Dance (as 2019 begins)

Dance
Dance to the beat of your heart
To the rhythm of your soul
To the call of the body
as she dreams to be whole.

Dance.
Dance with your arms outstretched
to mirror the expansiveness that is you
No need to slump and hide
As life calls out anew.

Dance.
Dance with the lightness of a feather,
Unbounded, soft and free.
Celebrate the being that you are now,
A rooted, strong tree.

Dance.
Dance to live
Dance past the pain.
Dance to be seen,
let go of the shame.
Dance to celebrate,
this spirit that's born again.
And despite the challenges that come your way,
Remember as you show up each day,
To dance.
Simply dance.

#31: Beating the Blues

Sometimes I wish I could drape

a piece of the sky around you

So that you would remember

How you believed you could fly.

Other times, I wish I could lay the ocean

Right outside your doorstep

So that you could look beyond the walls

And see a limitless world to live by.

Maybe then, you could break free

From these self-imposed boxes

And with the sky for your wings

And the sea at your feet,

Find the strength to go seeking

Those mysterious, magical lands

That lay just beyond the horizon,

where the sky and the sea meet.

Or if the call of adventure

Seems too daunting in these times

At least walk to the shores

Leaving old imprints on the sands

Casting off the voices that hold you back

All the shoulds, the nevers, the can’ts

Until all you hear is call of the seabirds

Guiding lost sailors to safe lands.

I know it feels like it’s too late now

You say this is all you can be

The call of the sky and sea overwhelming

All you feel is the churning inside you.

Until you know you are not alone

Until you believe again in your dreams

I’ll be right by your side, I’ll be your voice,

And for now paint your walls blue.

#24 : House of Lies

Remember the story of the three little pigs?

In a ploy to escape the wolf and stay safe

Each tried to make a home strong and sturdy 

And yet each time they conceded defeat. 

And finally it was the house of bricks,

That pig #3 built that did the trick. 

That's the kind of house we build 

With the lies we often tell ourselves. 

It starts with wanting safety from the fears outside

But before we know it, we completely lock ourselves in. 

The house of bricks becomes a prison strong,

Making even all our rights seem all wrong. 

I too once built a strong house of lies,

For denial seemed the only way to cope

From my failures, from my broken dreams ,

Wanting a haven where the bruised heart could heal  

And believed that in this house of bricks,  

No more hurt would life ever inflict. 

But that's not how life turned out to be. 

Denial numbed everything else with the pain 

And sitting inside that house for years feeling safe 

I turned into a stranger I could barely recognise. 

And as the lies further strengthened those walls 

My bruised heart could feel nothing at all. 

I began to see how this seemingly wise escape 

Had demanded the price of my vulnerability. 

Cladding me with a rusty iron armour to protect

But in reality, hurting my scarred skin even more.  

And it's true that the tears did stop for a while,

But with that also stopped the hugs, the smiles.  

Finally my head and my heart could bear it no more 

The armour was cast aside and with that

Once more I felt the pain, but I also felt the love 

- not a bad bargain!

And though it's scary, yet all the same  

I am slowly learning to shed these lies of mine 

And for now a house of straws will do just fine. 

Finding Me

Finding me

In others I've sought to find myself

How meaningless that now seems to be

For it took me away from my own inner world

That nurtured the introverted part of me.

Am I doing enough for him? for her?  for them?

These questions now need to change

It's time to try out some new rules

Even though they may seem a bit strange

Going silent than talking things out

Seems to be the way of the world

That I am now beginning to grasp

As I console within me this girl

Who always thought that confronting helped

in healing relationships that matter

But that seems far from the truth

Now shoved beneath safe chatter.

I am learning how we all have our own versions of truth.

Between two truths what's truer - who's to say!

And self disclosure and confronting seem rather naive

It's time for me to find a wiser way

to sort thru the complications of these relationships

To make meaning of my life

To think through what it truly means to be me

and not just a friend, a mother, a wife.

To find myself I seek solitude now

To dive into my own inner world where I belong

The relationships, the reaching out can wait for a bit

While I create my own rhythm, my song!