Thursday, August 21, 2025

1395 - Another Place

 


Image by ChatGPT

The Sunday Whirl presents these twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

spiral craft signal draft shallow rule dense send shell sham slapping laugh




Another Place


“Silence is sometimes the best answer.” 

— Dalai Lama XIV



The smoke spirals slowly upwards

The air is dense with aromatics,

Drifting slowly in the breeze,

On the draft that flows gently,

Languidly, through the building,

Swirling ever so lazily.



The outside boils.

A world of rules.

Must this.

Should that.

Buy. Buy. Buy.

Constant pressure.

Craft your life.

Chase your dreams.

Buy. Keep. Forget.

A shallow shell

Without meaning.

Or purpose.

Sham friends.

It has laughter,

But no joy.

It is all rush.

It slaps noisily

Against the temple

But cannot enter.



Inside the stillness

The smoke spirals calmly,

Sending a message of both

Impermanence and continuity—

A signal that life can be embraced

Peacefully, serenely, in another place.


A temple bell rings.


Thursday, August 14, 2025

1394 - The Blessing

 

Image by ChatGPT

The Sunday Whirl presents these twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

voices time story debris present travel lead doors roots prophecy last mirror



The Blessing


The voices of time grew louder.

We both heard them.

We still walked the garden paths,

held hands in the quiet,

but the last door was coming into view.


On a wheeled-walk,

one of her final weeks,

while she was still fully present,

she stopped, looked at me,

and with a steady, loving breath said:

"You must find another wife".


It was not a prophecy.

It was a blessing.


We stood together

at the doors life sets before us—

grief, solitude, freedom—

and she pointed me toward

the one marked Live.


Roots run deep in the story we shared;

growth belongs to the new leaves.


Now the mirror of the past

still shows its debris and treasures,

but it does not bind me.

I travel forward,

letting love lead,

knowing it can be given twice in one life—

once as a beginning,

once as a renewal.


A blessing.


Thursday, August 07, 2025

1393 - The Path

 

Image by ChatGPT

The Sunday Whirl presents these twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

souvenirs free touch know cracks siren window waves sting show ring give


Poet & Storytellers had the following prompt: 

"What’s the most important step a person can take?"

My answer is 'forward'.



The Path


"The past is not a tether but a teacher. 

When the lesson is learned, step forward."

— Unknown, possibly inspired by Rumi.


They are everywhere.

Windows on a past life.

Souvenirs fill my space.

Not all mine.  Not all ours.

That’s the sting, of course,

I have become the curator

Of someone else’s loves.

But they do touch me—

I know why they were special,

Mostly.

Special to someone else.

Rings, of course, stay,

Their story is eternal.

But where to from here?



The past.  The future.

The linkages crack,

The grip loosens—

The sirens of life, a living life,

Call me, pull me,

Set me free,

Leading me on—

To the future.



Behind me,

The past waves,

Blows me a loving kiss,

And wishes me well.

I step forward.



Saturday, August 02, 2025

1392 - Patience

 



Patience

"thump...thump...thump..."
A dog, 2025.

A quiet retreat
Is sometimes necessary.
That's okay.  I'll wait.


Thursday, July 31, 2025

1391 - The Muse

 



The Sunday Whirl presents these twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

ball whispers shimmering unveil hits strange shedding edge creature sparks fear magic

For the effect I wanted, several of the words have been exchanged for softer synonyms.




The Muse


She is the anima to his animus, 

the yin to his yang... 

-- Germaine Greer, The Role of the Muse.


A nymph of old,

A fairy, if you will,

A figure of insight and wisdom,

Murmurs warmth into his soul,

Stirs emotions, elicits insights.

Sparks—Creative and spiritual,

Reveal beneath the layers

Of self, soul and persona

The aching tremors of love

And of enduring bonds of respect.

They produce a form of magic.

That unveils the present

But also the hidden longings,

It unveils the eyes to a new dance—

Haunting, inspirational,

On the very edge of the mind,

Opening to the loveliness,

The deep luminous loveliness,

Within.


Just as a candle is blind

To the radiance it produces,

For it to truly see its beauty,

It needs a mirror.



Exchanges:

ball → dance 
whispers → murmurs 
shimmering → luminous 
hits → stirs 
strange → haunting 
shedding → revealing 
creature → figure 
fear → tremor 

Thursday, July 24, 2025

1390 - No Promises

 

Image by ChatGPT

The Sunday Whirl presents these twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

churn secret battle names glimpse cradle skins dragons stir flash fringe illusion


Poets & Storyteller's prompt is "Celebration".  I merged the two.




No Promises


“Realize deeply that 

the present moment

is all you ever have.”

- Eckhart Tolle.


The stomach churns.

I don’t want to believe it.  

But I must.

The dragons of fear 

Cast long shadows.

Shadows that foretell

Nameless loss and pain.

Pain with names too.

Do I battle?  Fight it?

Can I fight it?

No secrets held here,

It is a waiting game.

A glimpse of hope

Not a flash, a flicker,

Stirs now and then.

Is it an illusion?

A soft cradle of hope?

A fringe technique

With a name too long

And no promises.

Is it a cure?

Or just a delay?

Is it too early to celebrate?

Only time will tell.

Time does tell—

Silence.