On those days when

I couldn’t catch a break

I used to fuss and whine.

I still do, but

sometimes I turn those whines

and fusses into a silly song

and sing and dance them away.

JDG

The silenced parts of us

have a chance to speak

when we’re asleep

and we sometimes don’t like

what they have to say,

but if we open ourselves

to a respectful conversation

our horizons and understandings expand.

JDG

No words can convey

the wordless wonder of birth 

or the wordless pain

of abandonment and loss.

Only a large and forgiving heart

can hold the broken pieces

of a shattered life 

until they slowly reassemble

 in a way no words can convey.

JDG

Buttercups scattered

across green lawns and fields

lift us up, settle us down

help us pause

life’s merry-go-round.

JDG

Sitting on the patio listening

to lightly rustling leaves,

sipping a small glass of wine.

Bird song fills the sunlit sky.

Worries slowly slip away.

JDG

When you were little,

you and I fell asleep

listening to lullabies 

in the refurbished shed

down by the water’s edge.

Soon you will return

to the refurbished shed

and you and your husband

will fall asleep wrapped in the silence

 of the waxing and waning moon

while I give thanks for the unexpected

refuge that shed has been.

JDG

I don’t get up ready

to embrace the day,

but the day reaches out

and embraces me.

Dog, cats, and birds greet me

with a chorus of requests,

and before I know it,

the day and I are locked

in a mutual embrace.

JDG

Flowers wilt. Leaves fall,

but that’s not what’s happening now.

Now life swells in leaf and flower,

inviting us to this moment …right now.

JDG