@morning_glow
MARSH
Making its own rules about land and water / All of it alive with hidden things
DEW
Dropping from the dark cloud of the night / Each blade of grass a holding and a giving
LILY
Lifting white above the muddy pond / In the still heat of July it opens
ACHE
An ache is how the body argues for what the mind denies / Carrying something long enough makes the weight feel like the self
LIGHT
Lasting longer than the obstacle, light is the argument for patience / In every tradition, the illuminated path was earned, not given freely
GLEN
Granite walls on either side of the path / Larks somewhere above the cloud line calling
COOK
Chopping garlic on the wooden board / Oil warming slowly in the pan
LAMP
Left on until the last one goes to bed / A warm point in the darkened room
RIVER
Rolling stones downstream without effort / Into the gorge the water falls and rises
GUILT
Going back to every choice undone / Under every smile a quiet ache
WIND
Wearing a path through the tall autumn grass / In the chimney it mutters its old stories
GENTLE
Going only where the invitation is / Each approach announced before it lands
LUNCH
Light through the kitchen window at just the right angle / Under the hour but fully inside it nonetheless
LUNCH
Leftover soup warmed on the stove quietly / Under the window where the light is best
MEAL
Made with less than expected and still good / Everything seasoned by the end of the week
DIARY
Dated entries that stop without warning / Inside the drawer no one opens
CHEER
Crying out across the space to meet you / Here, your name is called and you belong
OPEN
Opening the door before you're asked / Pouring out what habit says to hold
GENTLE
Gracefully refusing to cause harm / Easing into what is difficult
FOND
Folded into warmth by a single thought / Of all the things that last, this one endures
CLOCK
Changed in spring and the whole house shifts / Looking at it when the conversation pauses
ASSET
A strength not named is still a strength but harder to deploy / Seeing what you have is the first step toward using it with skill
GLEE
Getting lost inside the moment / Loose with joy and moving freely
ASCEND
A long way up is still the way if up is where you need to go / Slowly, the one who keeps going passes all who stopped to question
MOVE
Moving forward does not require you to know the destination / Only what is willing to shift can arrive somewhere new
FAITH
Finding something solid when the visible gives out / A trust extended past the edge of what you know
ITCH
Inside, a restlessness that won't be still / The skin beneath too tight for now
BLISS
Brightness that arrives without a name / Letting every burden find the floor
ATONE
Acknowledging the harm and moving toward repair is not weakness / Taking responsibility for what was done clears a space for what comes next
COAST
Coasting sometimes is a way of listening for what comes next / Only the paused traveler can hear the road tell where it leads
SUN
Slanting through the curtain onto the floor / Under the shadow of clouds moving fast
GLOW
Giving off a light you did not know was in you is not rare / Living long enough in darkness shows you what you carry
QUIET
Questions settle when the noise retreats / Under every restless thought, a floor
TENDER
Touching what was hurt with careful hands / Every nerve still raw and reachable
BIKE
Brought out from the shed for the first warm day / Into the lane where the cars no longer go
FLAME
Feeding on the air that doubt forgot to close off / Lasting longer than the dark that tried to snuff it out
CLOCK
Crowded afternoon and it won’t move quickly / Long wait made longer by looking
FOND
Folded into warmth by a single thought / Of all the things that last, this one endures
BEGIN
Before anything is real, it was a willingness to start without proof / Everything you are proud of began with an act of uncertain courage
GAZE
Giving your full attention is the most generous gift / A look without agenda reveals what looking for something hides
LOVE
Longer than the reasons that began it / On the other side of every fight, still here
COST
Counting what a thing will cost is not the same as measuring its worth / Only the things that ask something real of you teach something real
DREAM
Drifting through rooms I have never been in / Rooms that felt important in no traceable way
SHORE
Sand pulled between returning and leaving / Here the water forgets to be water
LAKE
Lying still beneath the circling osprey / A stillness even the rain cannot disturb entirely
WEEP
When the river asks to leave the body / Even grief has its own kind of beauty
MARSH
Morning haze lifting off the reed bed / Avocets picking through the shallow mud
TRUE
The path that is most yours does not always look like the path that is most followed / Reaching for the version of yourself that has no audience and no performance
GUILT
Going back to every choice undone / Under every smile a quiet ache
LUNCH
Leftover pasta eaten at the counter / Under the fluorescent office ceiling