To my Stevie…20/10/84 – 01/12/17
Butterfly musings
lead the way
out of dark forests
where I’d gone astray.
fainting with weariness
my hope was deferred,
unable to stand
all vision was blurred…
They carried my burdens
spoke of my worth,
brought me back
to the sacredness
of earth,
where a change
of scenery,
lifted my gaze,
and they rekindled
the remembrance
of grace-filled days…
©AllysoAlly2022
To Ed
On days like this in scattered blues,
I’m grateful for a flowery muse,
to delicately
whisper in tones to me,
from purple florets of a glory tree
to blossom joyfully
in healing shade,
and let despair gradually fade.
his colors spoke of quietude,
prompting a cheerful attitude…
This plant was gifted to us by one of our Airbnb guests. He turned 95 while he was staying with us. He was a real gentleman and we often regale stories of his visit to friends.
This plant had not flowered for the past 3 years, then suddenly it burst into life.
I began to wonder about our visitor Ed and I looked up his wife. We had promised him that when he turned 100 he could stay with us for free, but sadly he left the Earth in December of last year, just short of his 100th birthday. It was as if he was sending a message to me via this glory tree to let me know that he is still around. His wife told me that he wanted his ashes scattered in the sea, near to where we live, Sedgefield being “his happy place”.
It was an honor knowing him.
©AllysoAlly2022
“In our fragile and crowded world, we can survive only together. We can be truly free, ultimately, only together. We can be human only together.”
~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu
I watched the truth and reconciliation commission on TV in Zimbabwe.
Desmond Tutu urged us to do the same in South Africa.
If we understand the stories, the truth behind the lies, it will change our worldview forever. He cried when he heard of the terrible suffering, as we should.
Thank you Arch for being our teacher, for loving every one of us fiercely, and for the laughter and jokes.
My memory of you is moving to Bishop’s Court and opening your swimming pool to all the kids from the township.
The other memory is of you teaching the Dali lama to dance.
I hope we can follow your example and be as kind and forgiving as you were.
You will not be forgotten, your legacy is our inheritance..
Hamba Kahle Arch, friend to so many.
I’ll sing the songs you taught me
in glades of diaphanous Light.
I’ll be the kindness you gave me,
on dark and lonely nights.
Your footprints in the forests,
still wash up on distant shores,
the starlight that enabled me
to join with earth’s encore…
You dance on weary mornings
with light-beams
across my room,
with visions that re-awaken me
from this wholly tiresome gloom!
Keep shining in my daytime
keep holding me
when we cry,
be the presence I always seek,
be the softness of pale blue Skies…
You are the colors at sunset
the rainbow’s gentle promise,
you are the transfiguration,
my quiet vows of solace…
There is no forgetting,
no time for remorse,
when death and sorrow visit us
and clutter up our thoughts…
I’ll sing songs of redemption,
and paint on a smile,
honor your beautiful memory
born from what was wild…
The truth is we’ve been here before,
when darkness covered the waters,
we’ll return again
someday
armed with what God taught us…
Forgiveness will be easy
and love will forever find
the beauty that awakened us,
carefully refined…
My son Stevie changed worlds 4 years ago today.
He is always with me, still one of my greatest teachers.
We have spent many lifetimes together
and we will be together again, I have been assured of that…
©AllysoAlly2021
“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
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?
“Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.”
― Mitch Alb
I’ve held grief in my body
inside my heavy heart
I know that I must grieve for you
though I feel blown apart
you never said goodbye to me
your wounds were never healed
you couldn’t see a future
you’d lost all of your dreams
I know the hurting is over
you’ve grown wings dear one
your flying with the angels
and your journey has just begun…
in this head-space of sorrow
my heaviness beats
you say to me don’t grieve
for you are in eternal peace…
I’ll keep watch for you
at sunset
I’ll feel you in pouring rain
I’ll hold you in my memory
and rejoice that you’re freed from pain..
a friend of mine passed yesterday
and it totally knocked the wind out of me…
©AllysoAlly2021
“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
The skies yearned to hold you
the moon knew your face,
you filled this world with magic
and the warmth of your embrace…
and when your bones grew weary
your learnt how to fly
you flew above the darkness
you soared into celestial skies…
And the Angels
received you
with a glorious refrain,
a wonderous celebration
a journey into love’s domain…
and your tears ceased a falling
the higher you flew,
you saw a world of radiance
from an irresistible view,
you became part of the oceans
part of the cosmic seas,
one with the movement
into the dance
you were set free…
I can still hear your laughter above the gusty winds,
you sparkle in my mind’s eye
your light cannot be dimmed…
I will love you forever, until the end of time
and then I’ll love you again
when we remember
that we’re truly divine!
I’ll never be able to listen to Mike Jagger and not think of you darling friend.
I’ll always put mayonnaise on my cheese sarmies.
You were the only one I know in the whole wide world who could make
awesome cappuccinos with Frisco coffee and a *bully beef quiche fit for a queen.
Your life touched mine in the soft places that no one else sees,
you were a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, a warm heart,
a light in this dark world.
You have been released from your suffering and have gone home to God.
I will never forget you beloved Joan and I will love you forever,
until we meet again. Rest well my darling.
*bully beef = tinned corned beef
©AllysoAlly2021
“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”
― Kahlil Gibran
Fading with the sunset
she soared
into the skies,
not even a murmur
her breath rhapsodized…
and she left a sparkle
a trace here on earth,
a graceful recollection,
an elixir of mirth…
she rose again at dawn
in the most elegant of light
beckoned by the angles
her spirit took flight…
As she danced in the radiance of emerging tones,
the delight of many
fluently known…
from restless tides of suffering,
she was gently released,
as she supped at the table of a resplendent feast…
©AllysoAlly2021
In South Africa we have Parking Attendants, some call them car guards.
They are gentle men who are not able to find traditional jobs
for one reason or another, so they help with parking, carrying shopping
and keeping our cars safe.
This is Tommy, he is an amputee and he is at his station everyday
no matter the weather and he is always smiling and waving…
He is definitely a bright face on an overcast day…
Dedicated to 2 hearts that stopped beating at 20 weeks…
We are born
from the waves
of endless love,
from the breath
of the Divine…
Filled with the light
of abiding grace,
brought forth
to abundantly shine…
emerging from the womb
of cosmic seas,
we are swept in on tides of joy…
held in the symphonies
of all that is good,
our souls are never destroyed…
Some are born
with fearless lungs,
some are born sleeping,
we are all part
of this great expanse,
birthed for a reason…
Attuned to the heavens
we remember the words
written on the skein of time…
however brief this sojourn,
we recognize
that we are divine…
In a glorious celebration,
inseparable
from God above,
we are ageless
and everlasting,
made in the image of love…
©AllysoAlly2020
Artist unknown
AllysoAlly 