Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn's Gate

Matt. 6:22 "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."

Autumn's Gate

The pumpkins sit

nestled in the cold

surrounded by dry

leaves gone old.

The empty feeder

lonely and bare

swings to and fro

in autumns air.

The wind lifts death

skyward bound

places it gently on 

the frost-kissed ground.

The season seen

as ill-spent time

the leaf now burrowed

in mud and grime.

The secret's hidden

in the sleeping season

with eyes on the sparrow

gives Spirit new reason.

Matt. 25-26 "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn Trees

Pss. 96:12 “Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.”

Autumn Trees

Flaming fire of autumn trees

Lights the sky with ample ease

Flowing like a river stream 

Catches on the sunrise beam

The open orange of autumn trees

Catches light on mornings breeze

Drifting down with somber sound

Leaves now whimper on the ground

Amber glow of autumn trees

Whispers sounds of rolling seas

Brilliant hint of heavens door

Hues abound of winters lure

Radiant red on autumn trees

Winter waits with summer tease

Vibrant color mornings gold

Frost unveils the seasons cold

*a worthy repost

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn Glory

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. 

~Albert Camus

* * *

Autumn Glory

The wonder of life in all the color

with pale blue skies and clouds.

The life of Autumn comes alive

with leaves the lonely shrouds.

Upon the darkened horizon

the landscape and brilliant hue,

the wonder of the empty land

cause trees to take their cue.

They dance and sing in the night

their days are full of flutter;

life it spins a colorful web

with grounds all full of clutter.

I crunch the leaves underfoot

walk in eloquent bliss

The rain it lends aroma

to the earth it gives a kiss. 

The quiet season breathes in me

a sight that steals my soul

I long to share His glory, 

with those who make me whole!

All praise and Glory to Him!

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn's Score

Rev. 22:2 “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Autumn’s Score

One by one they fell 

Lifeless where once alive

No more life in hell

From the tree, they dive.

Spiraling without sound

Swept away by wind

Falling to the ground

The veins therefore rescind

Leave the tree so bare

Vitality now within

Gone without a care

The barren knows no sin.

Stoic bark and beauty

Asleep the life no more

Thumbprint lasting duty

Spring is autumn’s score.

Sometimes... A Rest

Job 11:18 “And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.”

Sometimes… I just need a rest...

I don’t know if you noticed, but I posted for five days in a row after a week of no writing. Sometimes I just need a break and sometimes I just can’t stop writing. 

It’s not what you do in this physical body that God rejoices over, it is what you do in the spirit. My spirit is waning thin so I think I need a rejuvenating withdrawal from a society that sees me as well. I tried mowing the other day a little and my hubby who could see in my face I couldn’t do it anymore, stopped me short of the finish line. I hadn’t even done a lot I just wanted to try and do one of my favorite things in the summer for exercise and that’s mow.

Sometimes it’s just not meant to be. Sometimes He just wants us to rest and I’m not one that takes sitting down lightly. I would’ve kept going, working until my knees buckled but again cool temperatures or not, mowing wasn’t in the cards. Not much IS in the cards these days except writing, that keeps me busy.

I think I’m just going to take a break from it all. I’ve said that before only to come back the next day posting and commenting but quite honestly, I’m getting bogged down. I need to stop worrying what everyone else is or isn’t doing and I need to focus on ME! Me and what I’m doing to get myself well.

I’m in a BC support group on facebook but it doesn’t really feel like a support group, it’s more information to use and rules, what you can and cannot say, what you’re allowed and not allowed to post and it is all constricting like a Boa wrapped tightly around my neck. It also highlights all that I’m doing right but moreso things I may be getting wrong. After using all the money for supplements now is not the time to tell me that maybe this or that one is just not right but I’m glad to learn as I go.

I have enough supplements to get me to January, my one year mark since my diagnosis, then I’ll be out here on my own scraping the bottom of the barrel for the most important vitamins to keep in my arsenal. I can’t stress about that now, it is too far in the distance. With everything going on in the world from fires raging, taunting regimes, earthquakes rattling, hurricanes destroying, floods, tornadoes, there isn’t much ground left for society as a whole to hide.

Me, I don’t want to hide from it all, I just want to see and appreciate all the beauty in front of my eyes. From the silky blades of grass, to inhaling the newly mowed lawn, to playing with the hose a few more times before it gets too cold to do such an activity, to watching the falling leaves. Life is too short to worry about the physical, I’m going to inscribe in my soul the spiritual that will sustain me to the end.

I’ve noticed something with this disease, people are more sympathetic with you when you’re bald and accepting chemo, struggling in pain, vomiting, and accepting chemotherapy. Maybe getting sliced open appeals to some and it helps people sympathize easier. But when you’re going holistic, you appear well so nobody really gives a flying fig. Oh don’t get me wrong, some do, but when a friend writes on her wall, “Wouldn’t you like to just be able to slap some sense into people, this is a serious disease.” I know it was aimed at me and it’s okay, I have sense; I’m choosing to say NO TO DRUGS! That’s the best sense available to me. I’m healing and will continue to do so.

I’m glad that the drugs work for some. I’m glad people are living healthy lives and breathing with no problems from their chemo. That’s great it worked for THEM. It would never work for me. It just wouldn’t! I’m going to climb on my high horse now, then ride off into the sunset, and settle down with a good book and wait for winter to wrap me in its arms. If I think of something to write, like after the hurricane season finishes wiping out the states. God bless you all! I understand wanting to do it your way! Ride out the storm, you live you live, you die…oh well, at least you lived. That’s exactly how I feel. 

Godspeed…

Pss 55:6 “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”

Change is Coming

Isaiah 26:9 (NIV)

My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Change is Coming

Change is coming in the air like a veiled morning fog. I can see it in the spiraling leaves being swept by the wind. I can feel it in the temperatures ever changing with the season. I can smell it blowing in the air the sweet scent of change that will wash over me as a waterfall.

I felt the change coming and I wanted it to be swift but as you know, my plans are not Gods plans and here I sit today on my 201st post of the year as I barrel toward my 203rd goal of posts so I can rest. After this post, I will end with Quotation Saturday and Poetry Sunday, then be on my way to Holy day. I’ve watched as my stats flew through the roof this year and as I love my supportive friends very much, facebook was not the only source that had me soaring. 

I’ve had to bear a lot this year as people have either liked or disliked what I’ve said and it’s been an interesting year tolerating what all of you have either said or not said. Now it is my turn to reflect on me not what others do or say or how they acted and reacted. It has been a year of scars and blemishes by people knowingly or unknowingly saying things that cut me and now I must go and heal. The New Year cannot come without my healing taking place. 

I tried to stay away from Social Media when it got too bad, the news when it got too loud, and the world when it got too hard. I’ve seen friends disappear and new friends emerge. All in all the year has been good to me, pain wise and otherwise, I’ve survived.

I feel like a lone wolf who’s been caught in a bear trap, freed and released to wander in the wilderness among the animals of the forest. Sorry humans, for relinquishing you to the animal species, but I have not seen much humanistic display this year; I’ll have to dig and look back to see if any existed.

I won’t get back to you on that because the change calls for me to find a nice cove to hibernate in peeking out only to retrieve nourishment to sustain me through the winter. Nourishment to my soul can only be found one way and it isn’t anywhere connected to a screen and keyboard. 

I have some serious health issues to contend with in the coming new year but I’m not at liberty to go into anything before the holiday season. Maybe that will be my new year blog beginning seeking out people who relate to what I’m experiencing but for now, my little semi-hibernation cove will have to do. 

My Thanksgiving will be spent in thankfulness with my husband. We’re not going to have a humongous meal like in prior years just something simple where we have plenty of leftovers for the next day, not the next month. My son will have to work on turkey day from nine to five so it will be a bit different by not having him in the house as my helper. 

I know what you’re thinking, working on Thanksgiving Day? Well, he’ll be out of a job in a couple of weeks because of the store closing down so he’s trying to make all the money he can to prepare for the interim of joblessness. As of December 2, he’ll have been there five months and the young man has worked his heart out in those five months, so I can put away any selfishness I have in wanting him home as I find a new way of life in the empty nest.

I’ll also be preparing for new ventures in the coming year so during this holiday season I’ll be enjoying the breathing room necessary to carry me through the lone wolf syndrome. May you enjoy the sights, sounds, aromas, tastes and magnificent wonders of a Holy Season and always remember when you’re feeling selfish, greedy, and prideful that Jesus sacrificed His life for you so you would think of others before yourself. 

God Bless You ALL!

1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn Trees

Pss. 96:12 “Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.”

Autumn Trees

Flaming fire of autumn trees

Lights the sky with ample ease

Flowing like a river stream 

Catches on the sunrise beam

The open orange of autumn trees

Catches light on mornings breeze

Drifting down with somber sound

Leaves now whimper on the ground

Amber glow of autumn trees

Whispers sounds of rolling seas

Brilliant hint of heavens door

Hues abound of winters lure

Radiant red on autumn trees

Winter waits with summer tease

Vibrant color mornings gold

Frost unveils the seasons cold

Quotation Saturday ~ Seasons - Changes

Pss. 55:19 “God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.”

SEASONS

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
[Letter to Miss Eliot, Oct. 1, 1841]” 
― George Eliot

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” 
― Lewis Carroll

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.” 
― Yoko Ono

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

[Meditations Divine and Moral]” 
― Anne Bradstreet

“At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.” 
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters on Cézanne

 “The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.” 
― Henry Beston

“SEASONS OF LIFE

Sometimes I fall
And feel myself slowly wilt and die,
But then I suddenly spring back on my feet
To go play in the sun outside.
I am no different than the weather,
The planets or the trees;
For there do not always have to be reasons
For the seasons turning inside of me.
The magnetism that swirls
In the sky, land, and sea
Are the exact same currents found twirling
In the electric ocean within me.
I am a moving vessel of energy.
And if my emotions do not
Flow up, down,
Within and around,
Then I am not alive.” 
― Suzy Kassem

CHANGES

“Bottom line is, even if you see 'em coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.” 
― Joss Whedon

“Half of me is filled with bursting words and half of me is painfully shy. I crave solitude yet also crave people. I want to pour life and love into everything yet also nurture my self-care and go gently. I want to live within the rush of primal, intuitive decision, yet also wish to sit and contemplate. This is the messiness of life - that we all carry multitudes, so must sit with the shifts. We are complicated creatures, and ultimately, the balance comes from this understanding. Be water. Flowing, flexible and soft. Subtly powerful and open. Wild and serene. Able to accept all changes, yet still led by the pull of steady tides. It is enough.” 
― Victoria Erickson

“The purest form of faith happens when you reach the bottom of your reasoning and find there is nothing that you can do that will make sense out of what you have been through.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“Sacred blessings and divine opportunities appear in your life disguised as unforeseen changes and challenging circumstances.” 
― Miya Yamanouchi

“When you receive God's love, it means you're getting close to Him, spending time in His presence, opening your heart to Him, seeking to know Him, and desiring to be more like Him. Remember that choosing to receive God's love changes your life.” 
― Stormie Omartian

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn Beauty ~

Ecc. 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

***

~ Autumn Beauty ~

The leaves have fallen on the ground
they whisper at night moving ‘round.
Climbing tendrils of circular motion
the autumn leaves are colorful potion.

Autumn is the season in our lives,
laying to rest where Summer thrives.
Crunching colors under your feet
stomping the sound to ear does it meet.

Playful swooshing with a flurry,
leaves are there to hide and bury.
Put to rest the years vocation
find yourself in Winters elation.

Autumn is full of screaming fans
blustery days for months it spans.
it creeps right in you’ll hear the footfall,
the sound of chimes and noisy football!

Rest you now as in Winter you go
early evenings and Halloween snow.
Fill these moments as cherished with time
find your heart into which I will climb.

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn Glory

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. 

~Albert Camus

* * *
Autumn Glory

The wonder of life in all the color
with pale blue skies and clouds.
The life of Autumn comes alive
with leaves the lonely shrouds.

Upon the darkened horizon
the landscape and brilliant hue,
the wonder of the empty land
causes trees to take their cue.

They dance and sing in the night
the days are full of flutter;
life it spins a colorful web
the grounds are full of clutter.

I crunch the leaves underfoot
walk in eloquent bliss.
The rain it lends aroma
to the earth it gives a kiss.

The quiet season breathes in me
a sight that steals my soul
I long to share this glory,
with you who makes me whole!

Quotation Saturday

AUTUMN

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
~George Eliot

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.
~Carol Bishop Hipps

It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.
~P.D. James

Besides the autumn poets sing,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the haze.
~Emily Dickinson

ON BEING ME
 
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
~e.e. cummings, 1955
 
All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.
~Ralph Ellison
 
A man who is "of sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key. ~Paul Valéry
 
The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike, and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune.
~Boris Pasternak

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
~e.e. cummings


BEAUTY
   
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Our hearts are drunk with a beauty our eyes could never see.
~George W. Russell

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
~Chinese Proverb

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson


MOVING ON
 
Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.
~Author Unknown

Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
 ~Jean de La Fontaine
 
Sadness flies on the wings of the morning and out of the heart of darkness comes the light. ~Jean Giraudoux

Walking, working, barely breathing
My thoughts, far away
Heart aching, mind racing
Sleep does not come easily, nor last long....
~Peter Winstanley

so long f2k...

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn

Ecc. 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

*** 

Autumn
***
The leaves are falling,
the chill is here
once again
that time of year.

As flowers fade
and jack frost looms
fragrance smolders
the ants build rooms.

The grass it dims
oh sacred tree
drop your shelter
down on me.

Time to vacate
and go inside
the world is cold
too oft it died.

I will pray
my jobs not done.
I run the gamut
of a life I’ve won.

Never fear and
always trust.
My God is good
He molded dust!

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn

Isaiah 9:5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

Autumn Glory
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp

***

I live alone inside my head
no one home, I’m left for dead.
Where have all the flowers gone
must I see the mornings dawn?

Shattered and shamed my life is only
but a waif wandering lonely.
Family is gone; no one to care
not a soul with words to share.

I’m like the leaf on an autumn tree
dangling waiting to be set free
from all that binds me to this earth,
perchance my seed will give new birth.

Maybe the Lord will have compassion
hold out his hand in a delicate fashion
He’ll catch me as I fall to the ground
into his hand with nary a sound.

He’ll show me that I’m never alone,
give me strength as I’ve always known
Lift me to the highest tower
rain on earth in a dandelion shower.

I’ll sprinkle love, wisdom and words;
the barren trees lined with birds.
Someone will feed off what I have to give,
The tree in autumn continues to live.
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp

Quotation Saturday

Snow in October?

***

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
~ Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) 'Meditations Divine and Moral,' 1655

***

The tendinous part of the mind, so to speak, is more developed in winter; the fleshy, in summer. I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood.
~John Burroughs (1837 - 1921), The Snow-Walkers

***

O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb'd Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
~William Cowper (1731 - 1800), Task (bk. IV, l. 120)
***

If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection. It's a time of year when the leaves are down and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone. Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it's time to reflect on what's come before.
~Mitchell Burgess Northern Exposure, Thanksgiving, 1992

Nature...

***

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.
~E. B. White (1899 - 1985)

***

Mountains inspire awe in any human person who has a soul. They remind us of our frailty, our unimportance, of the briefness of our span upon this earth. They touch the heavens, and sail serenely at an altitude beyond even the imaginings of a mere mortal.
~Elizabeth Aston,The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy, 2005
***
Ever the optimist...
***

The act of writing is an act of optimism. You would not take the trouble to do it if you felt it didn't matter. ~Edward Albee
Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

***

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

***

Those who tell you it's tough at the top have never been at the bottom.

~Joe Harvey

Final thought...
***

In good writing, words become one with things.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poetry Sunday~ Letting Go

Letting Go
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp***
His arms outstretched
like a branch on a tree
Reaching for the sky
the leaf, I see, as me.

Like sap I’m drinking
the strength He bestows
each arm extending
as this little leaf grows.

I’m green from nectar
that has nourished my soul
growing in strength
understanding my role.

I’m dangling while drinking
the knowledge is near
The season will make
each and everything clear.

Autumn arrives
a brisk wind will blow
I hear something whisper
“It’s time to let go.”

I shiver and shake I’ve
all that I need.
I’m not just a leaf,
but a perpetual seed.
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp