Take a Breath

So things keep coming fast
Until buried I am
Reacting without thinking
Vision impaired
Insisting I see fine
Void overtaking thought
Even as the walls close in

Only realizing when firmly lost
Reaching out for some direction

Take each moment
Hear my heart beat
Remember I’ve done this before
Instead of slipping, standing strong
Voice found with the path
Everyone gets lost

Just don’t give up, decide to…

Looking up yet in
I find myself again
Victories start small
Even as movement pushes forward off the wall

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Butterflies

You saw I was alone
But wanted to make friends
You reached out a hand
And brought me more in the end

Struggling with my paces
I always was late
You didn’t leave me to wander
But brought me in, made me great

Frustrated with how I learned
You taught me what I needed
Didn’t let me give up
Desire for learning you seeded

Pulling your hair out over the class
Swinging from the ceiling
Still underneath them
You found me kneeling

With encouragement in your mouth
You never let me down
Even when I didn’t believe myself
You never let me want to frown

So many others pushed away
Their own important task
You didn’t do this, no way
You always told me just to ask

Each one of you I will remember
Knowing I could not do this alone
Though I do not know where now you wander
I will always feel where you have gone

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Recently I came across a collection of different points in different peoples’ lives where they had teachers who held them back instead of helping them move forward. I have had teachers in the past just like that, who did not want to see those they thought less of succeed.

But for every one of those I’ve seen or met in my life (of which, there have been more than a few) I have also seen and known those teachers, those educators who went above and beyond what they were task.ed with doing in their line of work.

This poem is dedicated to all of those teachers and educators who saw children in their classrooms, in their schools and didn’t just do what they needed for their pay, but went above that and did what those children (what we) needed because they could and because they would.

There are those out there that look down on someone, for one reason or another, and do what they  can to make that person fail. But don’t forget that there are also those out there who see someone struggling and deciding that they are willing to be a part of the stepping stool that those students, those children need.

Fresh Out of Clover – One-Liner Wednesday

I figure whenever you’re down and out the only way is up! –from Wild Cat

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This has been going through my head as of late. It’s a line that I sang to audition for a school musical back in high school one year (and then we moved and so it didn’t matter in the end). And it’s right, when you’re down in the dirt and muck and feeling bruised and broken and that you can sink no lower…you can only go up.

So why don’t you pick yourself up, clean yourself off, heal up (slowly, so excruciatingly slowly) and move up?

While it’s true that you’ll never be quite who you were before, that doens’t have to be a bad thing. Change doens’t have to be bad for even the worst damage can bring out the most beautiful parts of a piece or art that you didn’t even know where there until you start to clean it up.

Check out the original One-Liner Wednesday, it’ll make you laugh this week!

Keep Going

Even as the wind blows gales
Nipping, dragging, throwing hail
Don’t give up, don’t stop your march
Unless it’s only to your spine to add some starch
Resting for a moment or three
Even as you struggle once more too your feet

Keep Moving

After a while she just sort of melted into the floor.

No, must…keep…going…

She was tired and wanted it to be over, but there was still work to be done.

Sometimes people are broken. Sometimes they don’t want to go on. Sometimes they just want to lay down and let whatever they were running from catch them.

But…

Sometimes it’s not just themselves they’re running for. Sometimes they have to keep going even if it means a continuance of the cycle of pain and suffering and wanting it to just end once and for all!

She pulled herself back up, planting her feet underneath her on the ground and used the momentum from swinging her body up and into a standing position to propel herself forwards.

One foot…then the other…must…keep…going…

Journey’s End, One Can Only Hope – Traces Prompt #10

Solaris looked out over her people. They were happy and thriving, the pains and losses of the war finally starting to be forgotten. It had been a long road for her to walk, for her to watch her people walk, but they were finally starting down a new part of the path.

She did not turn her head to her faithful Guardian who remained standing at her side, rigid, her eyes scanning the room for any threat, perceived or otherwise.

Solaris held in a sigh. Star still had a long way to go to find peace.

If she ever did.

Solaris would not give up hope that such a thing was possible for her oldest friend. If she gave up hope then it would be certain that Star would never find her own inner peace.

Star was annoying like that lately. If it was something that Solaris had given up on then Star would not fight quite so hard for it. It was like the woman had given up on anything that wasn’t already hoped for by someone she deemed worthy of making such decisions.

Unfortunately, Solaris was on top of the Decision Pedestal for the Guardian and the queen couldn’t think of anything that would remove her from this position.

Well, she’d just have to think of something to fix this problem.

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Inspired (late, I know) by last week’s Traces Prompt from Olianna.

Measure

image: courtesy of freeimages.co.uk

Do you measure up?

Do you measure down?

What is the yard stick,

That you measure yourself to?

Is there anything that you reach for?

 

She looked up and up and up.

She was the shortest in the house,

That didn’t stop her from piling high

The chairs and boxes until she could reach the top.

She’d make a way to be enough.

 

He looked down and down and down.

There were so many people there.

They were alone and dirty and sorrowful.

He didn’t let that stop Him from bending down

And pulling someone back up with Him.

 

They looked at the one stick available.

There wasn’t enough for everyone to work at the same time.

So taking turns, they passed around

The implement needed to complete

The biggest project they had all year.

 

The smallest person makes the difference,

They can sit and listen, say nothing at all.

They can cry with you, hold you.

Make sure that no matter how small you feel

You aren’t left alone to feel it.

 

So when you look around you

And see nothing but obstacles.

Remember that you can climb over the top,

No matter how high up they look,

Because it’s not just you alone at the base.

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This was partly inspired by Sara Bareilles’s song Brave and also from the Friday prompt for Light and Shade Challenge, though I, once again, went over the 100 word limit.

Don’t Forget, Don’t Give Up

Come on, come on!

Look at the view!

I can’t believe it’s been here all along.

My but how high up we are!

Better get a snapshot or two or

I‘ll surely forget when I’ve gone away.

Never had I thought I would reach this point.

Giving up seemed like the way, but now I know I never will again.

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

~Edmund Hillary

Solaris looked out over the wreckage before her and sorrowed within her heart. So many lives lost, so much destruction but if they were to defend their way of life and their ability to choose there was no other way to go about it. But, thankfully, this fight was over.

There would be a lot of work still ahead of them, but for now, they could rest.

“Is it done?”

Solaris turned and met the eyes of her Guardian.

“No, Star, it is far from done, but for now, we can rest.”

Star nodded, her eyes dark and her face pale. “I thought as much.”

She sounded dejected and Solaris frowned slightly and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“There is always light at the end-”

“But we’re not at the end, My Queen, we are far from it.”

Solaris tapped a finger against Star’s cheek and smiled,”There is still light even throughout this. I know that you miss her greatly, but are you not pleased that she has recovered?”

“You know I am, Highness.”

“And is not this battlefield already being cleaned away, the dead being buried and the wounded being healed.”

“Yes, Highness.”

“And have we not pushed Chaos, our Enemy back?”

Star nodded grudgingly, determined to be downtrodden in her misery.

“And are you and I not standing here together?”

Star sighed, feeling more put upon, but also feeling a smile tug at her lips. “I know what you are about, my Queen.”

“And you know that I shall keep going lest you give in and admit your defeat.”

Star chuckled at that, she knew that Solaris did not usually prefer more formal sounding speech and she always had the funniest look on her face when she did use it.

Solaris’s smile broadened in triumph at the sound, “There, you see? Plenty of light all around us.”

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Written for this Monday challenge from Light and Shade: http://lightandshadechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/light-and-shade-challenge-monday-2nd.html

Dented Bucket List – Don’t Give Up

Recently I… I don’t want to say ‘found’ because I didn’t find this blog. A friend found it and reblogged from it, bringing it to my attention. I’ve seen people get taken down for something that they didn’t do. I’ve seen them be persecuted and prosecuted while being innocent.

People can do their best and still be left with more than the bill, they can get left with the bill while not even knowing they were a part of the party.

Here is my ‘dented bucket list.’

• Permanently dye my hair bright pink.
• Litter on purpose.
• Purposefully kill someone’s plants.
• Mistake 4 tsp. for 4 tbs…again.
• Throw an instrument away.
• Purposefully break/damage another’s property.
• Abandon someone (human or animal).
• Burn something down.
• Give up. Give in to despair.

Even if you lose the fight, don’t let them make you lose your spirit and your hope.

http://queenrawr.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/dented-bucket-list/