A Stone or a Rose

I shake and shed

the petals of grief.

Sometimes my soul is distant

and quiet.

My thoughts travel like

a river

or the wind,

constantly changing direction,

flowing this way and that,

silky strings of melancholy

like tall blades of grass.

They march on like car wheels

or the seasons

or life.

But sometimes my soul is

full of laughter,

of bouncing energy,

of sunlight

of maddening joy,

of hope,

like branches reaching higher,

like sunflowers meeting the warmth,

letting the sun kiss their faces.

I never know which days

my soul will awaken

a stone

or a rose.

Published in my debut collection of poetry, to Let Myself Go.

(Available through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Atmosphere Press, and wherever books are sold.)