Love Beyond Loss

~ Love Beyond Loss ~

I will not lose our love for it rests deep within

Your love has molded me and echoes still

Now as I grow new life and step ahead

It seeds new blossoms sure to bloom

JoMae

11/13/18

Happy December everyone. I’m still marveling at how life goes on after tragic loss, when the world as we knew it abruptly disintegrates. In this season of thanksgiving for the gift of Christ’s Presence in our lives, please know that buried in the new normal one encounters, confusing as it is, unexpected presents will surprise you. Gifts of Godde’s Grace. Watch for them! Open them when you are able and be blessed.

My Breathing Tree

Artist Credit: Peace, Be Still by James Browne
[https://www.etsy.com/shop/brownieman]

~ My Breathing Tree ~

When

I was a girl

there was a tree

growing quite close

beside a porch. A walnut tree

with arms so strong it safely could

hang on to me as I climbed up high 

with a book in hand and tucked 

myself in the crook of a limb

There I’d sit as still as could be

barely breathing so I could see if

what I felt was the breath of the tree

It had to be. I could feel her, snug

against my back with the gentle rhythm

of a living hug. I was sure she breathed

her love for me as she held me close - and I

so still as not to break the magic spell while

I sat with my book in the arms of my tree

and read of lives I wanted to be

At 80 now, I still recall it vividly

that sense of the tree  

 breathing with me 

JoMae

11/19/18 

ThanksLiving

Autumn Blessings

Abundance From Judy's Garden

~ ThanksLiving ~

You left me here, Dear Heart

alone and on my own - my world

all upside-down without you

the life we knew is gone

has died with you

Now as I surface from the depths

and grow a new familiar - I wait

for a fresh bud upon the vine

we nurtured for so long

I’m watching, waiting as it blossoms

slowly, yet with great surprise

I am captured by its promise

life anew in your demise

Nourished by the love we shared

strengthened by our years, I’m

grateful for the gifts I count

as this Thanksgiving nears

JoMae

11/19/18

Thankful for gifts never sought or needed before death turned life upside-down, yet now, emerging, are life giving - full of hope to turn despair around.

Growth by Grace

Roses Blooming in the Snow

From a photo by Shari Harrison

~~ Growing by Grace ~~

A

death

in blossom:

I love the life I had

and grieve the One I lost

yet even amid the mourning

new aspects of my self emerge

words I had no inclination to refine 
when life's duet was full to overflowing

have now become the anchor of my days

my work, my life, my pleasure, my companion

I am a writer

renewed

by joy 

JoMae

11/15/18

Celebrating new growth seeping in through the cracks of devastating grief and nourishing new hope.  A gift of Grace.  Thanks be to Godde.

Blessing Prayer

This Gray November Day

~ A Prayer For Blessing ~

Bless this day dear Godde I pray
Bless the world in which we play
Bless all homes in which we stay

Bless our lives and what we say

Bless every one displaced by fire

Bless the homeless every where

Bless any frightened, lost, afraid

Bless this lovely world you made

Bless all hands that now are laid

On many lives in need of aid

JoMae

11/13/18
A Simple Prayer For Blessing On This Gray November Day

Immersed In Yellow

Collage in Yellow

~ Immersed In Yellow ~

I imagine I’m in a mustard sandwich

between maples still brilliant high above

and the lawn below, deeply carpeted in gold

I love to watch those dancing leaves drifting 

through the air like giant snowflakes 

floating down to find their spot

and settle there ’til buried

deep in ice and cold

Even in demise

glistening in the sun 

leaves gently carry down

their quiet autumn

blessings

JoMae

11/07/18

Bereaved

Blossoming in the Desert

Ocotillo Plant in Joshua Tree
Photo by Nancy Spoelhof

~ Bereaved ~

In the muddle of mourning 

when words run like tears all

mangled together unsorted, one 

needs to decipher, learn to discern

what and when to appropriately share.

JoMae
10/1/18

More thoughts on grief from one whose tears
tend to pour out in words.

(a note to myself☺)