Surrender to the Burning

My quiet eyes weep

for the one who will banish

from them the view of all other men.

In silence they do dote upon

the verbal imagery of his face

it clouds the mind and torments the soul.

The first flourishes of a spring drawn

from a frozen earth, birthed into being

by the presence of the sun.

Passion favors the sentimental heart

imprisoned by the walls we build

for simplicity’s sake, for our own safety.

Walls are built for such things as these;

For the breaking of the waves

that threatens houses built upon the

inconstant sands of a fallen world.

For sheltering dear ones from

the terrible conditions that lurk

beyond door posts and property lines.

For the keeping of creatures

brought under-wing with careful tending

and, at times, for restraining away their stubbornness.

For the housing of fortunes that pour forth

from the fingers of diligent men

like the belligerencies that pour forth from a drunken one.

And I, one lost among them, slipping through the hands

of caretakers and housekeepers, unknowingly,

a thing without the walls of care

a creature born of the wilderness

not dear enough to keep

the rogue wave of men’s nightmares.

I am, after all, a woman with fire in her veins

and purity tucked away in her

heart like a secret.

The sun has drawn lines, dark upon

my unclothed skin, hungry for it’s continual

kiss to shelter me from the harshest of exposures

to this dead and dying world.

I find no greater comfort than this,

that we are each creatures of light

drawn together by a likeness of being.

Light alone burns the remembrance of darkness

from the corneas of my eyes,

and absorbs the sting of infectious living.

Nocturnal shall I be no longer,

for I am a creature of the day,

I have laid myself upon the alter of light.

And I must, surrender to the burning

for it makes ashen things out of

the temporal, and the wretchedness of life.

Yet one thing remains…

By the sun life is born and sustained

none can live apart from it,

neither you, nor I can escape that truth.

There are no better stories than

those written by your presence

hot upon my days.

Those ever fixed marks revealing

a profound truth I can no longer deny,

that I loved him once, and

sometimes…

he loved me too. 

I'm offering up another poem for dVersepoets.com Open Link Night, come join us for a night of poetic revelries. Offer up one of your own and join the fun or kick back and enjoy reading. I look forward to seeing you around. ~Apryl  

Last Flight

blue sky abundance,

billowed expectation

that wanting creates

lavish thoughts in

sky the shape of forgetting

clouds the color of silence

it is there that I loved

in your fragrance, absence

of earthen understanding

alabaster transparencies

heaven in the hindrance of

light,  quiet, cold and

absolute…

refraction of vision

of day sky sewn together

with condensation

malformed tundra and

a terrestrial drop off sans

oceanic sounds that

fling things into

abysmal need

the want of which defy

Maslow and his hierarchy

snake river gorge and

a buoyant regret not even

switchbacks can confuse

blue, like the wide eyed

wonderings of a childlike

exploration of humanness

gripping with the

fattened fingers of leisure

apathy divines the truth

of prophetic expectations

repetition is the pattern

only choice can break

slip between conscious

choice and the automation

of routine and there

lies observance

descend again into

a reclusive innocent awakening

opaque weariness

give yourself permission

for shedding shards of

substantial solitary existence

just breathe

Linking up tonight with dVerse Poet's Pub Take the time to join us if you will. Poetry and community abound. Thanks for visiting and hope to see you out there! ~A

Sea Of Forgetting-My Post from the Beach and last Social Media Contact Until We Return.

 In scripture it is written that the Father will cast sin into the depths of the ocean, into the place of forgetting. It’s like the forgiveness found in the arms of a lover that has released you from the place where you are obliged to love him and in doing so allows you to love freely. Our wounds, both inflicted and those we did inflict carry a great weight of expectation. We react or act based on what those expectations are and we live in the place of fulfilled or unfulfilled obligations. Obligation isn’t love, and dedication that brings obedience and the dedication of a lover is beyond what we could ask for in the sober realization of the damaged lives we lead.

                This week my family and I have accompanied my in-laws at a beach house that is nestled quietly on an obscure piece of beach on the Florida panhandle. As I watch the changing of the tides, the temperature of the water and how it differs from day to day I am amazed at the wondrous beauty. This ecosystem is vast and complex, delicate and severe all at once. Nature is said to reveal the glory of God. I believe that is true, but I believe that we have misunderstood some fundamental truths. God is a God of mercy, peace and grace, but he is not only those things.

                I remember speaking with a Pastor friend of mine one morning at Starbucks, he made a simple, but powerful statement, “You cannot have mercy without justice, the minute we forget that truth and begin to apply mercy without first examining the offense and the just punishment it requires we nullify the power mercy has to transform a life.” Wise words from a very wise man and I’m thankful to have heard them. Mercy and justice met on the cross, where Jesus took the full weight of sin on his own shoulders and with the crucifixion took the just punishment, and in doing so released mercy from the Father.

                An ecosystem can seem harsh, the death of a creature, the devouring one of another and then another. The severe weather conditions, the magnitude and the vastness of such things is beyond a lifetime of understanding. I am unable to examine or appreciate them all but this I do know, that a profound truth exists in understanding that God works in rhythm, seasons if you will. Though things change, a sin is devoured and taken to the depths of the ocean of forgetting another is allowed to roam freely. We exist in an ecosystem that is imperfect in it’s severity and it’s beauty and only through God's perfect sacrifice can we truly see them all as they are. 

                Today as I write this I have the ocean before me with little sign of land except for the small mass that curls around to the left of the horizon. Today, as I walk down upon the white sand beaches I will release to my Father some of the things he has been urging me to, but until now I had not possessed the strength. Obligations I feel are more a weight than a willful obedience that exists in the form of loving God back, and in doing so release this great need for acceptance from mankind. I have no illusions about walking away and not being challenged in this choice, but I do believe in the moments of choosing when we erect alters in our hearts, remembered times with the Father where we have a shift of thought or choice.  I will receive the mercy he offers, and I will release to him my sins, and with those quiet understandings tucked neatly in my heart I will be thankful.

 I have a few quiet days left here, and I hope to immerse myself in them all. I will not be participating in any social media forms from this time on so that I may be in a place of meditation, contemplation and appreciation for this gift. I do pray that as you read these words you are well and blessed. Much love, Apryl.