***The Season of Becoming***

Is this the Winter of her discontent as with
Shakespeare the world around might seem one
that is indifferent to her sadness that age
has besieged her but no it is not so harsh
as the icy cold winds and snow harboring
a breath that will not seek to warm her skin

for it has become like the Season of Summer
where the warming rays of the sun stretches wide
to cover the new growth from Spring that offers
new bright green leaves that will be transformed
into variations of darker greens providing shade
to all of nature’s life beneath boughs of trees

who watch as life is born from tiny tadpoles
becoming frogs to the larvae of dragonflies to
a multitude of birds peering from the safety of eggs
to all beginning a journey of grand proportions
where Fall will see a quiet settling in to harvest
and rest amidst the beauty of all that has become

for stepping into the Winter of her life she now sees
her discontent not as a sadness but as one of observing
all that has come before, all that has become who she is
for it is another beginning and one of transformations
that will show her all the brilliance of her colors
enabling doors to naught hidden as opening to reveal

© June 2017 Renee Espriu

This is in response to Jamie Dedes’s Wednesday writing prompt. Please read more of the other poets’ replies at https://jamiededes.com/2017/05/31/in-time-displaced-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The photo below was taken from the Morgue File and digitized by myself.

Tulips in Snow

I Feel An Angel

Night Dew Angels

Altered Google Image

while the crescent moon
is high in the sky
somewhere between
dawn & midnight

I feel an angel
pass by this way

when the dampness of dew
is held softly on grass
looking much like tears
shed in sadness cast

I feel an angel
pass by this way

my mind wraps ’round
old sayings & things
‘when you hear a bell
an angel gets their wings’

I feel an angel
pass by this way

when I smell the scent
of a forgotten perfume
or fragrant flowers
within my room

I feel an angel
pass by this way

though scripted not
in the time after passing
& the harshness
of the hour has gone
never lasting

I feel an angel
pass by this way

now of spiritual grace
they fill the space
so unforgiving
once void of all
that was
theirs’ in living

I feel an angel
pass by this way

© October 2013

Renee Espriu

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