The fire warms us,
melting each wound
until the recall dies away
Tag: heal
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
There was a lock around my heart,
chains dragging behind me, longer than Jacob Marley’s.
I thought I’d have them forever,
but it turned out that words are a great corrosive,
eating into the toughest metals.
They didn’t come from me, I was too much
on the inside, struck dumb by expectations and resigned attitudes.
They came from you, from a single offer you made
of trying to help me solve a puzzle.
Neither of us realised the puzzle
was ourselves.
Keep sake
My heart is a trinket box
previously filled with costume jewellery
lovely in its own way
but I have sensitive skin
and you know how metals react with sensitive skin
over time.
I wore it often
thinking that I always would
claiming the style matched my own
even on days it turned my skin green
or threw up a rash.
It wasn’t until after a decade had passed
that it occurred to me I’d been avoiding
the obvious truth.
No matter how much I adored it
it was not a true match.
We weren’t compatible
in the way I thought
and gradually it had spilt out of my heart-box
leaving me empty.
Empty
enough to be filled
with something truly precious.
Not a trinket
not a necklace
not another box.
A living beating pulsing heart.
My own.
Mind Song
We float around in our little heads,
conjuring images from things long said
and if the circuit board
should ever be damaged
wiping our memories
both sweet and savage,
we know that time often heals
with due care, sensible practices and steady meals.
Even if we’re unsure what we’re seeking
we can still approach the stars with proper greeting.
Self-Examination
You never know what you’ll find when you look inside.
Pull out your innards,
find the glow left behind by faulty wires
and burnt out circuit boards
replaced so many times you can no longer remember
what the original was like.
There may be a spark. A glint.
A cog
needing only slight encouragement
to fit back into the mechanism
and start time again.
Off Beat
‘Did someone pull you by the hand?’
you ask.
‘No,’ I answer. ‘My heart discovered
it was beating a different rhythm
to the one it thought it beat.
It was shocked, angry at itself
and guilty when it discovered that no matter how hard it tried,
it couldn’t find the melody it’d lost.
The new one was too strong,
too wild, too free and
too accepting of itself.’
‘And of the heart
whose rhythm it once matched?’
‘It beats still, sound and capable,
ready to find another
to fall into sync with.
Mild and honest, it will always
be true to its owner.’
Bliss
Your eyes will tell me all I need to know;
they can ask the greatest question,
and give the most honest answer.
One concept merging with another,
taking the rough ore of the mind and smelting it
into a pure resonance of the feeling inside.
Then everyone else appears.
Cosmic balance has been thrown asunder — they casually waltz into this space,
shattering, roaring like an ocean, waves crashing hard.
Up goes your invisible barrier, concealing
my best friend.
But I remember
falling asleep to your heartbeat
pulsing against my ear.
I know you’ll always let me in.
You gave me a key after all.
And as our fingers link, those emotions you keep contained
can finally be set free.
Like you’ve done for me,
I’ll squeeze the bad thoughts away
so that you can be cheerful again.
Treeshallow Musings 