Tag: Summertime

Below The Surface

~ Elizabeth W. Marshall

dolphin duo show offsHalf hidden
Half seen

Like

you
me

Tombstone gray, wet at play
Or is it work

And  I  believe I now know why

We launch our boat

Set out to see
The sleek and slippery
mammals  born
unto the sea

At edge of night
return home and anchor

Now knowing more of you
And more of me

The need to dive
And hide
below what’s seen
Exploring hidden
Memory buried things
Of life and passion
Stored  in stories
floating under foamy white crest waves
Of past and present
Needing to resurface
In desperate need of light and air

before we go back down again.

And why their dance below
And then above
the rocking waves
Is more than child’s play
Mirroring  our human ways

Of dodging, hiding, running scared
Then diving deep into the depths
Before returning
To the surface
Desperately in need of  light and air

And connection with another
Being
Where we should be living
Freed and
Free from

Shame set free
We are  featherless and floating
on the
Water once the

Hiding ends
And we all dance and dip and dive above the black blue horizontal line
Sleek and slippery
More like they
You  and I
Break through the surface, free to play
Where there is light
Where there is air.

I know now
Why we launch our boat
And float out on the sea
To find ourselves
Just

Below the surface.

++++++++++++

Joining Jennifer and Emily

Playfully Pretending

~ Elizabeth W. Marshall

c.s. lewis quote

sometimes
after a long time of forgetting how
a solemn soul stands down
gives way to play
and rises up to say
that after the dark nights and winter days
the shortened hours of living lasted long but did not linger
and now is the hour of our play days
the ones where to do lists are short
but full
of things like fill the vase and light the grill
stare at stars and wish for fish
laugh too loud and eat three ears
of corn or more
and forgive what needs forgiving
forget the what is past perhaps
put forth a ball of clay out on the counter
roll it into scenes of wonder
let the cat in let her out
and sit back
and write a poem
playfully pretending you remember
how to play

++++++++++++++
Joining Sandra Heska King today for Simply Saturday

Breaking the Break

~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ 7 Comments

It feels like breakfast. Breaking the fast. Or breaking the break.

It has been a long pause, this break from writing on my end.

And I miss ya’ll. Yes, I am southern. Because I am blessed by this community, by you.  Each one of you — who are present and read and reflect with me on this life.

And while I gather my thoughts and process this life that I have been living, I want to say a brief “hello world” on the other side of this blog.

Because the sun has been rising and setting a lot since I wrote and you read here.

And the moon has been doing her thing.

And trees have been smiling in forests while no one was looking.

And God has placed hearts on stumps, to stumble upon in the most shaded of secret places.

And Joy still floats. Hope does too. The Janice Sue tug floats along and chugs along too.

Even smiling as I capture her tuggy beauty.

Tangerine wings still stop and rest, then flutter their flirty fluttering selves like little tutu-ed dancers in a preschool recital, performing their dance, so simple. So simple.

And roads still lead the discoverer, the wanderer to new places. Carrying the one who looks for surprise down the road to just that. Simple surprises. Simple findings.

A new shade of blue, quite unlike any other. Not common. Not named. A blue so unique and brilliant that all shades of it aspire to be this.

They long to be this blue.

An in the beginning, Genesis blue. When God formed the universe and made earth and sky, blue. His original idea of what blue should be when it is being blue.

And God is all that He has ever been. Great. Good. Loving. And omnipotent. And loving us, and loving me.

So while I try to get my hands steady, oh so steady back on the keyboard. And while I process all the ways that He loves and shows Mercy and Grace, I leave you with a word or two and a photo or two.

And I say thank you for being here. And always thank you when you comment, though please know and feel the grace there. I feel you even when you don’t speak.

I am soaking in the love of God and family. And picking my tomotoes fresh from the vine and soaking in the summer rays, shooting like an arrow straight at my heart.

And counting gifts and Grace.

And all these summertime moments of wonder.

And of course, practicing working on enjoying writing.

{If you would like to follow along, another place I ponder and post is on my facebook page. And you can comment there too. Don’t forget to “like” it if you want to follow along. There is a place to hop over there at the bottom of this home page.}