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.