That yellow flower

I didn’t plant makes me beam –

 beauty with no work.from me.

JDG

Self Compassion

We gladly lend a compassionate hand

to victims of

illness, floods, heat, fire,

and other calamities.

Would we extend

the same soothing understanding

to ourselves?

Compassion means

“to suffer with.”

Yet we often suffer in silence and alone,

plagued by

our floods of self-doubt

that wash away our worth,

the fires of self-hatred

that leave our soul barren.

Listen!

It’s not “Love your neighbor”

better than yourself!

Listen!

for a calm voice

that says, always,

you are loved.

There’s an occasional squabble.

but mostly they work things out,

those squirrels and birds at the feeder.

 I’ve seen one bird pick up a seed 

and feed it to another, though I’ve never

seen a squirrel feed a bird or even 

its squirrel brother. Still, you’d think

if birds and squirrels can work 

things out, we could too.

JDG

The world spins.

Nothing holds.

Be patient.

Gather breath.

The world spins. 

Nothing holds.

Exhale stillness.

Exhale light.

The world spins.

Nothing holds.

Describe the waves.

Turn a poem.

The world spins.

Nothing holds.

JDG

                                                                                  (A poem inspired by a prompt from my friend, Barbara Outland)

Once upon a time

I wrote a poem that rhymed,

but that was then. This is now

and all the rhymes have fled,

 but wait, I just spotted one ahead.

JDG