Saint Joan…

“One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it.
But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief,
that is a fate more terrible than dying.”
― Joan of Arc

Painting by Jean Bastien-Lepage

She was silenced by nobles
by an unbelieving crowd,
accused of heresy
her visions disallowed!

But beneath the whisper
in a consecrated place,
she listened to the voices
and she held fast to grace

For courage was before her
and great was her strength
she upheld reason
even into death…

Her unexpected victories
turned the tide of the war
Her sacrifice and courage
can never be ignored

And they burned her beauty
but they never erased
her voice,
for hers was the victory
for which we now rejoice….

©AllysoAlly2021

Recently I have been studying some of the great people in History
who where either jailed or put to death for their beliefs.

Saint Joan of arc (The Maid of Orleans) has always been one of my heroines,
she heard voices and heeded the call to fight for what she believed in.
She was burnt at the stake as a witch and a heretic for the living that belief…
She was canonized after death.
It seems that throughout history great people died
and were chastised for their belief.
Galileo it’s an example, when he said the earth revolves around the sun.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment as a heretic.
Isn’t it a strange thing that there are those who have had to fight for truth?

Recast by the light!

Skies that hold
attention,
from a higher view,
and I drink in the influence
of this perfect blue!

Are they mere distractions
in a world of fear?
I whisper to the heavens
to make my vision clear.

Enveloped by the beauty,
sea-birds shrilly call,
reminding me of favor
in messages
wispily scrawled…

understood by angels
deciphered by the winds,
I dive into the presence
closer than my skin…

And I’m held by symphonies,
a perfect pitch,
magical encounters
words that do not flinch!

I am honored by the landscape,
recast by the light,
brought back
from the brink of madness
to regain my sight…

©AllysoAlly2021

A walk in the park…

“Happiness is just a little thing;
Humans mostly are too large for it.
If you cannot feel the joy of spring
Shrink yourself and maybe then you’ll fit.”
― Michael Leunig, Curly Verse: Selected Poems

Sometimes life is
a walk in the park,
when birds circle
and light is soft,
and all around
there’s magic
and butterflies waft.

You live in the moment
of a perfect dream,
like you’re that cat
who got the cream…

©AllysoAlly2021

Light-beings…

“God help us to live slowly:
To move simply:
To look softly:
To allow emptiness:
To let the heart create for us.
Amen.”
― Michael Leunig

In glistening meadows
where tall trees grow,
feel the softness
of an awakened glow,
and carve your name
into silvery bark,
where those
before you left their mark,

and in that moment
you’ll understand
your chosen place
in the great expanse,
in gatherings
where mortals
are fully known,
under the skies,
in likened tones…

And even if you get lost
along the way,
and sometimes feel
deeply afraid,
go to the place
where light-beings
assemble,
beneath the boughs
of a holy temple,
allowing the earth
to touch your skin,
as you sense a movement of joy within…

©AllysoAlly2021

I discovered a book called “A Common prayer” ( A cartoonist talks to God)
by an Australian cartoonist, writer, painter, philosopher and poet.
It’s quite beautiful and real!

Earth song!

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
and the winds long to play with your hair”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

On sunny walk-ways
through sheltered groves,
when light softens
and quiet streams flow,
she felt a hush
of fluent air,
as she skipped along
without a care,
while all around her
the city roared,
and crowds gathered
and feelings poured…
In the shrubbery
vows were made,
and she let the intensity
slowly fade,
as nature healed
her very form,
in that moment she was reborn!

©AllysoAlly2021

Road trip…

Blue mountains
in the distance,
fields of fragrant flowers,
if only I could sit forever
and drink in
their superpowers!

©AllysoAlly2021

She flew away…

From enchanted forests
she flew away,
and planted herself
near paved walkways,
for she was tired
of not been seen,
she surely was a beauty queen!

humbly I stood
beneath her arms,
feeling the magic
of her charm.
She showed me windows
to the skies,
and in her shadow
I fantasized,
of the coming of
a brave new earth,
where the air is filled
with blessed mirth,

in the light of her frolicking leaves,
I danced with her
in sanguine dreams,
and as she swayed
in the wintery winds,
she reminded me of an eternal spring…

©AllysoAlly2021

My lilac muse…

“Earth, my dearest, oh believe me, you no longer need your spring-times to win me over…Unspeakably, I have belonged to you, from the flush.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

On gravel walkways, I was softly kissed,
by the tenderness of evening mists.
In fields of forgetfulness,
I lay me down,
amid the fragrance
of hallowed ground,
where I encountered a lilac muse,
among the grasses
and honeyed hues.
I let sunshine break the spell,
in the sweetness where light-beams dwell…

I’d left my troubles at the door
beckoned out to be restored.
and in the forgetting of many woes
I could feel love’s mercy over-flow,

through the valleys, over the lakes,
enchanted by this brief escape!

Sometimes life gets hard and my mind wanders into “worst case scenarios”.
When I catch myself doing that, I go out into the fresh air
and breathe in forgetfulness and new life.
Wherever I am in nature, be it in fields of wild flowers, forests, mountain tops
or at the ocean shore, a strange kind of amnesia washes over me.
In those wonderful life-giving moments I renew my energy
and am able to face the world again!
and I’m always surprised by what I find…

©AllysoAlly2021