Heather Pound

when you are hurt

and your knees have bent

for your hands to

pick up stones

defensive

 

pause…..

 

you do not need to start

a battle

that might become

a war

that may damage

far-far beyond what your

reflexive hand

ever intended

 

instead….

 

place the stone down

between you

–then add some more

as you can

as an offering

towards peace

 

and begin to build

a bench instead

where you may meet

in the middle,

sit together in the sun,

admire the view,

and discover common ground

 

–take the pause before you throw that stone

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Simon Schmitt on Unsplash

when you are ‘different,’

some days you walk

slow through water

while others run free,

 

struggle to lift a weight

everyone else appears

to carry with ease.

 

not quite fitting in

is having all the ingredients

to prepare the meal of life

right there on your shelf

 

but the recipe is smudged,

guesswork involved.

 

this sometimes leads to being

misunderstood by those

whose pages are clean.

 

but go out into the world anyway,

differences intact,

do not hide your creative light

your unique way of seeing

your own particular shine.

 

you are the movers,

the shakers,

the out-of-box thinkers

and you have much perspective

that this world needs.

 

please don’t let us down.

 

–for all my neuro-spicy people.

Unsplash+ In collaboration with Getty Images

i wonder if you know

you do not need

to go out into the world

and do phenomenal things?

 

if you do

that is terrific,

but you do not need to strive

to produce

the way you do

 

especially if the motivation

is to validate the fact

that you are here at all.

 

you are here

you are human

–you matter

 

anything else after

is gravy.

 

so go out

do amazing things

if you choose

but you are already

at your upmost value

just by being

you.

 

–there is a freedom when your heart truly believes this. 

Photo by Nijwam Swargiary on Unsplash

are you learning to know

the you that emerges,

wings furled wet

from cocoon that transforms?

 

if you have not begun

you need to very soon

since you are different,

not the same as the one

who entered into change’s

hallowed halls.

 

what did you learn within?

did you discover meaning there?

 

i hope that part of this was practice

of how not to feel lost

 

and that the cocoon

communicated soft the truth

that you did not need

to rush to metamorphosis

to repair

 

these things take all the time they need,

patient

 

you can explore now with perspective gained,

opening wings to soar above.

but even though you have developed wings

flight takes practice too.

 

–take space to know yourself after seasons of change

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Bob Brewer on Unsplash

the wind, she blows strong today

enough to tousle hair

but not enough to tangle

 

and as she moves

everything she touches

as if to say ‘i’m here,’

she reaches in

to touch your heart as well

 

and whispers soft that while

winter has begun

the branches bare

the temperature cold,

that this is part of a cycle

required.

 

if you do not cherish the chill

as much as the burst of spring,

remember that without

this season that rests

 

the bounty of autumn after summer’s

growth—is less

and the absolute joy of spring

entirely taken for granted

 

so listen to the wisdom of the wind,

she has travelled far and witnessed things

your eyes have not.

 

she has also noted

that as humans slow

and seek shelter from the cold

in burrows of their own,

their hearts find solace as well

 

—winter makes it easier to feel

(this line borrowed from my daughter Hannah)

Photo by Rachel Coyne on Unsplash

it begins with the emotion

of something that must be named

that rises with your breath

but does not fall again—notice this

 

it might be the story that longs to be remembered

the memory that must be spoken of again

perhaps for the very first time

 

or just the peace or unease

of a question that lingers

between moments today

 

whatever it is

do not tame your pen

allow your thoughts to run fearless

let your hand whisper over soft page

 

just begin

and allow your pen

to run wild and free

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Fabio Comparelli on Unsplash

i want you to know today tomorrow

and every day in-between

that i am solid

 

i am the rock beneath your feet

the steady in your hands

i am the washer away of hurt

from you and from those that you love too

 

i want you to know that i will never ever ask you

to suck your soul dry

i never value others high above you

i am big enough to gather round and nestle close

every human heart—and yours is none the less

valuable than any one of these

 

i am enough for you

i am deeper and wilder and more expansive

than you could ever dream

 

i will not let you down

blinking out of existence at inconvenient times

i want you to know that i will endure

i am here

 

i am permanent

when all else fades i will not

i will not fail you

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Mike Marrah on Unsplash

we always know when hunting season arrives

as flocks of ducks and geese migrate to sanctuary

flying low like arrows

over our roof squawking loud

 

i have heard this is not to announce their arrival

but to encourage on the one who is in the front

expending the most energy in formation

 

‘keep going

you’ve got this

we’re here with you’

they proclaim

 

then they take turns when the one in front

tires and cheer the next one on as well

as they make their way towards places safe

together

 

—lessons from nature

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Charles Jackson on Unsplash

you had this idea that you could go out

into the large wide world and that somehow

you would be able to bear all that you came across

 

the joys

the pains

the labour futile

and the moments that made it all worth it

were fewer and further between

than you ever imagined

 

and you gave and you poured out

ladles of water here and there

into the endless everywhere

 

and you were surprised that you became dry

shrivelled as walnuts do

and you had nothing left with which to wash

your own cracked skin

or to cleanse from your heart the ongoing struggle

of other people’s pain

 

for you knew that heartless was never a name

you could sew on your own tender skin

yet your own heart desensitised bit by bit uncomfortable

and this was perhaps worse even because hardened scabs

tear at healthy flesh when bumped or jarred

 

so you retreated for a time to ponder

to lick your wounds

to heal

and discovered that even though empathy

is your unspoken name

that empathy must be extended to yourself first

before others can also experience her balm

 

and you learned that while pain is a thing

that must be felt

–that you can release it as well

 

so now as you sit with others in the expression of theirs

[even those the very closest to your heart]

you let the feelings ebb and flow like tide

you listen and respect the place of which they are

joining them there then

but once they leave you stop to notice—to feel

the uncomfortable poking here

the nestling in of soreness there

 

and you gather up theses morsels together

like fruit freshly picked bushelled up

and then you consciously—release

 

radiating out of fingers and toes

top of the head

bottom of feet

 

because this is not your task to feel long

this pain is theirs and not yours to bear

any longer than is needed

for empathy extended at the time

 

you will remember—yes—and you can

go with them there again

but carrying other people’s pain long

is a habit unsustainable

 

this is not heartless–but necessary

if this habit continues

it will only harm YOU

and will do nothing

to alleviate theirs

 

–it is not possible to carry other people’s pain

 

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Jerry Kavan on Unsplash

for perhaps a year or even three

i wondered—not fully in doubt because i had

too much evidence gathered through a lifetime

of experience that you are real

that you are good

that a life spent with you is a life

worth living

 

but all the discourses of all the thinking

and reasoning and logic of others

did make some part of me wonder

even if just a bit—and it kept me from you

from being able to fully appreciate you

to talk openly with you

and especially while my mind said i did

my heart struggled to fully trust

 

but then at the right and honest time

after i had grown in ways that were needed

and in ways that i now appreciate

even if i do not fully understand

 

and while nothing else has changed really

the veil of my dimly lit heart was raised

and now i see you clear again

now i feel you near

 

and now—even though some days are hard

i am once again confident to the depths

of heart and soul

 

and i say like that woman in the desert

so very long ago—that while there are still

situations difficult and while i know the

road will have patches uneven ahead

this one thing i understand

better than ever before

 

that you are the One-who-sees

really sees me

as well as understands

deep down into the core

of a very human heart

a heart like mine

 

there is nothing that escapes your gaze

and you have all of these situations

securely firmly safely held

in your loving hand

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash