Yearning

This place, in mind, is

a wild place full of life and laughter. I would see

heaven in it, where a lake spreads

sun-rich waves and tides to shore; I would see

spider webs suspending fallen leaves and holding

them up like mannequin strings. I would see

the sunrise and sunset; and the robin and goose flying

over all of my petty worries. Once, I believed that strife would be

met and could be conquered here. Nature was

not strong enough! Life outside this pretty world, in mind, is

not a place of truth speaking to the powerful and corruptible.

My soul traces boundaries of freedom; my heart yearns

for a simple place to help me be simple, where yellowing leaves may

fall freely without being pulled off. I would not see

Mother Nature ache as She does. Her heart beats

ever faintly… Our touch does this, and what I would see

is almost gone. What I love is dying an undeserved, untimely death.

I can only feign see Nature wander in my mind.

J.H. Lee (original c. 1987; edit 2017)

Wings

I trap my feelings,

hold tightly

in sad embraces.

I fall into cold waters

of impatience, impermanence.

There’s solitude,

a brainwash from substance

and matter.

Tongues of a thousand

leaves shake

in scorn at me.

I wither under hard glass

and fold my emotions

in these twilight hours.

I hide fast wings

under my breast

and can’t release

them to the sky.

Where’s a healthy rope

to draw myself out,

climb over the wall between me

and the light? Time.

Smile for me, life!

Smile and see me grow.

I’m young in your eyes.

Help me unhide my wings,

to raise them up

and let me shine.