@ocean_rhythm
LILY
Lifting white above the muddy pond / In the still heat of July it opens
DAWN
Day pouring slow over the edge of hills / And before the sun the birdsong fills the dark
OCEAN
Old bones of ships lie quiet in the dark / Currents carrying heat from one world to the next
CROSS
Crossing the distance between you and the truth is never free / Reaching the other shore requires leaving the one you stand on
FOG
From the sea it climbs the cliffs at night / Once it settles the lighthouse earns its keep
LEARN
Long after the lesson, what it taught you is still organizing your choices / Every mistake fully understood becomes an asset in the decisions ahead
LEAF
Loosening from the branch on a cold October day / Every color it holds was always in it
FOND
Far across the years a warmth persists / Of someone who is gone but still close
SUN
Something changes in the room when it arrives / Under every shadow it has placed a warmth
ANEW
Another beginning is possible from any point along the way / Not every fresh start requires a new geography or new face
BUILD
Becoming the thing you want to be is a project of many small days / Unless you are willing to be imperfect while building, you never build
QUIET
Quite often what looks like inaction is the loudest kind of inner work / Understanding arrives on its own schedule to the mind that waits for it
GALE
Grinding through the rigging of the moored boats / All the old sounds of the valley are erased
COOK
Chopping onions and crying productively / One mistake turned into the best thing in the pot
MARSH
Moving with the tide in slow agreement / And in the reeds a bittern keeps its secret
WARM
Woven through the ordinary hours / Arriving without announcement or fanfare
SONG
Slipping into the room from a neighbor’s open window / One summer compressed into three minutes of melody
RIVER
Rolling past the town without acknowledging it / Indifferent to the bridges built above
BURN
Being on fire for what you love is not the same as burning out / Under the ash of what is spent, the coal is still alive
GRIEF
Going back to find them in a dream / Reaching for a hand that isn't there
AWE
A silence falls before the vast / When beauty overwhelms the mind
SELF
Something in you watches everything that happens to you / Every version of yourself contains the one before it
PATH
Pebbles worn smooth by daily feet / A shortcut only the neighbors know
PATH
Pavement still damp from the morning / A trail worn by the same shoes every day
WORD
What is spoken aloud becomes a thing that lives outside of you / Only the right word in the right moment has the power to change
SIGN
Something in the pattern points to more than accident / In the recurring theme, a message waits for you to read it
MARSH
Mist hanging low above the reed beds / All the wildfowl settling for the night
DESK
Done with the day and still sitting in the chair / Everything needed somewhere on this surface still
GRIEF
Going on means carrying them with you / Remembering is the only way to keep them
SONG
Something from years ago played by accident / On the radio while driving nowhere important
HOLD
Holding what is real does not require a tighter grip / Only softness keeps what force would crush to pieces
HOPE
Here where the darkness presses in / Our eyes adjust to find the light
FOUND
Following the loss all the way to where it leads / One day what was missing walks back in a different form
SWEET
Slow the moment to receive its gift / Warm as bread pulled from the oven
RIVER
Rolling stones downstream without effort / Into the gorge the water falls and rises
HOPE
Holding on when the night is long / Only the brave dare to believe
CALM
Cradling the storm until it sleeps / All the noise begins to thin
SEED
Sleeping through the dark months without complaint / Even without sun it knows what it is for
MEAL
Making do with what is left in the fridge / Every plate cleared before anyone speaks
LAMP
Lamp on and everything else made secondary / A habit now to reach for it at dusk
STONE
Sitting in the riverbed for centuries / Telling time in ways we cannot read
TOWN
The clock tower still working and still wrong by two minutes / Old shopfront that has held three businesses in ten years
PAST
Putting down what you have carried from what was is the day’s real work / A past held too tightly becomes the story that prevents the next one
JUBILEE
Just this once the weight lifts off / Under every sky a cause for thanks
FIRE
Finally the long cold night has a center / In the sparks each small star finds its end
FIELD
Far from any wall it grows toward itself / Insects threading between the tall grass stems
PHOTO
Pulled out to show someone and then kept out / Holding more information than the image shows
COOK
Comfortable when nothing else is making sense / One more thing added because it was there
TEA
Too hot at first and then exactly right / Every steep a slightly different result
GENTLE
Going only where the invitation is / Each approach announced before it lands