Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

Category: Strength

  • All Things New

    I will not walk that road again

    I will not walk it, not begin

    I will not do what I did when

    I turned onto it way back then

    I will not sing that song once more

    I will not sing it, not restore

    The past of loss that came before

    I will not let its false notes soar

    I will not think those thoughts anew

    I will not think them, not review

    I will not drag my present through

    What’s passed away, no longer true

    But I will walk a brand new way

    And I will sing new songs today

    And I will think and I will say

    To in the fresh, whole present stay

    ,

  • Ambush

    Like a deer in the headlight

    Is fear in the dead of night

    You freeze by degrees as you stand there wide-eyed

    It’s illusive, irrational

    And it feels insurmountable

    A creeping and deepening mountain of trouble

    You have to show you despise it

    That you know the sly lies that it

    Hides on all sides in a maze of disguises

    Make the past fall behind you

    Shake the last walls of residue

    Til you’re grounded in now and the future of new

    ,

  • Invasion Plans

    If you find this note it means

    Our fight has reached its D-Day

    We have planned and mapped and schemed

    Through hostile land full survey

    Our weapons all assembled now

    For our offensive essay

    The troops are ready to march forth

    From our long-sealed hideaway

    Our victory will come at last

    A new life won today

    ,

  • Rest

    Stop – pause in this moment

    You can let reality be real

    Acknowledge your feelings

    Know truth apart from how you feel

    Breathe – release the tension

    You can stop holding on so hard

    Relax into safety

    Give room to heal the bruised and scarred

    Hear – tune into the present

    You can listen for what is true

    Let thoughts and feelings fade

    Understand life from this new view

    Care – hold onto your world

    You can love yourself always

    Connect, bond to others

    Live where good can fill the days

    ,

  • Hard Pressed

    I am fighting

    Fighting a war I didn’t begin

    Fighting a battle from within

    Fighting and determined to win

    I was a prisoner

    A prisoner of a troubled past

    A prisoner of the role I was cast

    A prisoner but not the last

    I am fighting

    Fighting to escape tyranny

    Fighting for who I was meant to be

    Fighting hard for victory

    I will be free

    Free to love without demand

    Free to give a helping hand

    Free to take my own true stand

    ,

  • Seeking

    All the light we cannot see

    Yet fills our blood with yearning so

    The pull of new discovery

    The faith in things we do not know

    We press on sure to find the door

    The innate longing to be free

    The light that led me to a crack

    Where I could see but could not reach

    The slap that caused me to pull back

    And listen to what it would teach

    The crushing truth on hopes of youth

    I grew to stand within the breach

    Sunrise dawn’s brave beams of light

    To bathe the soul from night’s dark wake

    The tumult of the storm set right

    The midnight watch we each must make

    To find our place, to run our race

    And build a love that cannot break

    ,