Taking Stock...The Things That Matter Most

https://ko-fi.com/takingstockofwhatmattersmost

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

a free hawk soars on the high canopy and floats down the wind over the ridge line dipping its wings in the fading orange light and dares to claim the vast open sky but a quiet soul bound in a narrow space can seldom see past the shadows of the valley its wings...clipped its steps...heavy so it opens its throat to speak the voice echoes with a drift of disenchantment of things unknown but longed for deeply and the cry travels past the thick timber for the hidden spirit sings of freedom

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

you quiet shape of silence and slow time narrator of the hills who tells a story clearer than any spoken words what leaf-fringed legend haunts your textured shape of hunters of spirits of both in the deep valleys where the tree meets the sky heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter still so let the quiet chords play on not to the ear but to the inner soul bold lover on the edge of the forest you cannot leave your song nor can those boughs be bare when old age wastes this passing generation you will remain amidst our modern woes a friend to man to leave this single truth that beauty is truth and truth is beauty that is all we know on earth and all we ever need to know

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

a quiet...patient creator i marked where, by the open window, he stood solitary marked how to fill the vacant vast space of the canvas he launched forth ...layer upon thick textured layer out of himself ever building the ridge lines ever tirelessly smoothing the clay and you my own soul where you stand surrounded detached in the measureless currents of the world ceaselessly musing and drafting and tuning the quiet chords seeking open spaces to connect timber to stars till the bridge you will need be formed till the heavy anchor holds till the gossamer line you fling ...catches somewhere in the dark

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

WMD

so we live in this nuclear winter a fragile ceasefire that, agonizingly….must never break our distance is weaponized peace as if always on the edge the ledge of striking…no… shattering we are two empires holding our breath across the divide careful not to bend because our gravity pulls like the static before the sirens cry it is a miracle we haven't triggered the fallout left to our impulses our ghosts it’s safer if we keep our borders closed for the grieving stars

...and the quiet earth

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

tomorrow there will be thunder and lightning the rain will sting your eyes and the wind will try to blow you away

tonight

there will be only poetry

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

high tide breaks upon the shore rushing through the moonlit dark water leaves wet my whole body begs for you pull me down ...swallow me

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

wild winds shake the forest bamboo bending to earth it does not break ...shatter why did i shatter so fast at the first whisper of you

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

the moon reflects in the well shatters when i reach for it

slowly returns to alabaster ...whole ...full how do you still look like home after all the storms we made

[stoxxgaleriaderte]

See posts, photos and more on Facebook.

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

so you pack your bag in quiet hours before dawn leaving a debt you know you can never properly pay the threshold watches you with sadness of a tearful parent who gave you everything until they had nothing left to give you step into the dark carrying the heavy burden of abandoning the place the people that taught you how to

...live

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

there is a particular guilt in looking at a savior ...finding only a shell you need to break apart to look at the hands that pulled you from the current realizing they are too small to hold who you are now

you walk through empty rooms an ungrateful ghost apologizing to the memories for needing more than a

...place

[unmondefou]

Kiko, Whenever I draw near, you turn your gaze away; and that majestic shyness fragments the letters of my heart, yet, by God, I shall never forsake the ocean of your love. Kiko, Turn toward me and place your hands upon my chest; for my breath holds the truest proof of longing in my ribs. Kiko, Say something even if the ink of words fails your lips; for I am well-versed in the whirlpool of colors you stammer around you, and pen to the path your words carve as they swirl. Kiko, If love itself is something hard to attain, then painting upon your red gown is within reach so embroider me there.

--- h.harouche

Painting Credit : @stoxxgaleriaderte

Poem inspired by kevin’s painting ‘Kiko’.

Thank you for letting your colors become words.

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

Thank you - - - h!!! I am humbled and honored! Beautiful addition!

[stoxxgaleriaderte]

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

but the wood grew thick again under the salt and sun

and the mast began to ache

for a wider sky

the keel scrapes the bottom

every time the tide rolls out

the very stones

that built the fortress

feel like teeth

trapping breath inside a room

that has grown too small

where the air tastes of old medicine and

…heavy dust

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

the harbor was small but it held the storm at bay

when the timber was split and weeping

you curled into the shallow water like a child

blessing the narrow banks

that kept the deep from swallowing

every shore

was a wall to keep the monsters out

and you loved the cage

for the safety of its iron

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

at last...the closing of the eyelids two small coins the folding of the linen over the quiet mouth we turn the clocks around so time cannot find us sweep the footprints from the kitchen floor returning the borrowed breath to the wider air where everything we loved belongs to

...no one

[takingstockofwhatmattersmost]

I’ll be on vacation this week…so posts will be iffy and rebogs to RTV and Burning Muses may not resume until next week! Love you all…mean it!