Poem: Autumn in Madeira

Autumn in Madeira by Jacek Yerka

when autumn wind blows

and brings with it that familiar scent

I pack my bags and move to my tree house

in the shelter of tree trunks I create

a village where my soul becomes alive again

I put my thoughts on the leaves

and watch them disappear

for everything that is, perishes

I know the world to be written in tragedies

but beauty of life shines through them

in all the seconds we get

we can guess which one will be our last

which one will bring change

and in which one we will get lost

but in one second your life can pass you by

and it's up to you what you made out of it

divide your days into the things

your heart believes in

and observe it grow

*

Written for Mag #239

Poem: For me alone

                through the years

it's been a waiting game

which at times I believe I've mastered

yet it creeps up on me, unexpectedly

and every time it turns out I lose

      repeat, repeat

just to relive the same tragedies you feel

yet hope always burns stronger after the war

how can it rise up like that?

such a foolish mind it has

                 so much depending on it

when jobs are scarce and the future

you had planned has left only ashes

you hear voices of a foreign land of milk and honey

but you've learnt that grass is not always greener

                on the other side

under the covers I've been hiding for so long

the pillow became my best friend, an excellent

secret-keeper, yet I've been waiting for someone

who would want to hold my hand

                for a step or two

to be curious and courageous

since it's never easy, no way of knowing

so I pretend he feels the same way

some people have a way of dragging you out

                in the end, retreat, retreat

into my shell, which hasn't become

any more comfortable with time,

it still aches in the same old places,

sleep wash me away, for only in dreams

                we can live free

*

I really hate it when days like this come.. I'd rather sleep through.

Poem: Treading in flood

Written for the Mag 238

I've been hiding in a tree

on a branch which understands sadness

I like the rain the most when it

gently kisses the skin

so the roots can grow peacefully

it takes time and wrong decisions to find home

a place where your heart will glow

lately, the rain came pouring down

and all I want to do is run, run away

scream at the top of my lungs

as if another storm is coming

this time, coming from within

treading in flood I turn around and think

is this the life I'm supposed to be living?

*

 All the different things we see...feel.

Poem: Silence after the song

thousand memories
launched on the ocean of your heart

you sense them sail,
etching on the surface, causing ripples

with no prediction
in which direction they will lead

all you know
there might be pain and sorrow uncovered

for the night
can bring light to your past

but in the end
there will be acceptance of all things

and undeniable comfort
of the way you feel your own skin

Poem: Love of thousands

Photo is from a calendar, I don't know the author.

the heart can stumble, fall, float or drown in silence

the mind flying behind it, tries to reason with it

offering compromises in last rational attempts

and then the echo of a storm is seen in the eyes

but dive far enough, there will be peace,

there will be love

you carry love of thousands inside you

all your ancestors fought against the odds

took chances, met coincidences, played with fate

engaged in the game of love, ignited fires

into new hearts, exchanged stardust on the fingertips

                with those they touched

they are long hidden in the corners of your cells

somehow they still live on inside your name

as you stand here now, lost in a small memory

of the journey behind how your heart started beating

what does it take for two souls to meet?

*

It's not that this poem needs any additional explanation, but I just wanted to write down a few thoughts. For now I still work in gynecologist office, and pregnant women sometimes bring photos of their babies when they come for the post-partum visit. And we have walls covered with pictures of babies. And one morning I was watching these faces, all cute, new, innocent...and I thought of the long journey it took for them to be here now. The life stories of their parents, the love, the hope... And how sometimes I feel like an intruder, as we watch on ultrasound how their bodies develop; listening to the heartbeats of the unborn babies. Imagining what great odds and coincidences it took, for them to be here now, to get a chance of living. And all of this made me think...