leapingbackwards

I recently began exploring websites dealing with the arts and spirituality and found Abbey of the Arts.  This site allows you to participate in activities with others who share this interest.  Below are entries I made in Fall and in Summer 2009 of original poems using the Abbey of the Arts Fall and Summer Poetry themes of "Moments" and "Summer's Sweet Slowness" with two beautiful photos provided by Christine Valters Paintner.

On Your Passing

Birds sing again this morning
as they always do.
We have chosen this day to go down to the river.
Bread, fruit and a bottle of wine
packed in your beloved blue blanket.
We are full of warm smiles.

As I watch you dip a toe into the unknown waters,

I gasp. I cry out “No!”
I cannot believe the inevitable is happening.
Then I watch the foot, the ankle, the leg . . . .
till the waters finally pull you in and under
where hard as I try, I cannot find you. 
I jump into the water, certain I can pull you out,
but the river dries up and I am left all alone.

I stay in that strange place for a long, long time,
until I hear your voice telling me to listen. Listen! 
Without even trying, I hear.
I hear my own breath, the beating of my heart.
I feel the lightness of my own energy
and I know that I finally found you.

Karen Sides 2009

Pain bolts across my belly like a thief

wielding a thousand knives

The amber child cradled in white

gently accepts his fate

In the end, golden yellow light

reveals that mercy has arrived

The secret promise of a homecoming.

Karen Sides, 2009

Photo Courtesy of Christine Valters PaintnerAbbey of the Arts 

A Summer Day 

Digging my toes into the garden mud,

old blossoms golden yellow are beginning to fade

but new buds appear like a thousand beaming suns.

I lay in the earthy grass, soft green blades tickling my ears,

On the radio, Van Morrison calls me sweet as

Tupelo honey

and sends me soaring above the blazing clouds.

In this moment, time goes backwards through all that ever was

while deep down joy penetrates every cell of my body

giving root to the peace and light of knowing.

Karen Sides