My daughter and I have dinner and she talks about the indignity of being subjected to men’s comments flung at her as she walks down the street.

And this poem arose.

I am rising

©2016 Louise Gallagher

I am rising
rising up
from the ashes
a Phoenix
renewed
casting out
heartache
and heartbreak
and heart wrenching
lessons
of life
tossed
overboard
into the boiling seas
where I could not feel
the heat
of my heart
pounding
flowing endlessly
with creation
rising
rising up
into woman
shaking
shaking off
time’s grim hold
holding
holding me down
so I could not
rise
rise up
to hear
my voice
rising
rising up
from the ashes.

I am rising.

the runaway

©2015 Louise Gallagher

I reach for time
effortlessly running
away
from yesterday
slipping
between my fingers
hoping
to hold on
to more
than just memories
of time
running away.

We are born forever

©2015 Louise Gallagher

We are born
forever
designed without committee
without collaborative hands
staking out the ground
where one of us will stand
forever
while others fall
by the wayside.

There is no wayside.

We are in this
together
all for one
one for all
forever.

We are created
forever
by the Divine
whose voice
is our voice
whose hands
are our hands
whose being
is our being.

There is no other.

We are born
magnificent
no ifs ands or buts
can ever take away
the sum of our parts
that do not add up
to our magnificence
it is all
there is
no other part to us
no shadow
of doubt
clouding up the skies
of our forever
magnificence
dimmed.

There is no dimming of our magnificence.

We are forever
in this moment
where we forget
the beauty of our essence
shimmering
in the light of this moment
awakening
to the truth
we do not need to search
for the path
to enlightenment
we are the path
our own way
our own light.

There is no other way.

There is only us
each and every one
created to last forever
no matter how this journey
runs
out
into the sands
of time
filling in
the footprints we left
in the seas of change
washing away
our memory
of our magnificence
born
forever.

There is only our forever.

Little Miracles

©2014 Louise Gallagher

Dawn cracks the day open
little miracles unfold
A squirrel dances in the grass.

In Dawn’s Light Shining

©2014 Louise Gallagher

In the sacred space
of a brand new day
beginning
wakefulness draws me
gently away from sleep
making room for gratitude
to fill my heart
beat
drumming
a song of awakening
everyday
to the gift
of being alive
in this moment
at this special time
right now
where I can
breathe
freely
in dawn’s light shining.

.

Art Journal Page
September 4, 2014

Essentially Me

©2014 Louise Gallagher

I am going to start living life like a monk
cleansing myself of superficiality cluttering
the corridors of my creative expression
aligning itself along the fault lines
of normalcy that does not sit
well amidst the sacred calling
of my soul to listen
listen to my heart’s beat
yearning for release.

I am going to start living life like an artist
breaking through the constrictions of my need
to keep myself safe within
the voice of reason urging me
to be careful and not lean too far
over the edge of chaos calling
calling me to dance
naked with the birds
soaring on the wind.

I am going to start living life like an artist and a monk
casting off the conventional
wisdom of my being
on the road that winds its way
through the forest
of my thinking thick with the belief
there is no other way
to be than how I am,
here, right now.

I am going to start living life like a mystic
running wild through the forest screaming
high upon the wind’s of life diving
into my creative expression free falling
into the light of being who I am,
in the beauty of my spirit rising
rising up within the Divine essence
of being one with the One
here, right now.

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

This poem is in response to this week’s lesson for the 12 week journey I am taking with Abbey of the Arts — The Way of the Monk. The Path of the Artist. the course follows the twelve-week journey outlined in the book The Artist’s Rule: nurturing your creative soul with monastic wisdom, by Christine Valters Paintner, Abbess of the Abbey.

The invitation was to write a poem using the title of I Am Going to Start Living Like a Mystic  by Edward Hirsch as its inspiration. It was a beautiful and calming exercise into the divine essence of being present with the muse.