Ebb and Flow

 

The seagull shrieking in the near distance

is the cry of my heart for the sea

I so long to be near once again.

The puffy slanted clouds are held

by magnetic tendrils I can almost feel

gently being pulled like a marionette

across the pure turquoise sky

with fingers tracing deep 

in the ocean current.

Sometimes, I like to close my eyes

and I can still smell the sea 

and its lusty yearning back for me. 

Painting by Peder Balke, 'Stormy Sea' c. 1870 Google Art Project via Wikimedia Commons. In Public Domain. 

Doom and Bloom

And we wake up 

to a new day,

the world crumbling around us.

We try to put the pieces together,

nothing makes sense-

or fits-

and yet everything

is, in a word-

Beautiful.

In such a way

the dappled sunlight,

a certain bird

lands,

a note to self

Becomes a warm smile. 

It has been a while.

Painting by Annie Pressland c. early 20th century Still life with red flowers and bowl' in Public domain.Annie Louisa Pressland (1862-1933), was a painter who studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, and exhibited between 1892 and 1923 at the Society of Women Artists, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the Baillie Gallery and London Salon, Birmingham, The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and Manchester City Art Gallery. A theme of her work, under commissions, was private gardens. She designed posters for the Underground Group in 1913, which are held in the collection of the London Transport Museum. Professionally she was referred to as 'Miss Pressland'. Born on 2 July 1862 at Brighton, she died on 23 March 1933 at East Grinstead. via Wikimedia Commons.

Depth

I walk beside myself

Not another parallel path

but obtusely, a shadow of a self.

I should have become

colored, defined, dimensional

instead of this plane person.

It all worked out for the best

I lived to see some 

karmic occurrences.

It was all just that-

for a time.

Evolution favors the fittest-

for now. 

We are still in the Goldilocks zone.

I thrive, though I know

the Precipice and the Fall

one step away.

I chose the 

Right foot

and move forward

knowing it is my best. 

I should be-

come satisfied

if nothing else. 

Artwork credit: Brush and black ink and gray wash, with graphite, on cream-wove paper 'Statue of the Madonna in the Mountains' c. 1804 by Caspar David Friedrich, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons in Public Domain.