Tournesol ~ dans un jardin: reflections

Showing posts with label reflections. Show all posts

2014/10/13

Thanksgiving (haibun)

Thanksgiving

burst of colours, spice

this season with pizzazz,

friends and family

Thanksgiving is a time to host family and friends and share a warm meal together. Eating ( one of my favourite things) is a social event. The preparations are labours of love: setting the table all nice and just right...setting up games and areas for grandchildren to play and maybe offering Halloween loot bag for the kids. Could not wait to have them take away those goodies cos I have been sampling them all week.

I am grateful for many things in my life. I grew up in a family who loved me and never hesitated to show me or tell me. My grandmother, mother, Aunt Mae and Uncle Fred who love me like their daughter, my cousin and his wife who hold me in their hearts more like a sister and their son who makes me feel so special; my son who is turning into a guardian of sorts…looking out for his ol`mom as well as well as my daughter who "gets it". I am grateful for my grandson who came into our lives ten years ago and as of yesterday, I have been blessed with two more grandsons and a great son-in-law.

I am so blessed with amazing friends near and far but no matter the distance or quantity of time we are together, I never question their love.

I am also thankful for still having my health to work in a career that fulfills me spiritually, intellectually and emotionally. I feel privileged to be there for many youths who struggle with life and embrace the fact that they trust me and our service to reach out as they do.

I am grateful I met the most compassionate woman through a caring family...a son/poet/blogger who inspired me to write, his mother/blogger/psychotherapist, who facilitated my first retreat with Amma. There are many paths to get to inspirational and spiritual destinations...indeed!

I'm grateful for my lovely Bette who fits in so beautifully in my life. It`s as if we are kindred spirits...my BFF (best feline friend).

I am forever thankful to have discovered blogging...writing is wonderful but alone it is not as enriching or inspiring as in a community of amazing people who have embraced me and taught me...and still teach me each day, at WordPress.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2014/09/26

whispering guest (haiga)

Who is my whispering guest?

Bette and I

gazing out my patio

geese honk

what am I today?

sluggish like a snail

feline purrs

who am I today?

roles lost in multi-tasking

leaf kissed my window

where am I today?

tranquil moments of now

cat sees the dead fly

how am I today?

quill moves with gentle

strokes

jotting lines

moments flash in autumn breeze

whispering guest

© Tournesol '14

Posted by Cheryl-Lynn Roberts 2014/09/29

2014/09/14

cat sleeps (haiku)

It's time!

turned up the heat last night

cat by the vent

Posted by Cheryl-Lynn Roberts, 2014/09/14

2014/08/27

kissed by serenity (tanka)

the river mirrors

sails hang loose in silence

wind stands still

coast on an inward journey

kissed by serenity.

Posted by Cheryl-Lynn Roberts, 2014/08/27

2014/08/17

Traces of the Soul (haibun)

Walking and cycling used to be such a great way to get in touch with self. In the past few years my work hours have changed, as well as my health and so walking has decreased somewhat.

I have written many poems and verses in my other blog which has helped; and also found journaling and writing very helpful most of my life but last year I started a blog under a nom de plume and wrote uncensored especially when I was in terrible pain either emotionally or physically suffering with chronic pain. I could not help but notice how therapeutic...cathartic many times, this was for me. I was getting reacquainted with me but also, more importantly, loving all me including my dark side.

When I saw this prompt entitled “Solitude” I could not help but write about it immediately. {despite that it is 5am}. I was married 24 years having left my family home; so basically for 43 years I had never ever lived alone. That was a huge change for me and not easy. I slipped into dark moments, until I finally started getting to know ME. Isolation, solitude and loneliness are not the same. I love my solitude... have always enjoyed quiet times to refuel But this alone time, living in a city where I knew no one but 2 relatives I had not seen in over 30 years forced me to stare at solitude right in the face for days, months, years.

[...] "Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; Yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth". [...] Khalil Gibran

The plus side of facing these solitary moments was getting in touch, finally, with my inner self. I had another relationship for several years but never moved in with another man. The fear of losing my “self” seemed too threatening.

My deep soul searching writing last year, however, opened my heart and soul more than years of therapy. I was finally coming home and getting acquainted with me through traces here and there of my soul.

And now with this Japanese form of poetry I am finding it is like reflecting on nature and looking inside our selves constantly...So this prompt is a real treat to write.

Our host has written 2 beautiful haiku:

deep down inside

hiding in the deeper layers of the soul

divine inspiration

scent of incense

guiding me through the depths of my soul -

showing the light

© Clr '14 Solitude

writing for hours

removing clutter lodged,

crevice of the soul,

bumped into my inner self

wandering towards the light.

scented candles

keep my muse and me company

insightful script.

Carpe Diem 542 Inner Self - Solitude

Posted by Cheryl-Lynn Roberts 2014/08/17

2014/08/12

Ramblings on life (haiga)

(haiku)

hot muggy day

spider finds a cool safe place

took a bubble bath

August sailing

gusty winds tense the jib

crow kissed a windshield

fly fidgets

buzzes around his arm.

SWAT!

spider spins

all night long diligently

Eureka!

children's park

swings, teeter totters, slides

barbarian invasion

children giggling

bright coloured kites catch the sun

string floats silently

(free verse)

If I were an insect,

who knows how my life would end?
if I were a bird,

who knows how the wind would blow?

if I were a child living in the wrong part of the world,

who knows when my life would end?
life is a gift for some,
a puzzle for so many,
an affliction for too many...

© Tournesol '14

© Tournesol '14

however life lends

may be a mystery

black and white blends

interesting and dreary

I can always count

on rivers to flow,

the sun to glow

sunsets sublime

and

the moon to shine.

Tournesol ~ dans un jardin

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