Where Words Cannot Follow

There is trepidation in every choice in love
where words cannot follow your heart’s desire
during the heat of day that melts into night
where the songs of night birds penetrate

your dreams in the guise of that which inspires
you to reach greater heights on plateaus above
that keeps you falling into the darkest depths
in deepest canyons where you will climb to the light

for your search is never ending, always beginning
in the brisk clean air of a morning’s chase
of fleeting images now entwined in your memory
of rapids in a swiftly running pristine river
the smell of wood smoke upon your waking

to all the possibilities that perch upon words
that carry the emotions that dissipate quickly
as though clinging to the morning’s mist
evaporating with the heat the sun delivers
only the fragrant air of the trees remain

© June 2021 Renee Espriu

A Friend’s Photo Created As Art

 

A Child’s Request

The shadow of leaves from a tree
dance across the house next door
but in the darkness of last eve
only the children’s shadows
poured

dressed in Halloween costumes
finer than any Hallows Eve before
they came and kept leaving their
ghostly imprints on concrete
floor

smiles and laughter challenging
fears of a society that they
would dispel as though magic
were in the air and fear
just queerish

a memory of one small girl
a costume only a thin cloak
her words uncovered for she
asked for only a hug
nothing more

my heart was warmed
by her gesture
of which I obliged
in loving
measure

© November 2020 Renee Espriu

Image Taken From Public Domain Pictures and Created as Art

 

 

The Amber Mirror

The paradoxical algorithms of life
speak of birth and death colored
with a beginning and an end
both caught within the shadows
of rules, mandates and laws

tasting and speaking of freedoms
both ‘masked’ in lies and deceit

a truth hidden behind closed doors
spoken in silent unheard whispers
seen through the eyes of the faceless

while the legends of time and history
move between the spaces of passions
where wisdom is a time honored truth
where love of others and of self
is the resin that frees them

an amber mirror that reveals life

© June 2020 Renee Espriu

The Photo Below  Created As Art

Prisms of Life

Thousands of raindrops falling
are like tiny clear crystals
jewels upon my window
where I see

my life unfold in mirrored images
a kaleidoscope  of dismal greys
not yet transformed
into rainbows
of colors

not yet penetrating my soul
the very spirit of my being
collecting like shattered glass
beneath my feet

my life will transform into something
manifest as colored prisms within
the kaleidoscope’s hidden
brilliant colored
light

a revelation of a loving heart
long sleeping inside the pain
of living in fear of knowing
of feeling alive

for as the images change amongst
the shards of broken glass
they must also within
the turning kaleidoscope
of colors

images change in all Seasons
spring flowers bloom abundantly
tender leaves of bright green unfurl
birdsong and insects serenade

summer dry and hot in all manner
relishing a soothing drink of water
touching landscapes brown to then

bringing fall’s brilliant colors
of reds, golds, yellows and orange
foliage turning brown and brittle
welcoming cold of winter

so spring returns to flourish
to bring life new yet already
here thriving beneath the safety
the warmth of moss and soil
always living in
hibernation

so all is alive within my spirit
hidden within smoldering embers
waiting to emerge
relishing the
breath of life

© November 2019 Renee Espriu

Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

A Touch of Wind

There is a light wind pushing
ever so slightly against me
touching my face briefly
before moving on
apropos

caressing as a lover’s
gentle kiss a dahlia’s petals
to the ground to lie
beneath full blooms

soft pastel colored lavender
bright with life’s promise
now faded as though clouds
miniature have settled
at my feet

where once again a lightness
of wind inhales releasing
a puff to calmly
wrap itself

in and around blades of grass
coming to gently rustle
the twigs of the
fragrant mock orange
in passing

the wind coalescing as
tendrilled & ghostly fingers
is ever a breathing
companion to nature

even in a wisp of air
trembling a reed

© August 2019 Renee Espriu

Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

“Oranges and Apples”

A mother is what she needed
not a friend that played
jacks, marbles and jump rope

where she was left
to her own devices of
making mischief
with her brother

or watching a locomotive
barrel down steel tracks
to crush a penny
newly set
upon them

but her mother an only child
longed for siblings
for playmates
to fill
a yearning

so even as she needed
wanted a mother
oranges and apples
would not mix

yet her mother turned flour sacks
into underclothes and slips
for her sewn dresses
to lie upon

her mother cooked food
laden with the aromas
of love

pies trimmed in the lace
of gold brown crust
even when money
was a
luxury

she would surmise in life
that mothers do the best
with what life
gives them

© September 2018 Renee Espriu

Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures and Created As Art

Oranges and Apples

The Essence of Loving

Not everyone celebrates all of the days,  that our present day society has intimated to be profitable in the commercialized world,  but most people celebrate mothers. Even those who haven’t any knowledge of a birth mother may still wish to pay homage to a woman who has been a strong influence in their life.  My own mother has been gone now ten years but I always try to remember her every day apart from the day it is marked on the calendar.  Hope everyone has a woman who has impacted their life such as their own mother or another. There are two photos here taken from Public Domain Images. One is of the ocean and the other of lilacs, two things in the world my mother liked best.  I like to add my own touch to make it uniquely mine.

Crystals in Sand

Memories now clear to be revealed
like sparkling sand crystals
showing brilliant in the sun

as ocean tides bring them back
time and time again acting
as a giant hourglass
unblemished
untarnished
as life colors
blemish
to distort

i see only the essence of you
i smell only the balm of you
as the fragrance of roses
lilacs reaching
to touch
the sun

the baking of pies in the oven
buttermilk biscuits warm
the scent of meals cooked
with the spices of love
reaching to touch me
embraced with warmth
nourishing
my heart
my soul

birth is proliferation
whereas love
is a good measure
never tallied
only leavened
ever grown

© May 2018 Renee Espriu

Silver Threads Of Nature

Two photos were taken from Public Domain Pictures and digitally altered by myself.

Silver Threads

I will leave you the peace in my soul
that will find you in the love of my heart

for I will leave you the memories shared
whether joyous dancing on the stage of life
or sadness fading in the shadows of day

for life has woven me a colorful garment
with silver threads of nature’s wisdom

that has hollowed out a place for you
where warm you will be in the sun’s embrace
followed by the path of a starlit moon

within which voices will sing in stardust
to lull you to sleep at the end of each day

where always you will wake to bird song
within which you will hear my voice true
giving you the peace within my soul
surrounded by the love within my heart

© January 2018 Renee Espriu

A Single Wink In Time

Powder blue painted firmament
inhaled in a single breath
a cushioned cradle for my soul

hands ciphering the distance
to embrace this tranquility
to coalesce this miracle

sun’s warmth salubrious
rays pulse gold nuggets of life
a radiant fragrant aloe balm

touching a single wink of time
becoming a scope of magnitude
am shrouded in a calm destiny

weighted heavens are buoyant
evident of stellar celestial bodies
emanating love and I am home

© November 2017 Renee Espriu

The photo combination below was taken from Public Domain Pictures and digitally altered by myself.

Wink In Time

 

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’.