Category: Rhyme

Anxiety Dream

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What is happening in my head
That I have dreams that I must wed
Oh what a dream to cause me dread
While I was tucked up in my bed

My dream reflects my feelings deep
That swirl and churn while I'm asleep
Such anxiety does darkly steep
Like vicious shadows slink and creep

And in the morning light I wake
All too aware of my mistakes
Afraid the wrong path I may take
So precious are the things at stake

So ground I must so I achieve
A state of peace I can believe
My anxiety for now relieved
Now in a state of calm reprieve

-gws

On Becky’s Retirement

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Your hearty chuckle we will miss
Your quirk and humor too
A life of leisure and of bliss
Is soon awaiting you

No more price checks for you to chase
Nor contracts or email replies
It's time to fill up that empty suitcase
And share your cheerful goodbyes

May retirement be all you hope
And these halls but just a memory
We just ask that you not gloat
As you enjoy your unfettered reverie

-gws

The Bookish Child

(For Abriana)

I met a little girl once
And quite a girl she was
Her passion was for reading
It was her deepest love

Words became her closest friends
And stories her salvation
She hung on words like branching limbs
One swings from on vacation

I hope she knows how special she is
I pray she never wonders
If she’s really ever good enough
When seen through eyes of others

I imagine her crafting stories one day
Deep and rich and compelling
Inspiring another child
To fall in love with storytelling

-gws

Christmas in California

2024’s Holiday Poem

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Christmas in California
Is rolling 'round again
I look forward to sharing it
With family and friends

This season's feeling haunted
A hard to argue fact
Beneath the strain of politics
And people clapping back

This shopping season's last chance buys
Spark lukewarm interest
As shoppers look toward '25's
Incoming tariff threats

With Pluto in Aquarius
Regimes are burning down
The People are now taking aim
At every tarnished crown

It's hard to lift a cup of cheer
With such uncertainty
So I'll nestle with a spicy book
And a mug of steaming tea

Inside the lights shine merrily
And Christmas carols sing
This California Christmas
Will be about one thing

The love of friends and family
As we circle 'round our trees
And this year's hard-learned lesson
To save some love for me

-gws

Discomfort

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I breathe and it is not enough
I pray for help for life is tough
I tire of carrying this broken trust
I wish to just feel safe again

My skin too tight, my mind too loud
I seek to avoid the merry crowd
I am now scared when I once was proud
I wish to just feel safe again

I fell asleep so full of hope
And woke within the hangman's rope
Fear wedged deep inside my throat
I wish to just feel safe again

Trust once lost is hard to earn
Apprehension in my belly churns
Quiet rage, set low, still burns
I wish to just feel safe again

Discomfort visits everyday
A mix of feelings eating away
The world no longer morally gray
I wish to just feel safe again

-gws

When Hope Has Left Us

Oh, how the tears fall
In the darkest of night
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

The grief and the shame
Consume all they might
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

Hold on to my hand
Grasp on to it tight
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

It is anguish that grips us
With its devastating blight
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

Remember, when dawn comes
How we survived this rite
When hope had left us
With the dying of the light

-gws

Villain Era

Before I enter my “Healed Woman” era
I must detour into my “Villain” era
You see…
I was cast in the villain role for so long
I might as well embrace the casting for a term
With that said…
Do not be concerned at my black wardrobe
My blood red lips
Do not pay mind to my near silent mumbling
As I light candles and cast salt about
Fret not over my narrowed, focused eyes
Rimmed in thick black liner
As I observe and calculate my options
Do not wonder about the herb-coated offerings
Laid out beneath the full moon
None of it is your concern
Cross the street
Avert your gaze
Do not trouble yourself wondering in my direction
I’m embracing my dark side
Doing my shadow work
If my shadow is meant to fall upon you
You will know

-gws

Gaslighting

You refused to take responsibility 
So I accepted it instead
Until the day I found 
You in someone else’s bed

You didn’t do the right thing
You clutched your pearls and said,
“If only you had been the wife
You promised when we wed”

At first I shrank around the wound
Thinking you were right
Believing that it may be true
That I’d been a lousy wife

I thought of all the arguments 
That were constant in our life
The years of ugly, cutting blame
The insistence you were right

But then the rage came rushing in
You would gaslight me no more
I said that you were full of shit
And kicked you out the door

I realized I had done my part
In holding up my vow
It was you who failed on every front
I’d not be blamed right now

You made choices on your own
Now I have made some too
So hit the road, you selfish prick
Gaslighting days are through 

-gws