THE HORIZON-LESS SKY by Tammy T. Stone

Some time ago, a phrase came to me, and instantly felt like a key: There’s No War in World.

I loved the linguistic game (reminding me of the There’s No “I” in Team! we used to shout as kids) and the urgent sense that peace needs to be expressed in as many ways and voices as possible – how else can we cushion our hearts, as they land, over and over, as they move along their quest toward harmony?

There’s No War in World became a project that had me writing almost daily about the wonders and “little goodnesses” that surround us. Through these words, I was trying to root myself, nomad as I’ve been, to the ground I was standing on, and to find those connections that transcend place. The Horizon-less Sky is one of the pieces I wrote, on Ko Pha Ngan Island, Thailand, where I was doing a month-long yoga retreat.

The Horizon-less Sky

by Tammy T. Stone

Yesterday the horizon disappeared

There was water and sky and no line between.

A boat hovered in the distance

Under a bright, invisible sun.

Both sky and sea echoed phosphorescent blue,

reminding me of four old prints of Old Quebec

hanging in the home of my adolescence,

which still harbors the anchors of my youth,

and I haven’t yet returned –

how do I explain that one horizon-less day

makes years of travel fit my folds of time?

Not that I was looking for a fit, or magic, even.

I just started by coming away,

and I fell in love, and I continued,

I wanted to continue, yes, I wanted, without knowing it,

to be where I could find a horizon-less sky

in a country grown so dear,

so far from my origins,

on an island I came to on an old ferry

decked out in pink and purple Formica tables

that made me feel I was on the Love Boat,

and this reminded me of our old static TV and

the show’s theme song,

which swept me away, again, to someplace else.

And when the horizon-less sky disappears

it’s only a matter of time before clouds will gather

and the rains come, because it’s the season;

I love how rain brings the world together.

I sit at a wooden table framed by bamboo trees,

our new cat for the month purring against my back,

and suddenly I could be back home

sipping tea, imagining lives yet unlived.

In the meantime, there will be tomorrow,

and a horizon that will have returned.

Tammy T. Stone is a Canadian writer, photographer and chronicler of life as it passes through us. Always a wanderer, she's endlessly mesmerized by people, places and everything in between; the world is somehow so vast and so small. She feels so lucky to have been able to work, learn, live and travel far and wide, writing, photographing and wellness-practicing along the way. She invites you to see some of her recent photography here and to connect with her on her writer's page, twitter and her blog, There’s No War in World, here.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~