REMIND ME by Carolyn Riker

It is in the crisp shortened days of summer’s waning end and the lure of autumn that has me reevaluating...

Sometimes, I get caught in a tailspin of worry and doubt. Sometimes I get confused and lost on my inner path. It can be lonely when shadows suffocate. I seek comfort to shelter and fan the embers of my dreams while I sort through it all.

Although, many say, “We are never alone”, in dark spaces it feels intensely lonely.

Therefore when my beacon is dim, I have to rebuild my inner fortress with reminders. Feather by feather and ray of light by the flicker of candle, I climb a monstrous cave wall. The arches in my tunnel seek a connection through the windows of my eyes and I have to feel the purity of something leading; it’s a universal expansiveness I can hardly begin to describe.

This poem was birthed in my rise and frequent pausing. I had to grow into the words. I cradled my fears and found comfort. For it has been my experience, poetry and prose seldom abandon me.

Remind me

by Carolyn Riker

Remind me when the sun rests it will still rise

and the moon sometimes needs to hide

and it’s okay --  not to be okay
I’ll dwell in the arms of an ancient tree.

Remind me when lavender gets wild with age
it’s fine to let her flow freely
much like rose petals fall
to adorn the thorny ankles of her cane.

Remind me when sadness thwarts my perception
a clearing will follow the tempest
and imagination will once again spin
from fibers delicate as the bud of a dancing lupine.

Remind me how sipping warmth is a liquid embrace
and daydreaming is not a useless affair
it is the wings of a butterfly as it caresses flora
and graces life and honors the death of despair.

Remind me to be still in the sound of silence
and to unfold inside a spiraled shell of respite
where the sound of love extends
and softens the core of my rocky shore.

Remind me I am loved especially when I feel not so
to cherish the strong silvery locks of wisdom
and to favor my extra creases of said certainty
learning how age releases.

Remind me I need to wander freely
on grassy knolls and drift like an untamed river
especially when my spirit hurts, encourage me
to walk until the path of my creativity returns.

Remind me how slumber sounds like waves

and tears are the eyelashes of the sea and
how love reaches beyond the shores and
how the deepest beauty is felt and not
always what it seems.

Carolyn Riker is an elementary teacher, mental health counselor, writer and a poet who finds comfort and balance in her kids, nature, music and her sweet cat Copper.  She can be seen sipping soy lattes, nibbling on dark chocolate or savoring a full-bodied red wine. Introspective, forthright, kind and compassionate, she intertwines life with yoga, meditating and learning about Vedic Astrology and Ayurveda.  She also writes for Elephant Journal and Rebelle Society. Carolyn can be reached via her e-mail address carolynra7@hotmail.com or on facebook 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!~