Three Poems
Freedom
I feel the warmth of the sun color my skin
I run with abandon towards nothing in particular
I run without ever shifting course
The grass contains my footprints in their wake as I trample over flowers.
My hope and dreams unbridled and unburdened
The ease in which I breathe alone
And then like a boat to a lighthouse
The sound of Appa’s voice calls me home.
His voice carries over the breeze
I turn my back on my path
I cannot see the forest for the trees
Not understanding I can never look back.
I whisper goodbye to the sky
And shut the door behind me
And the life behind it dies
From now on there is only duty.
Sacrifice
The sun no longer shines on me
It is unfair to need to be fair
I must become what they need me to be
Give up bits and pieces of myself until I am no longer there.
The ever looming weight to be placed on my ring finger
The unwanted promise of a far away land
The pictures of my own life go out with a whimper
All of my hopes and desires be damned.
I whisper goodbye to the sun I’ve always known
I step in the world of strangers with a stranger by my side
Lost in an ocean of newness after I’ve crossed the Atlantic
Stilted conversations, his jagged edges don’t seem to fit with mine.
Drowning in the dark blue dawn
I cannot part with the sea
The only lifeline to which I can hold on
Are the whispers and the awkward pauses that lie between.
Compromise
Beads of sweat trickle as the sun bares down on me
I till the soil with my own hands
The little bud I have planted will take root as I once did
Blossoming into something new in this land.
An easy smile and unspoken understanding
As an added set of hands finds its way to the soil
The fragmented dreams of my past are slowly mending
As they bend and mold into once again whole.
A gentle balance of letting go and holding on
The loss of the world I knew I often recall
The love the world I know reminds me that
Sacrificial love is the most beautiful and painful of all.
I whisper hello to this new flower
Fragile with roots so deep beneath
It grows deeper with each passing hour
And together we breathe.