Take Me Home

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Raivenne

The surefooted sun smiles upon us
In summer evening’s sweet dream
Where we heaved ourselves into the willows
Not that far from the bubbling stream
Aye, it has been so long a time
Yes, time’s spent many a day
Since dandelions crowned my hair
As a precocious child at play
It seemed from the moment
The golden sun starts to show
All the way through ‘till the fireflies
Light the night with their soft glow
Counting cloud daring to dent the sky so blue
While lying in the back of Grandpa’s cart
Letting the sun fry me to a nice bronze
During those weekly treks to the mart
Oh the lush green hills stretching forever
To these once young eyes it seemed
Became closed walls over night
To the teenaged me, now steamed
At how there just had to be more
Than just a life of living on the farm
Thought I travel a little and come back
What could be the harm?
How far a road I’ve journeyed since
I first loaded my things and started to travel
Yet found I’m searching for home in foreign places
All sense of such starting to unravel
To lose touch with those lush green fields
What part of my soul was so easily sold?
To make my way in this dizzying swirl
Of concrete hot and skyscrapers cold
How to regain the small wonders in my life?
To re-enjoy all the small simple things
Like how the crocus by the shed blossoms
Before the calendar says it is spring
It took decades to find that balance
I’m still a country girl at heart it seems
My plans were true to all but me I learned
But shattered plans don’t shatter dreams
Aye I’m an old woman now, seen many a thing
Among the highways and byways I still love to roam
But now and then I get a hankering for quiet, for peace
And my mantra becomes “Take me home, take me home”

For Poetry Picnic – Week 10

If I Didn’t Know…

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Raivenne

There’s a scratch on my heart ,
You’ve put it there,
The memory is seared
Forever in my soul’s care
Every now and then,
I run a finger across to feel the sting
For it’s all I have left of you
And it’s the worst to know how hard I still cling

Now I’m left wishing
Your kisses meant much more
Than just another
Notch on the bed post to score
Even knowing
That you never loved me so
You’re still in my heart
And for the life of me, I can’t let go

If I didn’t know
How your smile filled me with delight
If I didn’t know
How your arms felt holding me tight
If I didn’t know
How your lips tasted in the night

If I didn’t know
It would be better now

When people say
To follow your heart
They never tell you how
When it’s in a million parts
I spend each night
Praying for one less tear to cry
So quick to say “Hello”
Why can’t my heart now say “Goodbye” ?

It was easier
When you were just a fantasy
When there was never
A chance to be a “you and me”
It was all so easy
When just a figment of my brain
Because I never imagined
You’d be the source of all this pain

So if I didn’t know
How your smile filled me with delight
Or if I didn’t know
How your arms felt holding me tight
And if I didn’t know
The taste of your lips in the dark night

Oh, if I just didn’t know
It would be so much better now
So much better now

My Father

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Raivenne

Family Tree Image from Google

My father is the earth

    dark, deep, rich soil
    soil tilled and turned
    from the sunrise
    to the sunset
    sometimes in sweat
    sometimes in blood
    from the day born from it
    to the day returned to it.

My father is the earth.

My father is the root

    of the mahogany, the ebony, the oak
    drinking heavily of
    the sweet rain of the clouds
    the salt rain of the tears
    drenched deep in the soil
    of my fathers before them

My father is the root.

My father is the trunk

    rough on the outside
    sometimes ripped by nature
    sometimes stripped by man
    but in the story of each ring
    hidden deep inside
    is the smooth beauty
    known only by those
    born of him

My father is the trunk.

My father is the limb

    raised forward in the wind
    raised forward in the rain
    raised forward in the snow
    raised forward to the sun
    because you can’t teach
    fathers to look forward
    by having fathers
    looking back

My father is the limb.

My father is the branch

    the extensions of faith
    the stretch of hope
    the breadth of a promise
    made long ago

My father is the branch.

I am the twig

    the latest incarnation
    of that promise deferred
    planted deep of the earth
    rooted of the past
    trunked on to the present
    out on a limb
    branched to the sun
    and if I seem to live
    off my fathers before me
    it is not to deprive
    my fathers give willing
    knowing I must survive
    for it is their dreams
    that are my dreams
    coursing through my veins

and in that I am the twig

  the branch
  the limb
  the trunk
  the root
  the earth

and in that I am my father.

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Submitted to

Theme Thursday
Thursday, August 11, 2011 – Tree

The Best Days

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Raivenne

Had a gal named Sadie; she be one bow-legged lady
Big ol’ gal named Sadie; thick-thigh, bow-legged lady
Could drink many a grown man under the table
But the only way to look at her was drunk
If you was able

Had a face so fulla craters, she look like a ‘tater
Whole face just fulla craters, she look like a ‘tater
But in the middle of the blackest night
With them bow-legs wrapped around
She be one pretty sight

Woke me up early one morn, just this side of dawn
Oh woke me one morn, just this side of dawn
And threw some tiny pair of panties at me
Saying I hope she worth the time
So who they be?

And them be the best days, yeah the best days of my life
Oh they be the best days, yeah the best days of my life

Well I was so outta luck, so I ran, got in my truck
Oh I was SO outta luck, I just ran, got in my truck
But she stood in the doorway holdin’ the key
Yelling boy you ain’t takin’ a thing, nary a thing
That belongs ta me

She say boy I told ya twice, in fact done told you thrice
Yeah she had told me twice, in fact done told me thrice
If I was ever stupid enough to get caught
I’m a lose her and everything
She ever bought

And I knew it weren’t just talk, so I started to walk
‘Cause her shotgun know how to talk, so I started to walk
But she said boy them clothes you gots belong to me
And all she let me keep were my guitar
And my skivvies

And them be the best days, yeah the best days of my life
Oh they be the best days, yeah the best days of my life

I’s followed by Lucky, our one-eyed pet that’s mangy
Yeah good ole one-eyed Lucky, three-legged and mangy
But Sadie just whistled twice and that ol’ dog
Sat down in the middle of the road
Still like a log

Not knowing what to do, I walked down to Sue’
What else a nekkid man goin’ do, I walk on to Sue
But ‘fore I can even say what’s up Luvva
I greeted by her new man and his gun
Name of Bubba (Dang!)

So now I ain’t gots no wife, just my guitar and barely my life
No I ain’t gots no wife, no truck, no dog – just guitar and my life
And I start ta thinking halleluiah I’se now free of pain
I looked up inta the summer sky
It had started to rain

And them be the best days, yeah the best days of my life
Oh they be the best days, yeah the best days of my life

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One Stop Poetry Form Monday — The Blues

Too Many…

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Raivenne

Pass me the green ones hon, would you please?
Not the celery, much too light.
Not that moss, much too tight.
Not the mint, it won’t match with what I’m wearing.
Not the Jade either, it’s much too daring.
No, the pine, the hunter nor the apple will do.
Geesh! Not the Khaki! What’s wrong with you?!
Oh, I’m so not wearing the alpine,
I’ll not have folks think I’ve lost my mind!
No! Not the forest, not the teal, not the pea.
Just what are you trying to do to me?
The GREEN one! No, the green one right there!
I’m beginning to think, you just don’t care…
What’s the difference?! That’s lime not chartreuse!
What do you mean I have too many shoes?

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No, I do not have any shoes in the above colors (yet). 😀

One Stop Poetry Perfect Poet Award Week 48dVerse ~ Poets Pub | It’s Not Easy Being Green and Also Poetic. (Or, Is It?)

Each Day Anew…

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Raivenne

I wake and start each day anew
I shake myself to clear my head
I take on faith I’ll muddle through
I make myself get out of bed

The day is as it was before
The play of life’s dramas unfold
The clay of my face gets new scores
The way it will for days untold

Time flaunts with me in its cruel way
Time wants me to think I’m all right
Time daunts my tears in light of day
Time haunts me then in dark of night

Can’t lie my pain will soon be through
Can’t fly away until it’s gone
Can’t buy back moments to redo
Can’t die so no choice but go on

It’s true that heartache ends, but when?
It’s few the days I feel it cease
It’s due I know, but until then
It’s through my pen I find release

I know I have the strength to cope
I go as heart and soul say to
I sow my seeds of faith and hope
I grow and start each day anew

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[written several very short, yet long years ago – about six weeks after becoming a widow.]

The form used is called a Lento. Strictly speaking a Lento is two quatrains of eight syllables (a Double Lento has four quatrains, or as I have done, a Triple Lento with six quatrains). A Lento requires that you rhyme the very first word of each line in the stanza and have an ending rhyme of abcd. As you can see I took a little creative licensing here by repeating the first word and rhyming the second words instead and having an end rhyme of abab.

dVerse Poets Pub | Poetics: The Beautiful Sadness

The Only Thing…

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Raivenne

The scratch behind the record playing
Hear it on the radio?
That susurrus? What is it saying?
Is it your mind about to go?
The ragged chill running down your spine
On a most warm and sunny day
The nagging feeling in your mind
That takes the words you want to say