Child’s smile is universal language

I flew to Canilla, Guatemala for a week mission trip in April.I have previously been in Ethiopia, Mexico,Italy, and Israel, and as I am not fluent in any language besides English, I need an interpreter to translate whenever I speak.  Children do not need anyone to interpret.  Their smiles and beckoning hand let you know if they are comfortable with you and if they want to share their food or sit with them.  Smiles, smiles, smiles.  They penetrate the language barrier and warm my heart like no words can.  Here is a one of the many pictures of children in Guatemala.

Pursuit (poem for prompt 44 Poetic Bloomings

 

I followed you relentlessly for I desired to possess you.

You tantalized my dreams and pervaded my thoughts.

Such a breathtaking vision, you seemingly flitted from path to path.

You were as elusive as a butterfly and I lost my direction in pursuit of you.

At dusk I wearily paused from my arduous and unfruitful journey.

My lethargy caused me to rest amidst the fragrant moonflowers.

I reflected in the solitude of the panoramic twilight sky.

Perceiving that you had paused in your flight too, I embraced you.

Running I could not capture you, but upon meditation you were mine.

Oh Wisdom, you are unexcelled in beauty and I regret I hurried so long.

Multnomah Falls

 

Cascading over Larch Mountain with a surge of power, your majestic force chills the rocks far below.

Sunlight filters through you like a prism, creating rainbows of color in contrast to the white spray.

During the dark hours of pre-dawn, your ever present music seems to crescendo into the oblivious sleeping valley.

One winter you were silenced when you froze into a giant icicle, like a stalactite on the side of mountain, reaching toward the cave of earth.

What a wonderful time the creator must have had, surely He laughed as he made a path for you to follow.

His fingerprints remain imprinted on the cliffs, along the winding Columbia River Gorge.

It must have been a favorite playground of His.

Hay(na)ku 6 word poems

This is a new poetic form that was presented on Robert Brewer’s blog Poetic Asides on Writers Digest.  First line is one word, second line two, third line three.  Simple but can be profound.  Here are five of my crude attempts.

laughter                                                                debt

better shared                                                       never stops

makes heart glad                                                always growing

war

lives lost

mayhem and carnage

 

hi                                                                    drought

goodbye                                                        sizzling heat

miss you always                                          no rain near

Big Bird Sings to Mirror

Z Y X W V U T,
S R Q P O N M L K,
J I H,
G F E,
D and C B A.
? me with sing you won’t time Next

Nature’s Kaleidoscope

Butterflies, ladybugs, and bumblebees

lend color to the sky like a kaleidoscope

Look quickly as the hummingbird

adds his iridescent hues

Dragonflies, moths, and cicadas too,

wear their camouflage to blend in

The sky will soon be sparkling with

the twinkle of fireflies flitting about

Living creation on a miniature scale

painting a moving design if we but pause to observe.

Death Row

 

This cell is as cold as Michigan winters,

hard as the highways I did travel.                                      

For months I have been captured,

assigned to this blank cubicle.

My mind alone is allowed to escape,

To explore the world beyond these bars.

Strangers read my mail, order my day,

set my routines, cook my meals.

The only decision left to me is

whether to open my eyes,

or to feign sleep when they bring my tray.

The bars are on my hospital bed;

my ward is in a retirement home.

The wardens are my nurses;

my sentence is life.

In death I will once again

be free to wander and explore.

I embrace death,

that I might have life once more.