Red Milk

It is snowing.  Again.  Our blizzard melted into a balmy introduction of what is proving to be an elusive springtime, and now this?  The groundhog must be laughing at his joke as the rain, then snow, falls into troughs of mud (formerly known as "the yard").  It IS only February, I keep reminding myself.  It is not the snow that I dread.  It's the slop.  There are few things more aggravating than an expensive pair of shoes ruined by SLOP.  Ugh.

"Winter"

~Tori Amos

Snow can wait

I forgot my mittens

Wipe my nose

Get my new boots on

I get a little warm in my heart

When I think of winter

I put my hand in my father's glove

I run off

Where the drifts get deeper

Sleeping beauty trips me with a frown

I hear a voice

"Your must learn to stand up for yourself

Cause I can't always be around"

He says

*   *   *

Boys get discovered as winter melts

Flowers competing for the sun

Years go by and I'm here still waiting

Withering where some snowman was

Mirror mirror where's the crystal palace

But I only can see myself

Skating around the truth who I am

But I know dad the ice is getting thin

*     *     *

Hair is grey

And the fires are burning

So many dreams

On the shelf

You say I wanted you to be proud of me

I always wanted that myself

He says

When you gonna make up your mind

When you gonna love you as much as I do

When you gonna make up your mind

Cause things are gonna change so fast

All the white horses have gone ahead

I tell you that I'll always want you near

You say that things change

My dear

*     *     *

Yes, things change.  As a child I was quite confident, yet so unsure.  I certainly never would have done this...

...but I'm finding  It is never too late to give up our prejudices. - Henry David Thoreau...and besides, this snake liked me.  Interestingly, I had a dream just last week about snakes...what I believed to be venomous Coral snakes.  I worried.  Surely it was an omen.  I never paused to think that perhaps it was a good type of omen.  Maybe, afterall, I had actually dreamed of this friendly Red Milk Snake. Today I learned something about myself.  Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker, says Live with passion.  My senses are primed.  Is there any other way, but to live passionately?

   "Dreams"

~Priscilla Ahn 

I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me.

I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream

That I could fly from the highest swing.

I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I'm supposed to be.

The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream

That I could fly from the highest tree.

I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey. I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave.

I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell. I'm ready now, I'm ready now, I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.

I had a dream.