The River Ran

©2013 Louise Gallagher

the river ran
wild in its departure
from its course
set through time
overflowing banks
and city scapes
and places of business
drowning out
homes and basements
and those places where
those without a home sleep
rough
their bodies exposed
to the elements

and in its rampage
I felt the fear
slither
up my spine
flowing into memory
of a time
when my life ran
wild in its departure
from the familiar
running
wild in the dark

the tide is spent
the flood has past
and in its passing
I see once again
the fear of what was
flowing back
into that place
that will never be
again in time

the river ran
the waters recede
and I run
wild
in the freedom
of this place
where I am free
of time holding me
trapped
to a course
I didn’t want.

Where I Am

©2013 Louise Gallagher

My heart yearns
for the quiet of that time
long ago
when life seemed so simple
in its view
of tomorrows following
todays
that came after yesterday
until
the future opened up
to become
this complicated mass
of what to do’s
and how to get’s
that trap me
behind the mask
of success
I believed was necessary
to have
what I wanted
long ago.

There is no success
to be found in tomorrow
until I let go of being
here
where I am
today
without my heart
yearning
for anything
other than what is here
right now
where I am
today.

And Grace Found Me

©2013 Louise Gallagher

And grace found me
hiding in the darkness
of my fear
the light would not shine
when the sun went down.

Opening my eyes
I found myself
standing in the light
falling
all around.

And grace found me
dancing in the brilliance
of my heart
awakening to the truth
of who I am
when I surrender my fear
and fall
in Love.

I can’t believe I haven’t written a poem since May 2!  And as always happens when  I write, “I can’t believe” about something that is so, my inner guide replies, “Believe it and save yourself the energy of false disbelief.”

Which, of course, inspires a poem on false disbelief.

When The Story Ends

©2013 Louise Gallagher

You said
there’d be another time
to laugh and talk together.

You promised
there’d always be a chance
to get it right, no matter what.

But time’s story is different
than the tale of hope
and possibility
you wove around my heart

Time’s story
found the ending
I did not want
to read
and now
my eyes must open
to the truth
I could not believe

Now I must face
the world
stripped of the magic cloak
you wove
when first we met
and you promised to love
me until death
do us part

Your story of happily ever after
has found its ending
dangling in a missed particle
of truth revealed
when I opened my eyes
to the power of my heart.

Your story has been found
out
outed
outraged
by the truth I embrace
with every breath
I breathe into
the freedom of believing
the story of my life is not
created in another’s eyes
it’s lived
wholeheartedly free
in mine.

Yesterday, my friend Max sent me a piece of music he’d written. Previously he’d asked me to write a poem that he would set to music. I was so grateful he switched the order — and gave me the chance to write to his incredible music.

The poem below was inspired by Max’s music. Ripples of Change. Beneath it, I have inserted the recording of my reading of Ripples of Change set to Max Ciesliski’s music, C-Me.

One Thought Becomes a Ripple

©2013 By Louise Gallagher

One thought
Drops
Into the ocean of life
Rippling out
Into a tsunami of despair
Calling me to break
Break free
Of believing
There is no possibility
Of life beyond
The narrow confines
Of a street
That traps me in this place
Where I become the label
I am forced to wear
In this place where
No fixed address
Becomes
The only place I know
where I belong.

Ripples of thoughts
Create waves of change
Ripples of thoughts
Can Change the ocean

One thought
Falls
Into the possibility
Rippling out
That we can
Become the change
We want to see
Transforming despair
Into life breaking
Breaking free
Of the dead end streets
Of no fixed address
Where no one lives
Trapped
In believing
There is no place
To find
A home where they
belong.

Ripples of thoughts
Create waves of change
Ripples of thoughts
Can Change the ocean.

Music:  C-Me ©2013 Max Ciesielski

Ripples of Change

The Truth Within

©2013 Louise Gallagher

I yearn for illumination
from the light
that comes within
when I stop running
from what I cannot see
but know
to be true
within me.

I am
the truth I find
when I stop
seeking
and become
the truth
within me.

A Stitch In Time

© 2013 Louise Gallagher

A story told
of a life
patchworked together
every moment stitched
with loving hands
into the fabric of time
laid out in lines
covering up
the pain
of love won
and lost
of dreams held
and abandoned
of hopes regained
of life reclaimed
on a spread of courage woven
into the quilted memories
of a past
that cannot be covered up
each stitch revealing
the beauty beneath
the covers.

******************************

This week, as part of the finale for this year’s This Is My City Festival, quilts made by participants at the Women’s Centre were showcased. These women come from all over the world, they are fleeing war, famine, abuse. The quilts tell their story of courage, heroism, beauty. I only took two photos — but there were many more and they were all beautiful and heart-felt.

Surrender

©2013 Louise Gallagher

In the quiet of the circle
my heart beats a silent drum
thrumming
thrumming
in the night
a gentle tattoo
of love and beauty
calling
calling
me to surrender
thy will be done.

In the call of my heart
fear beats a noisy timpani
pounding
pounding
in the light
a song of resistance
calling
calling
me to hold back
and never surrender.

Breathing
I let go of my resistance
and release my fear
to the One
that rises
in the light
of Love
calling me to surrender.

Letting go,
I surrender
and fall
in Love.

I Surrender To Love

©2013 Louise Gallagher

My heart is heavy in this place
where words
drift away
like smoke
from a blast that tore into the crowd
and ripped so many lives apart.

My heart is heavy
forcing me
to my knees
pleading
with an unseen God to make sense of what we do
in our human race to find meaning.

And the only sense I can find
in all this pain
is to surrender fear and hatred
to let go of hostility and revenge
and fall into the one thing that is always there
the one thing that gives me peace
in times of turmoil, strife and fear
in times of happiness, joy and elation.

No matter what is going on in our world,
there is only one thing I can do
to find peace.

I surrender to Love.