After the Cancer

After the cancer, the flowers seem more alive

the love flows more freely, but different somehow

it is a softer knowing, the importance

of breathing, and an assurance

that life is more than today,

more than the body.

There is a beauty

in learning

how to

live.

      

Note: I wrote this today, not really intending to, and having come full circle. For a long time I avoided writing about my wife having had cancer, not wanting to relive all the pain and fear we experienced. Sometimes it did leak out, and find its way here into the blog, but it was more like a type of grieving, and I never really liked that much.

Now though, I don’t grieve like I used to. Even though my wife’s body will never be the same, she is doing so well, and she is able to work a part time job for the first time in a long time.

So if you don’t mind, once in a while I may write about this part our journey together – as a way of looking forward, instead of looking back.

My Love and I are celebrating life! Our love is much deeper and richer now.

Peace.

        

Poetry, Narrative, and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

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Breathing Deeply

Breathing deeply has never been a religion

but it has always been there

to slow us down,

heart listening

to our lungs.

     

Breathing deeply has always enhanced

our humanity, especially with nature

drawing us further, deeper still

the oneness

of all things.

     

There is great wisdom

within

a single breath.

     

Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

Forward

Being human we will make mistakes

but never let discouragement

be your mantra.

Live in the positive

with strength flowing

and go forward.

        

Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

We Can Get There

Our feet should always tread on sacred ground

discarding our shoes, or what hinders us

from believing the truth about ourselves,

that there is a strength existing

and that the sky

is eternal. Our vision lives,

love always telling us

we have a sacred value

so let us walk boldly

because we can

get there

from here –

from right where

we are.

    

And when we do

we will be amazed.

      

Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

The Fisherman

So he went with some friends from work on a fishing trip.  As they popped open some beers, he drank in the wind, while the boat was leaving the harbor. As a writer, he was soaking in the sea further out, mind on another poem. Drifting.

But he did come to fish, and fish he did! Muscles aching from reeling it in, a giant sea bass! Just right for the table. And when he arrived back home, he truly was a hero. This is one story where the big one did not get away! It barely fit into the freezer.

Later as he told his story, his wife’s eyes were filled with admiration, and yes even some longing. Not much more of the story can be told here. But let’s just say, after the children were asleep, the lights were dimmed, and the curtains drawn. And the fisherman returned from the sea!

She always did love his beard……..and he always loved her hands……..on his face.

           

Writing and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

Notes from Emily

Two Poems from Emily Dickinson

  If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

*****

The sky is low, the clouds are mean,

A travelling flake of snow

Across a barn or through a rut

Debates if it will go.

    

A narrow wind complains all day

How some one treated him;

Nature, like us, is sometimes caught

Without her diadem.

       

Poetry by Emily Dickinson 1830-1886

Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

Crossing the Stream

And she did not worry

when he wandered into the woods

never jealous, or tying ropes around his heart

praying instead for him to fly

for his spirit to sing.

She loved his weapons, she loved

everything about him.

       

As his foot stepped gently on the rocks

crossing over the stream, he stopped

and listened to the sounds of water,

of the forest alive, hearing –

the sound of his own heart

when he heard her words,

the greatest words a man could hear

he saw the trees but heard

“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Smiling with joy, he crossed over

and so it is to this day.

        

Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

His Song Returned

He wasn’t exactly sure when his song returned

but it was there now, for sure

filling his chest, his mind

with a sense of wonder

dancing.

Somehow sunlight

flowed again

as if

he had been

reborn.

      

He knew sitting on rocks

next to the waterfall,

breathing the mist

was part of it,

but there was more,

a sense of joy –

of being loved

her smile

always filled

him.

     

Peace of oneness,

and his song

was alive

Again.

      

Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

She’s the One

A fighter from an early age,

gleaming sword

yet the power of flowers,

and hands

that know the work,

of love.

Beauty and power

in one,

giving away

and yet taking in.

She’s the one

for me.

       

Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”

The Forest of the Abandoned

 

Deep in the forest of the abandoned there is a small light,

very small, a signal really, that it’s time for snow melting

transforming  into a stream, and then a river, molding

itself into a surge, growing in strength into a relentless rescue.

Covering, cleansing the ones left for dead, washing them,

until even their screams are erased, and

they can believe in their circulation

once again.

         

Poetry and Image © Copyright 2016, ancient skies

Peace and blessings to everyone.

“When we love people, we give them hope.”