"Peace" of Thought

  And she counted the days The months and the years As she watched the boy play Free from all fears And she listened to stories Some grand and some small As she sang him sweet songs Through springtime and fall And she watched the boy sleep Tucked into his bed As she turned off his light Closed the book that they read And she kept the boy safe From wicked and scorn As she taught him the lessons To guide and to warn And she filled him with love And the young years grew few As she slept she would marvel Of all that he knew And she dreamed all the dreams That all mothers would As she slowly let go Doing all that she could And she noticed one day He stood tall on the land As she looked in his eyes His face like a man And she knew time had come To let the boy fly As she saw his bright mind Reach for the sky And she thought all the thoughts Full of wishes and hope As she hugged her young man Then untied the rope And she watched ever more Every step that he took As the pride in his journey...

  Time In the silence of the inner workings of the mind The clocks hand spins quickly As time swiftly moves yesterday into today and grinds To rapidly move time into tomorrow It's an expeditious game of moments. And so this ride as it flies high as a thunder cloud and faster than the speed of light Takes me always by surprise and to great heights Broadening this humanizing experience Keeping rhythm with passing instance And all the while, enclosed tightly inside my intellect. With awesome grandness of the future comes Always forecasted by what most uncertainly hums We blindly proceed with the most unnecessary caution As the gestures of the universe Fall into play And this rapid game of unconfined moments Perpetually primed pieces that last for all of eternity, yet the bestowment So transparent yet with unknown complexity Shall come and then go At peace or at not. Time at each juncture requires no justification While movement to each instance is the one true certain in life's ab...

  These Days When tears like ice fall from the sky The people asking why Their voices sang before they'd cry But that was just a lie The spirits scream into the wind They race away from sin Down smoother paths they all begin Is this the life we're in? With millions plagued the illness lease Now looking for the piece To flatten curves and then release Survival chance increase And leaders fight to win the race Often with disgrace The people torn between each case To heed a trusting face The seasons come so quick these days Each day it in its prime With every moment still we climb Hopeful for bells that chime When tears like ice fall from the sky The sun now asking why It still will shine as people lie Beneath the heavens high All we can do is try... CNK

Brownies for Breakfast - A Holiday Tale I have a weakness I'm afraid this is true I just can not help it I'll share it with you Pre-Christmas treats saved Are in kitchen right now Waiting for Christmas But I don't know how... I can wait much longer They beckon and call They want to be eaten Not just one, but them all! The cookies, the tarts Brownies, bars and the pie Choc-o-late haystacks They call but I'll try... To wait.  But I CAN'T The feeling is strong If I have one or two What could go wrong? I've just had my breakfast My coffee was good But one little treat Will not hurt, but it could... Open the window To have several more To the kitchen I go Open up the fridge door I pick up a brownie It's cool and it's sweet My mouth is in heaven I eat it all, what a treat! But now just a cookie What harm could it do I reach for the package My hands stick like glue And now I feel guilty Committed a crime I just couldn't wait Until Christmas time So - out co...

  And she sat with her pen and paper Watching cars that sped on by And the blackbirds sang in the trees that lie In the golden fields of the distant sky And she sat with her dreams about her Breathing crisp cool air that brought Breezes whispered were found and caught On her forehead as she kept her thoughts And she sat thinking through her memories Wondering where the time had gone Keeping rhythms slow and all sent along With tunes of golden times lie song And she sat looking through the sunlit clouds Holding her breath and listening to soul Her words spilled out like fires glowing coal The ink on paper took its toll And she came out from dark long shadows Through steady lines she sold Breaking barriers and finding white gold Her truths to others now she told And she sat with her pen and paper Watching cars that sped on by And the blackbirds sang in the trees that lie In the golden fields of the distant sky CNK

  And the shade is made A tool to cool Hiding from the sum Of rays to come And the light in sight From woes it grows Adding lines to signs Of passing time And the leaves they weave The darkness parks On ground that's sound Of shadows found And it sneaks a peek Keeping love above On green that's been Of places seen An the shade is made A tool to cool Hiding from the sum Of rays to come CNK

Lakeside lovely looming Storm clouds gather there Spelling thunder, dark as dungeon Lightning through the air White wind waking wonder In waves that swirl and churn White caps cold as icebergs Crashing as they learn  Sea sand soaked in silence Each grain sits on its own Forming dark shores in the distance But never lie alone The rain rescues raving ripples Creating rounded holes White reflects on top black depths Seeking underwater souls Clearing clouds colliding Through cracks faint lights arise And slowly spreads like sparks from fire Lifting seas of soaked disguise CNK

And the breeze, it took me closer To the corners of my mind Where thoughts had finally settled The bleakness left behind. And the rain, it cooled my quiet soul The raindrops felt like sand With every grain united Where the oceans meet the land And the sun, it blazed upon my skin The heat made all things one For every ray shone down to join With nothing left undone  And the days seemed not to linger The nights both quick yet slow With all things found between those realms Where all things come and go CNK

     Rising Fragile as she enters Soft beneath the skin The solid edge it mentors The souls that lies within Her carried weight looks heavy Though thin and weak she grows Inside the tunnels long and dark From fingers to her toes And still you see her rising Often lost along the way She leads through storms and glowing suns Through white clouds and the gray While all along you question Precarious as it seems She makes it through the ups and downs That lead to lakes and streams And as she bathes she listens To songs that from her past Prepares her for the future Moments calm and sure to last Her solid wisdom rises And meets the strength inside For now she's entered golden fields With nothing left to hide CNK

The New Me   Defining a “Journey” I’ve never been fond of that word, journey.  That is until recently.  Through my eyes the word journey implied many things that I could not relate to in any conceivable way.  Early in my years of battling Major Depressive Disorder, I absolutely hated the word journey.  When I was in my greatest depths of illness, I thought the term journey implied that I was on a voyage that would lead me to an end, a good end with a positivity about it and a sense of completeness.  Journey to me was like a trip and implied there was a firm beginning and a wonderous destination, an achievement of sorts that we learn from while navigating over a few bumps on the road.  I pictured a journey as ending in a place of comfort, a final destination that was earned through enlightening experience. I felt this way for the first 5 years of my illness and cringed whenever someone told me I was on a journey of wellness and recovery.  For...