A Life Betrayed

She lives the only life
she has ever known
inside someone else’s home

she wonders how she came to this
miles of fields and distance
a breeze touching her
now frail being

did someone leave her here
without her knowing and
will she wake one day
to find she’s dreaming

for she loved him so in her way
but was he a mirage or
just a ruse she wrote of
in her own knowing

before her body did betray
and stole her life
and youth

© September 2017 Renee Espriu

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Prompt. Read more at

“Archaic Torso of Apollo” by Rainer Marie Rilke … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

Christina's World

This painting rendered by artist Andrew Wyeth will never be able to access the mind of the young woman who gave rise to its’ inspiration. Christina Olson is the subject of this mysterious and haunting painting called ‘Christina’a World’.

**I Will Be The Scent of Flowers**

When I am gone I will be
like a balm to heal
all disease of your body
wounds of your heart
will be calmed

I will be the water from
the run-off of snow
driven over waterfalls
into rivers & oceans below

I will be that silence
that cleanses your spirit
& be the peace of your soul


I will not be the arrows
in a quiver to pierce
unless with pure love
that helps you
soar

I will be the essence of love
& when you breathe in
the scents of flowers
it will be me

I will be the sweetness
of honeysuckle, lilacs, roses
& you will know I loved you

you will remember me always
each time the rain gives life
for I will be in each raindrop
I will be the warmth of sun
a blanket for the sky

I will be the sweet chocolate
you taste & hear as
you break into it with
its’ tempered snap

remember this is all I hope
for you now with a love
to embrace you forever

after I am gone I will BE

© February 2017 Renee Espriu

Image Taken From Morgue File & Digitized by Myself

i-will-be

I took a prompt from Jamie Dedes’s site about what would you be if you were able to come back in another lifetime. As Jamie says, even if you do not believe in reincarnation, the idea of coming back as something else is intriguing. Please see her post at https://jamiededes.com/2017/02/01/one-lifetime-after-the-other-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-promp. This is dedicated to all of my adult children, each of which, have had many health issues during their adult lives.

She Never Told Me

she never told me
who she was
attaching herself
to me as calmly as a
shroud, a winding sheet

nudging me ever so
slightly like a shadow
ever-present even
after the sun
diminishes in the sky

she never told me why
her hair was short
whilst mine was
braided long with
ribbons twisted in
colored fashion

my body captured in
dresses and hers
a bit of shorts and
summer shirt bare
feet running past

my own in shiny black
leather reaching for
conformity, acceptance,
approval but sadness
overwhelming as i

looked back to see her
smile to beckon me
closer to not look
back at life come
lately heartless
without forgiveness

she never told me
who she was as i
took her hand in mine
holding tightly we
twirled dancing
free,  cutting

loose the winding sheet
collecting our shadow
unto ourself as we
sped toward loving

who we had to become
she never told me
who she was
she did not have to
for she was me

© May 2012 Renee Espriu