Daily Prompt: New dawn

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I stand by the road
Watching the sun rise:
Dissipating the early morning fog
Which has hung like a blur
Across the landscape.
The frost freezes my toes and fingers
And my breath, a smoky dragon breath
Hangs in the morning air.

First there was nothing
Not a hand before my face
Could be seen in the dark whiteness;
As though the world was lost to me.

Even the sounds were muffled.

But then comes a glimmer
Turning grey to yellow
So that cloudiness
Thins into suffused brightness.
And then with one intense burst of sunlight,
The world throws off its murky past.
And all that seemed lost is found.
The birds trill their morning greetings.
And the road ahead emerges,
A winding, uncertain track
Reaching into the distance.
But now I know which way to travel.
I start out, gladly, full of hope.

 

I wrote this poem as a metaphor. It is about emerging from depression. It is possible to feel lost, as though every person, thing and place we know has changed and disappeared from our lives; as though we are cut off and shrouded from the world and can find no future. That is the dark night in the fog.  However,  gradually, oh so gradually light emerges; we begin to see  a way forward and no matter how uncertain  it is, it is so important to recognise the way and take the chance. For there is always a way forward, no matter how far we have sunk into ourselves.

Poem and photo copyright Englepip©

 

via Daily Prompt: Disappear

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Vehicles

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When your life has fallen to pieces

And you don’t know where to turn

When you seem to have lost the momentum

And can’t tell where to go

When you feel all alone among strangers

And cannot find a friend

You’re like an engine

That needs an overhaul

A bike locked up by its wheel

A bus that’s devoid of passengers

 

Don’t give up, in time you can heal.

 

But reject thoughts that turn you inwards

Care for others before yourself

Move towards the helpless and hapless

Help them find new channels to cope

And soon you’ll be aware and realise

Your own vehicle’s about to restart!

 

There are a lot of people who suffer from clinical depression and believe me I do not dismiss this illness – it is real.  But for most people, short term set-back strikes us all at certain times of our lives and we can feel very depressed. For this, I believe time will heal. However I also believe there is a point when dwelling on our own problems becomes a heavy burden and that by looking beyond ourselves we can make a difference to others and that by helping them we promote  and speed up our own healing too,  so we can restart our own living.

via Daily Prompt: Restart

Daily Prompt: Out there

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The wind whistles around the entrance to the cave

And a dull day brings rain, beating against the rocks

And swishing inwards, pock-marking the sandy entrance.

The swell rises and the spray adds to the dampness

Out there.

 

Out there are monsters of the deep, curling cunning tentacles

Around the unsuspecting prey.

Out there are the sharks, patrolling the shoreline for a tasty meal

Homing in on splashing and signs of distress.

Out there are the jellyfish, floating like ghosts

Just beneath the surface, tentacles ready.

 

But also ….

 

There are sea-lions clapping their flippers

Lying  as though sunbathing, even in a squall,

Resting at ease in the undulations of the waves.

There are sea-singing whales,  splashing in the ocean

Blowing great fountains and spurts high into the air

Where they play.

And there are the dolphins, racing and leaping and

Laughing in the surf which beats the shore.

 

In here it is warmer.

In here is protected from the elements

From life.

In here is washed up detritus

Excrement of seagulls and skeletons of bats.

 

I can see from my cavity in the rock wall

All manner of life: I can observe others living.

Maybe if the sun shines, I should emerge

And risk dipping my foot in the ocean of life

Maybe I should take a short swim

And see what life brings.

 

 

This is a symbolic poem as well as a description of what it is like to be in a dry cave above the swelling ocean. We all have choices in our lives. Some find a safe hide away, ‘a cavity in the rock face of life’  if you will, from which they are frightened to emerge. It seems safe but is impoverished in what it offers as an experience of life. Out there, there is fear no doubt, but there is also laughter, joy and beauty. We cannot, in my opinion, live life to the full without a little risk taking and sampling other things. I believe we should get out there and enjoy and marvel at the good in the world, rather than live in fear and experience nothing.

Words and photos copyright Englepip©

via Daily Prompt: Cavity

Crepuscular enlightenment

 

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As the day draws to a close

On a day full of stresses

And frustrations,

My mind is in turmoil.

Hard to end the day with such negativity.

But I look through the window

To the darkening sky

And crepuscular rays

Enlighten the darkness

And lead me to know

That there is enlightenment

And tomorrow can be different.

 

Photo and poem copyright to Englepip ©

via Daily Prompt: Enlighten