Day 344 - The Other Suns

Extended sunsets flash before my eyes, and all this

Below the flames of suns ardently begin to kiss

This galaxy of ours where time stands still

Is filled to the brim with a building will

Laced with the story Ra's journey through space

Into the hearts of men who were bewitched by Moon's grace

Meeting the horizon to claim the final moment

Before night gains the ground and the skies rent.

Stars of hope that dance before us set afire

All the tiny hearts with a sweeping desire

Like the driest call of dead plains and brush

Call the fire to lick them up in a rush

This ancient battle so ultimate always stuns

As our lives are overrun with the power of the other suns

Day 311 - Thank You

Thank You

Merci

Danke

תודה

Having never heard a bomb drop, I thank you.

You who lost her leg when the explosion hit,

You who pulled your friends from beneath the rubble,

You who kept the bombs away,

Thank you.

As someone who is not scarred with bullet marks, I thank you.

You who walked through deserts and tundras,

You who gave your lives so I may keep mine,

You the veterans of every war, every where,

Thank you.

As a care free young girl, I thank you.

I who may dance never fearing land mines,

I who can shout at the top of my lungs my freedoms,

I who dares to dream of peace one day,

I thank you.

_________________________________________________________________________

Note from the Poet & Photographer:

The photographs demonstrate the sign language sign for "thank you".

Day 288 - Ash That Remains

The sign read "אהבה"

But you couldn't understand it

So it meant nothing to you

When the bombs hit

Maybe a give-minute clip

Of the death toll rising once again

But that is all it meant to you

You couldn't read the sign

The sign read "l'espoir"

Which was as foreign to you

As a night without explosions

You had dreamed once of such a thing long ago

But since then you only hit the button

The one that ignites the flame somewhere

And sends the sparks of hatred into the sky

You couldn't read the sign

The sign read "शांति"

You only saw some bizarre drawing

You did not even recognize it to be lettering

Painted with meticulous patience

In the only colors they could find

Blood red for the many tragedies seen

But bright yellow for the sun still shining

You covered it in the gray of ash

You couldn't read the sign

The sign read "love"

And they torched it seeming demons

In the malicious point of the "v"

The sign read "hope"

The button they pushed was as red as yours

But with a greater diameter of destruction

The sign read "peace"

But even if you had spoken their tongue

That you could not have translated

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Note from the Poet

Stanza 1 - Hebrew for love - אהבה pronounced ahavah

Stanza 2 - French for hope - l'espoir -

Stanza 3 - Hindi for peace - शांति - pronounced shanti

Day 205 - Choking Purity

Trap the world in a net
Somehow it will survive
Even as we easily forget
That caged, little can thrive

Block out the hopeful view
Keep your eyes closed tight
That way nothing true
Will enter the exposing light

Cut what lives down
Away from soft whiteness
Let the hope slowly drown
In angered impoliteness

What should be dancing proud
Is instead choking on fumes
The hacking grows at first loud
And then quieter as sadness looms

Purple pinches that grasp too tight
Manipulating flesh into graying bruises
If nothing seems to be quite right
In the end who is it that loses?
Better yet who really chooses?

Day 183 - Light Weaponry

Spear me into illumination

That darkens worlds you do not know

Slivers of violent inspiration

Echoing with a wicked glow

The ultimate reflecting prism

They stack as pyramids of symbolism

Lessons balanced upon orbs of steel

That distinctly charge to optimal energy

Harshly reminding us how to feel

When all else fades to fallacy

But mostly candles illuminate the dark

With a black lit flickering spark

Day 147 - Memorial - anything to help preserve the memory of a person or event

The red is your old best friends dress

The last time you were back home

Maybe it reminds you when your troop was in duress

And yet all you could do was as a survivor roam

I wish the wreath was for the wintry Christmas holiday

All of those when you could not be here

But instead it represents things you can no longer say

Because they sent you straight to heaven my dear

I like to see the blue as the car you used to drive

Laughing with your hands in the air, so free

Memories like those, when we felt most alive

That is what the blue helps me to see

The ribbons would match your brand new bike

That we took turns on when we were young

Remember when we took them on that hike?

Can you still hear the topmost bell that we rung?

Finally the white comes easiest to me

It is the shade of the perfect dove

It speaks of peace so simply

It sings out my heart's love

That keeps your memory fresh even now

With the stone in place that begins to show wear

A long time ago we stopped asking how

Now I put these flowers to show I remember and care