Peace

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Peace

Why conrinue to pray for peace when
the world's people have prayed  for peace 
for decades, for centuries?  Nothing changes.
Wars of hatred persist, blood  continues
to flow, and so many innocent lives are lost.

Who hears our prayers? If someone
with the power to respond listens, why
do they heartlessly do nothing?  Is prayer
a futile exercise, a crying into the wind?
How can one respect an unresponsive god?

Why continue to pray for peace in wars
or send thoughts and prayers when lives are
lost to gun violence? Are all prayers merely
empty words, feeble and pointless recitation,
ignored by an impotent  or uncaring god?  

This is written for Susan's prompt "For Peace" at What's Going On?

May This Be the Year

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May This Be the Year

May this be the year we come together
as a new day presents a wide-open door.
We have struggled to keep heads above water,
now is the time to work toward a positive goal.

We must use this year to find a path forward
as our journey presents  to us each new day and
opportunities for love and compassion abound.
May this be the year our hearts beat in unison again.

This is shared for Sumana's prompt at What's Going On?:  Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Reflection

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 Reflection

A photo can sometimes feel more real than its subject 
as you look back at the people and places and try to remember
details  about that particular moment in long ago time.

Sometimes you can't even find the photo itself but you know
it exists somewhere, remember taking it, can still view the scene
from decades back in your mind, smiles fixed and frozen in time.

A part of you knows you can take nothing with you, time has passed,
the scene long gone, the memory blurred but still real.  You don't
remember  before or the after but still can visualize the one scene.

We live our lives in moments, some captured with a lens,
with hope they will not fade, but even as we preserve the image
the present begins  the past, smiles fade, and scenery changes.

We try to capture memories because we know they will escape,
we take photo after photo as if to press the pause button in a
futile attempt to preserve a time, to halt inevitable change.

This poem is posted for What's Going On?-- REFLECTION/LOOKING BACK/AGE

Let Your Heart Be Open

Let Your Heart Be Open

Let your heart be open, carefree as you can.
It is good to be alive, to walk free on the path
of life, through the woods, surrounded by trees
whose leaves have fallen, through the trails
your heart makes, as it beats, thankful for the
beating much like a drum.  Do you hear it?

Be still!

Listen to the heartbeats of trees around you.
As you walk in silence you will hear them,
tune your mind and heart to what they say.
Their tongues speak wisdom of the ages.
Appreciate this day alive among trees.
Walk with eyes open, arms stretched to sky.
Let your heart be open, let your spirit rise.

Be still!

This is for Sherry's prompt at What's Going On? -- "The Tongues of Falling Trees"