“A Part of Me Died”đź’”
It didn’t kill me, but something changed,
A piece of me lost, forever estranged.
I walked away, yet not the same,
A shadowed soul, a quiet flame.
That day took part of who I was,
Left me searching, without cause.
I carry on, but feel the void,
A heart once whole, now destroyed.
It didn’t end me, but I’m not whole—
An echo remains, deep in my soul.
I’m here, I breathe, but truth denied—
A part of me, that day, quietly died.
Patience visited me
And it reminded me
That good things take time to come to fruition
And grow slowly with stability
Peace visited me
And it reminded me
That I may remain calm through the storms of life
Regardless of the chaos surrounding me
Hope visited me
And it reminded me
That better times lay ahead
And it would always be there to guide and uplift me
Humility visited me
And it reminded me
That I may achieve it
Not by trying to shrink myself and make myself less
But by focusing on serving the world and uplifting those around me
Kindness visited me
And it reminded me
To be more gentle, forgiving and compassionate toward myself
And those surrounding me
Confidence visited me
And it reminded me
To not conceal or suppress my gifts and talents
In order to make others feel more comfortable
But to embrace what makes me me
Focus visited me
And it reminded me
That other people’s insecurities and judgements about me
Are not my problem
And I should redirect my attention
From others back to me
Freedom visited me
And it reminded me
That no one has control over my mindset, thoughts and wellbeing
But me
And love visited me
And it reminded me
That I need not search for it in others
As it lies within me.
-unknown
Let us fall in love again
and scatter gold dust all over the world.
Let us become a new spring
and feel the breeze drift in the heavens’ scent.
Let us dress the earth in green,
and like the sap of a young tree
let the grace from within sustain us.
Let us carve gems out of our stony hearts
and let them light our path to Love.
The glance of Love is crystal clear
and we are blessed by its light.
~Rumi
Art by Bijdehansje
Rivers in the Ocean ❤
I don’t really feel like talking
I lost someone close to me
There are just some things
Your eyes cannot un see
Excuse me if I am quiet
I don’t have much to say
I haven’t been the same
Not since that painful day
The world is too loud now
My heart cannot cope
It’s broken, I’m afraid
And there is no antidote
So for now,
Home is where I’ll stay
Attending to my heart
Safe and tucked away
@LEAVE HER WILD
Sharyn Marsh
When asked about love, the master responded . . .
When love beckons to you, follow her,
Though her ways are hard and steep.
And when her wings enfold you, yield to her,
Though the sword hidden among her pinions may wound you.
And when she speaks to you believe in her,
Though her voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall she crucify you.
Even as she is for your growth so is she for your pruning.
Even as she ascends to your height and
caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall she descend to your roots and
shake them in their clinging to the earth.
•
Like sheaves of corn she gathers you unto herself.
She threshes you to make you naked.
She sifts you to free you from your husks.
She grinds you to whiteness.
She kneads you until you are pliant;
And then she assigns you to her sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for her sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you
that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only
love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness
and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,
but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.
•
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say,
“Love is in my heart,” but rather,
“I am in the heart of Love.”
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires,
let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate on love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the
beloved in your heart
and a song of praise upon your lips.
Continue
by Maya Angelou,
Even the Stars Look Lonesome
Into a world which needed you
My wish for you
Is that you continue
Continue
To be who and how you are
To astonish a mean world
With your acts of kindness
Continue
To allow humor to lighten the burden
of your tender heart
Continue
In a society dark with cruelty
To let the people hear the grandeur
Of God in the peals of your laughter
Continue
To let your eloquence
Elevate the people to heights
They had only imagined
Continue
To remind the people that
Each is as good as the other
And that no one is beneath
Nor above you
Continue
To remember your own young years
And look with favor upon the lost
And the least and the lonely
Continue
To put the mantel of your protection
Around the bodies of
The young and defenseless
Continue
To take the hand of the despised
And diseased and walk proudly with them
In the high street
Some might see you and
Be encouraged to do likewise
Continue
To plant a public kiss of concern
On the cheek of the sick
And the aged and infirm
And count that as a
Natural action to be expected
Continue
To let gratitude be the pillow
Upon which you kneel to
Say your nightly prayer
And let faith be the bridge
You build to overcome evil
And welcome good
Continue
To ignore no vision
Which comes to enlarge your range
And increase your spirit
Continue
To dare to love deeply
And risk everything
For the good thing
Continue
To float
Happily in the sea of infinite substance
Which set aside riches for you
Before you had a name
Continue
And by doing so
You and your work
Will be able to continue
Eternally
[Image: The Way (circa 1950s) by German artist and illustrator Sulamith WĂĽlfing (1901-1989 ).]
The Artist Wrote:
“To people attuned to my compositions, they may well be mirrors of their own experiences. It is because of this that I have left the explanation of the drawings completely to the viewer so that they are not bound by my interpretation of what each picture should be.”
The Smart Witch by Elizabeth
#TheSmartWitch
#TheSmartWitchByElizabeth
“I want to think again
of dangerous and noble
things.
I want to be light
and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable
beautiful and afraid
of nothing,
✨
as though I had wings.”
🦉Mary Oliver, Owls and Other Fantasies:
Poems and Essays
📸 Bill McMullen, A Beautiful Owl at Night
Looking at it’s Reflection
The Invitation
It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for LOVE
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your Moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with Wildness!
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own Soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.
By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming
from the book The Invitation
MESSAGE FROM A DYING FRIEND
I don’t want your answers, your good advice. I don’t want your theories about ‘why’ or ‘how’. I don’t need your pity. Your attempts to make me feel better only make me feel worse. I am human, just like you, and crave realness.
Just be present with me. Listen. Give me space. Hold my trembling hand, sometimes. Your attention is so precious to me. Your being speaks volumes.
If you feel uncomfortable, don’t be ashamed. If you don’t know what to say to me, that’s okay; I feel that way too, sometimes. If you feel disgusted, angry, uncertain, fearful, that’s okay, I love you for it. You are human, too.
Put your textbook learning to one side now. Don’t try to have ‘unconditional positive regard’; it feels so false to me. Forget ’empathy’ – I want you to come closer than that.
See, I am you, in disguise. These are your broken bones, your shallow breaths, your twisted limbs. I am your mirror; you are seeing yourself.
Don’t try to be strong for me. I am not a victim. Fall apart, if you must. Weep, if you need to weep. Mourn those shattered dreams, those lost futures. Let the past slip away too. Meet me here, now, in the fire of presence, with the fullness of your being.
I speak in an ancient language now.
I want you to be a witness.
– Jeff Foster ♥️🙏♥️
“You would not open a book
to a random page
and read a few lines
and think to yourself
“These few words that I am reading
define the entire story.”
Yet, this is what you do,
when you let a single experience
of failure or rejection
define you
and your story.
And so there are times in your life
where you must learn to view your life as a story
and zoom out from your current experience,
and remind yourself
“This present phase
that I find myself in
is merely a passing chapter
and I must continue living,
for the story must go on
and in every story,
every problem
will eventually find its solution
or its ending.
And though this present chapter
may be difficult,
it is the chapters of struggle and heartache
that pave the way for chapters of victory and triumph
and make the story worth reading
and there is a future version of me in the story
that is currently experiencing success
that only exists
because the current version of me
was brave enough to fail
and experience rejection and disappointment.”
And though you may not control
the events of the story,
always remember
that you are the narrator,
and you may choose to write it as you wish
trusting that some stories
may only be understood retrospectively
for the same chapters
can be interpreted and told differently
when seen through the eyes of the future
rather than the eyes of the past.”
Words by Tahlia Hunter
Artwork by Lucy Campbell
GreatCosmicMothersUnite 