sway ~

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

Tags

cherokee, connection, family, fearless, grace, gravel roads, life, love, memory, old maps, passion, reason, restless, spirit, strength, understanding, wandering, wisdom, wonder

wet leaves
scattered –
friend to foe
lunas into sorrows
flaming as the scarlet
black –
nature’s cabaret
silken souls
defend their woes
martyrs of the moon
whisper of the lying nights
nestled us between

cold beneath
the dapple light
spun amid the shadows
was come of love
when spring remembered fall
roses crushed to memory
– scents I used to wear
pressed into my hem –
a garden gate

cocked the head
of ravens –
ancient mercies
home to roost
with pieces wound
of juniper and jade –
silver voices rise
into the chilly mountain air
opal eyes reflecting
us as truth

. . .

between ~

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

cherokee, connection, faith, fearless, grace, gravel roads, life, love, nature, old maps, reason, relationship, restless, self, spirit, spirituality, truth, wandering, wisdom, wonder

when I was ten
the stars were my friends
and grapevine grew wild
to pass me between –
places of longing
and wonders unseen
by the eyes
of surrender –
a ways
down the road

nights
unforgotten
the dreamer I was –
left out the door
without thought for goodbye
or reminders
of home
I’d come needing
to find –
paths cleared away
by the wind

was destiny
left in a note by the gate
or carved to a tangle
of wood –
how quiet the house
a lone empty bed –
and chill burned away
by a wanting
left go

might they wonder
how far
I’d been taken away –
or wait me a season of still
unnoticed retreat
to a life just begun –
my wing’ed old soul
forgetting again
to wander the way back
to less

. . .

dreamed awake ~

26 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

bliss, cherokee, connection, dreams, faith, grace, knowledge, life, love, nature, old maps, passion, patient soul, restless, saving grace, southern, spirit, strength, truth, understanding, wonder

was a gentle breeze
half blowing
and almost there a tune
of saving grace
and love denied a name
mysteries of maple
crush the fragile lawn
while others cling
to circumstance
brittle hangers-on

of seasons
without mercy –
glories climbed between
the crooked limbs –
tho knew not how to grow
while just beneath
the stutter breathes –
stillness
dreamed awake
as blossoming to heal
the patient soul

was the bluest sky
a chill withstood –
the want for more
than light
sparrows swam above
a perfect day
would walking me around
remove the wonder
or lead me past the edges
of understanding come
in years beyond
would think of you
this way

. . .

glimmer ~

26 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

beauty, bliss, cherokee, connection, destiny, fearless, grace, knowing, knowledge, life, love, nature, old maps, passion, postmark, reason, soul signature, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, understanding, universal, wandering, wisdom, wonder

were e’er the truth
be hiding –
as a speck against the night
as blue beneath
the april lizard’s tongue
as echoes burned
to dying song –
crickets born to cry
forgotten to the living
everything

were stories ours
for writing –
the ending still unseen
revealed in lacey shadows
down the hall –
or grown beyond
the reach of roots
warm beneath the clay –
clutched within the hands
of everything

were reason
ours to master –
seasons ours to sail
worlds beyond the red
that is our flame
of life and love
resounding –
crushes now the sigh
rolled onto the back
of everything

were moments
but a glimmer –
sand between our toes
dimestore glue
and glitter
make a crown
light to torch the fabric
wherein our love
is one –

come to see
(come to be) the truth
in everything

. . .

secrets ne’er forsaken ~

25 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in folklore, Poetry

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

becoming, cherokee, connection, destiny, fearless, grace, knowledge, life, love, nature, passion, reason, soul signature, spirit, strength, truth, understanding, wandering

willing
bends the willow tree
held by lace (and feather)
secrets ne’er forsaken
by the wind

canopies adorned by light
stretched to catch
the heavens –
her firmament
entrusted (to his love)

redbirds
string the sunrise
in slashes yellow golden
played us all (the fiddle)
by the fire

was once I there
(remember)
the warmest overwhelming
caught between forever –
were skies
I never knew

. . .

halls of light ~

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

cherokee, destiny, dreams, fearless, grace, gravel roads, life, living, love, memory, old maps, passion, reason, restless, soul signature, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, understanding, wisdom, writing

spirit lift
as flight betrayed
cool this brow of longing –
raise the window
let the wonder in

of words
my only console
was to find it written
here –
a cause for strength
in memories of light

angels
gather after dark –
to rest above the rafters
silence sings
the sweetest song
I know

lovers wait
eternities
for one more living come –
passed between
our reasons to conceive

blessings
one –
the rest shall let
another breath surrendered
as standing close beneath –
the waters rise

rushing waves
of falling leaves –
wing’eds on the chimney
– sounds to me
the same
within these halls
of light

. . .

til faded ~

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in folklore, Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

becoming, bliss, cherokee, destiny, fearless, forgiveness, life, love, nature, passion, reason, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, wisdom

left the light
for someone there –
halfway down the meadow
glowed the path was
burned into the night

precious truth
of welcome here –
none the words for better
folded now as ribbon
to the vest

keep the warmth
of passions gone –
and bloodless autumn skies
frosted silhouette
above the grave

lay me down
the coming back –
stay the dark til faded
slip into my shadows
as the light

cherokee
and keetoowah –
barefoot maiden wakens
carved her dreams
within each
slanted verse

spin to yarn
these flutters of
mysteries becoming
sacrificed
to flame –
wing’ed reckoning

sworn to dance ~

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in folklore, Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

becoming, cherokee, connection, destiny, fearless, grace, knowledge, life, living, love, nature, passion, postmark, reason, restless, soul signature, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, wandering, wisdom, wonder

guard this heart
as was your own
for surely once it did
beat within the timbre
of your drum

sewn into the measure
of melodies made one
hidden by the secrets
of the rain

fell asleep
along the way
and rocked
the cowboy home –
rushed beyond the canyons
to the sea

fluted as a lullabye
hummingbird to gull –
floating west
a message to divine

perfumed nights
betrayed the chill –
of catfish salamander
cedars sworn to dance
beside the wind

warmest crush
of honeybees
swarm above the waves –
strained into the whisper
was told of you
and me

departed ~

21 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

cherokee, connection, destiny, fear, forgiveness, grace, life, love, passion, reason, restless, solitude, spirit, strength, truth, understanding, wisdom

poised now
the twilight
to turn away the moon –
denied by fate
to see her
blushing bride

given to excuses
for what might never be
let me in
she pleaded
with the tide

how can I
when nothing here
is making me of sense
and surely love so real
will bring me shame

of passions sweet
such tenderness
I yearn to know your ways
to still my heart from bursting
yours
the same

what am I
but ancient steel
some distance from the sun
brushed aside
my honor
for your breeze

as memories
the past resolved
as living let me love
provision now for something
I can’t see

hold the night
a moment more
let me hear your sigh
returning me to silence
waning here

before the dawn
of leaving lost –
there I hold you still
forgotten now
my story –
distance marked
by fear

Author’s Note: Partially inspired by a quote shared with me by a student –
“But holding people away from you, and denying yourself love, that doesn’t make you strong. If anything it makes you weaker, because you’re doing it out of fear.”