Spring Rain

The first spring rain falls from a darkened sky 
Washing away the heaviness from the air
Bringing deliverance of spirit 
Offering itself as balm for my weary heart 
Through its steady patter beyond my open window
Petrichor rising to ground me
Cool and damp air greeting too hot skin
I close my eyes
Imagining my complete surrender to it 
Making an offering of all that scars me
All that weighs so heavily on my shoulders 
I welcome this renewal 
This forgiveness
This peace
I invite this healing 
Surrender to this gentleness 
Allow this act of cleansing 
Readying my world to reawaken
Readying me to bloom again 

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
Happy NaPoWriMo! Here’s a Day 1 poem called Spring Rain. #poetry #wordsmithing #poem #writer #wordswishesandwisdom #poet #poetsoftiktok #poetryTok #NaPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo2024 #poetryreading
♬ Ambient-style emotional piano – MoppySound

Redemption

Sometimes
The simple act of cleaning a toilet
Can feel like redemption 

-gws

If Not Me

I may appear whole
What you cannot see
Are the burns on my feet
From walking miles through fire
The stars in my eyes
From taking too many hits
The lacerations on my skin
From navigating uncountable shards of glass
The weariness deep in my bones
From rising everyday to overcome 
Some challenge or trial
Again
And again
I have dodged and weaved
Punched and parried my way
Through days I never could have predicted 
I have shown up when all I desired 
Was to lay down and give up
Because if not me, then who
Mothers have to dig deep
We have to find that reservoir of power labeled
Do it for the children 
So I push
So I push
So I push
Through the deepest, coldest waters
The fiercest, raging fires
The longest, darkest nights because 
If not me, then who
For them

-gws

Step Back

Everyone who has ever loved you
Have put their hands up and
Taken a step back
Now they are looking at me
Wondering if now is when
I will finally do the same

-gws

The Rocky Path

I’m walking between worlds 
Both in a nightmare
And waking from one
Navigating the rocky path
One footfall at a time
Calling on my ancestors 
Those women who each
Did the same in their own way 
As I step out of darkness 
Into the healing light of freedom 

-gws

That Moment

That moment when you’re in freefall, just before you hit the ground to shatter apart into bitter shards of disappointment.

-gws

The Next Right Choice

All we can do is make the next right choice

Sometimes, that choice is easy

Sometimes it is the hardest thing you can do

What do you do when you get to the end of the map

Where do you go when you can’t go back

And forward is so uncertain

You know there is something beyond

But you don’t know what it looks like

How hard it’s going to be

Because there’s no way it can be easy

The unknown is rarely easy

-gws

@wordswishesandwisdom
The Next Right Choice written and read by GWS #wordswishesandwisdom #poetry #poetrytok #poem #poet #poetsoftiktok #poetryreading #writer #recovery
♬ original sound – GWS