True Colors by Patti Keiper 2-14-15 =====================
I am a tiny spot of beauty in a big, big world.
I am invisible until I am noticed for the first time.
Seek solace in my peaceful presence, my soft way of being when you find me, for that is why I am.
I know a secret that you do not, so listen to me.
Beauty is how you act, so never be ugly, loud, or hateful.
These are your true colors to others, like I am to you right now.
Behold, I am a just bird. But I am pure in my soul beyond measure.
I will always be enough to make you cry in celebration of your life, love, and wonder.
Snowfall's Lesson by Patti Keiper 12-10-11 ===========================
Stop. Right where you are.
Just take a deep breath, and listen.
Can you hear the falling snow?
It speaks.
Did you know that?
But not with any voice we know.
Fragile, shining, they come. One by one.
Until the sun kisses them back into the clouds.
Why do we focus only on the snow lying heavy on the ground?
It seems only when it's up nearer to the sky,
as it hangs white in the trees or piled on mountain tops, does its beauty finally reach us with its lesson of quiet, calm peace.
Undeterred, they fall on, whether we care to see them or not.
Remember from the first, there's always a message.
Just for us to see, flake by flake. But only if we slow down enough to breathe them in.
So stop. Right where you are. And take that deep breath...
Each one offers the gift of a smile as they touch you.
Can you hear the falling snow now?
Good.
Blanket by Patti Keiper 10-13-14 _
Always changing..
The slow roll of seasons measure the careful steps of our lives.
Once arrived, we are lost in their magic spell for the short turning,
Reveling in what is, Smiling, Enjoying each day as if it will never end.
Then the change comes; One we know, and yet resist to a degree we choose.
Warm and cold.
Sun and rain.
New and old.
Time moves us all on the quilt of seasons, covering like a tender mother.
My Butterfly 9-28-14 -
Every phase of my life, she was there.
"Come along! Follow the sun!
Orange and black stripes bright!
Dots aflutter, flashing!
I am a wind swept spirit, the wind's dancer!"
Flying in the last warmth, she came again today as I sat healing.
Like I, bowed, but not broken.
My butterfly, lately.
Haiku by Patti Keiper 4-22-80 -
Seagull..
Wildly flying.
Tickling a cloud's rib softly.
On wings.
Be Self Made by Patti Keiper 9-20-83 (Published, 2001. Voices of Nature-The International Library of Poetry, page 90. ISBN 1-58235-564-9)
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Then unto the day...
Go at its pace with your eyes Truly see where to be by each moment's taste.
Know the grayness as it must fall and dance free of the trickling miasma of cadence abounding.
As the summer cloud came and went, most will not see you rising at all,
So go simply and...
Then unto the night..
Drink at its sweetness with your heart Truly feel where you are with each placing silence Know the opaque as it must sound and judge close of the flowing ribbon of destitute dreaming.
As the non light ebbed and grew, most will hear you for all they are.
So come completely and...
Then unto your life to be,
For your time will be both day and night,
playing before you before until it is done.
Learn the year.