Restored #forgiveness #poetry #uganda

They curse the dry unyielding ground

stubble from impotent crops remain

toppled huts call out in anger

“we will never be whole again

they have maligned our children

destroyed our spirit”

only bitter weeds grow strong

***

lovingly they pour water on hardened ground

fingers soiled with ancestral dirt

music filters through new huts

golden maize dances to life’s song

children’s laughter reaches blue expanse

“we are known as the place of the light”

Pasqual’s face radiates hope

***

The LRA displaced the Acholi tribes in Northern Uganda. Not one family was untouched. “I was abducted as a child.” “My wife was raped at 9.” “We ran over the bodies of dead family members.” “Our village was destroyed.”

For the Acholi there are two choices – bitterness or forgiveness.

In no way is the forgiveness easy but only through it can life begin fresh and new.

Only in love can a new song be written in the heart of these strong people.

 

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:31 & 32

Poets United has an awesome community of poets/writers. Read the words of these fantastic folks here.

 

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La Luna #poetry #photography #alone #symbolism

clothed in shimmering white
She dances and sways
to a starry ritornelle
a gaze over her shoulder
catches her reflection
beams at  radiant beauty
delight as she changes with the tide

enshrouded in the cover of darkness
surrounded by empty silence
cold shivers fill the night
No audience to marvel “how lovely”
sheet music ruffles on vacant stands
alone in the loneliest of places

The Cosmos

*****

Moondustwriter celebrates 10 years of  blogging on Word Press. This is an archived poem from the first month (with some minor changes). Poetry is cathartic and I hope anyone who needs to blow off steam finds the outlet in writing.

As this posts, I will be in Africa doing what I love – teaching the children I write for. 10 years ago this was only a dream now this is an amazing reality.

Thank you Word Press for giving artists, writers, poets a place for venting, a place to fly…

To those of you who have encouraged me to not give up (you know who you are) I’m sending a bouquet of Thank Yous!!!

Skipped Valentine #valentines #poetry #music

A beat of my heart

lost between the lines

dissonant notes part

tear streaks whine

“off with her head”

the dour queen reminds

lost instead

song in my mind

I push away the scene

chords fret this time

put away the music

heart is misaligned

 

 

Freedom Cancelled #poetry #alzheimers

rose bud bloom

decided on its own colour

catching random raindrops

she danced each spring

a calla lily

ivory  water cup

opens like a scroll

makes my heart sing

dry dusty petals

always winter

a ballerina once

no longer remembering

****

a swan song

the seasons changed her dance

robbed of her wings

 

Playing the Harp #poetry

 

meld rosewood and sinew to one

harp knowing each caress

 stroke fire into song

 fingers, loving press

practice lasting long

 night melody persists

 moonlit arias never gone

 pause for noted rest 

crescendo dance with dawn

musician and instrument one

***

Tension in the strings

notes crash against the shore

concentric circles

*

Today’s prompt at Poet’s United is Marriage. How many know of  the beauty  (and tension) of marriage?

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

 

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Speechless #poetry

a season past where tears formed streams

cherry blossoms now burst in spring

where lightening seared a rift in oak

the vine is mending a path of hope

the winter offered barren cold

there’s feasting in our forest I’m told

voices seek two hearts to mend

harmonic tones a heavenly blend

dawn’s release of sun to sky

a tear emerges from my eye

all the words that will ever be

cannot express nature’s beauty

 

 

The poet’s united prompt for the day is Enlightenment. How are you enlightened?

(If you click the dove, she looks up close and personal)

Not to Scale #photography #poetry

 

 

whether viewing football

through a glass

winter scene

rear view passed

what rose is sweeter

than its name

endless scales

perception changed

 

Ok so the poem is silly. The first photograph is an 80″ view of the Superbowl through an 8 oz glass. These all being offered for the WordPress Photochallenge  prompt- SCALE

 

Note of Surprise #haiku #photography

This week at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, Kristjaan is again challenging our writing with another Haiku lesson:

“Maybe this episode had to be our first Haiku Writing Techniques episode, because this week it’s all about one of the basic writing techniques of haiku, the surprise, that one moment as long as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. That moment we have to catch in three lines, three lines which have to tell the whole story of that one moment, that surprise. That one moment is the essence of haiku. It’s an impression caught in three lines and (mostly) seventeen syllables.”

rapture’s crescendo

one tear of understanding

momentary captive

Please enjoy the creative work by fellow haiku poets at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

 

Thank Full #happythanksgiving #haiku #photography

Everyday of life
Thankfully I am anchored
solid plank

footprints from the past
strong scented memories
reminders of thanks

 Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Without A Song #music #poetry #haiku

If I could write a song for you it would go something like this:

Without fingers to stroke

without a voice to sing

these instruments stand

with little meaning

***

but there was a day

that we’d  dance

and we’d play

long into the midnight hours

***

memories alone

warm these keys

of practice and concerts

in the center we would be

***

and  there was a day

that we’d  dance

and we’d play

long into the midnight hours

****

the guitar stands aloof

the keyboard gathers dust

the flute didn’t make it

in the last minute moving rush

***

but there was a day

that we’d  dance

and we’d play

long into the midnight hours

***

someone in another land

still plays the CDs

where our band came together

in a festive jubilee

***

yes there was a day

when we would dance

and we’d play

long into the midnight hours

*******

Endless the hours spent

For you alone I would sing

Rusty keys and voice

This week’s Poets United prompt is Melody. What melody plays in the background of your world?

A short back story: I have come to realize that the creative soul dabbles and soars in the pursuit of art. As a child, I had the hours to spend singing, writing, drawing (painting) and playing numerous instruments (at my peak 5). As an adult with children to raise, I had to relegate myself to one. Music was my soul mate and my dearest friend as I raised my family ( I did get the opportunity to travel and perform.) When the opportunities to sing subsided, I once again took up my pen and began to write and now I am drawing again. Though my voice is rusty,  I still have a song  to sing…