The Meaning of Life
lives in a candy store jar
without a label.
The jar is never
full or in the same spot twice,
except when it is.
The candy inside
is sweet, sour, and salty
all at the same time.
The tang on your tongue
makes you shake your head and wince
and yet you want more.
The candy store is
open and yet you stand with
your nose to the glass.
The Meaning of Life
is just taking what you need
and leaving the rest.
#262
I was afraid of heights
then I felt the wind rush ‘neath my wings,
dwelt in the mindless joy of the dive, swoop, and reel,
hung motionless and watched the world spin beneath me
and when I awoke I felt your breathe on my shoulder and
somehow it was not a dream.
I was afraid of the dark
then I opened my eyes to the hidden colours of black
and saw the auras shining, blue-green, gold, red,
pulsing around tree and leaf, rock and sand, ocean and raindrop,
eagle and ant.
I watched them shimmer and breathe and
when I awoke I watched your shadow emerge
from the darkness beside me and
somehow it was not a dream.
I was afraid of thunder and lightning
then I rode a grey, rumbling mantle across the sky,
drawn by an electric destiny I leapt into your arms
freefalling a jagged streak
we crashed and flashed our meeting and
when I awoke the smell of ozone lingered around us and
somehow it was not a dream.
I used to be afraid of losing you but
I’m not anymore.
It is not a dream.
#261
With basket empty,
Farmers’ Market bound am I
to fill the basket.
Whole grain bread, honey,
eggs, tomatoes, yellow beans,
Into the basket.
Unpack the basket
taste the sunshine, soil, and rain
of the Peace Country.
#259
What are you searching for?
I may touch upon
a chord that sings for you
but still…
the notes will eventually fade
and you will be on your own again
to search or to create a poem
of your own.
Take heart and write,
write your heart and perhaps
you will touch upon a chord that sings for others.
But if critique is your only way to interpret,
this is not the poem you’re looking for.
Move along.
#258
Remember to see
I know your eyes are open
but just see, just see.
Remember to listen
I know that you can hear me
but just listen, just listen.
Remember to breathe.
When your back’s against the wall
breathe, just breathe, just breathe.
#257
Here is only so much room for noise,
only so much room for pain,
only so much room for wrong place
at the wrong time once again.
There is really so much room for joy
really so much room to move
really so much room to grow
and learn and try and improve.
only so much room here,
really so much room there,
choose,
choose now.
#256
Frost, geese in a vee,
September is here again.
Where did summer go?
Time to start the drift
into winter denial.
There is no escape.
The darkness that falls
too early and leaves too late
is the hardest part.
Frost, geese in a vee.
Take me with you when you go.
Just this once, just once.
#255
That’s when the chickadee landed on my shoulder
and I handed my camera to my mother
to take a picture and realized
that my mother had been dead for years,
but she took the picture anyway.
I would have liked to see how that picture turned out.
#254
On Arbour Day you work at planting trees.
On Valentine’s you work at being sweet.
On Christmas Day you work at being festive
On Easter eggs you work you tract digestive.
On Halloween you work at spooky lurking
But on Labour Day you work at not working.
#253
Look in, look inside
Something hides behind the pain
Perhaps it is joy.
Stand up, stand up straight
Something new is beginning
That makes life worthwhile.
Step out, step away
Something is coming closer
Every moment.
Run, run to meet life
Embrace newness each morning
Your heart is beating.
#252
(note: try reading only the first lines of each haiku, then only the second, and, finally, only the third. The meanings reveal themselves differently this way) 🙂
Linda Studley 