Knowing how to navigate life while feeling overwhelmed is the hardest. Being in the "here and now," in the breath, with the heartbeat and the space between them is enough. This awareness creates a space where I can remember that I am safe and ok right now, and that knowledge keeps me calm and tethered in life's storms. -gws
Come, thee, to the sweet waters, Child Come, let Her waters wash over thee Come, let them cleanse thy soul Let the sweet waters renew and restore thee Come, thee, to the sweet waters, Child Come, release thy sorrowful tears to Her Come, let the waters soothe the scars on your skin Let the sweet waters bare away thy hurt and pain Come, thee, to the sweet waters, Child Come, cool thy weary feet at Her banks Come, drink from Her cold springs Let the sweet waters refresh and rejuvenate thy body and spirit Come, thee, to the sweet waters, Child Come, lay down thy burdens in Her currents Come, relinquish thy distresses to Her care Let the sweet waters carry away thy worries to leave thee only peace -gws
How do I turn down the pain?
How do I stop the loop that repeatedly plays your violent words that pierced my soul?
How do we recover from the bomb you threw at our feet so you could feel…
Better?
Superior?
Right?
I bled out from the wounds you gave me.
I died in front of you, and you didn’t even notice.
Worse, you didn’t care.
I have returned as a ghost, broken and haunted by unfinished business.
You try to act as if you genuinely care, but your concern is just damage control for your guilt.
Your guilt will eventually fade, and your resentments will return.
But I am already gone.
-gws
Just for today, I will be the someone who makes me happy. -gws
The time has come to leave the stage The play is done And its run complete The houselights are up And the audience has departed Douse the footlights And extinguish the spot It's time to remove our costumes And our makeup As we are players no more And yet we linger upon the stage Yearning for one more act One more scene So that we can linger in an illusion Of happily endings - gws
Voices rose in sharp keening The dry grass caught And the world began to burn Ancestors' voices whispered in their ears As they focused their rage into a reckoning -gws
You said I was your rock But rocks succumb To weather and water And you are a storm -gws
Beware love spells. Beware the wanting. Beware the asking. You may get more than you bargained for. -gws
I used to write for you Now I only write about you You do not have the patience Or maybe the capacity for poetry -gws
"In the end, you cannot save what does not want to be saved."
"When the pain is greater than the fear, you will know what to do."
Every time your resentments flow like tidal waves
I drown in a truth that is brighter than the sun
You didn’t want this life
You didn’t want me
You thought by choosing me you were…
...making right on the injuries you inflicted
...picking the girl who would be steady and sure
...thumbing your nose at your conservative parents
...proving something to your sisters
...doing what was expected of you by your family and society
...doing what you expected of yourself
You might have loved me once
But you don’t know how to love yourself
And unless you can love yourself
You cannot love anyone else
And we all suffer
You
Me
The kids
In trying to manifest some imagined expectation you believe the world burdened you with
You have doomed us to a hollow, lonely existence
In the darkest moments, I sometimes wish you had never come back
After you walked away all those years ago
I sometimes think the man I fell in love with never returned
You went out for bread and just never came back
Only your demons returned wearing your face
Time has not been kind to us
Nor has it bred kindness in us
Though I think I really tried
But the steel in your eye and the edge in your voice
As you lay down my assigned crimes in a quiet growl
Eviscerates me over and over for
The crimes of a world that doesn't adhere to your desires
It hurts to love you
And I don’t know if I have it in me to continue to try
I am drinking sand in the desert for lack of water
And I am withering inside
So just admit that I am not what you wanted
I am what you thought you should have
A requirement on the test of Life
That allowed you to check the box of successful adulthood
"Hurt people, hurt people," I've heard it said
You are a drowning man who is blindly flailing
Endangering or scaring off those who might help
I accept your life's injury and pain
But I do not accept responsibility for it
And I cannot continue to endure your wrath to heal you
"In the end, you cannot save what does not want to be saved."
"When the pain is greater than the fear, you will know what to do."
-gws
Words Wishes and Wisdom 