Rake Up Your Own New Leaves

lindastudleyLeave a comment

Do not look to me for forgiveness
that assumes I have felt wronged, that lays
the blame at my feet for reacting in some way
that you did not foresee,
or didn’t care about at the time.
Only you can forgive yourself for things you have done
or believe you have done.

Do not look to me for redemption.
I was not involved in your fall, so do not
shift the responsibility for your rise to my shoulders.
I am not a convenient project you can use
to expunge your guilt over past selfishness.
Only you can redeem your soul by going back
and fixing what’s really broken.

I am no tabula rasa, no note from home,
no ‘get out of jail’ card,
I am no saint.
Look to yourself.
Look hard and close.
Make your own judgements.
Make your own decisions on what is right.
Look to me only for love.

#165

Christmas Past and Present

lindastudley2 Comments

The longer you live
the more memories linger
‘neath the Christmas tree.

tinsel waves and winks
knowingly, like an old friend
who knows your secrets.

You smile and just know
that this Christmas day will be
the very best yet.

#164

Gold and Crystal

lindastudley2 Comments

I hope my aura looks like a hoar frosted aspen
when the dawn’s first rays turn it all gold and crystal.

I hope all my good thoughts, any kindness I may have shown,
each time I gave of myself without calculating the cost,
all become the intertwining tangle of branch and twig faceted with prisms.

I hope their glint and glow shine into the knots and burls
of anger and envy and drive out the darkness in my soul.

I hope my aura looks like a hoar frosted aspen
when the dawn’s first rays turn it all gold and crystal.

#162

Time Will Pass and So Will This

lindastudleyLeave a comment

(an ode to my code in the node)

Take a breath and close your eyes and
feel the sun on the horizon
breaking through the cloud and darkness
like the heaviness that’s parked itself
upon your chest. You manifest
the universe within your breast
and like the universe you’re wheeling,
stealing minutes, stealing hours
just to squander them
like flowers in a vase, you touch the water,
find that it could still be hotter,
clouds of steam that you ingest
to try and lift the heaviness,
time will pass and so will this.

#161

note: If you can’t do anything about your cold, you may as well use it for poetry fodder… sigh.

My Cold

lindastudley4 Comments

Juice, jello, gingerale, vitamin C
Homemade chicken noodle soup, fireweed tea
Echinacea, bed rest, heating pad, naps.
Tissues, Vicks and cough drops. Feeling like crap.

Hot bath, soft blanket, well fluffed pillow
hot lemon honey and a couple Advil. Oh
nothing’s getting done till this cold takes a hike.
Good books, good movies, good grief, goodnight.
#160

Through the Falling Snow

lindastudleyLeave a comment

The glow from the street lamps
throw spotlights on the sidewalk
and the snow falls like sparkles inside a snow globe dome
and the path from my footprints
draws a line through the spotlights
as my feet join the dots on the long, cold way back home

Through the falling snow
Through the falling snow.
The road may be long but at least I have a place to go.

As I look back behind me
at the proof of my passing
the snow fills my footprints like I was never there.
And my mind drifts in wonder
has this life made a difference
or am I just a snowflake falling through the frozen air?

Through the falling snow
Through the falling snow
The journey may be cold but at least I have a place to go.

Through the falling snow
Through the falling snow
Take my hand and follow me and we’ll both have a place to go.

#158

Elephants at Christmas

lindastudleyLeave a comment

Do not peek into bags and boxes.
Do not walk in unannounced.
When Christmas secrets lurk in closets
courteous circumspection counts.

If I ask quite innocently
“What is that behind your back?”
you must tell me quite sincerely
“It’s an elephant in a sack.”

Christmas elephants decked in paper,
ribbons, bows, and ‘to/from’ tags.
Christmas elephants languishing
in colourful boxes, shiny bags.

So keep your speculation checked.
Curb your curiosity.
until the twenty fifth comes ‘round
when all the elephants can run free.

#156