The World is a Prayer
A breath
A laugh
A sigh
A day
A kiss
A wish
A story
A flower
A lover
A grain of sand
A drop of water
And I wonder
Is a dance a prayer
Do I bow my head
Or look up to the sky
Seeking the song of my heart
The desire of my soul
A fevered dream
Chasing meaning
And connection.
When I lie beneath the protective canopy of the trees
I breathe
I am a supplicant seeking answers
And redemption.
Can anyone hear me when I cry out
In despair
And plead to be rescued
So I can ultimately find grace?
Does the sky hold the answers
Or are they buried in the unplumbed depths of the sea
Their undulating rhythms hypnotizing
Anyone on a quest for peace.
And when I listen to their lullabies
Will they reveal the secrets
Of the storms and the stars
And teach me
How to do it right
Illuminating the path to see the miracles
Without a microscope
When they are revealed
And I open my eyes.
.
Barefoot Reflections
There is a hunger that flashes
In her world-weary eyes
That you might miss
Like if you arrive at the platform
Just as your train whizzes by
Searching for a connection
And a smile
And for someone to remember
The girl inside
The shadows of the night.
The click of her red stilettoes
Meant to intimidate and impress
Is now a hollow reminder
That there is no one left to hear the echoes
After she disappeared behind the labels
And masks it had taken
To keep up the steely facade
She meticulously wrapped herself in
Thinking she was protecting herself
But instead ended up being ravenously consumed.
She suddenly yanks the shoes off her feet
As if they are fire
And flings them into the thorny bushes behind her.
Once upon a time
She blew out candles
And whirled around a yard filled with friends
Wearing matching blue and pink organza dresses
Barefoot
And they did synchronized spins across the lawn
Twirling like dolphins on the surface of the water
Until they fell down
Laughing so hard
They couldn’t get up.
The weight of memory
Drops her to her knees
Where she sinks onto the grass
And she wonders which part was real
And if she searched hard enough
Could she ever find that girl again.
© Nancy Machlis Rechtman
Nancy Machlis Rechtman has had poetry and short stories published in Your Daily Poem, Writing In A Woman’s Voice, Impspired, Discretionary Love, Fresh Words, The Writing Disorder, Young Ravens, and more. Nancy has had poetry, essays, and plays published in various anthologies. She wrote freelance Lifestyle stories for a local newspaper, and she was the copy editor for another paper.
She writes a blog called Inanities at https://nancywriteon.wordpress.com.
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