Anew

Anew

~

Oh how we mark time with heartbeats

and regrets of a passing old year

a recycle of life, a renewal of hope

as we learn how to be

and we cope, and we cope…

And what’s left all behind on the sand

but a set of footprints,

some are clear

and then others erased by the waves,

some alone

and then others stand

side by side with familiar imprints

of the ones dearly loved.

And in counting the beats of our hearts

we pause briefly on graves

with unfinished tombstones

and realize after all there is an end

to the struggles in life, and the pain

it bestowed on this flesh

which we carefully tend-

So let’s welcome the unknowns

and the vast possibilities, to ascertain

all the reasons to smile and to love

between every heartbeat-

And I welcome the new that will come

with the passing of years

without knowing how long it will take

for my name to be spelled on the stones,

with a smile I will face the sunrise

and grow hope in the midst of my fears-

–

H.O

---

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering ‘it will be happier’…”
― Alfred Tennyson
—
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

Encaged

Encaged

 

~

I will free you one day – I said

when you are ready to fly

and the skies turned bright blue

with the love of your life-

But full moons came and passed

and my life flew by fast

with my dreams still encaged.

I will find you a home – I said

that belongs just to you

where your wings soft and wide

will encompass the sky-

But the clouds turned dark grey

and the storms raged outside

while my dreams still encaged.

There still time- then I said

and will plant you a garden

when in Spring you will bloom.

But I spoke way too soon

for my seeds old and dry

may not sprout anymore

and to free you I swore

but my dreams still encage-

–

H.O

---

“The soul is like a caged bird, it waits for the right person to open the door and set it free.” ― Belinda Taylor on “Soul”

Void

Void

~

There is a space that remains empty

an emotionless vacuum stripped clean of life

left floating between all things in the past

and the wants I harvest today.

I let go and a part of me drains away

empty space it becomes in between

what I was and what I am-

–

H.O

---

“I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo.”

― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

When Night Falls

When Night Falls

~

Whenever night falls in later days

it does not change me for today,

a fraction of eternity, to comprehend

this thing inside that strive and try

to push its way into my surface

and dress in layers that transcend

the who I think I may become-

Too late to alter or to overcome

this harden clay into a shape

so what you see is what I get

despite the times when I forget

and dream in dreams that swiftly die-

 So let me accept that night will come

no written words will make me best

nor passing love or fairy tales

will keep me whole, I’m like the rest

when dust to dust my life entails

it does not change me for today-

–

H.O

---

“As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air – however slight – lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.”

― William O. Douglas,