shadows on the deck grow longer
leading the way to closure
the words in my mouth hide
they don’t know how to cooperate
with all that my heart
wishes to say.
© Ali Grimshaw
Minutes Before
highly sensitive people
Interruption
Pulled from sleep by fears of failure.
Stumbling down a hallway of thought.
Was it lack of effort, stubbornness
or a tunnel of perspective with only one exit,
that lead me to this worried space
awake before the sun has risen?
© Ali Grimshaw
Persistence
The strength you possess
growing just where you landed
nourished by sparse light
no gardener to tend you
pushing through the cracks
away from your roots
toward warmth of another
to be seen.
© Ali Grimshaw
Hope
I see hope in your eyes.
A flash of light that has been absent.
Just a sliver of believing,
you never thought you could hold.
A small beacon inside,
beginning to send out its light
after a long darkness.
© Ali Grimshaw
Free Yourself
Cut yourself free
from the weight of all not forgiven
a constricting of vitality, past failures squeeze
the tangle of rope, disallows a full breath.
Each memory binds, an internal tightening
of a time you did not stop it,
didn’t stand up tall for yourself.
Patterns of knots encircle your being.
Twisted, wound round, strangled voice.
If you would have been smarter, stronger, better …
If only you had been more.
© Ali Grimshaw Revised 2018
Message In The Clouds
Let me send my love to you
lightly floating on the wind.
A force that sails ships across the ocean.
Let my kisses evaporate into the clouds.
When they reach your shore,
love will rain down upon you.
© Ali Grimshaw
Falling
The falling rain washing clean the road,
pooling for the birds,
freeing the leaves.
These many drops,
falling like the sky wants to share,
a blessing for so many.
Looking at my upturned face,
you wonder why I yearn for dark clouds to let loose.
Pouring forth all they have been holding.
The sky’s release streams down my head, my cheeks.
A trickle drips from my nose tip.
The storm and I let this wind blow through.
The raindrops hiding,
what you will never know,
are tears on my face.
© Ali Grimshaw
Within Each of US
Standing among violent shouting,
Angry vibrations pounding near.
Shuddering as the volume increases.
A roar of hate that can consume.
Inward I listen.
As the noise recedes,
I follow my breath
to a humming heart.
Steady in its love.
It walks where I walk.
It sleeps where I sleep.
Noise of the world cannot drown its pulse,
this calming cadence.
Internal rhythm.
Strength drawn from all that lives
lies inside me
and all beings.
Waiting to be heard.
© Ali Grimshaw
Flashlight batteries
Darkness will arrive. It always catches by surprise. The last thing you thought would happen. Standing now between walls unseen. You can only feel your way. Bearings gone. Hearing your breath, wondering how long it has been since you just stood still. A moment of relief before the thinking returns. Holding the flashlight tight, you hope it will light your way. When was the last time the batteries were checked? One of the hundreds of tasks put into the someday pile.
© Ali Grimshaw 2015
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 