@starry_ink
ELATE
Electricity beneath the ordinary / Lifted past the ceiling of the everyday
DAWN
Dogs barking somewhere beyond the fence / A neighbor’s car warming up outside
GLEN
Gathering the cold air into itself at night / Low mist moving in the early morning
DOOR
Draught coming under it in November / Opened before the bell has stopped ringing
OCEAN
Once you smell it you are already glad / Crossing it was the longest kind of patience
YEARN
Yearning doesn't know the art of letting go / Each night it wakes before the morning does
LEAF
Loosening from the branch on a cold October day / Every color it holds was always in it
LEAF
Left on the surface of the pond all night / Eventually the water takes it under
CLOUD
Casting slow shadows over the meadow / Lifting quietly above the mountain ridge
AGED
All that is old has been through what the new has not yet faced / Growing into age is not diminishment, it is deepening
RIVER
Running clear over smooth and ancient stone / Into the valley where the willows lean
FOG
Felt before seen the salt-cold air arrives / On the clifftop the lighthouse spins its light
NIGHT
Nine o’clock and already in the heavy phase / Inching through the last hour before bed
RAIN
Rinsing the dust from the long summer leaves / A rhythm on the roof through the dark hours
TRUST
Trying again after the breaking / Reaching through the scar to something new
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
PURE
Pulling back the layers finds the thing that will not change / Underneath all the performance is the self that needs no audience
ZEAL
Zooming past the voice that says slow down / Every drop of energy committed
CALM
Centering yourself in what is real returns the world to focus / A quiet inside is not the same as a quiet outside, but helps
BOOK
Borrowed and kept and quietly become mine / Open on the table like an invitation
BLOOM
Breaking from its bud in the thin April light / Loosening the scent into the cooler air
LONELY
Longer evenings stretching into quiet / Out there, others carry the same silence
LAMP
Left on until the last one goes to bed / A warm point in the darkened room
HOME
Hallway mirror that shows the tired version / One window cracked all year for the sound
DAWN
Day starting in increments the sky barely notices / A bus passing while the street is still asleep
TEA
Too hot at first and then exactly right / Every steep a slightly different result
GENTLE
Going slowly through the difficult / Every movement made with care
TRUST
Turning toward the one who might betray you / Resting anyway and choosing to believe
LUNCH
Later than planned but still welcome / Usually the same thing on Wednesdays
WALK
Weather finally good and the coat unnecessary / Around the long way because of the light
BRAVE
Breaking through the wall of doubt / Rising even after the fall
HOME
Hanging coat and the transition is complete / Out of the day and into this
PHOTO
Pressed inside a book for a decade / How it got there is no longer clear
FAITH
Falling forward into the unseen / Anchored when the sea runs rough
NIGHT
Now the whole house has gone to its corners / Inside quiet broken only by the building
HILL
Here in the wind there is a different thinking / Into the weather rather than away from it
WARM
Woven through the ordinary hours / Arriving without announcement or fanfare
NEAR
Nothing profound is hiding somewhere distant from you now / Everything you need to understand is present in this moment
CHILD
Cold hands from the walk and needing warming / Heavy bag dropped at the door with ceremony
VALE
Vapour rising from the early morning ground / A bowl the hills have made to hold the cold air
SKY
Still above everything that tries to reach it / Keeping every bird it ever held in memory
DANCE
Done before breakfast with no particular reason / Arms moving because the body wanted to
WALK
Wind switched direction halfway through / Around the reservoir where the ducks ignore everyone
SIGH
Speaking through the body what the mind won't say / Inward first and then the soft release
MEAL
Made on a Thursday because Fridays are uncertain / Everything timed to come together at once
YEARN
Yesterday keeps pulling at the heart / Every want becomes a kind of ache
HILL
Here in the wind there is a different thinking / Into the weather rather than away from it
MEAL
Monday soup made from Sunday’s bones / Everything a little better with company
DAWN
Day pouring slow over the edge of hills / And before the sun the birdsong fills the dark
HUMAN
How much we share beneath the differences we name / Under every stranger is a story close to your own