Bringing Me Back to Myself
May 25, 2013, 12:56 am
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Charyl, heart, leonard cohen, poem, poetry, soul
Bringing Me Back to Myself
I didn’t realize that
I had killed my heart
in order to survive
the last several years
of my life.
Dead in my chest;
like a stone.
A soul can’t thrive
carrying that weight around, I know.
But some still loved me anyway;
holding out their
emotional life preservers –
ones that I could never quite
seem to grasp.
Flailing in murky water.
Drowning in the sorrow
that filled my lungs;
struggling against
the final gasp.
Then I heard His voice…
His song…
and a gentle rhythm began
once again, inside my chest;
swelling—painful at first.
Breaking my soul wide open.
Beginning the quest.
~Charyl Miller
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Charyl, heart, leonard cohen, poem, poetry, soul
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Mother’s Day
May 13, 2013, 7:35 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Charyl, church, grandmothers, grave, lonely, mother's day, mothers, poem, poetry
Mother’s Day
I’m sure you sat with me
as I sat alone;
watching the other mothers
with their children and their partners,
fussing about in the pews,
in their Sunday Best.
Tiny babies, hugs,
arms draped around shoulders.
Family.
My own children in another state,
with another parent.
My own mother—your daughter—still at home,
busy tending to my disabled father.
Not many others to speak of.
The church had the children
pass out flowers—
long-stemmed pink carnations—
one for each woman.
Mine was handed to me by a little boy
I didn’t know.
I drove out to the cemetery
on the edge of town
and put it on your grave.
For what use is love
when it is only received
and never given?
The one moment that day
I wasn’t strong enough
to keep myself from crying.
Then I went back home,
and waited for a call
that never came.
~Charyl Miller
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Charyl, church, grandmothers, grave, lonely, mother's day, mothers, poem, poetry
Charyl Says 