The Ghost of Absent Goodbyes

 Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse #165.  Hosted this week by the blazing talent Shay!

Come join us!

 

 

“She’ll tell you this house is haunted, but I believe the truth of the matter is that people get haunted.  Not places.”  ~ Will Laughlin

 

I had another dream about your absent goodbye

There was a standing crow cawing to the sky

He spoke of open wings

And he spoke of flight

I heard him from my heart

Yes from the deepest part

Freedom is a lonesome drive

Where fathers leave

And mothers cry

Then all the children wonder, why?

I know this in my heart

Yes from the deepest part

I stood at the window facing south

Yet not in those walls

But outside that house

hunting familiar ghosts

like a boy scout

 I have seen them in my heart

Yes from the deepest part

Regret is a mirage down a long hot road

A broken-down car that cannot leave home

It steals and borrows until you're broke

I have seen this in my heart

Yes from the deepest part.

The Fabric of Regret

 

Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse #149

Hosted this week by the amazingly talented Chrissa!

The details of your fabric have been embedded deep within me

each seam stitched by every sigh

and all the silence that filled the tapestry between us

I have walked through every regret

like curtains that move aside

yet remain at the reach of a hand to draw

they are close like a lover’s whisper

for goodbye was never spoken

but every poem

I have ever written

will always be the goodbye

I speak to you.

Are We There Yet?

Written for the Word Crafter Prompt ~ The Road Ahead

"The more side roads you stop to explore, the less likely that life will pass you by".

 ~Robert Brault

It has been 33 years since our family vacation to California.  A grand trip with 4 kids and 2 adults, in a two-tone blue suburban.  We headed out on the open road ready to see the sites along the way.  Carlsbad Caverns to the Grand Canyon and on to Disney Land.  It was a wonderful trip, full of new adventures, with joy and excitement, yet in between those times, during the long drive time, came the dreaded question, “are we there yet?”  During the time we drove from one destination to the other had a way of feeling like it took forever for the kids and sometimes me as well.   Their Dad and I would 

always answer with an annoyed NO, but eventually we made it there with a smile on our face.

Life is like that isn’t it? A journey that takes us onward to a destination that we may not be able to see just yet, and it seems like we will never get there.  We cannot help but ask ourselves, are we there yet? The truth is, we are already there.  The journey is now, and the lessons in front of us brings growth as we keep moving forward. 

Truly in this life, the destination ahead is secondary, and dependent upon the very journey we are on right at this moment.  We are all heading somewhere in our lives, and hoping for better things.  It might not be Disney Land nor the Grand Canyon, but it is somewhere we are meant to go.  Keeping that in mind, let’s enjoy the ride, and appreciate the sites along the way.   You ask, “are we there yet?”.  My answer is “yes, we are right where we are meant to be.”

© Carrie Van Horn 2020

Do Not Pass the Potatoes

Lion Afternoon by Jacek Yerka

Joining with the Sunday Muse for Muse # 69

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We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter. ~Denis Diderot

What we bring to the table is as different as lima beans and prime rib

But no matter the pot luck meal at hand

It serves a greater purpose

Than filling a belly

There is fellowship

Diversity

And food for the soul

Sometimes dinner time

Is the only time of gathering of a family

But at our dinner growing up

Diversity of fellowship and soul food

Were malnourished like all the starving children

My mother frequently spoke of

Yet there was much more than an elephant in the room

There was a lion under the table

So we did not kick our feet

If we wanted to keep all your limbs

Just ask to pass the potatoes

Do not ask why grandpa is dipping

In his old secret sauce again

Sometimes silence is golden

And others it is the roar

That haunts us for years to come.

Deep Rooted Trees

Pixabay on Pexels

Linking with Toni's wonderful prompt Wed Muse # 10 ~Shinrin Yoku

Shinrin Yoku is the Japanese term for forest bathing.  It is the healing way of forest therapy.

Today Toni is asking us to write about how trees soothe our spirit.  It is about healing, peace, and calm.

Come join us!

My grandmother loved the sound of a running spring

As she puffed on a cigarette in her recliner chair

My mother loved all things wild and free

Like beetles berries and an untamed mare

I love a walk into groups of deep-rooted trees

Sinking in greenery with my soul head first

It is the only place to leave behind my worries

No more skyscrapers only tree trunks and dirt

Where grass grows high and tickles your skin

As you move inward to the middle of gone

It is a journey that never ends

As the song bird follows with yet another song

My grandmother’s journey was not mine to see

My mother’s path was hers all alone

For I love a walk into groups of deep-rooted trees

And that is where my soul finds a deeper home.