Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

Category: Struggle

  • Valleys

    Confusion is a smoky haze

    That settles on a town for days

    Disappointment is a fall

    From a push off of a wall

    Regret is a relentless flame

    That burns within with deadly aim

    Anticipation is a cloud

    That either sun or rain does shroud

    Exhaustion is a heavy weight

    That slows you down til it’s too late

    Failure is a zero score

    On tests you never saw before

    Criticism is a knife

    You chip away on your own life

    Disapproval is a blind

    To block out others from your mind

    Courage is the faithful trust

    To step out, keep on when you must

    Victory is the summit view

    Of all the valleys you walked through

    ,

  • Struggle

    Give us hope in this dark hour

    Give us unity and power

    Give us wisdom day by day

    Give us truth in what we say

    Show us the right way to go

    Show us answers we don’t know

    Show us how to work as one

    Show us peace where there is none

    Lead us toward our earnest goals

    Lead us each to fill our roles

    Lead us in the way to talk

    Lead our ships safely to dock

    Save us from the storms outside

    Save us from our pasts, our pride

    Save us when we trip and fall

    Save us when we hit the wall

    ,

  • 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?

    ,

  • 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

    ,

  • In Pursuit

    You haunt me from

    The shadows. You’re always just

    Around the corner waiting

    For the moment of vulnerability, of

    Darkness. To descend.

    I fall

    Into the circling spiral of the past.

    To carry again the excruciating

    Weight, the hauntedness, the

    Helplessness, the lies,

    Of you, Guilt.

    You try to suffocate me

    In failure, in fear. I fight.

    I will win. I will not give in.

    I take control.

    ,

  • 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

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