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Cheryl Hayden Poem
Lasting impressions will be made tonight of food and man
A secret ingredient is part of the pleasure I presume
Same as secrets of the one across from me
A first date - he was late, but quickly pardoned
Given the two glasses of wine I enjoyed while waiting
Not many others around, the awkwardness ascends
As I decide, within lasagna's savory sauce - it's cinnamon!
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
the day they walked out
closed the door for the last time
boxes on a truck
carried their memories away
with the American dream
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
Bloomed by water and light
bouncy pink-red blossoms
breathe in summer's warm glow
blooms older hang and drop
buds new wait for their turn
bathe in sun's generous rays
Beauty-blessed these my days
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
Small palms pressed against her ears
Reddened five-year face of tears
Third stair from the top she sat
Next to a little striped cat
Neither could rest with all the noise
She'd thought she knew of girls and boys
But maybe there was more to learn
She should just wait 'til it's her turn
But this time seemed more serious
Dad had taught her not to cuss
Yet he was doing it a lot
Mom broke a dish that Gram had bought
"I think this time, it's up to me"
She whispered to Mr. Stripey
She stepped into the kitchen light
"Hey Mom, hey Dad - you're in a fight"
"My teacher said to "make amends"
She said it helps people be friends
I don't know how to make them yet
But Mom and Dad, I really bet
If you can find the recipe
All will be fine and then you'll see
Amends will make everything right
Then this can be your last big fight
Love you. Goodnight!"
She stood between them; one-arm hug
For each of them, held nice and snug
She turned, and joyful, skipped away
Satisfied she'd saved the day
She climbed into her princess bed
Her little face was no more red
Mr. Stripey next to her
His lullaby - contented purr
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
I extend my humble hand
out toward its delicate glow
Sparse, inky bristles await
note I will ask them to paint
The message is sweetly short
Dear blank page: brighten our night
Shine on! shadows swirled with light
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
(5-21-26 For "Snapshots of a Night Scene" Contest Sponsor - Nette Onclaud)
Dusk slowly approaches, as their energy finally begins to wane. Half flat soccer balls
speedily sent down a grassless, asphalt field by crooked, knobby sticks.
Stubby chunks of chalk - pink, yellow, blue, white. Hopscotch squares already fading
Frayed jump ropes swinging up, around, and down,
their satisfying soft smacks on the ground, keeping rhythm.
Delighted squeals of joy, laughter, calling out of names to friends, classmates, neighbors, siblings...
Somehow, this view left me remembering
my days of young, pondering the timeless satisfactions and yearnings of youth.
Gentle raindrops begin to splat red and orange leaves, partially painted the weed-lined pavement
Small shadows scatter and go wherever it is they go when the night sets in.
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
When I look back as far as I can see
through the past of my Earthly memory
I cannot find an absence of belief
or faith in single, loving Deity
I do not know of life without a Lord
hymns on Sundays, singing every chord
However, through a trying adult phase
I turned away on my own proud accord
Although I still believed, I was in pain
Along with ancient anger - Abel, Cain
Temptation put upon Adam and Eve
Then told in Paradise could not remain
I witnessed others select, pick, and choose
particular scriptures that they could use
To back their case, justify, or rationalize
My glowing flame of faith became diffused
Entered theories of physics and science
led me toward Old Testament defiance
In prayer, I now addressed "The Universe"
And on personal God put much less reliance
Exhilarated by Quantum Mechanics
I put on hold mere Biblical semantics
Less literally, I clung to verse of youth
And traveled through a phase of my own antics
Now, when I try to synthesize it all
Everything I've come to know and can recall
It all comes back to Love and Consciousness
Hence, this is where I'll settle ... though Self so small
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
At only eight weeks, your entire kitten form fit easily into my cupped palms come together as if in -
So satisfyingly soft, your striped fur and your new baby purr. I could not resist your warm cuteness.
My little alarm clock. You're standing on my resting chest. Carefully keeping track of the tick tocks
of time between tender-pawed padded taps on my cheek. Yes, yes... I see the time my sweet friend and I know you depend on me. I again doze, until once again rose by my other cheek tap-tapped. Uummm... hhhmmm I say. Roll over. Snooze. This our morning routine you precious thing.
And other times... many times, you have gifted me with kisses. No no... now, now. I refuse to believe
it was merely you grooming yourself with your pink sandpapery tongue inadvertently tickling me
When you stare into my stare, you always win, as you are unblinking in ways that I am not.
What are you thinking little friend? As you look deeply with your clear, clean, sea foam green
eyes. Then, when your unbroken gaze lifts up to the same place on the ceiling in the corner of the room, above my bed, it is prolonged, pensive, uninterrupted. Taking something beautiful in.
Now, we both, a decade older...Oh other species, whose senses far exceed mine in scope and sensitivity, I wish you could tell me what you see. Hopi, don't leave me wondering. Do tell of a wonderous white angel, a cloaked counselor of sorts, an aura of the purest light surrounding him,
A heart-arrow equipped cherub, or spirit guide shape shifting into an orb of other-worldly hues
It couldn't possibly be the Face of --
Come near to me. Curl into my gently bent arm - the small, small weight of your chin on my
shoulder anchors me. Your rhythmic purr begins to align with my pulse. Calms my earthly anxieties
We don't know which of us will remain, miss the other. Thank you for letting me be your cat mother.
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
The memory of your voice
bounces off barricades I've built in my mind
It pinballs around the rooms of my heart
looking for a vacant space that will listen
Dinging unheard bells, rerouted by
little plastic swinging gates
Bumping blindly into walls
You'll never find a way in again
Anything you scream now
only lands, quiet as a moth-dusty and pale
on closed ears
The most ghostly earth exhale
could not deliver, to the deepest parts of me
what it is you want to say
That voice. I sent it to the fires long ago
And planted an ocean all around
to keep it contained
I am far away now, calmly cool, refreshed by freedom
With every clean inhale
I sail closer to the silent horizon
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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Cheryl Hayden Poem
To the infinite expanding light
In mysteries and secrets we delight
Whose glorious, swirling patterns never end
To you, our human handshake we extend
If not in so complete a state of awe
I'd be more able to describe or draw
The vastness of our spinning cosmos shared
No, nothing else exists to be compared
As I adore the clean whiteness of snow
There is so very much I want to know
That of ivory, lily, moon and dove
Believe the stars are made of light and love
Unbridled curiosity we've known
Never-ending beauty you have shown
Ever expanding to infinity
Should I trust Darwin or The Trinity?
After a thousand hours of debate
My mind is in an undecided state
Maybe the answer is a quest to muse:
Is there a reason I should have to choose?
On Earth, we enjoy mighty canyons grand,
Forests, oceans, deserts, soft warm sand
Across the planet, mountains rise and swell.
Amazing pyramids where kings' tombs dwell
Streaked hues of Aurora Borealis
A Land of Wonder discovered by Alice
With countless rabbit holes deep underground
Trees falling in the woods without a sound
So now about us human beings, you know
A little, but there's so much more to show
We hope our futures meet to aquaint more
One day upon some great galactic shore
Copyright © Cheryl Hayden | Year Posted 2026
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