Lord, may gentleness
fall from me,
like an autumn leaf
drifting in the breeze
to greet the ground.

May gentleness
be noticed
…in my touch
   …and word
      …and quiet,
In my work,
…and rest
   …and play.

Red acorn shells lie empty
under the snow filled trailer,
a weathered wooden trailer,
   once filled with children,
   and produce,
   branches
   and leaves.
But it has been here for many years
sheltering squirrels who eat acorns
in the winter sun.

I say goodbye to little shoes
    unused for thirty years,
 …they held feet
    so small and new.
Feet with tiny toes that curled,
    then grew.
Protected by these little shoes
    they stood, then walked
    and almost flew.
I say goodbye to little shoes
    that held the precious feet
    as people grew.
Grew to men and woman now
   whose feet are fast
…on chosen paths.  

 

Maybe it happens every day
A child who is three
dances so free
and I just don’t see….

She danced all alone
in the mist with the breeze.
The music it moved her,
moved her like leaves
As she danced with the fire flies
in the light of the moon.

We all saw her
as we danced to the tune.
We saw her so free
and we wept as we moved.
We saw where she was…
and wished we were there.

She danced in the mist

and the music,

in the moonlight…

with the fireflies…

and I saw her.

The moon was full during the wedding reception/dance for my youngest son and his bride.  There was a mist that hovered close to the ground as the evening stars came out.  I watched children chase fireflies in the lawn.  It was an amazing sight.  So many spectacular things wrapped up in one evening.  At one point I looked out on the dance floor and my three year old granddaughter was there dancing by herself.  The light hit her as though there was a spotlight and she was oblivious to the people around her.  She wasn’t performing, she was dancing  inside the music- so I watched.

(September 2015)