Shades of Gray

Between the light and dark lie many shades of gray,

easily misunderstood by those not interested

in searching the sky for shapes.

With curiosity comes an acceptance of the continuum

from silver ash to smokey midnight.

Shades that vary only by a brushstroke of ink,

yet change a life in ways that can never be turned back.

The dark that challenges us to grow

and pushes the fearful through the door.

The light that illuminates

on the other side.

© Ali Grimshaw

Pic to word Challenge – Grey

A View from Above

Outside the window

traffic below crawls away from all that matters.

Amongst the jammed up colors,

a pedestrian easily weaves through the congestion

slipping through the heavy flow of life.

gracefully he continues while surrounded by the unmoving,

often pausing to look up.

He alone sees the clouds above the tall buildings.

No one else remembers the sky.

© Ali Grimshaw

Open-Minded   Discovery Challenge

Years of Isolation

A need for self protection

more fierce, more essential

than life itself.

The consuming energy of keeping her heart safe.

The waning strength to keep the walls fortified.

To give without receiving.

To live without wanting

A game of survival that she only knew

how to play alone.

© Ali Grimshaw

 

Taking Flight – Graduation Day

As he walks away,

the unknown grows inside me,

a tightness inside my chest.

His graduation is a forced exhale and I

breathe in the flight to come.

It was an illusion that he was ever mine,

from the start. He never belonged to me.

I was always ever the warm nest

from which he would someday fly.

© Alicia Grimshaw

Dedicated to all of the parents of graduates.  Yes, part of your heart is stepping out into the world to touch the lives of others. Let it go. Part of it will stay with you forever. What a privilege to experience this amazing journey of expanding love. Congratulations.