Best Carries Poems
She strains to find her footing in orthopedic shoes
my grandmother's clop-clop walk to me
unbalanced
steadied by a backbone of faith
She bears a tattered, red carpet bag,
solid wooden handles, worn like her marbled hands
Grandma removes jam tarts and her Bible (smell enticing)
to tutor me for my Sunday School verses,
Psalm 23, that welds to memory
Her diligence that I adhere to the lines
despite my craven pull to tarts (a riveting obsession)
Unfussy delight when I learn the verses
Her glow, free floating,
a small harp ovation
Grandmother's carpet bag, stitched by history
brimming with the sweet lure of baking
upheld by her faith, like a pulse that hums devotion
in a drawn body softly folding into itself
Nothing can be swept aside
when a grandma voices validation
when generosity extends itself
when her walk thaws the ground
when words embroider love
ensuring preservation
Poem revised: April 25, 2021
A bluebird carries a mother's voice
Beyond the rain and dark season
Of a love of her child
Through tribulations and trials
Loyalties so strong
to honor the mother-child bond
A silver umbilical cord uncut
Between them and the Pure White One
The mother's voice carried by the bluebird
And is heard by The Greatness
And then an answer comes
No one can severe the special mother-child bond
By Susan Mills
“Dan molom ini dia membawa payungnya" [in Bahasa Indonesia]
Dia beranjak keslangan hori ini
Dan molom ini dia membawa payungnya
Gugusan kabut terpapar di balik kilauan sarung keboyanya
Saat dia berjalan melintasi duniaku
Jauh dan semaken jauh dia melongkah sendiri
Dimana tanganku tok bisa menggapoi untuk memeluknya
"Tonight the moon carries her umbrella” [English translation]
She rises late in the afternoon
And tonight she carries her umbrella.
Smoky tendrils trail behind her glittering sarung keboyanya*
As she strolls across my universe.
Far, far away she walks, alone,
Where my arms cannot reach to embrace her.
*A dress worn by women in Indonesia.
This poem was re-crafted with the help of Silvana Sandi who translated a phrase in Bahasa Indonesia.
Here's my happiness
I am rich beyond belief
Love light fills my days
Storms don't bother me
Let the rain and thunder come
With the strength of love
Mountains cannot rise so high
Rivers will not run as deep
Loved ones near and far
Precious family and friends
That's what carries me
**for Linda Marie Sweetheart of PS Harvest of Happiness contest
A young African American male, in the 60’s.
Decided to help his race become free.
As an activist and a fighter
he withstood the torturous words and never backed down.
His speeches were known far and wide.
Even some were taught to recite.
“I have a dream” carried throughout the land.
That colored minorities got a say,
That they too could sit in the front of the bus,
and drink from the same water fountain as us.
Dreaming that Someday an African American will become president.
On April 4, 1968 he laid dead for all to see.
Never did he make presidency,
but he left a legend for all to read.
Martin Luther king Jr. was his name
and his birthday we celebrate.
Who carries your heart
Tenderly in their hands
Keeping it protected
Its needs they understand
Providing safety and warmth
Guarding it from all harm
Love and gently nurturing it
Encouraging balance and calm
Who carries your heart
When heavy or in sickness
In the good times and the bad
Unconditionally with forgiveness
how can someone so beautiful
love me,like that
when i've been so mischiveous
and ungrateful
like a spoiled and mean little kid
i've been such a bad boy
yet you carry me
i'll never forget
the tears you shed today
and tried so hard to hold you
but to the glory of you love
i couldn't come near
you are so full of love baby
you love me even more
when i make you cry.
She sought him for a connection
he offered her more rejection
she asked him to call
he did tarry, and all
There was angst
there was confusion
even fantasy's illusion...
Still, she will seek~
For pure romance~
She carries on ...week by week.
Copyright McCuen 2009
breeze carries a leaf
ebb in the eye of the moon
the wave’s constant flow
Russell Sivey
The wind carries my song
From my lips to the corners of the earth,
And the flowers in gladness bloom,
The trees stand a little taller,
And the springs bubble from the roots of the mountains.
The wind carries my whispers
From my teeth to the skies.
But I am oblivious to their sound;
My musings fall not upon my own ears.
Give me grace to renounce my own voice on the wind,
For sometimes I don’t believe it’s there,
Despite the love of flowers for the sound in air.
And yet I sing on
Desperate to hear the melody for myself,
Clinging on to an ancient belief
Give me grace to renounce
Once upon time doesn't always mean a happy ending,
You try to stick out but just keep on blending.
Each day we get a tad bit stronger,
Moral dilemmas forcing us under.
Can I hold on just a little bit longer?
Everyone always stealing your thunder.
What is right and what is wrong?
Does dear Mirriam have an answer?
Just barely getting through life's hardships,
Struggling to get along.
Money and love being our only enhancer.
What has the world come to?
I durst you to explain.
Soldiers and innocent civilians,
Writhing in pain.
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the list goes on and on...
The only answer to war is by dropping a bomb.
We call out to those we care for deeply,
Yet, the only answer they supply is understated so cheaply.
"Words before blows," is all I can say.
Then just carry on,
And treasure the bright sun of each new day.
Keep the beat
With the rhythm of thy soul
Counting each second
Blissful with thy voice
Standing on top
under them all
Rising to the ground
Nothing to see
I was 27
Affraid to fly
Catching the stars
Who fell to the floor
Reaching out
to touch one's hand
Crumbling my very existance
Grass, the sour touch
Ash filling my lungs
Smoke thickening the air
Non talking with tongues
Only with thy lips
Nothing coming from the heart
Heartless people became us
Nothing unique
But plastic the the ear
Like a burning forest
Spreads the virus
A strange, eerie, black feeling of despair,
I am lost, alone, no one seems to care
except the Moon who appears and prepares.
He throws me a long rope, yelling, "Catch hold!"
Noticing my doubt, "Have no fear!" he scolds -
"Believe!" I beam as unknown scheme unfolds.
Watching down below as upwards we soar,
I see Daddy and his friends - and Moon roars,
"Look, they're searching!." as my hope I restore.
Gently rocking mid air, the sky, my bed,
Moon covers me with clouds' blanket, my spread.
He lays me down on the path up ahead.
I awake as my head they elevate
"What's this long rope for?" one friend speculates.
Starting to tell them, yet I hesitate...
"I found it ... while playing down by the creek
and followed it up to where this hill peaks."
Begging, "Can I keep it?" my tale I tweak.
February 18, 2020
Edward Ibeh's contest: Pick a Title 14, Tristitch
In a literary context, the term felix culpa can describe how a series of unfortunate events will eventually lead to a happier outcome. fortunate fault.
THE MAN WHO CARRIES THE STARS IN HIS POCKET
you knows
he was glowing in the dark
quiet on your own
everyone else story
nobody knows anybody
what is the purpose of life
the secret goes with himself
recently asked
when it has no glow
a star slipped
you don't aware
sudden and silent are separated
the stars from the sky
then you'll understand
“8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel 9 For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions." Deut 32: 8-11 NIV
He carries us
When we cannot carry on
He sees our tears and frustration
When our lives have all gone wrong
If we’re in prison or the gutter
He loves us just the same
That’s why He bore our sins
Claimed our righteousness in His name
When we do not feel like praying
That’s when He longs to hear
A sweet prayer of help in the darkness
He promises to draw near
To take our load and carry it—
When it’s too heavy for us to bear
His ear is always listening
To hear our earnest prayer
God says we have not
When we fail to ask
Communion with Him takes faith
Action faith unmasks
So if your life is desperate
You need Your Father’s assistance
Ask Him to carry you
But do so with persistence.
Copyright © 2007-2012 Maureen LeFanue