Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

  • Life

    The letter I wrote to a world that didn’t write back

    The light I found that only led me to a crack

    The call I made to a phone that was off the hook

    The dreams I dreamed that only happen in a book

    A stormy life of springtime joys and winter pain

    A treacherous life of highs to fall back down again

    A hard life that takes great faith to believe

    A weary life of small victories you achieve

    Broken tears of soul-searching depths of pain

    Bitter tears of disappointment, let down again

    Shameful tears of empty hope you once believed

    Weary tears of painstaking, tenuous gains achieved

    Treasure this great, fragile life that is ours

    For only in darkness can you see the stars

    ,

  • Paths to Keep

    The woods are dark and lone and deep

    The path so long that we must keep

    The tangled vines weave webs below

    The thorny stems and branches grow

    The thickets shut out light up high

    The ravens in the distance cry

    The darkness grows at every turn

    The vining leaves with poison burn

    The only choice is forward go

    Through woods so deep and dark and low

    The woods are not so dark and deep

    If only to the path we keep

    The vines protect the earth below

    Berries and fruits on branches grow

    Our eyes adjust to light up high

    Our ears hear ravens call not cry

    Our courage grows with every turn

    And in the distance now lights burn

    Because we chose to forward go

    Through woods so deep and dark and low

    ,

  • Memories

    Such fickle things are memories

    So fragile, tenuous, but strong

    Some fade before the ink has dried

    While some will last in stone life-long

    And others flit like butterflies

    Appearing where they least belong

    But every one will play a part

    One note or chord to fill life’s song

    Time too plays quiet, clever tricks

    To alter memories as they age

    Intensifying color, strength

    Or else erasing from the page

    To piece a story that will hold

    Against the siege of life and loss

    To help us keep the things most dear

    Where love and joy and sorrow cross

  • Waiting for a Train

    Anticipation

    the Belief in Catching a Dream Elsewhere

    Flurry

    of Going Hurriedly In a Jostling Kaleidoscope

    Looking

    for Many, New, Other Places Quickly

    Rendezvous

    a Space and Time, Unique or Variable

    Window

    of eXcitement, Youth, and Zest

    ,

  • 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

    ,