@quiet_pages
TREE
This old oak has held more than just itself / Roots entwined with the roots of its neighbors
HOPE
How it persists is the real mystery / Only light explains the way it points
BLISS
Beyond the reaching and the wanting / Landing in a moment that is whole
DAWN
Dew on the windowsill before breakfast / A soft light crosses the kitchen floor
VALE
Very early when the mist is in the hollow / All the sound is softened at this hour
WISE
What is wisdom but the lessons that the losses left behind / In the gray areas of life is where most wisdom makes its home
CREEK
Carving its story into the soft red bank / Running clear through the bracken all day long
NIGHT
Nine o’clock and already in the heavy phase / Inching through the last hour before bed
SUN
Slow across the sky the whole long day / Up in the highest branch the hawk is warm
PEACE
Pulling back the curtain on the noise / Every exhale softens something
DAWN
Dim room and the first bus running outside / Awake without an alarm and staying still
GROW
Going past your edge is where the real expansion starts / Returning to the center after reaching is how roots deepen
FOCUS
Filtering the irrelevant is as creative as choosing the important / Only the deliberately aimed energy hits what it was aimed at
KIND
Knowing when to speak and when to listen is also a form of kindness / In the ordinary moment, a small act of care changes someone’s whole day
COOK
Chopping garlic on the wooden board / Oil warming slowly in the pan
CLIFF
Carved by wind and water into patience / Leaning over the sea without concern
PETAL
Pressed between the pages of the old book / Even now it holds the shape of what it was
HONOR
Holding to what you know is right when no one sees is the real test / One life lived with full integrity is worth more than many lives performed
VALE
Vapour rising from the early morning ground / A bowl the hills have made to hold the cold air
BREAD
Baking it because the day needed a task / Rising during the walk and ready on return
SIGH
Something settles when you breathe it out / Inside the pause between the noise
HOME
Hands on the kettle before the coat is off / One drawer that never fully closes
AMONG
A person is partly made by those they choose to be around / Moving through a community of care changes what you think is possible
DANCE
Delay between getting home and getting settled / A moment of music from a passing car
CARE
Carrying the weight of someone else / A hand that reaches in the dark
WARM
Welcome even on the coldest day / Arms that hold without condition
AFTER
A new beginning only starts on the far side of an ending / Following the hardest chapters often comes the clearest voice
TIDE
The water knows its time without a clock / In the night it moves the edge of everything
TEA
The kettle already singing before I ask / Every cup a small decision
ROAD
Rain just stopped and the world is washed clean / One lane narrowing where the roadworks still sit
FIELD
Foxes crossing at the far end in the grey / In the late July heat the combine starts
DIARY
Dated and dog-eared and slightly swollen / Ink that ran when the tea cup was too close
FLAME
Feeding on the air that doubt forgot to close off / Lasting longer than the dark that tried to snuff it out
KIND
Knowing that the stranger needs a hand / In the small things, love most lives
CHAIR
Comfortable in the way of long familiarity / Holds a throw blanket in every season
AHEAD
A destination does not have to be certain to pull you forward / Having a direction is enough when certainty is not available
CORAL
Colours built by creatures no one sees / Opening polyps in the warm night current
SONG
Singing only when the neighbors are away / Old tape playing from somewhere I’d forgotten I had
LONELY
Life compressed to one small silent room / Only your own breathing for company
COMES
Coming toward you even now is what you have not yet imagined / Only what moves can arrive, and arrival changes everything
REAL
Returning again and again to what is actually true is the honest life / Every illusion, while comfortable, eventually requires more energy to maintain
SUN
Stretching gold across the morning field / Up through the leaves it pours its warmth
AWAKE
A life lived only in the habitual is a life only partly being lived / When you wake within the ordinary, the ordinary becomes the sacred
GRACE
Given even when it wasn't earned / Received without the understanding why
TIDE
The long arm of the moon reaches in / In the channel the current picks up pace
LILY
Low in the water the lily pads spread wide / Its flower white above the dark below
RENEW
Returning to your center is a practice, not a destination / Each beginning carries something the last ending could not hold
STONE
Sitting in my hand it holds the river’s story / The grain in it is older than the mountains
WAVE
Welling up from somewhere far offshore / Arriving without warning at the sand
STONE
Sitting in the riverbed for centuries / Telling time in ways we cannot read