Turbulent seas crash upon the shore
oceans wailing while sweeping
footprints from the sand
from the sand
footprints of those made
by hearts no longer beating
When did the beauty vanish
behind shuttered lives in darkness
while voices scream on distant shores
surrounded now by "silence"
Howling winds blow keening trees
trembling leafs cry tears of pantone
buried beneath a blanket of needles
covering the earth a resting place
for hearts abandoned alone
When did the beauty vanish
behind shuttered lives in darkness
while voices scream on distant shores
surrounded now by "silence"
© Renee Espriu
Photo is my own.
Welcome to all of my visitors who have kept
coming throughout my extended absence here.
I am posting a writing today that is as
inspired as it is somber. I was in my last
year of high school when the Vietnam war
raged on to take lives of well over a million.
The music during that time reached some of
those who would rally against such times
as these and to this day this music stays
with me. History will always repeat itself
and times will change but war and the path
of destruction and death will continue to
be that which is made by greed and power.
I won't explain here as I am certain there
are many who will understand of what I
write.
Two musicians and lyricists continue to
inspire and their music will continue to
be relevant within our history.
They are Pete Seeger whose music is "Where Have
All The Flowers Gone" and Simon and Garfunkel
whose music is "The Sound of Silence". Both
are powerful in the message they send.
I hear their music always and feel it within
my heart pleading people to not only 'hear'
but to 'listen' and to be those who not only 'talk'
but those who speak', to not be oblivious to what
is happening in our world, to not live in
darkness or in silence. Be mindful of all
those who have given their lives and those
lives which have been taken.
Be mindful and learn from those mistakes
made and the world will once again see
and remember all that has come before.
The Earth Spinning Blue
The world is filled with anxiety, stress
& anxious people walking a tightrope of life
the earth spinning blue in a universe of black
turning endlessly in timeless beginnings
with barren landscapes screaming dry with thirst
deforestation stripping away the green of trees
within the reality of nature’s bitter tears
walking with careless abandon toward free falling
drifting slowly as Alice did down the rabbit hole
turning, slowly spinning while the earth spins
aimlessly, screaming at the unknown fast forward
on the tightrope of life a kaleidoscope of color
holding out hope for humanity looking for quiet
for the calm before each storm black and dark
as Dorothy is caught in a twister in a dream
hurling past the real and unreal in imagination
will a net be there to break their falling
as anxious people continue walking a tightrope
the earth spinning blue in a universe of black
turning endlessly in timeless beginnings
a universe unable to reveal any answers
even though answers may never come
© Renee Espriu
Image Taken From Public Domain Photos Digitized as Art
The Spiritual Heart
The turmoil of this world will not diminish
the beauty of the earth we call Gaia
nor will it dampen the spiritual heart
though the fear of the unknown harbors
doubts, remorse and pain the sun will rise
to reveal clarity of what is tangible
Image Taken From Public Domain Photos & Digitized As Art
An Earth Older Than Time
The world revolves symptomatic of that unseen
that becomes the invisible nemesis of people
on a planet named earth so old the beginning
of which cannot be counted in grains of sand
for there is not an hourglass large enough
to hold all the countless grains needed
to account for all that came before
for all that will come after
to enable mortal beings a bit of knowing
just a small cushion of comfort
telling all that live here
they will always be like
babes in the wood
unable to measure up
to countless millennia
of black holes starless
universes unknown
© January 2021 Renee Espriu
Image Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Create As Art
The Alchemy of Nature
Moisture quickly as it was transformed
into ice crystals gathering together
into vast colonies of snowy white
now slowly melts with less vigor
to alchemize magically resembling
larger pieces of rock salt jewels
piled atop the rust of brown leaves
the green of spiky grass
too soon for evergreens prophesy
when pine cones erupt in wonder
opening layer upon layer bristling
with anticipatory jubilation
will release tiny seeds drifting
down spinning, twirling, settling
upon reaching moist beds of earth
to become like enchanted minions
tiny treasures for mother earth
transfiguring into giants
forest armies of green
© February 2019 Renee Espriu
Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art
Purveyor of Dreams
Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Digitally Created as Art
I am not a purveyor of dreams
for sleepless nights are undressed
and shorn of innocence
peppered weary of thoughts
like thorns
not even scented with night orchids
nor born of water lilies nocturne
viewed less in colored
prisms dim
for I do not fly weightless
high above the earth
casting giant shadows
beneath the light of the moon
revealing me integral
in the realm
of hope
of desire
I cannot be the purveyor of dreams
for life’s knowing opens
only to one garnering dreams
in nights deepest sleep
with orchids fragrant
and water lilies
a buoy for the ecstasy
of flight
Perhaps the purveyor of dreams
is illusive, a hidden vestige
of night’s firmament
for to purvey dreams
one must hold onto them
one must dream
© May 2018 Renee Espriu
A Capricious Magician
Unpredictable
in ‘nature’ is she
dropping hints
with sun rays
peaking out
between
clouds
apparitions held
as fading shadows
become
cloudy
mirrors
and the next moment
a downpour of
rain filling gutters
a deluge
down
drain
spouts
a disappearing act
slight of hand
the earth drying
cracks in
hardened
clay
a capricious magician
prone to laughter
a comic relief
dancing
across a stage
of her own
making
© July 2017 Renee Espriu
This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Prompt. Read more at https://jamiededes.com/2017/07/25/orange-fires-at-daybreak-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The photo below was taken from the Morgue File and digitally altered by myself.
***Eclipsing Rainbows***
There are moments of clarity drenched in a soul’s peace
where everything is an eclipse of brilliant rainbows
and becoming is like being mirrored images in lakes
where coral reefs are arms cradling infinite oceans
whereupon mountain rising islands are pristine views
touched only by Galapagos creatures of uniqueness
entering into a communion devoid of ritualistic cups
and eyesight becomes like those raptors’ rapturous quest
to make the flight over the highest of mountain ranges
like child’s play when there is a vision to fly along
and wings are the freedom of song birds a narrative song
in chorus with insects accompanied by frogs croaking
perceiving the world in a field of flowers engaging in
the mystery of becoming seeds under dark brown earth
and pushing up toward the brilliance of mother sun to
sprout into every conceivable bloom with stamen covered
with the sweetest of nectar drawing hummingbirds for
their respite and insects unknowing a pollination of life
© May 2017 Renee Espriu
This is in response to Jamie Dedes’s Wednesday Prompt at https://jamiededes.com/2017/05/03/soul-as-incorruptible-as-stone-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The photo below was taken from the Morgue file and digitized by myself.
***Dreaming of Children***
A landscape of memory littered
with pieces of dreams
children that once lived
once laughed
oft times schemed
she sees a house abandoned now
ought times with love filled
each & every birth an
auspicious moment still
& each year
she knows she has been gifted
that any tears shed
were merely a bridge
between yesterdays
& tomorrows albeit
as other mothers cry oceans
of salt filled tears
for children that lived once
without fear in loving arms
with kisses, soft still
their auspicious moment shattered
a broken memory like
shards of glass
now buried descending deep
earth’s grief surpassed
whose sorrow cannot rebuild
houses in ashes smoldering
whose dreams
hold ghostly remnants
pale & fading
where a timeless epitaph remains
of young lives interrupted
photos tinged yellow
touched by death
a noxious poison
thinking of this she turns pages
a book of photographs old
& knows dreams
will still be her comfort
will still unfold
that some mother’s dreaming will
become a vile nightmare
an interloper in sun rays
unwanted slumber
empty days
© April 2017 Renee Espriu
I am a little late to post this on my site. It was first posted in the Bezine last month. You can read more of some wonderfully written poems and other posts at https://thebezine.com/project-type/the-bezine-april-2017-vol-3-issue-7. The photo below was taken from the Morgue File & Digitized by myself.
***Dropping A Red Rose***
Staring into the mirror seeking life
watching each dark night
as I pooled soaking
the sheets the bed clothes
I wore
I clung to hope as I saw each one
waiting, watching long hours
as a cataclysmic event
unfolded
standing on the precipice
of scorched earth
stepping around grave stones
stepping over graves
resting places
the essence of them I held within
the essence of me
reaching to touch shadows
dropping a red rose
atop a casket
my body reduced to remnants dry
as a tree now lifeless
brittle as earth in drought
cracked and devoid of water
but my soul though languishing
refused to perish
as hope will not
when secured in
determination
© January 2017 Renee Espriu
Image Taken From Morgue File & Digitized by Myself
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