Farewell

The ocean holds our dreams,

waves have washed over us

while we trolled the great ocean

as it unfolded and lay in front

of us in it's glory.

These waves tender

and fierce

told our stories to the sun,

the moon

and the vast sky.

We were one with the currents

and the tides.

We watched birds working

our guides to clues.

Our reels sang

as we fished,

your laughter

genuine and loud,

while joy flowed in our veins.

Images of yesterday stir my soul,

tears falling

for a friend that was a brother 

to me.

While the fishing rods sway

to the rhythm

of the universe

our friendship 

lasted to the sunset of our life.

This poem is about my father in law and his dear friend Captain James Farrell . They were friends for more than forty five years. Captain Farrell was a role model to my husband. He was loved by so many. I wrote this http://asunkissedlife-ayala.blogspot.com/2010/12/captain-j.html in 2010. He passed away almost three weeks ago and this coming week his life will be celebrated.

Ralph

The owl watches me

from his burrow,
"good morning"

 I whisper

 as not to arouse
suspicion of my sanity to
others.

His eyebrows 

   prominent white

his eyes shine.

He is shaded by
a great old tree
with giant roots and
a giant heart
the kind old trees possess .
The red flowers shed

 on the ground
are like a carpet as I walk past .
The owl watches me
and others that
go past him without a second
glance.
I think about an old friend
his hair was grey
and his enthusiasm unmatched
by any young folks.
He was awarded
a purple heart and

the Bronze Star 

with three oak leaf clusters for valor 

 in world war II
He cracked  jokes and he
delighted when I smiled.
He offered help
when he saw me drowning
and wept with me when his mother
died in her late nineties.

He lived and died

on his own terms,

courageous and full of spirit.

When I heard the news

I cried

a wound bruised

inside me.
I think of him often,

 he was one of those
souls that are rare

 and kind

gentle and giant.

His soul saw mine
like the great tree in this park
with a huge heart
like this owl that
watches me

like he can see 

  my soul. 

Connections,

encounters,

spirits entwined as one

for a moment

for a day

forever.

Darkness

Dread and beauty

pour from my veins,

gratitude and surrender.

Life is fragile

like threads come undone.

I raise my glass to celebrate 

yet I feel despair at

how broken we are,

on this bridge from the past

to this moment.

Seekers praise though

they have silent doubts 

they have not tasted the rain

or the blood on the streets.

A high school cheerleader

chasing the dragon

overdosed in the back of 

a gas station, 

parked behind the trash cans

and recycled bins

and roaches crawling

to their freedom.

Those that believe

 to be proper claim to

know what it's like

to be a mother or father 

of lost souls,

they will correct your grammer,

look you in the eye

and pretend 

that they understand 

all because they were in Woodstock

and shared a bong with 

a rock star.

Dread and beauty 

pour from my veins

sadness evokes the thunder

in my heart.

At http://dversepoets.com/ we are writing about light and darkness.

Sanity

I walk through the trees

observing light and shadow.

I feel the inspiration stir,

awaken,

I take a breath watching

a butterfly follow me.

I breathe words these days,

but they are silenced

by my questioning heart

asking does it matter?

Do I matter?

The saturated fear 

that it does not

leave me empty like 

a husk I see on the ground.

I question my sanity,

my worth,

I disrobe of the accolades 

and strip bare

what matters?

It's all been said

and done

light and shadow dual,

struggle,

my soul had been cracked

open before.

I claw out of the darkness

to see the sun.

I kneel by the ocean

and question the smallness of it all

in this vast world.

I am small,

humbled,

a whisper,

I am nothing.