Poetry
Sandra Seitamaa For Unsplash+
Parenting without punctuation
born on Woodridge lane
love nurtures connection
try so hard in a toddler’s arms
first steps first words first school day
first dance first driving lesson
be near the lake when growing up
weave in proper religion
for her good you should
parent tries earnest mistakes must be made
perfect is not a word
family travel wished for bonding
growing together truth or myth
became the query
no answer
just keep life moving
do enough do too much
don’t do too much
you didn’t do
enough
enough becomes a concept a noun
that spins everyone’s head around
who knows what who is thinking
covid came innocence went
do high school right march in the band
dating someone
no one knows how
quiet child withdrawn
see a professional nothing is wrong
charming child loves orphans
the mission trip achieved it
go to college
embrace new challenge
accept those defined different be the first
help feed those not seen
what inner beauty
there is God’s grace
travels the world spirit so strong
no more worry
there is a plan
don’t need your help you don’t know much
you are a generation gap is a refrain
she says I love you and you are old
sullen and don’t touch me
mixed in cheery and chipper
smile effervescent made of love
a summation of this confusing confounding
these contradictions infuse a day a week a year a life
why didn’t you give us a chance
all of the above is true and was the earthly end of you
now those loved are left behind
emotions broke staccato thoughts
cannot rhyme or reason why
experts say don’t try
much is left in this Terra world
much joy swirls and wishes to be with you
your spirit dances beyond here in peace
we are left loving woven into grief
in mortal peace we long for some relief
but we all know
love once gifted equals grief now lifted
Grief cannot be Out Run
Loved one departs,
the race starts
Like hounds on a hunt
Emotions howling in your head
Try and scurry to search
to keep moving, take a breathless pace
and find those thoughts to distract and conquer grief
and if you don’t you will sink
Think the mundane, the trivial
like is there grass to mow
a screen to scroll
or any places to go
Relentless mental musing intends to spark
an engine to launch you
On the quest, the odyssey to escape
grief’s gravity, life’s emotional zoo
These thoughts create a fool’s rush
As quixotic synapses try to wire a mental time machine
and skip through the trials of loss
and exit the pain of grief’s process
Until psychic exhaustion seizes your brain
and forces a deep revelation.
The journey forward from a loved one lost
has no short cuts
to heal a wound
so festered with regret, sorrow and doom
All this psychokinetic tempo
only serves to create a false serenity mask
That must be lifted to reveal a soothing spirit
So walk a slow healing trek
find a therapeutic pace only you create
and know grief’s gait is a simple stride
with no solution in mind game maundering
For grief is not vanquished with a busy mind
It boards your soul an unwanted passenger
and is weighed equal to the love held
for the one who crossed the thin immortal veil
So carry this passenger in a deliberate way
Feel love and grief in slow even measure
And inch toward a quiet mind
And move as a changed spirit
Coin of existence
Love and grief
are stamped from the same spiritual blank.
Spark of life etches love on one side,
fate carves grief on the other.
The universe has an indifferent hand that,
flips your currency
in a free fall,
watch it spin to sharpen your view.
Your spirit coin bounces and rattles
and comes to rest,
one side up
the other pulsing through.