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WINDOWS by Ruth Calder Murphy

Eyes are the windows to the soul, they say…

Literally, of course, not true – or true to a greater extent with some people than with others. Some people are very adept at concealing their souls!

As a metaphor, though, and to the extent that it is true, I like it. I like the idea that, each time we exchange glances with another person, we’re connecting, in a very small way, on a deeper level. Every single person is a whole world, unique to themselves and sometimes, through exchanged glances, through their words, their art, their music, their behaviour, we glimpse and connect with that world.

It’s an honour and a privilege to connect with others. It’s also something that should be respected and valued.

This poem is a celebration of each person’s uniqueness and individuality, and, more specifically, of the wonderful and surprising ways we connect.

Windows

Glimpses of things -
out-of-context profiles and shadows on walls,
and the way the light slants through curtains
and falls, reaching out and through -
flicker-flick quick snippets
of shape and hue -
or lingering, quiet, awhile
like a slow, patient smile,
to see context in composition -
to watch what unfurls on the other side,
the deep and wide of another world…

Glimpses of sunshine and shadows,
portals and possibilities,
spaces in time and sudden anomalies
that snatch my breath away,
inflicting momentary death
and preceding revelations
and resurrection to another day…

An infinity of eyes in countless faces
- a thousand connections,
a thousand places -
Glimpses of fragments of fleeting wholes
in bodily windows to infinite souls.

Ruth Calder Murphy is a writer, artist, music teacher, wife and mother living in London, UK. Her life is wonderfully full of creativity and low-level chaos. She is the author of two published novels, “The Scream" and "The Everlasting Monday", several books of poetry and one or two as-yet unpublished novels. She is passionate about celebrating the uniqueness of people, questioning the unquestionable and discovering new perspectives on old wonders. She is learning to ride the waves that come along—peaks and troughs—and is waking up to just how wonderful life really is. You can visit Ruth and view more of her art on her website, or on her writer's page on Facebook. Her books are available on Amazon, 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!~

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