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TO MY HOMETOWN...WITH LOVE by Marilyn V. Ashbaugh

In honor of my hometown’s 150th birthday, I wrote this poem...

In reflection, I deeply connected with my spiritual and physical roots, resulting in the weaving of my soul story with the love of my hometown. 
Photography by the author Marilyn V. Ashbaugh

To My Hometown…With Love
(In Honor of Her Sesquicentennial)
 by Marilyn V. Ashbaugh


Walking a trestle of sweat and blood
Through the rust belt of dismal dark delays…
Mercurial waters wash tender memories

Her lonely-hunter heart fills with ancestral pathos.
To build a bridge with books, longings and desires,
She breaks the stone encasing her soul one tear at a time.

Crushed by circumstance
Frail and fragile
She bows

Vulnerable,
She prays aloud
Her future into being

Swimming treacherous waters…
A seiche of desire for
Change catapults her strokes.

Tears turn to understanding
Depths fill with wisdom
Burdens birth strength

She is I
Surrounded with compassion
Walking the rainbow home
Photography by the author Marilyn V. Ashbaugh



 Marilyn V. Ashbaugh is a poet, organic master gardener, and nature photographer.  Her poems have appeared in regional and national anthologies. Her spiritual thirst in quenched by the poems of Rabi’a al Basn, St. John of the Cross and William Blake. She makes her home in a small village near the shores of Lake Michigan, US. Connect with Marilyn via email:  ashbaugh108@gmail.com.





~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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  1. Musings From a Patchwork Quilt LifeJanuary 2, 2016 at 10:19 AM

    Such a lovely thought with which to create this stunning poem. It is exquisite to me.

    ReplyDelete

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