them up as I walk through them, the scent wafting up, the ever familiar argument this time of year…yay or nay pumpkin spice, chunky sweaters with jeans and a great pair of boots, cooler days. The bare branches expose the naked truth of the trees. Their character and innermost personality, if you will. Leaves may fall but if the roots are strong survival is imminent. This time of year is magical and I love it, all of it.πŸ’•πŸπŸ‚πŸ¦‹πŸ’•

Rising Out of Ashes: A Cinderella Story

“…beginning anew once again…”

Slivered moon
on horizon’s breast
resigns yielding easily
to dawn splitting skies of
blue velvety night
bringing consciousness
to graceful mindfullness
and slow, easy breaths from her soft warm thinning shell

Shaking off worn cotton pillow impressions
on warm rosy  cheeks
Wiley tendrils of tussled hair
Shift now reluctantly from their lazy ways position

Catching dreams
webbed but spider free glimpses begin catching onto
her soul’s awakening
a brief flash of fears
gives way as
her eyes adjust
to light again ever so slowly

Mist spills over the leaves scattering upon the ground by canyon birds’ stretching wings then twirling into breezes gentle with hope of the new day

Light tripping into fantastic melding into mother nature’s dancing beyond window pane and glory is this new day

Determined and bound no more to spinning mind the rabbit hole backfilled or a rabid nest of thoughts wing clipped
where once prior with treacled brimstone weighing her down, its hold briefly relinquished now lifting wing in currents free

setting her momentarily able
to exhale in a
deep, deep sigh and reaching upward within a drifting splitting cloud she finds her soul
reaquanting with relief
recognizing,

remembering

recalling


she is worthy of wings that soar.

Gathering up her bones
once more again
to look past self-induced paradigms and prophecies
her mode of survival having been what once
all too familiar, has shorted her sight in hindsight now her eyes wide shut now see

Beginning anew once again putting on rose colored glasses, once shattered and lost, that she
once had upon a time
not too long ago,
adorning them strong, proud, sparkling easily in falsehoods she sees absolute truth absolutely

Hence, another eeking out visions of
the good
in life
in her life
in herself
despite circumstances

Reminding herself
her inner fortitude
Oh
No
oh no one will give her what she needs but herself
Being strong is not un-wise nor weak

her gentle inner nature emerges

cracking through shell.


Slowly seeing clearly
the writing on the wall now on this early days’ break
Tells the truth of the story

in whole not just sum of parts

Waiting no more for the knights in shining armor riding high on white stallions
To save her from herself
Oh, seeing
The charm has fallen from the bloom yet remains a rose as sweet thorns and all


Oh, yes, ’tis sweetly fallen that the lift begins

Where once she sought this white horse saviour to challenge her dragons,
now seeks herself hoping still they ride side by side
into twilights beyond equal measure

Or not


Regardless she will ride, ride, ride

Riding out of the dark forest and into fields of wild lilies she may even see the light is from within
Without doubt
With true herself

As Rome burns in her heart,
Leaving scars so deep you could taste them
The knife now pulled from her back

as it was once said……

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

Realizing now herself as her own worst enemy

As a large gypsy moth flutters in the breaking light the world now disturbed and unsettled
She relates

Change is constant
Best not to resist
With dew lagging behind as heat of sun approaches
And yearning for cloak of night’s return both realize
Fate’s finger may have been fickle but has a pleasant surprise for them both

Just the eve before
dawnswings danced around  lamp light burning low but steady set carefree, unfettered unaware of burning light

Realizing she has been drawn in, a shift begins to occur

Seeing challenges, more than most could bear, around every flickering beam of candle’s glow, she resists the temptation to crash and burn like she almost did

She offers solace and a soft place for to land in the palm of her hand and ponders a proclivity to suffer though she need not to
Letting the flutters into the underside of sheltering leaves

Whatever happens in this world is of her own devices

Seeing that there may limits only they are up to her

Though at first early dawn tears woke and startled her from slumber a certain peace and ease begins to emerge.

Nothing new under the sun this crazy feeling of maybes and per chances.
To redirect and rise above the danger triumphant is her renewed motto.

Love, of self, will save her from the shackles set up like moats once dreary and dank, she tells herself

Love, of self,  like you have never been hurt, is tatamount to thriving beyond surviving, she tells herself

Love, of self, and others will follow, she tells herself

Take it easy and breathe.
Stay away from the flame yet seek the light, she tells herself. Offer solace with your own hand, she tells herself.

Find the road less travelled, the one that brings you towards yourself, she tells herself.

Stand up for and with yourself and hold your head up high, she repeats over and over and over and again over again until it becomes more than familiar but real

Holding her heart open
She leaps with faith willingly reluctant but earnestly resisting the urge to crash and burn again

Allowing her heart cycles to resign to ash then yearn repair is simply no longer an option

Shifting thoughts like burning campfire coals now slowly, she begins trusting, knowing, faithfully believing her soul is her best guide away from the embers and settling ashes

she sees that she won even in losing

Anger Under Toe

“…working on the inside…”

pulling in like a snail to shell
wet, sticky, dark cool and safe
harbored resentment built from pain cringing in salt

to the wound
stinging all over

working on the inside
melting and waiting to burst with beautifying release and liquidation of pent-up emotions gathered over years of sliding among nettle fields
staggered by the broken paths lagging pauses linger just before jumping
in towards tomorrow’s hope for solace and retribution

The Last White Butterfly

“…lending grace to the garden…”

Clinging to wavering bud
early dewy nectar lightened her wings
felt weakened by
travelling briskly from
Northerly cold against cuts of branching
pine and needles through
whence she came easing out
if not for just this very minute’s reward
Fluttering already towards the end
her last few hours clouded
by quest for liquid ambrosia
Holding steadfast
to her yen for living
Such vibrato, instinct and gentle beauty
her wings translucent from noon day’s sun
Casting valiant caution to the wind
she recalls easier days amid cocoon
No wasps ready to strike her down into becoming nothingness again
Cicadas shadow the canyon trees
in cacophony threatening
her short existence
Nary mind once a crow swooped down on her fragility for a mid day snack after pecking orders on last night’s garbage
Shuddering away from thoughts
of being picked apart alive
by forces stronger than she,
she, oh yes, she
perseveres
regardless
spreading her wings
settling softly to her fate
of her impending exit one might call doom
but she finds the most she can
in her brilliant although brief life
Instinct calls her past the nefarious thorn finding bloom to her comfort and salvation from what was into just being
Mindful of her needs tho delicate enough to avoid over consumption she sets sights among hummingbirds hovering
in crown formation over violet buddleia called by her namesake
She may not survive long but she making best of her short time upon the terra among the flora fine and true
Surrendering to her fleeting life embracing each precious moment
Lending grace to the garden.

Returning to the Nest

“…together in communion…

Gathering once again for morning prayer,
as they usually do,
a pair of birds touch down
weary and worn for quite awhile
hanging on for life in the weeping haze
under shadow of lush limbs lending
a soft place to land.

Narily escaping with outstretched wings
this canyon’s blaze
they sing harmoniously in homage to survival,
flights without fancy
and close call stories
in their celebratory song.

Stirring up stillness
of the crackling duff below
critters hidden but heard
among the canyon’s canopy
of deep velvet green
gratefully nibble on nearby bramble and brush.

With watchful eye
a lone doe
alongside her spotted fawn
steps gently
along the craggy trail
snapping branches brittle below hoof
snacking on nearly ripe blackberries
tugging between the thorns
as once smokey skies now
bloom into an orange julius dawn.

Trees gather humbled
together in communion
on the ancient valley floor
still stand tall and proud
resilient to the surrounding fury
that raged for days on end
grateful now just to
maintain stance among embers;
Ashes, ashes we won’t fall down.

Through Eyes of Wood

“…oblivious to the thorns…”

Under canopy of creaking redwoods older than god
Branches swing tumbling to the forest floor
Deafening silent clouds hang high above the forest floor cast dancing shadows playing tricks on the eyes but opening imagination
Softly steps a single doe making way safely for her spotted fawn
Brambles of bursting blackberries provide haven for a herd of foraging rabbits oblivious to the thorns they bound through here and fro
Huddling in nature’s glory….
There is a peace here among wooded unbeaten paths.
One magical and true revelation appears:
This
Is
Spring.

The Lightness of Ebb

“…beckoning her soul towards ease…”


On high upon craggy palisades

deep with enchantment

in vegetative trance

warm from weeding steadily

with back towards sun and busy happy hands rich with earth

distant rumbling waves ebb

and bound

beckoning her soul

towards ease.

Here and now

Inhaling….exhaling….

steady as she flows

riding crests of waves’ tempo

constant ruminations and mundane stressors of daily life, slip and ebb easily away persistently.

Soothing deep exalted breaths,

they are,

these waves

casting hook, line and sinker

easily an epiphany revealed

reminding her to dive in deep into this velvet green vision

and labor of love.

A veritable gentle giant

force of nature

is this ocean drawing breath,

snoring softly like a sleeping lover upon shores where sealions bask and bark

under mid-day sun calming toil and tribulations

now easily turning up seaglass held momentarily to the sun like gems tumbling kaleidoscope fashion within the curling foaming sea.

A lone lizard scatters bravely abrupt as she walks amoung tufts of yarrow and coastal rosemary ready for the bloom any day now

then settling on a nearby stone warm and rugged, it

gathering rays

rests peacefully again.

Winter has yet to yield fully here as a lone ruby breasted hummingbird zips across her earshot searching for bottlebrush nectar dizzy by the touch of probing beak.

A lone ranger butterfly briefly settles on stone buddha Boulder larger than God hanging on to the last of the enlightening shore

sitting still in motion

keeping good company

in sacred space recalling this once-upon-a-time

angel of a being now in heavenly good graces watching over now land of legacy and recapitulated kindred sons and daughters who still frolic and marvel in these gardens made of driftwood dreams and soft sand.

Under canopy of cloudless sky

Winds whipping up hair and shawl

she once again finds her breath easily in steady waves lifting all woes from previous days

And no longer biting her lip,

she embraces this seaside moment.