"HOME,"

"HOME," by Somali poet Warsan Shire:

no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well

your neighbours running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won't let you stay.

no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it's not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilets
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn't be going back.

you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied

no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough

the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off

or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important

no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i've become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here.

by Somali poet, Warsan Shire

Happy birthday Henry!

The Garden Of Pensiveness

A brief, momentary glimpse of beauty often softens and touches our hearts

 in a tender and profound way, opening our eyes with reverence and

 awe to the sacredness of life.
~ Mary Ann Byrne

Supper Moon

super moon touches the earth of me,
wide and expanding-
through the ethereal movement,
of the flow of my soul-
journey reaching deep,
to hidden dirt and twigged paths-
that hold the weight of me,
I lift myself towards the light that reaches-
to touch the mystery of my dreams,
bringing visions revealing-
what calls so deep,
echoes my name again and again-
as a returning to the whole of me,
what sheds from me,
deaden earth washes away-
through waters of redeeming,
I will not let it cling to me-
like guilt and shame,
removing the resisting-
what obstructs my journey’s movement,
will break away to find me-
laying empty and ready,
I will cling to the Divine space of light-
that touches me,
earth,
and sky,
super moon holds the fullness of light-
breathes it across the-
universes of our beings,
our healing,
our coming,
to the holy place within.

Author Maureen Kwiat Meshenberg © 

Artist Josephine Wall

Enlightenment

Enlightenment is the key to everything, and it is the key to intimacy, because it is the goal of true authenticity.
~ Marianne Williamson

Soul

Each flower is a soul opening out to nature.
~ Gerald De Nerval

Change

If we can change ourselves, we can change the world. We're not the victims of the world we see; we're the victims of the way we see the world. This is the essence of compassionate listening: seeing the person next to you as a part of yourself.
~ Dennis Kucinich

The other side

· 

come to the other side of my heart,
where love lights the flame-
it burns with heat and desire,
to claim the one that I am,
folding into love's arms-
we layer as one,
without resistance of,
the story of who I thought I was-
dousing the flame with fear.

come to the other side of my soul,
where the sky holds my prayers-
and the breath of life hums gently,
calling me home-
back to peace and compassion,
bringing light to my waking journey-
each step a new morning.

come to the other side of me,
I cross the gap between-
who I was, and is and will be,
I am woman hearing the echo-
of my breath I now live,
I see shadows dance upon my skin-
dark and light,
blending into each other-
as I twirl within the ashes,
of my rising.

come to the other side of life,
I see how far I have come-
I bend like a reed in the wind,
touching fire and water-
at the same time,
quenching my thirst, igniting me to live-
inspired to always find,
the other side of me.

Author Maureen Kwiat Meshenberg ©

Content

To live content with small means.
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion.
To be worthy not respectable,
and wealthy not rich.
To study hard, think quietly, talk gently,
act frankly, to listen to stars, birds, babes
and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual,
unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.
~ William Channing

Mystery

The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer -- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
~ Ken Kesey

I Am

I am strong because I know my weaknesses.
I'm alive because I'm a fighter.
I Love unconditionally because I have had hate directed towards me.
I am wise because I've been foolish.
And I laugh because I've known sadness.
Everything I have lived through has taught me Lessons.
We just don't go through Life, We Grow through Life.

Unknown

New Moon

I’ve come to celebrate me,
the flame that now blazes-
across my soul burning,
with passionate brightness-
it ignites my desire,
for the woman I am.
seeking the words,
that create the movement-
that strums like music,
throughout my being.
I come to celebrate,
rising with the New Moon speaking-
reminding me of my call,
calling me by name.
I push past the edges,
and flatten the thorn paths-
smooth them with rose petals,
and cover them with moss.
I open my wings,
when regrets tried to hide them-
I celebrate me,
because I can.
the New Moon dances,
in the glow of my shadow –
I catch the stars,
In the palms of my hands.
my time has come,
to celebrate my wisdom –
my compassion birthing,
the she that I am.
Author Maureen Kwiat Meshenberg ©