Tag: Redemption

Turning Corners

~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ 3 Comments

wpid-img_20140725_081535.jpgTurning Corners

Cancer came
Shadow-lurker
Stalker, thief
Took (euphemism for her thievery)
Hauled away some valuables
Uninsured, gone for good
Precious jewels, antiquities
Time laced in silver threads of
joy
Stories of the disease
Giving too
Hovering
Somewhere
Perhaps,
My eyes will see them
Once again

Around the corners of a rounded globe
Are wars,
beyond mere rumors
Rather, raw, real, raging
Robbing
My ears have heard of hidden
Gifts
Tucked  in the outskirts of the pain
Perhaps
My ears will behold the
Telling,
Once again

Dementia crept in
Beneath the shadows
Into the soul of those I love and loved
Stealing memories by the thousands
Robbing us of stories still not told

But I have held the gifts,
Frail, wrapped in parchment
In my ever-wrinkling hands

Gifts uncovered in the dark
Those revealed by light of day
I’ve held these too,
Too many to tell
Entitled
Redemptive love
Story without end, amen

Waiting captures me
Clothes me
Wraps me in robes of knowing
Assures me to

just

Turn the corner
Once,
Again
Touched by a ghost-like
garment passing by
a holy haunting
Threads of silky hope

Redemption clothes us
On the heels of waiting
Out of  moth-balls
I unwrap
Velvet, violet
Comfort from a garment
The ancient
Robe of holy peace

At last.

 

 

Joining Laura for Playdates at The Wellspring

 

A Sea Of Humanity

~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ 2 Comments

sunset over jeremy creekA Sea of Humanity

I dreamt I dove into the sea
Amid a throng of voices
Singing wild and free
Where echo upon echo of happy
Babble broke
Rippling wave on wave from lip to lip
I closed my eyes
And drifted off into the dream

Each scene appeared as memory
Of years before
Where nothing changed
Yet everything had
And you were there
And you were too
I turned off my light
And sailed off into my daydream
Or was it night
I was not sure

The fog rolled in
Then out again

The sea was calm
The sun was out

And redemption played
A symphonic and melodious song
(Does it know any kind but this)

Of this and that
Of years ago
And days before
When Winter’s blues
Were providing cover
Before the days when
Spring crept in
And drowned out
Winter
With her love

I was there and so were you
We swam in calm and peaceful
Seas
Of friendship
In an ocean wide and free
Made of all
Humanity

You were there
And so were you
And I was too

I dreamed I dove into
The sea of greens and blues
Of foam and salt
And crying gulls and diving pelican
I floated on my back
And sang a song of
Coming back
My eyes were closed
But not my heart

I heard you whisper
Welcome back
Into the calm
No longer raging seas

Of humanity
Wave on wave
Of grace
We swam, together
You
And me

Into the deepest part
Into the depths of our
Humanity
++++++++++++++++

On Mondays I am with Laura #AtTheWellspring

 

Redemption’s Beautiful, Remember

~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ 5 Comments

wpid-IMG_20140202_173932.jpg

Redemption’s Beautiful, Remember

I wonder what the years will do to today
Take it and shrink it
Shred it and fade it, peel it, tone it down
Today can never be brighter or more glorious
Than she is in her now
The slow fade comes in the looking back
Over shoulders and in glass, in memoir
And in remembering
Reflecting, recalling
Reaching back into archives of the mind and of memory

So I will hold today up to the light and make it
Tell the truth to me
Beg it to be generous in its gifting of itself to me
Beg it to show me details wrought in sharp hues
And bright shades of this moment
Desperate for every ounce of pleasure I can squeeze
From it, from sunup to down
Draining it of all joy and grace
A woman starved for beauty
As if the sun would never shine again
As if it hasn’t in a decade now

The dark and dormant winter
Has been asked to retire
And we usher in, on a red carpet, rolled out
For the now and today
Fit for Kings and stars and starlets

The belle of the ball
She is today, dressed in her finery
Her seconds of fame and glory
Ticking away as she spins and spends
Herself

And I
Recording
Knowing that the clearest
She will ever be
Is before me now
Tomorrow and the day after
Bring me a dimmer version
Missing pieces
Forgotten parts
Losing memory of herself
Losing detail and sharp lines
Blurring the focus of what it is
As it becomes what it never was

And I may not even remember
Today
Tomorrow
Oh the pain of a fading
Past
The currency of the current
Spend it wisely
Record it as a wise man would
Regret robs today, regret robs tomorrow
Regret stole some of yesterday
I wonder what the years will do to today
Redemption revises
Restores
And today is beautiful again.

Joining Deidra and Sandy and Laura

The Bowing Out

~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ Leave a comment

wpid-IMG_20140203_110146.jpg

The Bowing Out

It started as a slow waltz
Front porch rocker, book in hand
Slow
Friend to the left
Friend to the right
Sun up
Cool breeze
The dance was an old soul
Disguised by youthful ignorance

Someone turned the volume up
The metronome cranked up too
Warped speed
Weary-making, manic the music
Syncopated beat
Too fast, too loud the pace
The rate, the chatter, and the speed

She bowed out for a bit
Dove under the water to the ocean floor
The one of wet and cleansing grace
She swam down where the sediment sits
To sift and filter, like a sieve
Her mermaid tail was all she’d need
To rest on the muddy bottom in the dark
Muted and muffled is the world
Down
Down
Down there, on the bottom of the sea

She swam under the radar’s rays
Away from the burning sun’s
Rays too
For forty days and forty nights
She swam alone
To think and pray
And consult her muse

There in a sapphire pool
One colored in redemptive rest
Her dance shoes parked
Up on the bank, in the dirt
Exchanged them for
An emerald green
Bronze and azure blue
Mermaid tale, custom made for
Her

It wasn’t so much that her feet
Were blistered, tired or sore
Or had been stepped on by the
Other dancers out on the
Over-crowded floor

She feared she’d stepped on her own
Self-inflicted, friendly fire
And maybe another one or two
On the floor
It was best now for her
To swim alone

She told me her story before
She dove deep down
And asked me to tell you too
The woman swimming in the deep cool
Sea of  salty turquoise seas
The ones which will restore her
Soul
And heal her dancing feet
She’d like to bow out
With dignity and grace
And if you were wondering
She took her blessed muse

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