Poetry ~ Waka
Snow covered roads
Brisk winds carry me
Down South
Snow covered roads
Skilled drivers
With nerves of steel
Brisk winds carry me
Despite
Ice tipped wings
Down South
Like leaving Kansas
For the land of Oz
© Tournesol’18/02/04
This photo challenge inspired this story…from MindLoveMiserysMenagerie at Sunday Writing
Life was intolerable. Little One could no longer let this happen to her. This was the last time she would sit still while being violated; she did not cry herself to sleep tonight like most nights. Instead, she sang a chant the old lady in the village taught her. The Elder told her as she knitted on her porch,”These words bring home justice…always, If you chant this chant 10,000 times in a row without interruption.” The old lady gave her turquoise mala beads, “Here, these beads will ensure your safety if you chant as I have instructed.” She held her gift preciously all the way home.
Little One took the beads from under her pillow and began chanting. She pulled the curtain beside her bed to let in the light of the full moon. The universe kept her up all night…by sunrise, she was chanting her last set. It was quiet. The house would not come alive for another hour. She had time…
Her backpack had all her necessities had been packed for months, hidden under her bed. She dressed quickly and slipped out the back door and made her way to her secret place by a pond in the woods behind her house.
Sitting by the pond
Heart filled with hope
A lotus blossoms
Sitting by the pond
Birds chirp happily
Morning songs
Heart filled with hope
Frog sits on a lily pad
At peace
A lotus blossoms
Exhales equanimity
Touched by an angel
©Tournesol’18-01-30
rain, sleet, snow
winter’s eccentricities
sun shines on the snow
rain, sleet, snow
trying to walk upright
most times
winter’s eccentricities
faced with challenges
daring us to seize
sun shines on the snow
her warm embrace,
mother nature’s smile
©Tournesol;18/01/24
yesterday
winter watercolours
today a memory
yesterday
sighs forming
flow with the current
winter watercolour
once frozen in time
now a puddle
today a memory
nothing lasts forever
change is constant
©Tournesol’18/01/19
Daily Moments – January 19/18 Nature’s Life Lesson
snow swaddles the earth
the old spruce stands tall
aims to the heavens
snow swaddles the earth
mother nature’s lullaby
whistles through the night
the old spruce stands tall
guiding through the storm
a landmark
aims to the heavens
children’s soft whispers
bedtime prayers
©Tournesol’18/01/15
Daily Moments Jan 15 2018 Nature s Duvet Troiku
sudden winter thaw
birds chirp on bare branches
dazed and confused
sudden winter thaw
Mother Nature’s idea
of a bad joke
birds chirp on bare branches
searching from above
nothing to eat
dazed and confused
jewelled icicles take in the sun
dripping off branches
©Tournesol’18/01/12
Daily moments mid-season change January 12 2018 Troiku
Day 4 of snow today but on the grrreat side, it is th warmest it has been in 2 weeks reaching a balmy minus 4 C!! I had to do some errands today and waiting for the winds to calm down. They said it was supposed to stop at 2pm.but by 4pm.it was still snowing. I was so thrilled when I got outside, because the snow was nice and immaculate and powdery. The snow ploough had cleared up the sidewalk in the morning, so it was not too bad but on my return it had stopped snowing and I was following the sidewalk plough.
I love walking in the snow after a blizzard. It was so calm and mild outside. I thought of waiting for the bus when I finished my errands with two heavy bags but I figured that walking was healthier even if I walk slowly. I have spent two weeks on my back most of the time nursing my sinuses but mostly I was so darn exhausted.
Coming back to my walk, it reminded me of a dear late friend who used to walk at night with me for hours. We would tuck our kids to bed, our hubbies too and then meet after 10 or 11 at night and walk and talk. I miss her so dearly. She was my next door neighbour I met when we moved to Chambly January 7th 1982. My daughter was just one and my son was 4. It was their father’s birthday too. I was never happier moving out of the country where the kids were born and into a small suburban town. I had been so lonely at the other place. Here in Chambly, all the children were outside playing speaking French or English and moms were outside chatting and walking. During snow storms, everyone was out. Dads shovelling and chatting with a neighbour or two for a break; children making forts and moms watching them and chatting with neighbours. Gosh! We were all healthy!! [chuckling to myself now]
I was thinking of Janet, my old neighbour and dear friend walking back home tonight. I have never had a friend like her since. We would call each other late at night if we could not sleep and let the phone ring one ring. That was the signal who was calling not to disturb or wake up anyone. I suppose today we might have texted but we did not have cell phones then. Then we would meet up and drink coffee and me sweet tea until 3 or 4 in the morning. She made me a better person and mother in so many ways.
So back to the weather, well, apparently we have had such cold weather from minus 25 to minus 40 C and they say we broke a record for being the coldest for so many consecutive days in 164 years!! Wow!
Thanks to Linda Hill for her prompt in Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS): prompt “eco” that coaxed me to write something since I have not had the energy, although I had the inspiration, to write in the past week. And once again, wishing you all a happy new year filled with much love. If you have love in your heart, you are wealthy and successful!.
Memories
Winters long ago
Soulmates
Memories
Sauntering
Lifting my spirit
Winters long ago
Building snow forts all day long
Snow angels rest
Soulmates
Walking after a snowstorm
Crunch underfoot
(c)Tournesol’ 18-01-08
Daily Moments – January 8, 2018 – memories (troibun)
Cold snap since last year
Persistent
Adding fresh snow
Cold snap since last year
Keeping the country captive
Prisoners of our homes
Persistent
Prayers for the bitter
Compassion comes first
Adding fresh show
Adorning
the cedar hedge
(c) Tournesol’18-01-03
Pearly skies
Angel dust falling softly
On my nose
Pearly skies here
Starlit skies over there
In Kerala
Angel dust falling softly
Teasing mister squirrel
On my balcony
On my nose
Feel the pressures
Winter cold
©Tournesol’18-01-02
Daily moments Jan 2/18. Angel dust (troiku)
I am not much for resolutions since it makes me feel locked in a wish to change a behaviour and when you feel forced, well, it’s like stubborn toddler in me resurfaces and I want to stomp my feet and say NO!!! I don’t want to, so there! And since I’m an adult, NO ONE can send me to my room, right?
However, as I age I feel my solitude, time to think and meditate and talk to myself for hours, days, weeks…I find myself rereading old wise words from yellowed pages of my books. Buddhist thought making more and more sense that I find myself wanting to try. I read over a list of 7 ways to overcome difficult times and posted it in on last journal of 2017 and it got me thinking.
I have had time to think a lot lately. Since December 22nd, I have worked one day and Christmas I went out for our family dinner…That is about what sums up my time off work. I had planned a trip and booked a train to see family for New Year’s in Toronto but my health was so so and did not feel it was right to visit people nursing a cold that would probably get much worse if I did not just rest in my own bed under very warm duvet cover in this crazy cold weather we are having in Quebec at -25 C most days. So I have had a lot of time to think. I have not been writing as much lately either. I seem to think too much and my thoughts get stuck in a dark whirlwind of negativity that it depresses me. My muse is not strong enough to weather that, so I escape by binging on Netflix. I try to read but it takes so much energy to concentrate on any book even if it is great!! This week, thankfully, I started reading The House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi and finally, I am captivated. It has been months that I have been captivated like that and it feels so good. Granted the book is not a happy story but it is real, intense and about women and in this particular story it takes place in Afghanistan. I fell in l love with stories of Afghanistan and what it was like before wars and takeovers with a novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I read his Kite Runner after but that first novel just made want to know more.
I wrote my first poem (troiku) of the year today as well. And writing this feels hopeful that perhaps the storm in my mind is dying down or simmering at least and not taking over of my every thought which influences my actions. I feel hopeful.
Now, the resolution I had been thinking of for the past three days is to take each day as if it is the first day of the new year. You know how some people like to take the first day of the year as happy and positive? Well, I want to be mindful of today…each moment and tomorrow is not here but I hope to wake up and just feel that moment when I open my eyes, I stretch and get up. That moment I pet my cat and give her her food. I want to be more mindful each new day this year. Just like the moments I walk to work and chanting my mantra, noticing the tree branches move slightly and I imagine they are praying too! I want to be mindful like those moments as many minutes in the day and hold my love and compassion in my heart and with each movement. Happy New Year everyone!
For the first time
Looking out the frozen window
A new year
For the first time
Seeing sunlight
My eyes still shut
Looking out the frozen window
Cold snap goes on and on
Since last year
A new year
Looks like yesterday
Different attitude
©️Tournesol’2018/01/01
Written for Linda’s Friday Reminder of Stream of Consciousness Saturday.
Tournesol dans un Jardin 