After the Solstice - Happy Holidays and Best Wishes

shadows and light-rays

intertwined in a lace 

of togetherness

Sometimes we have to pass through the nadir of darkness to emerge into light, on the other side... We had our share of stressful events here in Southern California this year,  the Year of Total Eclipse, especially recently, with the La Tuna Fire in September and the Creek Fire in December. Both fires devastated our open spaces, hillside habitat, and destroyed quite a few houses, too.  Sadly, lots of animals died in both fires, and some animals moved: sighting of bobcats increased in our neighborhood since La Tuna Fire, probably because they lived in Verdugo Hills, covered with green bushes and trees even in the driest of summers, with lots of water and shade and food for the beautiful and dangerous cats...

through ash, through dead leaves

in search of a new home 

a bobcat walks

But then, there is light that casts no shadow, and shines straight in us, through us. I wish all of us, poets, and poetry lovers, to revel in such unique, clear, uplifting light on the holy days and through the next year. Let it be the Year of Light, the Year of peace and beauty.  I wish you all happiness and blessings. I wish...

a new world -

petals open and fade

my rose blossoms

Words have a lot of power and we know that what we say makes an imprint on reality, not only on the internal life, but also the reality around. How many people remember a harsh word, a label, a slur, from their childhood? How many words did we utter we'd rather not, in hindsight?  How many people curse others only have that curse reflected by the mirror of the Universe and came down upon them in unexpected and unexplained calamity? Or, the opposite, how many times do we say something sweet and nice, and a couple of hours later hear these lovely worlds reflected back to us, from someone different?

With Susan Rogers, the giver of Light, November 11, 2017

The Spiritual Quartet in an Easter Garden (Susan Rogers, Lois P. Jones, Ambika Talwar)

Someone sent me the following "decree" of St. Germain - from a fascinating collection of life-changing, and inspirational texts that are more orders, telling the world what it should be like, than prayers, begging for help... I like them a lot, and this one, in particular is a good choice to start, given the Polish background - in Poland, complaining is a national sport! 

“BELOVED MIGHTY I AM PRESENCE”! You stand guard over my tongue, and never let me speak words of criticism, condemnation, judgment, or blame of any person, place, condition, or thing! Reach down Your Hand and withdraw all substance of criticism, condemnation, judgment, blame, or other human qualities with which I have charged into my being and world! Consume it all in The Cosmic Violet Consuming Flame and Saint Germain’s Spiral Blue Flame; then Stand Guard and see that I do not requalify any more of Your Pure Energy flowing through my being and world. "ALMIGHTY I AM”! (3)

Let us, then, use our words wisely, to the benefit of our own en-Light-enment and for the illumination of the world around us. Let us be the candles in the windows, the stars that shine bright up high. Let us radiate pure joy, peace, and tranquility. Let us fill our  hearts with the love that forgives all and understands all, and does not need to say anything, for it is, just is, always is and will be, as it never dies and never changes. And So Be It and So It Is...

Here are my Christmas and New Year Wishes for 2018:

Scarlet - for loving heart

Emerald - for peaceful mind

Diamond - for clear insight

Here are the rose jewels for

Happy Holidays and New Year! 

I spent some time with my poetry books this year, updating two books, and working on things that are still unfinished. For those who would like to see what  I have written, here are the links and covers:

http://moonrisepress.com/into-light-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://moonrisepress.com/the-rainy-bread-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2014/07/finishing-line-press-to-publish-slicing.html

http://moonrisepress.com/meditations-on-divine-names-anthology-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://moonrisepress.com/chopin-with-cherries-anthology-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://moonrisepress.com/miriams-iris-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

The Declaration of Independence for this Summer

poets laureate smile

in stars and stripes - 

day of independence

It was so much fun to ride in the Independence Day Parade. Let's not call it the Fourth of July - it means nothing, just a calendar day, but "independence" - there is a lot of meaning in this little word.

village poets declare

independence day

for poetry in sunlight 

Here's the full text of the U.S. Declaration of Independence passed by the thirteen states on July 4, 1776 from http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• 
  
• He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
• 
  
• He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
• 
  
• He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
• 
  
• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
• 
  
• He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
• 
  
• He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
• 
  
• He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
• 
  
• He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
• 
  
• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
• 
  
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
• 
  
• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
• 
  
• He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

• For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
• 
  
• For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
• 
  
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
• 
  
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
• 
  
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
• 
  
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
• 
  
• For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
• 
  
• For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
• 
  
• For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

• He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
• 
  
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
• 
  
• He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
• 
  
• He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
• 
  
• He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

white stars in indigo night

white stars at sunset 

crowned with independence at noon 

stars and stripes

everywhere

all in red, white, and blue

For me this day is especially meaningful, as my Mom died when I was riding in the parade in 2013.

the poets car

moves through

bright streets of Sunland

She loved to have fun, dress up, and celebrate. So she would have loved the fact that I was celebrating independence, as she was being liberated of her past, leaving the burdens behind.  When I have fun in the Parade every year, it is also on her behalf. Here we are, picking leaves in the Kampinos forest near Warsaw, in mid 1960s:

Sunday afternoon 

dressing up 

to pick leaves in the park

This photo reminds me of my love of trees, my beloved cousins on this planet. With a friend I was planning to create the Planetary Church of Plants, with one stated goal of protecting and planting trees.

Before it comes into being, here's my Declaration of Inter-dependence...

My Declaration 

I am a sovereign citizen​ of the galaxy

My heart goes out​ to the mountains​.​

My feet grow roots​ in the light​.​

My eyes touch​ heavenly stars​.​

I breathe gold air​ of goodness​.​

I drink lucid​ water of joy​.​

​Nourished by divine affection, 

I thrive, ​l​inked ​to all living beings​ -​

​snow crystals, seeds, ​trees, and sunlight​.​

​In ​harmony,​ we sing the chorale​ of dawn​.​

I choose to love all,​ live in love​.​

I am a sovereign citizen​ of the galaxy​.​

Adam wants my hat 

celebrating

stars and stripes forever

Ambika Talwar's "My Greece" - A Review by Lois P. Jones

My Greece Book - Link to Amazon.com

What do you want from a book? What do you want for the time you invest as a reader? I wish I could give Ambika Talwar's book 100 stars. A star to detail each of the many points of archeological light revealed through the thoughtful and erudite insights from My Greece: Mirrors & Metamorphoses. Every story is a journey but few journeys take the reader through so many passages. Within the passages are microcosms of life at its most intense, culture centric, and epoch-building experiences that move the protagonist through not only Greece’s most spellbinding architecture and landscapes but the innerworld of its inhabitants where cultural rights of passage – funerals, weddings and christenings take on mythological resonance and exposure to the elements (both ecological and human) present ecstatic inspirations and occasional alarming challenges.

This memoir is for everyone because its reflections resonate with existence. You poets, you travelers, you artists, film makers, bakers, merchants, fisherman, politicians, philosophers you. So much here that you will find yourself again and again. Do not let its 270 pages daunt you. Instead, spend delicious moments contemplating Talwar’s inner reflections which will spark your own epiphanies. Here are a few to whet your appetite: “deep inside our psyche, we know archetypes make us cousins.”

Ambika Talwar

“It’s amusing that some Greeks want everyone to have come from them, as though to be the originator of all cultures is an elevation by design. Why do many want to be the first? Others from ancient cultures also expound that the land of their origins is the oldest, the most…! Why not be among those that improve on the existing paradigms, as we so sorely need to do in these contemporary times so that we evolve our human civilizations past the horror that has been done?”

“Someone comes up and asks me where I have come from. They are Greek traveling from Greece and waiting for the wedding party. I say “both India and Los Angeles.” Living as a hybrid, I say I am from both places; both places elicit a warm response from most people—again I hear we are related from a long time ago. The US is not a place culturally appealing to many; they wonder aloud how I can live there coming from an ancient land. I don’t tell them how many Greeks I meet in Los Angeles. About my Greek dentist, about the wild man who jumps into his pool from a rooftop, about the aging dance teacher, about the woman who wooed a man with a red rose in her mouth, about my experience of the Greek Easter and the epitaphios at the local Greek Orthodox church.”

Brava to the sooth sayer, poet and traveler. Follow her journey and you will discover you own.

~ Lois P. Jones
Reprinted by Permission

Maja Trochimczyk and Ambika Talwar at Ambika's art exhibit.

My Greece Book - Link to Amazon.com

From the Introduction by Ambika Talwar:

My visit to Greece was wild, enriching, exhausting, and almost elegant. I traveled with companions and sometimes on my own; I visited many places old and new; I met people of many persuasions; I relished the foods; I felt exalted among ruins and antiquity. At times, I also felt alone and exhausted, and I was not able to write as per my plans. But I loved swimming in the different seas. I would love to return some day to this glorious country, to be again reminded of things both familiar and foreign. 

~ I returned home excited about documenting my adventures to extract from them deeper meaning. This process became another journey as I chose to stay with my direct and remembered experience without research. 

~ My visit was in 2002, and it is only now that I have been able to complete the process. Diverse challenges over the years, professional and personal, demanded my attention; I could have discarded the project completely. But my tenacity and my love for Greece would not allow me to fail myself. In 2013, I started to edit and rewrite the travelogue. I had started to forget incidents. Somehow, this forgetting, this emotional distance worked out better as I gained a clearer perspective and expression of wonder.

~ I urge you, my reader, to note that if any character bears resemblance to you or someone you know, please remember you are part of the collective and are uniquely singular at the same time. Although you were not in the lived experience of these travels, I wish that you feel moved in your own way to find yourself among these pages and journey along with me and with my co-travelers.

~ During my time in Greece, Athens was being readied for the 2004 Summer Olympics. Roads were broken for months for the restructuring. Too many one-way streets left people frustrated unable to get to their destination on time. Poverty had spread following the change to the Euro. Greece’s downfall had begun and was speeding up. Indeed in the last 9-10 years, Greece has taken a dastardly beating. 

~ Perhaps, the repressive economic models, which have led to extreme competition and burdensome scarcity, have stirred in many the awakening of female spirituality. We rediscover that woman-centered systems (buried for eons) were based on our closeness with Nature and the elements, on reverence for the mysteries of cyclic orders, on communal sharing. These ways are in great need for the healing to happen today in our constrained times of endemic violence.

~ Surely, we must seed again our human capacity for love and caring, for kindness and intelligence to keep the world whole again. May we call in Areté, Eirene, Eros, Agape, and Sophia for that balancing virtue to make us whole again!

May we propitiate the Mahavidyas, fierce Mothers of all times who illumine dissolution of demonic forces, both personal and communal, and remind us to honor and embody the harmonics of nature so we may cohere and celebrate our unities. May we indeed awaken to our capacity for love, wherein is illumined the cosmic play of wonder.

~ Ambika Talwar

Maja Trochimczyk and Ambika Talwar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - AMBIKA TALWAR

AMBIKA TALWAR is an India-born author, wellness consultant, artist, and educator whose vision is to realize her sacred destiny and invite others to find their brilliance. Insights gleaned through life challenges have prompted her to make her poetry a call to action. Composed in the ecstatic tradition, her poetry is a “bridge to other worlds.” She has authored Creative Resonance: Poetry—Elegant Play, Elegant Change and also 4 Stars & 25 Roses (poems for her father). She is published in various journals. She won Best Original Story award for her film “Androgyne” in Belgium. She asserts it is time for creative visionaries to offer narratives that change our worldview, and the big film studios must play a part in this transformation. An English professor, she lives in Los Angeles, Ca and New Delhi, India. For book readings, poetry presentations, healing workshops, and individual or group healing consultations, please contact her at: luminousfields@gmail.com 

Web site: http://creativeinfinities.com

The Spiritual Quartet in the Enchanted Forest at Descanso Gardens - 

Maja Trochimczyk, Ambika Talwar, Lois P. Jones and Susan Rogers

LINKS TO AMAZON SITES WITH TALWAR'S "MY GREECE"

Amazon US

https://www.amazon.com/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon Germany

https://www.amazon.de/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon India

http://www.amazon.in/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon Australia  

https://www.amazon.com.au/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Kimberly+Burnham&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Kimberly+Burnham&sort=relevancerank

Amazon France 

https://www.amazon.fr/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon Germany 

https://www.amazon.de/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon India 

http://www.amazon.in/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon Italy

https://www.amazon.it/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon Japan 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon Mexico

https://www.amazon.com.mx/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Ambika+Talwar&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Ambika+Talwar&sort=relevancerank

Amazon Netherlands

https://www.amazon.nl/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Ambika+Talwar&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Ambika+Talwar&sort=relevancerank

Amazon Spain

https://www.amazon.es/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Amazon UK 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ambika-Talwar/e/B015IFMV1W

Black History Month at Phoenix House with Beverly M. Collins

Beverly M. Collins, Maja Trochimczyk and Akilah Templeton at 

Phoenix House Venice with Beverly's book Mud in Magic

On February 24, 2016, residents of Phoenix House Venice celebrated the Black History Month with poetry. The evening, hosted by Program Director Akilah Templeton, featured poetry readings by residents, dealing with issues of recovery, solidarity, personal relationships, and life advice. At the end two guest poets read their work: I was joined by Beverly M. Collins , an accomplished African-American poet of wit and wisdom, who presented selections from her recently published book Mud in Magic (Moonrise Press, 2015).  Ms. Collins donated a copy of her book to the Phoenix House growing poetry library. 

Ms. Templeton encouraged clients to write poetry during the entire month of February, or to read poetry books in search of a poem that moves them or expresses some of their personal feelings. Some residents decided to read verse by famous author like Langston Hughes or Maya Angelou. Others wrote their own verse, using a free verse format or various rhyme scheme.  

Beverly Collins read two poems selected from her book, Mud in Magic, "Next" and "Up for Air"  - both with topical advice suitable for individuals in recovery, struggling with the dead weight of their past. 

Beverly M. Collins

 It is important, said Ms. Collins, to always look forward, to give ourselves a break and not be too hard on ourselves for past mistakes. There is always hope, always time to fix things, to start anew, to say...

Next

From the tip-top of January
to the bottom of every December,
life is a continuum.
May we remember to remember.

There are no platforms on which we
halt. No arrivals at which we are landing. 
There is only continuous movement.
Blend motion into all planning.

Next is a good four letter word that dances
on the tongue and illuminates the playgrounds
of our minds. Next can call loudly or soft
and subtle when it chimes.

Within the cold of winter remember next are
the fragrant flowers of spring. Next reminds us 
there is no be-all or end-all to anything.

When riding a high tide or if a low tide 
has you feeling sadness or perplexed, 
know true muscle can be found
in how well we just say... Next!

(C) 2015 by Beverly M. Collins

Up for Air

Cuddled at midnight, with my pillow of dread,

I and apprehension lay like spoons in my bed.

My suffocating “To Do” list, too long for one person.

Its tedious tasks make my aching head worsen.

My stubborn impatience has landed me here.

I want it all now. I want it last year.

I hold anger so big over things that are small,

like my neighbor’s loud laughter while

bouncing a ball.

I can choose to narrow my focus singly on a plan,

long enough to get myself fully in hand.

Wrapped warm in my blankets, my emotions are bare

as I promise myself, to pull me up for air.

 (c) 2015 by Beverly M. Collins

After Beverly, I read a new poem written especially for this occasion and starting from a line that connected the word "Slav" (for my ethnic identity) to its Latin root "Sclave" ("slave" - the Romans used to invade the lands of Slavs to kidnap them and make them into slaves) and the English word derived from "sclave" - "Slave."

No More

Slav, Sclave, Slave  

We are all one – under  

That thumb of powers that be  

Of powers that do not want us to be,   

To become free, creative, enlightened

Slav, Sclave, Slave  

We are all one, united  

In the will to connect, all one  

In compassion, in awareness  

Of the ground under our feet,  

The warm soil with trees growing roots,   

With sparkling clean water  

Flowing to fill us.

Made of water and stardust,   

We are all one under the sun
Rays reaching down to touch  

Our skin, nourish our muscles.

No, we are not slaves  

We claim our freedom  

To be wise – To be kind  

To carry each other’s burdens  

To stand tall, walk forward,  

Together –

(C) 2016 by Maja Trochimczyk

At the end, I read the group participation poem that I wrote especially for Venice several months ago, with a new ending, trying out if it works better than the old one... After the introduction and explanation, the audience repeats every phrase read by the poet.

Repeat After Me

                     After Prayer for Fukushima Waters  by  Dr. Masaru Emoto.

                    Water, we are sorry / Water, please forgive us

                    Water, we thank you / Water, we love you

Yes, you can find it. /your way out./
It is so simple. /First you say:/

I AM SORRY / – WE ARE SO SORRY./
We are the guilty ones,/ we are all at fault!
What happens next? /The door opens./
We stop at the threshold and say:/

PLEASE FORGIVE ME, / I FORGIVE YOU./
Forgiveness erases all your guilt,/
all my fears, all our sorrows /– the burden
of dead thoughts is lifted./ See?/
We float up into brightness./ We are 
sparks of starlight, /a constellation
dancing in the sky/ as we say:/

THANK YOU,/ THANK YOU VERY MUCH./
Filled with gratitude /

for every cloud, leaf and petal, /

every breath we take,/ every heartbeat, /

/we are ready, at last,/

to say what’s the most important:/

I LOVE YOU, MY LOVE, /
I give you all the love /
of my tired, aching heart /

I LOVE YOU, MY LOVE, /
I give you all the love /
of my tranquil, grateful heart!

                                                                          © 2015 by Maja Trochimczyk