Over the Ashes

Forward!

Is there any other choice? 

Forward! Every day in every way

with or without our permission.

In a patch of Dark Sky

a small starry kite named the Milky Way

flies through forever at 666,000 m.p.h.

Forward! Is there any other way?

“All storms pass,” they say, 

or maybe I said that

while lashed to the mast like Odysseus,

my willpower spent replaced by tethers,

Restless prayers and hope

wishing for ‘something else’

or ‘Someone Else’ to magically

make it all disappear;

Tied to the mast in raging

storms of loss and distress,

bound by ropes I search my horizon

for willful acceptance and graceful defiance.

Don't allow fear to determine

the path or outcome!

Remember - courage is a small act

that begins with the next step

And nothing more;

one foot in front of the other,

it’s that easy and that hard,

standing strong while waiting

For the seed to germinate,

the garden to grow,

ourselves to flourish

while all around us lightning strikes

As Pompeii crumbles and the oceans frenzy; 

volcanic lives of longing, 

dreams and habits buried beneath

while we await the sun to rise again

Over the ashes ---

as it always does.