Friday, January 13, 2012

Choices


Poets United's Thursday Think Tank's prompt is: Choices
[image from google]


"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
Anais Nin

"A miracle is just a shift in perception."
Marianne Williamson


[Traveler has learned about Choices.]

When she was young and
bad people harmed her,
she thought she was a victim
and that it wasnt fair.
No one ever told her
she didnt have to
let them hurt her,
that she could simply
walk away from there.

She put her heart
in cold storage
to protect it,
by avoiding love
trying to avoid the pain.
Then good people came along,
music and sunshine,
and the tight little ball of her heart
unfurled again.

Sometimes when the very
worst of calamities happen,
all that we can choose
is how we rise.
Those are the days of fire and ice
that hone us,
push us to make the leap,
and make us wise.

Dear fellow voyager,
if you are clinging
to the very end
of the very last branch
on the tree,
if you fear falling,
just rest, and trust
life's cycle.
All will be well,
and help will come
to thee.

Remember, Traveler,
this is the soul's journey.
If we lock ourselves away
too high a price
we'll pay.
Safety can in time
become a prison.
We sometimes travel blind
to find our way.


At first you think
you'll never trust another,
for he might wound you
like the last,
who was untrue.
But in the end
you're likely to discover
the only one
you need to trust
is you.


Despite ourselves,
that early sun
will warm us,
and slowly we'll unfurl
those icy leaves.
We have to grow.
To stay the same
will harm us.
We're at our best
when we
the most believe.

A bud may wish to stay closed

for a season.
If it fails to open, it withers
on the vine.
Unfurl your bud.
Come out to meet
the sunshine.
Expand in the warmth,
dear little bud.
It's time.

16 comments:

  1. Sage advice, especially:

    At first you think
    you'll never trust another,
    for he might wound you
    like the last,
    who was untrue.
    But in the end
    you're likely to discover
    the only one
    you need to trust
    is you.

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  2. I really like "we are the best when we the most believe." So much good philosophy here in this poem, Sherry.

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  3. "No one ever told her
    she didnt have to
    let them hurt her,
    that she could simply
    walk away from there."

    There is so much truth in that! Isn't it amazing that some of us have to be told that we don't have to permit it?

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  4. Such wisdom...as Dr. Phil says, "We teach people how to treat us." great write!

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  5. Sherry,

    This is a very depthful poem with lots of good advice and words of wisdom, which may be a benefit to others.
    Thinking of you as 15th of January approaches and your dear Boy Pup.
    Best Wishes,
    Eileen :)

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  6. Warming wisdom to share with us all ♥

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  7. So well said, Sherry, and so very, very true.
    The 15th of this month? I didn't realize. I'll be thinking of you, my could-have-been childhood friend, and praying you find serenity, courage, wisdom and strength. A person who can write a poem like this is a person who will survive.
    Luv, K

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  8. Thank you for the thoughtful poem. Your words are beautiful truth.

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  9. I love this, Sherry. These are words we all need to hear sometimes. I was going to say "at one point in our lives," but it's isn't just at one point, is it? It's many times, over and over.

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  10. Very beautiful, and far-reaching words.

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  11. I want to trust that life's cycle and open my bud to the sunshine.

    Very inspiring ~

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  12. I have to let you know the first quote is this by Anaïs Nin:
    “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

    Life is not worth living, if it isn't ever truly lived, including the pain of all its trials and tribulations and it's joys and despair, is it?

    Re: The Icebergs in my video. Northumberland Strait freezes over, not entirely at its center, but quite a lot of it does, and those ice bergs in the movie were filmed as as we began to get access to the beach once more after the winter freeze and it had begun thawing late in March, or early April of the year. I have more clips with a whole lot more ice in them :) We all love it there Sherry, glad they made you smile today too.

    Lovely, lovely, gentle read.

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  13. What a lovely poem, and wonderful advice.

    Thanks for visiting my blog (sorry blogger gave you a hard time). Glad to visit you again. It's been too long.

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  14. 'Unfurl your bud'. What a beautiful phrase. If we just unfurl our bud to the world then we have all the scope for growing. A poem of deep wisdom that i enjoyed reading immensely.

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  15. I love the quotes you begin with, and then your poem is just amazingly beautiful! I especially love the sixth stanza about trusting yourself. Sometimes that is the most difficult thing of all to do.

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