Photograph: Study in Blue

Closing Years: Poem

Closing Years

In these closing years of your life
Each time I see your white hair that was once so black
Your body bent that was once so straight
I remember you throwing me up in your arms
And waiting for you impatiently at the gate

Let time quietly glide away
And grace touch every moment that is left
Never to know distress, worry, stress
And when you close to rest your eyes to rest one day
It might be to the sound of familiar footsteps I guess
That you can follow without any fear in your heart;
And to the sound of soft beloved voices,
Maybe that is the way loved ones depart.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Wherever You May Walk: Poem

Wherever You May Walk

Wherever you may walk, my heart goes with you.
In acceptance, in silence, in the completion
Of Absence; recognizing the emptiness of this life
When you leave my presence. In knowing that
I need to sense this vital presence as if it is
Water in the dunes; as though it is sun in polar winds.

I will speak of this emotion only if you want to hear.
I will also leave you your freedom if you so desire.
I can control my steps, but my ears strain to hear yours.
I can choose to walk away but even then my soul will
Long, long for your presence.

I hear the nightbirds though my window.
I can hear the silence of a sleepless night
That, with the fingers of dawn, have silenced
My words, desires and whatever lived within me.
I have waited so long; long did I wait for my fate.

Wherever you may walk, my heart goes with you.


Copyright (text and image): Rani Turton

Folk Musician, Delhi

Folk Musician, Delhi.  Garland of flowers, colourful pugree, earrings...

Credits: http://artisanofwords.tumblr.com/

Photograph: Study of Yellow Flower

These colours were magnificent in the Delhi sunshine.

Grief: Poem

GRIEF

Grief, don’t stand near my bed tonight
I’ve had enough and more than I can bear
Last night was the worst: I could feel you
Watching me whilst silently standing there.

Now tell me, grief, are you friend or foe?
What is it about me that attracts you so?
Is it for my beauty, my wit or my fragility
That you stand there clothed in such simplicity?

You knew that yesterday was a hard day.
I had a certain difficult role to play;
Grief, as I suddenly felt you in my room
Ah! I actually felt the weight of your gloom.

Now I know that you are more than a presence;
I even think you sense my absence;
I almost think I’ll wait for you tonight:
Grief, please do step into sight.

Copyright: Rani Turton

I Who Have Walked So Long In The Shadows

I Who Have Walked So Long In The Shadows

I who have walked so long in the shadows
That the sun dazzled my eyes; dazzled my eyes
Until tears blinded them. Would it be better
To adapt to sunlight or to step back to in the shadows?
The shadows, from where a shadow I had almost become?

A shadow I had almost become, just a remnant.
A semblant. The soul looks for comfort where it can.
The mind tries to function and analyse
But the body, tired, tried and tried.

I who have walked so long in the shadows
Did not handle with skill life's questions.
There were moments when I was almost serene:
Just to live now, to be and to have been.


Copyright(text and image): Rani Turton