Little Love Bug

                                                                                                   O

                Love bug likes the light
                Reaches up, eyes shining bright
                His hands proclaim, all must behold
                This wondrous spot of glowing gold
        Feel his smile, few-toothed grin
        Chubby cheeks and dimples in,
        Happiness so pure it shakes
        You to the core and breaks
Your heart and seeps through every pore
Until your teeth are clenched
And wanting more,
To hug, the need to squeeze
Upswells  from all that love
In your eyes and his,   clear as bells.

Self-sufficient

Living one direction
Making decisions
That are contested

When the persuasions
and hopes
of others drive you
more than your own

When
"I miss you" sounds
like a reproach

It's hard to see
the true course
Around the rocks
When the river bends and splits

Listening, waiting
And striking
Always at the right time
Not missing

When it feels like failure
To just be
And moving feels like sickness
While hiding rips and deadens

Living independent
While supporting others
And finding support
Is the rotating balance
That challenges
and keeps you alive.

Stagnant

Thinking too much
Of What Could Be
Creates the regret
For the waste of Now
And Loss of the Past
Without seizing the Future
Leaves wishing and wanting
Without vitality

Momentary Colours

The snow is blue
With evening hue
Reflected from the sky
The inky trees
Like knobby knees
Jutting from the crust
This light lasts for
Just minutes more
As sun slips farther by
Azure turns darker
Past some marker
Night takes over dusk

Pass Word

The greatness in
A moment when you
Were pretty sure you couldn't help
But a thrown out word
Prompted a thought
That you could have quieted
But shared aloud
Just in case
And then
Sudden success!
Brilliance through luck
And the good timing
The thinking to say it
For help or annoyance
And so much undoable
Becomes managed

Painted Hollows

Unsure of technique
Every move a first time
Fearing cracks or worse
And unable to do
But wait
And then release the mold
Or try to

Experiencing Now

It can be freeing
To stop in a moment of remembering
Catch yourself at it
And label it for what it is
Then return to the present.
This remembering, imagining
Can relive the good
Or dwell in bad and build unease
Like sickness
And both can hurt

Dreams and possibilities
Built without intention or action
Lack foundation so completely
And yet wrap layers of trappings
Insulation that mutes reality
Diluting life

Guilt, regret, embarrassment,
Pain, longing, sadness
Anxiety and dread
Can serve a purpose, But beyond this point
Serve only to degrade and poison
Binding with hesitation, worry,
Self - hating, doubting,
Circling and sickening

Dwelling in fantasy
Or punishing thoughts repeating
Trap and separate, stall, pulling down
When we'd flourish with a little pruning
And a lot of light

Care is more complex than that
And growth takes many paths
But living is necessary
To find the worth in more
Than an experience of stasis