I asked you to stay away
I asked you not to touch
I asked you to never stray
It wasn’t very much
So next time you want
To draw very near
Next time you long
To drift over here
Don’t
The bus was crowded
Standing, pushing, holding on
You were seated, sitting, resting
When I climbed on with the throng
We have been together
You and I
In nights and days
That since have passed
Heels no comfort offered
As I stood and rode along
You smiled and greeted
Remained seated
As I stood standing
Amongst the crowd
Alone
Hand so soft and tender
A mother’s loving touch
In a flash, mere blink of eye
Knife’s sharpened edge
Released the flow of blood
The floodgates burst wide open;
From the hand that nurture spread
In its place replaced
Pure anger
Flowing
Furious
Faster
Rushing
Gushing
Never
Stopping
A river
River
Bleeding
River
Weeping
River
Speeding
Killing
Thrilling
Scaring
Frightening
River
River
River
Of
Death
A river
River
Of
Red
.
If only you knew
The passion that rages within
The yearnings that raise their voice
Offering no escape
I want to run
I want to fly
I want to be free
If only you knew
The struggles within my heart
The beating as it raises its tempo
Urging me along
To move
To go
To be
If only you knew
What moves me
What causes my heart to skip its beat
What makes me feel alive
To live
To breathe
To love
If only you knew
Where is my place in the world?
Am I resigned to the shadows
To live as quietly as I possibly can
Watching those in the sun
While I observe from afar
Is it my place to abide
To make peace with the discontent
The passion that brews and causes me to ache
To long for the force to sweep me off my feet
Into whirlwinds of unknown worlds
Is it my place to quieten
The voices that rage within my heart
And wave them away with the brush
Of my calloused, nail-bitten hands
Speaking myself into a happiness I do not feel
Is it my place to be less than I ever dreamed
To excuse every failure I have made
And be content with what I have
So that nothing is lost but then
Everything is lost anyway
Is it my place to see the blue sky above
And know that the power that imagined creation into being
Is the same power that created me
And to feel one with the land, and the earth and the sea and the sky
Breathing in the same air as the living beings surrounding me
Is it my place to kneel before my Lord
And pray from the very core of my soul
I have not the answer to where my place is in the world
Or what I should be achieving, or doing, or striving for
But I yield my heart and the life that I am
That I can be of use to Thee
In small ways or great –
Now and forever
Not my will, Lord
But thine be done
School fairs and days of fun
Laughter, children, candy, rides
Colors bright and splash of sun
Rainbow arch invites all inside
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “ROY G. BIV.”