The Alchemy of Water

Music swells up like mighty ocean waves
cleansing the sadness of my soul
permeating my thoughts
to quell the firestorm
within my mind

to which my dreams find me walking
along a sandy tided shore
each grain of sand sparkling
diamonds in a beam
of moonlight

a vestige matching my footprints
each one a solid reflection
of a path only I have walked
in heartache, despair
& triumph

before the salty brine of tides
comes to collect them again
to assuage each painful step
becoming an alchemist balm
a freeing spirit

© August 2019 Renee Espriu
Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

The Truth of Hindsight

Hindsight is always better it is said
always invoking in me the transgressions
in my past of the egregious kind

conceived into an ethnically diverse family
curious of the differences, yet both drawn
and repelled like a moth to a flame

one of only a handful of such families
in an all-white neighborhood
though I did not distinguish it
then

my reddish skinned father and white mother
craving more but for unspoken reasons
spoken in private understanding

she from impoverished beginnings
he in accepting only European roots

agreeing upon only one thing in union
the dictates of societal norms for me
a child of the female persuasion

that marriage is best accepted sooner
than later & children are part of the
sanctioned outcome

but mind you if such an arrangement
is not a path upon which you wish to tread
then only professions of nursing
and teaching will suffice

for creativity in writing or artistic endeavor
will never sustain you in living
and you would know this
in hindsight

now in hindsight I only understand that
not everything that comes before
is better than that which
comes later

in hindsight I wish I had known that
choosing the passion of your heart
over being accepted
is what my path
Should
Have
Been

© Renee Espriu May 2019

Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

Passion

Guns Are Not The Path To Peace

The child found what looked like a toy
but when a way was found
to fulfill curiosity

found their friend
lying dead at their feet

guns are not the answer to feeling secure
left lying within the reach of
innocence

she was about her morning
preparing breakfast
on yet another Valentine’s Day

when she heard a gunshot
fill the air
and looking ’round

found her husband
of many years crumpled
in the doorway

dead…a gun in his hand

guns are not the answer to depression,
to problems seemingly
having no answer

Leaders of the world always disagreeing
make plans for larger armies
to carry more guns

to kill more people who are caught
in the cross hairs

guns are not the answer to solutions
for forcing others to agree
to another countries’ ideas

guns are not the path to peace

© November 2017 Renee Espriu

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Writing Prompt. Read more responses at https://jamiededes.com/2017/11/01/dueling-with-words-to-stop-gun-violence-wednesdays-writing-prompt. The photo below was taken from Public Domain Pictures and digitally altered.

Path To Peace

*The Road Leads Away and Back*

The road leads away and back again
for the tiniest of babies now living
but for the creation of incubators

the path could be a distant memory
for those stricken with lifeless legs
albeit for the miracle of polio vaccine

memories might be a thing of life’s past
due to serious illness or head injury
life possible due to life support equipment

born with loss of limbs or due to accident
immobility the darkness of every dawn
mobile once again with prosthetics

every breath painfully labored and slow
lungs damaged by disease or by choices
the miracle of oxygen lines extending life

the nucleus of human life suddenly stops
a heart unable to support another moment
an artificial valve ignites beating again

for all of these reasons and many more
the list too extensive and long to write
the road leads away and back again

© March 2017 Renee Espriu

This was first published in the Bezine. You can read more of this current edition by going to https://thebezine.com/project-type/the-bezine-march-2017-vol-3-issue-6.

Photo Taken From Morgue File & Digitized by Myself

The Path Back

Where Shadows No Longer Reside

fog settles in like an old friend
like a shoe well worn..comfortable
like a thick moist, milky grey blanket
covering everything in chilly dampness

the tug boats push slowly forward
trying to slice open a path
using their lights as knives
moving painstakingly
the mist begrudging them passage

the tugs speak to each other
in the octaves that suit their size
letting go their horns loudly
a higher pitched trumpet
a lower pitched bassoon

the night presents itself
like the backdrop on a grand stage
inky black velvet deep and dark
where shadows no longer reside

as the dense thickness of fog
gives way to no purchase
to any living being pulled in
by its’ unseeing arms and hands
or any inanimate object
as here only sound transcends

© January 2015
Renee Espriu

Image Taken From Morgue File

dense fog

********Edged In Silver*********

a sliver of moon beam light
descends upon my path
edged in silver garnered
casting shadows long upon
the grass from trees & i see

it translates from this place
to yours’ a thousand miles
a tryst measured in moments
when i will see you once again
on the other side of time & smile

© January 2014
Renee Espriu

Moonlight Nite

Image Found @ http://nature.desktopnexus.com

My Need To Fly

Phoenix

Google Image

I have written this for dVerse a bit late and realize it won’t be posted there now as the link has expired but I was taken by Gretchen’s idea of music and wanted to put this out there in any case.   Please listen to this song that has given me such pleasure to listen to and I hope you will see how it impacted my writing here. Thank You!
http://www.metrolyrics.com/who-i-was-born-to-be-video-susan-boyle.html

do you live in the shadows
as i have done so wanting
to please who would
guide but from

a distance above as
you walk a tightrope
i did many years for
i always hoped

acceptance would come
in palpable ways to
amaze me and show me
my path was not grey

ambivalence filled with
the need to sleep when a
well meant prayer struck
fear ‘my soul to keep’

where the days took me
on a journey of my
own making and never
would i be forsaking

my need to fly to the
heavens above to create
all that my heart dreamed
of for it is sad it came

when she left this earth
to finally release me to
soar unburdened as i
move ever forward

my muse now nurtures
the wordsmith that was
once all but broken
the letters form words

that spill forth in
treasure to give my soul
long-awaited pleasure
conjuring melodies

seldom heard a display of
fireworks in rainbow
colors i walk my path in
awe and it has occurred

that life is still here and
i have not missed it as
i dance with it now as
i live in the moment

© March 2013
Renee Espriu

This is for dVerse Poets Pub http://dversepoets.com/category/tag/interact/

Reflections Mirrored

swirling motions of
passengers on the
dimly lit rail
i ride along
with them
unknowing

as they too ride along
with me
some with lunch boxes
others their
sleeping bags
disheveled

all people like me
yet “not”
like me at all
seeing the lines of
my reflection
moving outside

staring back at me
a parody
a shadowy spector
looking past at
other people’s
reflections

sleeping, talking, happy,
sad or angry with
lives moving
forward while
their
sillouttes

face them trapped
inside the rail
glass…hoping this
ride will
end……
differently?!?

perhaps she will not
go to work a
mirror of
every yesterday
and he not
to the mission

again seeking food,
company or a
hot shower
to wash away
his homeless
tired life

each one seeking
another path
a way out of
the same tomorrow
hoping reflections
outside

are their real lives
going somewhere
a destination
past their stop
to another
future

© August 2012

Renee Espriu