Sunshine Through Gray

It’s a wet, gray, dreary looking day,
but I refuse to let it stay that way!

I’m going to smile some sunshine through,
until my warmth burns away all the dew.

So, gray Friday, I’m warning you,
I’m going to shine no matter what you do!

Happy Friday and July 1 everybody! Hope your day is full of sunshine, inside and out!

© D. Elaine Wood-Lane

Sunshine and Rain

Sunshine and rain,
pleasure and pain.
The circle of life,
with such cycles is rife.

Yesterday’s sunshine
was golden and sure,
lilacs all blooming,
with aroma so pure.

The ground has been thirsty,
needing a drink,
when it rained so hard,
on the gutter it plink’d.

Some days our souls
are golden and pure,
but can become very arid,
without rain to mature.

God fills our souls
with pleasure and pain,
He loves to mature us,
with sunshine and rain.

© Elaine Wood-Lane

I was awakened by heavy rainfall in the middle of the night (2:15 AM actually) this morning and it really was plinking onto the gutter and gushing out the end. Anyway, I woke up with a poem started in my head and decided to get up and write it down before I forgot it. After an hour and a half, this poem was done and I went back to bed.

To all of my friends in Lubbock tonight, stay on high ground! Your rain tonight makes ours look rather weak!

Sunbeams|NaPoWriMo Day 17

Twenty years ago today,
the Oklahoma bombing
occurred and a tornado
was headed towards
my sons’ school
that same afternoon.

I was at work and
could do nothing
about either situation.

I was a basket case,
terrified, and worn out.

My fiance’ picked
me up from work.

My boys were safe
and happy,
eyes shining.

At home,
on the kitchen table,
was a bright yellow
sunshine cake
that my boyfriend
had made to
cheer me up.

St. Francis said,
“A single sunbeam
is strong enough
to drive away
many shadows.”

That cake was a
single sunbeam
for me that day.

The hug my boyfriend
gave me then also
was so sweet that
I could feel the
sadness leave
my body.

The day was still
tragic, but when we
share bad days
with ones we love,
when the sun
comes up the next morning,
we’re better able to
get up with it.

© Elaine Wood-Lane

I’ve been a little behind on poem writing the past couple of days, but I’ll be caught up by tomorrow evening I think. The prompt for day 17 was to write a “social media”-style poem. Namecheck all of your friends. Quote from their texts, tweets, FB status updates, twitter accounts, and blogposts, and the back of the cereal box on your breakfast table. The poem is about you and you are about what you say, think, talk, eat. You might end up with a poem that seems bizarrely solipsistic (like the internet itself, maybe?), but there might also be a spark there of something live and fun and present (like the verbal equivalent of a really great animated cat .gif).

I must admit I did look at FB posts from today and between some of those posts, my own memories, and the great quote from St. Francis, this poem was born. I didn’t follow the prompt quite, but, I like what this poem says. I hope you do too.

Sunshine Soaked Brain

High mountain sunshine,
so bright and light
this morning,
it tempted
my winter white skin.

There had been
too many clouds,
too many days,
both inside and out.

While elsewhere
others freeze and gaze
at blinding white light,
reflecting deep snow,

I walked in joy in
high mountain sunshine,
my dog at my side.

Returning home,
wondering what I was
supposed to do next,
smiling inanely,

I realized,
I had sunshine
soaked brain,
nothing going in,
nothing going out.

It was worth it…
One lovely day
of sunshine soaked brain.

©Elaine Wood-Lane