I RAN

/ delphini510 / 45 Comments

 

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I  RAN

Fit as an athlete of body and mind,
I ran,
faster and harder every day.
To reach and achieve, what? I ask today;

Stopping for quick breaks to see and breathe,
heather, the Sea, meadows and snow,
Only to return to the run.

It was fun at times but what about the soul,
no time for it to fully live, to sing;
No time for the body to know the breeze.

I knew but pressed the knowledge down,
Thought I had to run.
Until one day a shot hit my neck;
in and instant I crumpled to the ground.

the structure crashed down,
Now, the ambulance ran.

Against all odds I survived,
It took time, I learned new truths,
or were they the old?
finally getting space and time,

As I no longer ran.

A picnic by the shore, sensuous and slow,
I saw, really saw,
the sky, the sea and shifting sands;
The colour displays took my breath away.
Time didn’t have a meaning, just Now was life.

Walking instead of running, seeing wonder in all,
Like a newborn child,
I promised never to lose that again
even if I learnt to run.

I lost a lot that day but now wonder,
Did I not gain even more?
The time to write a poem in the morn;
Or listen to a frightened man,

To feel the blessing and joy of giving comfort,
of connecting with those needing support;
To find the positives born from pain.

© miriam ivarson

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MEADOW GIRL

/ delphini510 / 50 Comments

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MEADOW  GIRL

Your eyes shine bright like rays of morning sun,
your smile sweet as soft rain on summer grass.
How I dream to behold you each day;
Maybe taste those lips with time.

I saw you again this morning in the meadow field,
arms stretched, greeting the sun;
Maybe I could write her a verse, I thought
Although I am no Shakespeare, Donne or Keats.

So I walked down the bluff, to the sea
picked seashells and stones in many colours,
they were exquisite and shone in the light;
I placed them all in a big leaf.

With courage I walked to the Meadow girl and said;
My name is John, would you please accept this gift,
so simple, only pebbles and shells.
They each shine like you.

Thank you John, said the meadow girl,
Would you please sit for a while.

© miriam ivarson

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Lattice work against the Sky

/ delphini510 / 43 Comments

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Lattice work against the Sky     

Against deep blue sky,
little gold coloured leaves
hang on, shivering in the wind.
Beauty in all seasons
is the Birch.

In the morning sun 
I saw purple blue Clematis,
Turned to shining,
golden, feathery balls.
Their beauty struck my heart.

Many things turn to beauty in death,
hadn’t much noticed before.
Butterfly clams on a warm strand
in life so little, so fast,

turn to glowing butterflies
when they die.

So it is that the Birch,
from tender gold/green
Through the seasons delight.

Naked again in the autumn wind,
Reveal beauty so sheer.

Unadorned.

© miriam ivarson

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Harmony and Discord

/ delphini510 / 30 Comments

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As I fold and seal the poem below
into a turquoise bottle and toss it in the sea,
in the ocean that carries our words and thoughts;
I make a wish that it will reach some of you.

Please know, I now feel there is another poem,
a poem about how nature remained,
so true to its ancient self.
All the wonders of strength were there.

The sea, the bluest sky, the shimmering rocks.

Yes, I will tell you about that – another time.

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Harmony  and  Discords

Was it so simple then
when I was a child, I ask myself;
Waking to the seagulls sounds,

as they happily greet the morning
soaring and sailing high above.
My heart feels lonely. lost,
there is so much sadness around;

Where once I felt simplicity and joy.

So many worries to attend
so much sorrow in many hearts;
I just wanted to sit by the sea
By the old cafe on the wooden pier;

Recalling the simplicity of life.

I listen to discords and angst,
my heart cries and I cannot sleep,
fearing the dark valley, these whipped up storms

Where is the harmony,
The simple belonging to life.

© miriam ivarson

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Solitude and Love

/ delphini510 / 43 Comments

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Solitude and Love

I know solitude, its peace and calm,
its loneliness at times;
It fills the shadows where your inner self resides
with clarity, truth and light,

I know love, its burning flames and gentle ones,
its soaring heights;
Growing in abundance and joy
in the dance of life.

Both have been sought since beginning of time,
as separate entities;
Yet, aren’t they part of the same?
Of the song of life.

So in a heart becalmed, the truth shimmers,
Let love dance free in storms and sun,
also to freely live in Solitude.

Never separate the two,
together they enrich and strengthen;
The ocean and sky live in you,
you live in them.

Free and true.

© miriam ivarson

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THE BEWILDERED POET

/ delphini510 / 46 Comments

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THE BEWILDERED POET

Just sat there,
Neither happy nor sad;
No words came, all were spent.

So it seemed,

Can you listen, look,
yet not find one, a single one
lazily floating by?

Bewildered the poet sat.

She already told about the morning scent,
About whispers and hums,
about a sky, sheer blue;
In its new washed morning hue.

About troubling contrasts,
rivers of pain
as the beaten and dispossessed flowed;
In slow and defeated mass.

About the morning birds’ song,
the flower’s hue,
even Lines in the sand;
Did the words get washed away?

A tear spilled down the poet’s cheek.

c/ miriam ivarson

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Creativity

/ delphini510 / 41 Comments

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Creativity

Is it only through utter, total peace
or its opposite,
sorrow and pain,
That we can experience;

The depth and crest of creation

Not to forget joy beyond words,
Stillness without bounds
where thoughts can’t reach.

Hear the whispers of leaves and grass,
just rejoice in the beauty of a butterfly,
a bird, a meadow field;
Nature seemingly holding its breath,

I want to hold you all, to share this moment,
Of otherworldly tranquility,
Help you see, it is so easy and yet so hard

To leave worries, plans and charts behind,
To taste an hour of total peace.

C/ miriam ivarson

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F r o l i c k i n g

/ delphini510 / 36 Comments

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Before giving you my poem ‘ Frolicking” I want to introduce the story behind.                         
I have travelled many times to Greece and had the great pleasure of getting to                       to know people in villages on two of the islands and to part take of their lives and traditions
As I love the sea very much I actually did walk down early every morning when most           
where asleep. The tremendous freedom will always be with me as a strongly imprinted       
memory.

Some have asked me about my Gravatar and the poem will
explain how this happened. 
Below is also an extract from the internet, one of the beliefs 
about the Dolphin; Delphini in Greek.

“
The delight of the Dolphin spirit animal is her 
delightfully charming energy with a playful spirit 
and a flirtatious smile, she seems to invite you on 
the adventure of your life. Perhaps you wonder if 
she is a mermaid in disguise.

The ancient Greeks saw the Dolphin as a blessed 
symbol of the sea, a messenger from the Gods. 
The Dolphin has always been a spiritual ally to man,
there are many tales of Dolphins helping people who
have been stranded at sea.”

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Frolicking

Like a Dolphin when it leaps and dives,
she is undisturbed in her morning play;
Rising sun and glittering waves
bear witness to her frolicking ways,

Her all encompassing joy.

Just being alive, weightless, untroubled,
belonging to nature’s force;
The sea, the sun, the breeze,
Scent from Olive trees above;

At dawn she quietly walks down,
to the sea where only fishermen arrived,
walk into freshness without words;
Starts swimming, leaping , zinging with life.

Walking back across the sand
in early morning light,
stretching arms to the sky;
saying thanks to Life,

she hears her name being called,

The fishermen ask her to join
at the taverna by the shore;
ordering another kafe metrio;
With a smile she accepts,

feeling honoured by kindness bestowed.

That is when they tell her,
we now call you Delphini,
Blessed symbol from the sea;

with tears in her eyes,
she nods her thanks to each one,
realizing we are all of the sea,
the earth.

© miriam ivarson

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