An Angel in the Dark

April 14, 2020 extraordinarysunshineweaver5 Comments

If I were an angel in the dark,

I would appear in flames simply

from the radiance of my eyes.

I would fire up candles for prayers.

I would make twilight shimmer

like a mirror still lake.

I would awaken you

from slumber and despair,

gather you up gently,

swaddle you in my gossamer wings.

I would cast out your pain with lightning,

incense your soul with soothing myrrh,

bathe you in waves of forgetting,

deliver you to a vista of light

on a path of comets as beacons.

I would gift you wings,

teach you how to fly through

clouds of many colors,

swing on stars falling into a sea of lights.

I would never leave you

in times of battle or new birth,

the time of the death of your pain

a blazing nova, a new sun.

All of this I would do for you.

Who would know more of the legion of light

than an angel of the night?

My poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul (meelosmom.podbean.com)

Image: “An Angel in the Dark” (original art © by my sister Martha Harris.) See Martha’s Artistic Flarings @artisticflarings.blog

Audio · Healing · My Mother · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Podcasts · Poem · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul

Grace

March 27, 2020March 30, 2020 extraordinarysunshineweaver12 Comments

This poem is included in an article I wrote for Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry (https://phoebemd.com/2020/03/21/grief-healing-through-poetry/).

The article is based on my poetry podcast Grief: Fire and Ice (https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-fire-and-ice/).

Grace

the leaves have fallen and stomped to dust

I am laid bare, exposed to wind

my limbs, brittle, still pleading

for a meal of sun

some days too short for food

nests lay bare as squirrels forage

the wind cools me to my roots

I am glass

holding on to my reflections

lest they be lost to twilight

Grace clothes me in a gown

meant for a bride embracing her heart

this pure finery sparkles as diamonds

on my icy bough

I rest with the Angel of Mercy

extraordinarysunshineweaver.wordpress.com

meelosmom@podbean.com (Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul)

Image: my yard

artisticflarings.blog · Audio · Go Dog Go Cafe · Healing · Martha's Artistic Flarings · Original Digital Art · Podcasts · Poetry · Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul · Publication · Writing

Poetry Podcast – Seeking Light: Mindful Presence

February 23, 2020May 14, 2020 extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

Hello, everyone,

I have a new memoir up on my poetry podcast called Seeking Light: Mindful Presence. This memoir reveals how poets seek light, the mindful presence, in their poetry. Being present to the NOW fosters insights and promotes healing.

https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/seeking-light-mindful-presence/

“Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul” https://meelosmom.podbean.com/

(If you have the Podbean app, you can see the featured images on my podcasts. Also, I am using the same image in this post.)

My gratitude for the original digital art, Seeking Light, by my sister, Martha Harris (See the featured image for this post.)….. You can find her works of art on Martha’s Artistic Flarings. https://artisticflarings.blog….

My gratitude to my sister Cynthia Cady Stanton, who is an ordained Presbyterian minister and hospice chaplain, for her poems, “Grace Shower” and “We are Needed.” You can find her services for spiritual care, weddings, funerals, and spiritual counseling online at her website https://cynthiacadystanton.com. And her poetry can be found at https://becomingandbeholding.com

My gratitude to Stephen Fuller for his poem, “Silent on Chauncey Creek”. His work can be found on https://FullbeardLit.org. He is Managing Editor of Go Dog Go Café: Where Writers Gather. https://godoggocafe.com. Check out both sites! You can promote your work every Monday and promote other writers’ work every Thursday.

I also read a poem by The Buddha. “Thought”. You can find more examples of poetry by The Buddha and other Poet-Seers on https://poetseer.org

If you would like to contribute poetry to this podcast, you may submit it to me in a Word document attached in an email to me at meelosmom@gmail.com. On the subject line, indicate it is a submission to this podcast. I can fit it into a theme. In the email, include any pertinent information on yourself and publications you want me to promote, especially for the work submitted.

©Barbara Leonhard, https://extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog and https://meelosmom.podbean.com/

Image “Seeking Light” ©Martha Harris, Martha’s Artistic Flarings, https://artisticflarings.blog

Poem · Poetry

Cocoons

November 13, 2019November 17, 2019 extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

Rice cooks,

sheaths burst,

steam rises for sacral birth.

Seeds hold life

released by light.

Flowers unfold deep soul

in germination.

Such is life as it unfolds

From seed to crypt.

Genesis is not kind.

We break free of the organ &

in the pain of delivery,

engage in battle.

A crust of fear

enfolds the heart as

love’s armor defends

the wounded self.

We break through the barrier.

The heart wall collapses to tinder.

Pain dissolves as we prevail in labor

for our ascent to a new plane

swaddled with grace.

©Barbara Harris Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Featured Images: Pixabay.com

Earth Mother Image: by Pandanna Imagen from Pixabay.com

Healing · Original Digital Art · Poem · Poetry · Reiki

Dolphin

March 21, 2019March 22, 2019 extraordinarysunshineweaver3 Comments

Though the seas rage green,

You breathe into each wave,

Riding the vast, fearless,

Sinking into the primordial dimensions

Of creative surge

With child-like wonder,

Playful and joyous.

Instinct seeks its tribe.

Together, you are valiant in battle,

Guarding and protecting

Even the stranger.

Your laughter, a lifeline

For those lost to peace,

Gasping for salvation in the turmoil

Of stormy swells.

How your eyes dance with trust

As your body strikes through

The angry waves

As though saying,

“Fear not, Friend.

We can lift you up and

Carry you into the gaze

Of the Pleiades, where

You may be swaddled in the arms of

The daughters of Pleione

And cleansed of dust from old Earth

And set to bloom in the Spring.

May you heal and be strong.

May you too be a beacon and

Your heart, the sonar steering sailors

Out of storm and leading the lost

To safe ground.

May you be that joy,

That joy of grace.”

©Barbara Harris Leonhard @extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Original Digital Art: “Future Earth” ©Martha Harris See Martha’s Artistic Flarings@artisticflarings.blog

Healing · Original Digital Art · Poem · Poetry

Heartfelt

March 2, 2019March 2, 2019 extraordinarysunshineweaver13 Comments

Heartfelt

Love is sacred energy

Shared for transmutation.

Give so that you may receive;

Receive so that you may give.

Bounty has no dam.

Kindness circles back to its source, for

Its path is not that of an aimless arrow

Slicing the air to hit an unseen target

Into the middle of nowhere.

Love flows unheeded.

The balanced heart can heal while

A blocked heart can not.

Every in breath has an out breath, and

Blood brings life unimpeded.

Joy both enriches and receives.

Balance is a dance of gifts –

The gifts you present with lavish attention and

Those you welcome with humility.

You are worthy of the love you give.

Do not be shy or retreat from your heart.

You deserve to be seen, and

You deserve the joy of the love and healing

That you shower on all.

Allow that light into your heart.

Allow the love to return to your spirit

To be hewn into gold.

This lustrous, pure, hallow metallurgy

Of transformation is ascension.

As you share this treasure

So will it gain value

Each time it is returned to you,

And all will thrive on this infinite cycle

Of love and grace.

©Barbara Harris Leonhard @extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog

Image “Heartfelt” Original Digital Art ©Martha Harris. See Martha’s Artistic Flarings

Audio · Healing · My Mother · Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry · Podcasts · Poem · Poetry

Grace

January 12, 2019March 27, 2020 extraordinarysunshineweaver7 Comments

This poem is included in an article I wrote for Phoebe, MD: Medicine + Poetry (https://phoebemd.com/2020/03/21/grief-healing-through-poetry/). The article is based on my poetry podcast Grief: Fire and Ice (https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/grief-fire-and-ice/).

Grace

the leaves have fallen and stomped to dust

I am laid bare, exposed to wind

my limbs, brittle, still pleading

for a meal of sun

some days too short for food

nests lay bare as squirrels forage

the wind cools me to my roots

I am glass

holding on to my reflections

lest they be lost to twilight yet

Grace clothes me in a gown

meant for a bride embracing her heart

this pure finery sparkles as diamonds

on my icy bough as

I rest with the Angel of Mercy

extraordinarysunshineweaver.wordpress.com

meelosmom@podbean.com (Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul)

Image: my yard

Audio · Original Digital Art · Poem · Poetry

New Audio: This Sand

March 31, 2018August 22, 2018 extraordinarysunshineweaverLeave a comment

The original post of this poem was March 18, 2018. My delivery style is inspired by the poet David Whyte.

artisticflarings.blog · Ekphrastic Poetry · Healing · Martha's Artistic Flarings · Original Digital Art · Poem · Poetry

An Angel in the Dark

October 11, 2017April 14, 2020 extraordinarysunshineweaver8 Comments

If I were an angel in the dark,

I would appear in flames simply

from the radiance of my eyes.

I would fire up candles for prayers.

I would make twilight shimmer

like a mirror still lake.

I would awaken you

from slumber and despair,

gather you up gently,

swaddle you in my gossamer wings.

I would cast out your pain with lightning,

incense your soul with soothing myrrh,

bathe you in waves of forgetting,

deliver you to a vista of light

on a path of comets as beacons.

I would gift you wings,

teach you how to fly through

clouds of many colors,

swing on stars falling into a sea of lights.

I would never leave you

in times of battle or new birth,

the time of the death of your pain

a blazing nova, a new sun.

All of this I would do for you.

Who would know more of the legion of light

than an angel of the night?

My poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul (meelosmom.podbean.com)

Image: “An Angel in the Dark” (original art © by my sister Martha Harris.) See Martha’s Artistic Flarings @artisticflarings.blog

Audio · Poem · Poetry

Grief

July 9, 2017August 16, 2017 extraordinarysunshineweaver4 Comments

Grief is ice.
Anger is fire.
Fear is boiling oil.

Aging is a slow death.
Feeling outmoded.
Feeling regretful.
Feeling guilty.
Feeling fearful.

Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Why do I care;
Who cares.
I ask for clarity and energy.

What matters is you.
Just be happy.
These are mole hills, not mountains.
Can’t bring back love.
Can’t fix everything.
Can’t outdo.
Can’t worry about recognition.
Can’t worry about inequity.
It’s not important.
It’s their blindness.
Just be grateful.

What makes me angry?
Am I letting go of the past?

Another shell breaks open for new life.
Growth emerges after fire.

I recall in times of despair, they said, why aren’t you angry?
I held it in selfishly. I couldn’t speak or cry out.
Why would it matter. Really.
If I shouted and screamed.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t.

I beg, please lift this darkness.
There’s too much to do other than what I’m supposed to do.
There’s too much loss with more on the way.
Is this life? Am I wrong to be concerned?
I’m angry and sad.
I’m ready to let go of it. But how?
It doesn’t end.

You counted the Mala beads.
This is a process. Just be patient. You did ask for this.
Seeking forgiveness in all lifetimes
Seeking gratitude in all lifetimes
Letting go of anger in all lifetimes
Healing curses in all lifetimes
Curing pain in all lifetimes
Seeking grace in all lifetimes
These are all gifts
Not burdens.
You chose to release the shadows.

It’s searing
Like the sun is inside of me
A blazing fire
I scream to the deaf.

It’s a cleansing
With the Light.
And so it is.

Image: Kingdom of Sorrow http://szydlak.deviantart.com/art/Kingdom-of-Sorrow-390145418

Tag: Grace

An Angel in the Dark

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Grace

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