southern skies ~

04 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

Tags

becoming, connection, destiny, dreams, family, fearless, grace, gravel roads, life, memory, old maps, passion, reason, restless, spirit, truth, understanding, wandering

take me back
the way we wandered
give me pause to turn around
plant my heart in fields of cotton –
e’er blossoms break
the tender ground

hold me close
the vow remembered
hear my words or let me be
the one you knew before as always –
was not for dreams you’d live
to see

nineteen sons
and thirteen daughters
east to west
the north come clean
take my soul but save the babies
of every sorrow passed between

hand in hand
the charge to carry –
burn my bones or let me fail –
ashes rained in sheets of maple
secrets stored beyond
the veil

tearful eyes
the lowly seeker
waits the choice to come again –
living love in autumn colors
golden reds remember when

southern skies
and not much needed
to make of life – a place for love
breath to breath
and time to question
would evermore be long enough

keep me here
as the rest is written
hands the same as yours – I know
will find the way
some other season –
as north to wander south
to home

Charles Codman Cabin in the Woods

same as mine ~

23 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

becoming, death, destiny, faith, family, fearless, forgiveness, grace, knowledge, life, memory, old maps, reason, restless, self, spirit, strength, wandering, wisdom

beyond the grace
of evening come –
and feather beds
to rest beneath the bone
lessons become layers
of our coming back to find
was all that we had wanted
what was yours –
the same as mine

as cool the sweetest
morning breeze –
into the place we know –
and there but for a moment
silence speaks
of paths resolved the distance
a promise once we made
to come the night
remembering
our home

Author’s Note: For those I hold close ~ who (this week)
have from this tired winter have flown ~ eternal is the spring they love.
Jerry, Andrew, Troy, and Marc

kindred ~

07 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

animal, becoming, connection, family, grace, life, living, love, old maps, reason, reincarnation, relationship, restless, spirit, strength, truth, wandering, wisdom, woman

touch in me
the friendship
that denied another life
and souls as we were passed
before this one –
waiting I would find you
in the kitchen by the sink
dreaming of another day
we loved

unfinished ~

02 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

connection, family, forgiveness, grace, life, living, love, reason, relationship, spirit, strength, truth, understanding, wandering, wisdom, woman

fireflies at twilight
hands on the bible
a smile passed for trust
in between
no need to spend time
on the past unimportant
as the color of paper
neath words left unsaid

thirty years gone
since the season for leaving
fifteen more
than my mother was then
but the eyes of the soul
keep pictures much longer
a tear brushed away
not in time

and truth sealed tight
how many I’ve wondered
poison the sound of my name
falls to the reason
for waiting much longer
than the need to be known
by the curve of her arms

a baby once more
the future unfinished –
grace for another
of gifts passed between

Author’s Note: The relationship of mother to daughter is a cloth
weaved of many threads – love, faith, sorrow and forgiveness.
Because we are the same, we think we know things the same. The
reality is that we are as different as woman to man, wasp to
a firefly, a kiss to a curse.

o daddy ~

17 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

connection, destiny, faith, family, forgiveness, gravel roads, life, living, love, passion, postmark, reason, restless, spirit, truth, value, wisdom, woman

how long I’ve been
in growing up –
the first of four
(so many)
never thought to this
the dreaming in your eyes

when I hold you near
(o, daddy)
you tremble more and more
and I want to cry
(for these, not I)
tomorrow will remember
hold me close
a moment more –
and beg me not (o, baby)
think to things
beyond my weak control

of days or years
I have not either –
or means to slow their passing
take my hands
let’s wander back this way –
to other places (stories told)
in makings of a memory
you washed my feet
with whispers of your love

I shall stay
the long night through –
and fight with words
each demon
would take of leave
this moment here –
tis mine and mine alone

one day
I know
the call will come
and tears will flow untended
but still within
the presence of a smile –
for treasure keeps a place with me
inheritance (already)

arms to wrap around
they feel the same
to me

mary ~

17 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

beauty, becoming, breath, cherokee, connection, death, destiny, family, forgiveness, grace, life, living, love, memory, reason, spirit, strength, truth, winter, wisdom

another night fades
as the first one to go ~
and tonight there’s a quiet
the lonely heart knows
as the place
once adorned by a voice
on the line
and silence made sweeter
by the passing of time

there’s a bed on the ridge
where grace slumbers now
as destinies grieve
what her years won’t allow
was forever
(a moment)
we passed on our way –
flowers left blooming
in the places we lay –

in prayers as a name
repeated again –
and tears have no shame
for to fall

memories gather
in the shadow of life
and we wonder how soon til
forgotten –
will no one be left
not a soul to recall –
who we loved
why we came –
what we made of it all

more than marks to the page
or dates to a stone –
is someone
to hold us
long after we’ve gone

Author’s Note: Written in honor of my aunt,
Mary Pheribol Hughes (1922 – 2012)

plastic roses ~

08 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

breath, connection, death, dreams, faith, family, grace, gravel roads, life, living, love, memory, old maps, reason, relationship, restless, resurrection, spirit, strength, truth, wandering, wisdom, writing

within the depths
of aging hearts –
are memories of love
though some a ways have gone
and paths grown thick

so few without
a name recalled –
for where they sleep (I wonder)
with pieces of my past
to resurrect –

in stillness now
a soldier lies
beside a fallen angel
while rows of plastic roses
grieve them gone

wherever grace be given
their silence warms the breeze
a kiss to seal
(stories left untold)

forgiven me
these rites of life –
might I their voices carry
o’er words another saved
of times to tell

bring them back
with tears of truth –
midnight recollection
of places come to light
within my own

let not them rest uneasy
or music be denied
a place to play
beyond the moss –
where lies eternal love

differences ~

01 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Soapbox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

connection, destiny, differences, faith, family, forgiveness, grace, innocence, love, prejudice, reason, relationship, spirit, strength, truth, wisdom

what is it that we do
to make ourselves of less
than words
than tears
we never dry
for sleepless nights
and children tucked
away in nothing better
than we would give
to those
so not like us
differences
I wonder
more than flesh and bone
and words
were never heard
(but echo still)
what language
bears the burden
of tomorrow
what selfless soul
will grieve for
innocence

angels remaining ~

26 Saturday May 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

becoming, bliss, connection, death, dreams, faith, family, fearless, forgiveness, grace, gravel roads, inheritance, life, living, love, old maps, relationship, restless, spirit, strength, truth, wisdom

living run over with angels
and pictures –
lacey white lace all around
souvenirs tumble from half hidden drawers
and shelves are bowed low
with the weight of my life

places and people –
(though some are gone missing)
last night I waited
their souls by the door

lights burn beyond me
above this sweet presence
and all that is left
my treasures to hold
some say forever
are lost their reminders
but I carry them with me
wherever I go –

a tattoo of love
makes no room for sorrow
and sometimes in mirrors I see
her eyes in reflections
of grandaddy’s creases –
his hands when I reach
now to touch

my laughter an echo
inheritance dances –
and I sleep just the same
as she does
of the best (every one)
the worst but a shadow –
and I pay no rent to that place

might lifetimes become
in the blink of existing –
and all that is left
forgotten my name –
but for traces of something
they can’t quite imagine

and a picture still standing
with angels in lace

whisperings ~

24 Thursday May 2012

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

connection, faith, family, grace, gravel roads, living, love, memory, old maps, passion, reason, relationship, restless, southern, spirit, strength, wisdom, woman

my grandmother knew
as grandmothers know
when first they held us to light
something (but who has the words
to describe it)
hush (now the sins of) your heart
take it down
burn the bed
whispering flutters
madness to meaning
though everyone shades (their soul)
from the truth
a sign unexpected
broken and scattered
there goes the star
now ahead
won’t say a thing
about stories repeated
things we might know
(we don’t know)
messages can’t be heard
above screaming
where I am (listening)
grandmother knows