On Life’s Threshold

For the visually challenged reader, this image shows a young man lounging against a door jamb with a hat held against his chest. The young man is quite a looker!

Standing on the threshold, your future unmapped
who knows what adventures lie ahead?
which paths will you take?
which avenues will you dawdle down?
what rewards will you seek?

Everything lies before you
the big world beckons.
Choose wisely, my son
but not too wisely.
Life’s not a dress rehearsal.


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #50 photo prompt.
Image credit: Sean Lee – Unsplash

Trust Me

The image shows a hand extended out with a little bird sitting on it. In the background one can see a lake and its shore in distance.

Little heart fluttering
in the palm of my hand
what delight to share a moment
with such a pretty little creature!
Won’t you stay awhile?

Scooped from the rail
my tiny bones quake
and now, eyes squeezed shut
I wait for the giant to crush me
in its big, clumsy fist.

Be calm, little bird
do not fear me
allow me to look more closely
admire the beauty
of your bright plumage.

The hand seems gentle
but I shan’t be taken in.
I open a wary eye
prepare for flight
I’m gone!

Farewell, little bird
I’ll listen for your song
here by the lake
me, in gentle harmony
with nature.


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #49 photo prompt.
Image credit: Evan Clark – Unsplash

Hidden Meaning

The image shows a covered paved street. One person is sitting in a chair in the middle of the street talking to another sitting at the side walk. There is a truck parked in the street behind them. The street is lighted up well with lights hanging from the ceiling.

The light of experience illuminates

the wealth of knowledge expounds

but the real truth lies

behind the words

in the depths of the speaker’s soul.


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #48 photo prompt.
Image credit: Mohammad Hoseini Rad – Unsplash

Flying off the Canvas

The image shows an incomplete watercolor on open pages of a notebook. There are tubes of colors next to it and some painting paraphernalia.

Purple robes from the snot of snails, rays from the tails of mango-fed cows.
Colour-wash fades, dribbles down the page,
Feeble brush strokes
weep over wet
paper.

In a misery of contempt she kicks the traces of her fractious art.
Screw it up and start again!

Ground from stones, hewn from rocks
poisonous pigments from the artist’s jewel box
cobalt and lead, one blue, one red
the venomous tools of her craft.

Carving curves with furious angst
passions explode and erode
while careless cadmium spatterings
join dread smears on the studio floor.

Scissoring through shards of purple-pink silk
the blood on the carpet of despair
raising her brush she rages on
rending the canvas in two.


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #47 photo prompt.
Image credit: Elena Mozhvilo – Unsplash

Sands of Time

For visually challenged reader, the image shows a person walking in a desert, dwarfed by huge sand dunes. A long line of their footsteps can be seen behind them

sand
at the back of the throat
chords strung taut
bloated tongue, swells
says nothing.

time
runs through the hourly glass
empty now
confession calls
tell nothing.

life
sands of time spilling out
dunes shifting
time, after all
is nothing.


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #46 photo prompt.
Image credit: Dan Grinwis – Unsplash

Way up here…


Written in response to Sadjes What Do You See #45 photo prompt.
Image credit: Ian Dooley – Unsplash

You dance for us too

We watch you dance in the sunlight
admiring your graceful fluidity
your total abandonment
to your art.

We watch you dance from our windows
confined inside, with limbs
no longer able

to obey.

That freedom, which once was ours
lives on, as we watch
while you dance
for us too.


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #44 photo prompt.
Image credit: Joel Valve – Unsplash

The Message Board

The image shows a board covered with hand written messages about love.

I come each day, looking for you
one among so many people
displaced, separated
lost.

Parents from children, husbands from wives
brothers, sisters, friends and lovers,
divided in the melee
of disaster.

Each day I come looking for you
one among so, so many
hanging on to hope
searching for a sign.

Day after day, still there is nothing
but I know in my heart
you’re still out there.
And so I wait.


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #43 photo prompt.
Image credit: Kyle Glenn- Unsplash

Your inner light still shines

The image shows face of a woman. It is painted with luminous glitter paint and the features are highlighted with bright yellow lines, ending in a question mark on the forehead.

Imprisoned inside a fragile façade

yet your inner light still glimmers

hope leaks out from every pore

and your smile still shines from deep within.

 

Confined within the corporeal

plagued by withering pain

yet the force that the fans your flame

is fuelled by a sharper source.

 

Your spark will not be extinguished

your spirit will not be crushed

not yet, while there’s hope

for another, better day.


Written in response to Sadjes What Do You See #42 photo prompt.
Image credit: Lucas Pezeta on Pexels

I fear for you

The image shows a baby monkey looking down from branches of a tree.

Little innocent one, so new to the world,
sniffing the air and feeling the breeze.
Is there a place for you?

Little innocent one, so new to the world,
feeling the smoke sting your eyes.
I fear for you.

What will you do when they cut down the trees
and just a patch of your forest is left?

Where will you run when the hunters come
to take you far from your home?

Oh Humanity, think what you’re doing!
Don’t you know her fate
is our future too?


Written in response to SadjeWhat Do You See #41 photo prompt.
Image credit: Lewis Roberts on Unsplash