burnt offerings

i am on my way home,

thinking of those i love, some far away, others closer than air, closer still,

those no longer with us.

i begin writing letters in the clouds.

but they fall so short.

too little, too late,

just 

broken pieces of sky.

s l o w l y

i begin to sing. 

folding my soul into every vowel,

tossing each desperate note,

 stones skimming across a perfect blue lake of redemption..

praying the moon and stars will take my burnt offerings

and cast them into heaven.

out out out

into all that is holier than i can ever be.

redemption.

i am crying for redemption.

 

 the road is pot holed with questioning.

too much time spent conquered by gravity

head down, smelling the rich earth in habitual distraction.

scratching for food.

wondering 

for the ten thousandth time

why is this life so hard?

all the while followed by knowing eyes, each whispering

look up.

LOOK UP 

lay your burdens down and we will light the stars,

together.

 

i place the first dark stone before the transient moon.

i have carried these stones so long my arms are 

cupped like enormous petals,

 trying to get home forever.

suddenly a thousand stars 

press against my laboring heart.

i am just under the softening hem of mercy

and it has taken every stone,

every dark burden of wanting to be more

to finally arrive.

i am struck like a perfect bell that has waited a life time to ring out

i am dumbfounded, awestruck, a hallelujah choir

calling out 

"these stones, this suffering,

all these years of holding up the very ceiling of the sky.

oh my god

we are not meant to carry them 

they were forged,

to carry us...

i turn around, crying out to you

and a thousand eyes tell me

you already know.

Comments

[Allegra]

The silence of the stars speak volumes to those who can understand their language. Need I say more? Sending you love and Light in abundance, no need for redemption, not now. Not yet, maybe never. I just like beading the stars into a magical necklace to put around your neck so you can dance all night. Go dance with your necklace of stars, leave the stones in the past, maybe like the stones for Ibarra they need not to be carried, they need to be left behind. A memorial to pain and unanswered questions, buried in a whirl of music while tripping the light fantastic of the Moon. Love you.

[Cinda Rae Oliverio]

ALWAYS LOOK UP!!! Hallelujah! HALLELUJAH!!!

[Karen Gerstenberger]

This is beautiful. The images are breathtaking - I've never seen peacocks observed like that - and the poem is lovely. Thank you.

[rebecca]

sometimes
we willingly carry the burdens of others with supreme love, hoping to lift them to the light in difficult times. sometimes it is our own dark suffering. and we carry it so long we forget we are swimming upstream with this implausible weight holding us down.
yet, this very weight, these stones worn soft from our care of them, that seem to stand in the way of being completely present, are the very stepping stones of mercy. become the very tools that give us compassion, fortitude, wisdom, deeper meaning.
we all scurry about, heads down attending to life, suddenly surprised when we realize we have once again stacked up these burden stones.
pain is its own unexpected season. it sneaks up in small winds, builds speed and takes us by storm.
i am looking at pain. how we all wrestle with it..sometimes noticeably other times as private inner turmoil.

this peacock with a thousand eyes is my gratitude to all of you here. because we all carry pain, pick it up by the armful at different times,it weights us down and suddenly we have can hardly breathe, let alone navigate simple moments..
we forget how many times we have come to this sweet realization, that we can simply lay it down and walk firmly into the light.

your compassion reminds me.
when you are in need, may my compassion remind you.

[Meri]

I posted a link to this on my humble post today because it shouldn't be missed.

[Ms. Moon]

Words can be heavy like stones, can't they? And sometimes your words are heavy but they are heavy in a way that anchors me to something primal and so real. A place where I can lay and look up. And you remind me to do that too.
Oh, rebecca. I sure do wish I could carry some of the weight for you sometimes.

[gloria]

Beautiful words and awesome photos. I love the peacock and all his beautiful feathers. Thanks for sharing such beauty.

[deb @ talk at the table]

you leave me breathless

[Spadoman]

Yes, you have told it in a very special way. Anmd you acknowledge the burdan does get relieved at some point. Sometimes I wonder why the burden returns. Is it my fault, or do I blame the Creator?

Beautiful.

Peace.

[rochambeau]

Beautiful poem Rebecca.
I too believe in candles and burnt offerings and redemption.

xox
Constance

[Deborah]

So beautifully said...I love the image of stones, rather than crosses, for stones wear down, smooth out. I am at a time in my life right now where I have laid down all my stones. I have known pain and darkness...I just don't live there anymore. **kisses** Deb