Tag: poetry

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The House That Owns You

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There is this house – have you not heard of it?
It’s far enough to call it country house
Yet close enough to get to everywhere,
Don’t miss out on anything, what’s more
Get visited by everyone who’s anyone.
Big landscaped garden and some 20 acres –
Came with the house and all, you know.

A spot of gardening but hours later
Pottering about has turned into hard work.
So organise a gardener, and who was it
You called to resurface the old tennis court?
The builders in and out, the swimming pool –
The cost of heating it, I swear
I won’t have that again.

Candles in the garden, the pavilion lit,
The drawing room for cocktails and
A nanny for the kids, so one can keep fit
And socialise, that glass of wine to speed the time –
So busy on the phone and dropping a line
Only to the closest friends of mine.

Now quickly for some exercise
To burn off the booze,
Just that little drink to take off the edge
Of being owned by this house,
This life of empty busyness,
That buzz that drowns out the silence
Where once I dreamt…

But that’s all gone and I have moved,
Left the house and left that life,
Left all but the silence which followed me
And know it owns me still.

© jsmorgane (July 2014)

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Growing Pains

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I think we go through life choosing the easy way,

Remaining well within our comfort zone of

Just enough and not too much.

And, really, don’t we have enough on our plates

Without worrying about moral obligations.

We fit ourselves snugly into patterns and routines –

A shell to shield us from unpleasant confrontation.

But every now and then that shield will crack and

In a great upheaval my soul will stretch and grow,

Burst forth like a volcano hot and raw.

 

Last night, through pain and much discomfort,

My soul outgrew its shell and I’ve been standing

Very still to wait, to catch my breath and to expand,

To catch up and contain again what you

With brutal honesty a bitter truth revealing,

Have questioned, battled, then implored.

That better part of me which you have called upon

And so has come to know a greater way of being.

Without a shell but with a veil of thankfulness and gratitude,

A blessing on your own sweet self.

 

© jsmorgane (July 2014)