Cherry Blossom Teardrops from Yesteryears

 

 

Renewal is our greatest victory.

 

            Every young child has a place of escape.  Some have hidden places  in outside; some have places inside their own mind and some like me or maybe just me found that place from the window of a third floor multifamily house  overcrowded, but full of growth and love.  I could tell I was different as I would find and expose levels of meaning in things I probably shouldn’t have been analyzing at such a young age.  But every morning I sat by that window watching the sky puzzle into a new day.  Birds would sing and wave at me and the clouds always had a way of showing me new shapes and visions I’ve never seen before.  And right in front of me was that old cherry tree with its branches dressed in an elegant white.  I knew soon it would expose its sometimes sour fruit.  That tree always symbolized a new beginning for me because things around me seemed to change every time that cherry tree dressed up in white.

            The last time I remembered it dressed up in renewal was the day my Nana moved to Springfield, MA.  I no longer had her making that morning breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and grits.  I wasn’t a big fan of the grits but she always found a way to trick me into eating them.  It’s those small things you miss when someone you are use to is not there anymore.  For a young boy like me, my Nana was a superhero.  Her cape was her heart and her superpowers were her wisdom and presence she gave just by saying everything would be “okay”.  And I remember sitting by that window realizing things were going to change for us left behind.  My mother, uncles and aunts would be on their own and would be giving the chance to strut their independence.  Me and my little cousin Jerome would lose those arms that always embraced us and that lap that was always an escape from our little but loud tears.  I never understood why she left back then, but with a new and unexpected baby and the trials and tribulations of a marriage that soured, I came to realize she needed her own growth for once and she had to find a renewal to re-establish her strength as a woman.

            But I was selfish and wanted her to stay.  I wanted her all to myself because without her I didn’t think our family could stay unified in that same know she tied so tightly.  I already sensed it unraveling as my ears always rattled with fighting between my aunts who were still young enough to depend on the womb of a mother.  My mother wasn’t around as much because she needed that time to find that new beginning for her and a young child that was me.  Back then even I realized that every end yielded new opportunities.  The wind always blew things in the direction they are meant to travel.  And that same wind always massaged the branches of that tree filling the air with cherry blossom teardrops as a young life watched yesterday emerge into the formations of a new tomorrow.

 

When time cries, we learn to evolve.

 

 

 

© 2010

Tarringo T. Vaughan

Yesteryears

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Clutching at Straws

PS Currently I write under the pen name  RG Johnson.

Sometimes
I stand in the corner
of a world sinking
A tub of lather penetrating
through the sea breeze
Sands of time tickling my toes

However, you gaze outward
let it be with visible heart, and eye
For the clanging of chimes will wither
rustic values will follow

Our history is what sets us apart
melting hearts into various parts

Sometimes
I lay awake in the middle of the day
thinking of you, the photo album opens
and my mind takes me through
the atlas of my soul spins, and twists

However, you phase out
leaving the zone of imprisoned verses
the prose seek no refuge, there's too much to say
releasing the clouded doubt, the billowing chaos
Hands of time trickling down stones

Our history is what sets us apart
melting hearts into various parts

However, you look upon it...
(c) Karen D. [1000+]

Choose

Death is a specter that’s always hovering

WE worry about it so much that often we forget to live

Time spins fast and we wonder where it went

Poof it’s gone, and we haven’t accomplished what we set out to do

THat loss should emphasize to us that we need to live

Worrying doesn’t change a thing, and in the long run things work out

Why not open ourselves to experience life and love

That’s really the measure of a person if they were loved  or if they did some good

Friendships and bonds formed, cherishing family, a sense of belonging

The chance to share a story, a smile, the gift of sharing time with someone

To truly be ourselves and just live joyfully

To stop and smell the roses, plant a garden, enrich a child’s mind

Nurturing and caring for something gives us a sense of hope and optimism

Visualize your life as a glass that is overflowing

Material things don’t matter, and are not a measure of success

To see someone light up when you walk into the room, you are successful

DEath will come when it is due but for now, seek and live 

Revelation of half a cat

 

You want to marry me

I want to marry you

 

My love spilling over like a fountain

Your love calm as a lake

My affection for you warm like a chocolate brownie

Your affection for me cool like lemon sorbet

My arms flying around you each time we meet

Your arms limp, by your side

You are just not that kind of guy, you tell me

My heart racing in anticipation

Your heart a steady rhythm

Always in control, you let me know

My soul jumping for joy

Your soul is doing something, too, I guess

I am in seventh heaven

You are in space

I feel like singing

You feel like some quiet time

I feel like dancing

You feel like resting

I go for a walk. There it is, outside the drive through window of the dry cleaners. A little black bundle crouched on the pavement, she lifts her head, meowing. I stop to look and jump back in surprise. Her backside is missing, I don’t even see her hind legs. She is only half a cat - curiously enough she is still alive. A young girl with long black hair steps out of the store, she tells me the cat jumped out of the bushes and now there she is, meowing, in pain, unable to move. The back is a brown dried up mass of her insides. The Vietnamese man from the nail salon joins us, he tells the dry cleaners girl to call Animal Control. There we are, the three of us staring at the half a cat, sharing our thoughts on what might have happened. This is not a fresh injury. After getting hurt she probably hid in the bushes and licked her wounds instinctively hoping to recover. But it never happened, there is no hope, though the wounds are all crusted over, she can’t go on living like that. She is only half a cat. She’s losing strength, she can hardly lift her head anymore. The meowing has stopped.

You want to marry me

I don’t want to marry you

It feels like Spring fickle weather

Luring us with promises of warm, gentle breezes

Then the bottom will fall out and snow or cold will return

Spent the day outside uncovering perennial beds

Soaking up the sun and warmth

Truly happy to spend time outdoors

Yet I have seen it snow here in April 

 So I wait for the other shoe to drop

This whole week has been unseasonably warm

Spent the day outdoors instead of writing

Must admit it felt good though

Even my buddy the chipmunk emerged from his den

Chippy scampered around me making me laugh

He and I became friends last year

While I inspect the gardens, weed etc he’s always nearby

Sometimes he scolds me and sitting loudly complaining of some mistreatment

Saturday I’ll eat lunch outside with him and save my apple core for the little beggar

When I plant he’s usually there to digging

WE must share of love of gardening lol

Sometimes I get sunflowers coming up where I didn’t put them,

 it’s Chippy’s work I know

I am already dreaming of flowers, but I’ll have to wait

There are months and years that I don’t think of you

Then I hear a song and am transported to another place and time

A time when love was bright and new

And Lord help me I can’t stop but wonder about you

The what ifs play heavily upon my mind

I doubt that we would have made it, but I’ll never be sure

It’s said that you don’t ever forget your first love 

I believe that’ s true for most

That within the secret recesses of our heart, they linger

First love can be so bittersweet

Now I have to put away all the what might have beens

A springhouse cleaning of my heart so to speak

Memories of long ago

Yet I still wish you well, so I’ll say a quick prayer 

 Hope that you found what you needed

I’m sure it  wasn’t me just as I’m sure that we could never really be

After reading Robin's latest we just had to collab again Here is the link to his latest write. REad his first then this for it to make sense
http://www.flexwriterscreativenetwork.net/members/profile/801/blog-view/blog_7507.htm 

Two Spirits

Who are you to think you are me?

A spirit with a gentle kind  heart

Who bleeds for  all of humanity

Hearts that beat in compassion’s guide

We are the power of Light and good

Where I go can you follow?

All around the immortal world

I enter your dreams each night

Spirits their knowledge you actively seek

I’m building towers of light

I am old you are younger

Spirits hovering always near

I am the sun you are the cloud

Spirits rejoicing in the light

The magic radiates pulsing ever strong

For you to live must I perish?

A hunting spirit that is strong

When I am gone will you take notice?

Two hungry spirits become one

Knowledge gasps as Magic radiates out

 Robin Sonnet Diva collab all rights reserved

Awakening to a brand new day

Stop, breathe ,reflect

Gather your thoughts before it begins

Check off your to do list

Scurrying

Scurrying

Mission driven get it done

Cleaning , working ,accomplishing

In overdrive times passes

Blinders on full speed ahead

Unaware

Unaware

No time to smell the flowers

Birds sing ,you don’t hear

Work through lunch

Still much to do

Wasting

Wasting

No time just for yourself

Forgotten how to play

Memories of friends long gone

Existing not living

Recognition

Recognition

Time and life wait for no one

Only get one chance at this

You need to reconnect

Take better care of you
Sonnet Diva all rights reserved 

Dark Nights

The hours drag when it gets dark

Memories invade

The loneliness is stark

Toss and turn you just can’t sleep

Fears slowly creep 

Waiting 

Waiting

For the dawn to bring some light

Perhaps some clarity

Outside in the garden you can sit

People wave as they pass by

You look up and see the sky

Time passes

Time passes

The light is fading fast

Inside you go, still all alone

The walls are closing in

Sanity hanging by a thread

It is the night that you do dread

Breathe

Breathe

You find you miss him even more

The bed engulfs you  and it’s cold

No one to talk to, and hold your hand

You cry and ask why

There is no way that you could try

Sobbing

Sobbing

You give in to all those tears

It’s anguish that you feel

Lost your way and don’t know how to find your way back

Off you go into the abyss

Wondering if you will be missed?