Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

Category: Metaphor

  • Puzzled

    Life’s puzzle pieces, scattered round

    One false move knocks them to the ground

    I can’t decipher how they fit

    Just when I think that this is it

    A piece falls out – the puzzle’s split

    It’s back to pieces, scattered round

    There’s colors jumbled everywhere

    A mess of green and blue up there

    Small bits like flowers on the side

    Or maybe birds – I can’t decide

    What pictures in these pieces hide

    With colors jumbled everywhere

    Some days things seem to click in place

    A pond, a path, a smiling face

    But others seem like such a mess

    Disorder, chaos, and distress

    Dark shapes that I could only guess

    Just how they seemed to click in place

    But then again, what would life be

    Without search and discovery?

    ,

  • Opportunity

    Sand sifting slowly through my fingers

    Reach for a crystal but nothing lingers

    So close, it seems it could really be mine

    Already I see it slip away in time

    As elusive as a rainbow, as transparent as a cloud

    It will vanish like a password spoken aloud

    The more I try to hold on, the less I can see

    But look away and it’s back, calling to me

    I wonder how to touch it – I wonder if I should

    How can I really trust it – how can I know it’s good

    How far do you need to reach for your destiny

    How many places must you look before you find the key

    A cloud that passes over the sun

    A few drops of rain before it’s gone

    What if I follow in its shadow

    What if I stand and watch it go

    ,

  • Nothing After All

    Something sparkly

    Dancing sunlight blinding your eyes

    But now all you see is shadows

    Something flashy

    Colorful rainbow leading somewhere far away

    But now all you feel is raindrops

    Something charming

    Mystic pied piper’s tune captivating

    But now all you hear is flat notes

    Something exquisite

    Silky strands of velvet, sitting on a cloud

    But now all you touch is fake fur

    Something intoxicating

    Warm sweetness thrilling the senses

    But now all you taste is bitterness

    ,

  • Falling

    It’s funny how falling off of a cliff

    Does not always happen in one moment swift

    Sometimes you don’t know that you started down

    Til the last bit of sliding when you hit the ground

    And everything hurts, and everyone’s gone

    You’ve plunged into darkness, can’t see to go on

    It’s funny how falling off of a cliff

    Is sometimes only a feeling, as if

    The world is crumbling from under your feet

    When really it’s only shifting your seat

    And maybe the landscape contracted or grew

    But you’re still on top, if you can push through

    ,

  • Change

    Sometimes change comes on little cat feet

    Tiptoes in and snatches a seat

    Lurks in a corner til you notice it’s there

    And challenges you to meet its stare

    Sometimes change comes in a tidal wave

    No warning or chance to escape it gave

    Before striking and washing all plans out to sea

    Leaving a brand new reality

    Sometimes change comes as an ice cold wind

    Creeping, filling where warmth had been

    Invisibly changing the air that you breathe

    No choice but to act or you will freeze

    ,

  • Overcome

    Seems like life just spins too fast

    I barely duck as things fly past

    I swing and hit, can’t even see

    The targets where each ball should be

    I’m thrown off balance more each time

    And each day, plans turn on a dime

    This onslaught has no end in sight

    All I can do is stand and fight

    Seems like life just rocks the boat

    So much I hardly stay afloat

    The waves slash in over the rail

    Leaks spring faster than I can bail

    Too dark to tell if I’m on course

    Just face into the storm’s full force

    While pulling through and pressing on

    All I can do is wait for dawn

    Victory comes from hardest fights

    Dawn breaks after darkest nights

    Faith can every mountain move

    We’re more than conquerors through love

    ,