Heather Pound

no matter what your thoughts might say

on this particular morning fresh,

no matter what life has thrown your way

in challenges and in highs and lows,

still there is always possibility.

 

do not think that joy has passed you by

like a tornado jumping house to house,

striking one and missing yours, never having

felt caught up in her tremendous grasp.

 

because perhaps for you it will come as the

gentlest scent on a summer breeze, pregnant

with humidity and not necessarily a familiar,

comfortable thing.

 

all i know if that joy is not stingy, she does

not snub or distinctions  make. no, she is

a friend to each and every one willing

 

to draw her in. and if she has not recently

your way come, then make sure you allow

yourself to linger in the kinds of spaces

she might frequent.

 

because sooner or later, she will arrive,

freshly bathed and dressed in her best,

and you must be ready to welcome her

in friendship and cheerful conversation

 

or even in peaceful quiet and flickering

firelight, just enjoying her presence

and her careful, ministering manner.

lean in, lean in to her gaze.

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Kelli McClintock on Unsplash

if i slowed way down i would

stare at stars on each clear night

flat on back, arms stretched out

wide.

 

i would search for seashells every

day, dance to the steady rhythm

of the waves, and listen to their secrets

as they arrive from shores far and wide.

 

i would wander aimless through

groves of tall trees, and wait and watch

to see what peeps and flutters between

the leaves, what feathered companions

nestle there.

 

i would place hands on bark, feet steady

for minutes at a time, breathe woodiness

in deep and wonder what the trees have

seen indeed.

 

in summary, i would live as if this

very moment —was all that mattered

and i would lean into its offering. 

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Graham Holtshausen on Unsplash

over our heads the seagulls flew

squawking to each other in a language

all their own.

 

i am not sure what exactly they said

but quite likely it had to do with hungry bellies,

for this is what a creature who must forage

often searches for.

 

and i wondered then why my very own heart,

a heart that has a banquet right within its reach,

has spent so much time foraging aimless for bread.

 

why sometimes it seems easier to stay in that space

of hunger called ‘distracted’ than to take even a moment

to calm, to listen to the silence.

 

do not be afraid of silence, for it is not fiercesome

and dark, no, it is a pathway to ease and light.

 

a space to rest from the cacophony of the world

around, to learn from the wisdom that whispers

between the sounds, the beating of hearts, the breath,

the calming of the storm into peace and rest,

to listen.

 

a place to feast from banquets vast

rather than senselessly, mindlessly

living on scraps. 

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo shared by Peter Rix via ‘New Zealand is Awesome’ Facebook page.

there were long years of waiting.

if you had told me back then

i might not have believed

 

how high and low the waters would flow

how close my steps would come to joy

unbridled–but mostly how many would

dance with pain.

 

those days and months where hearts

bled and sorrow grew, but then again,

so did love.

 

she snuck in there like the first blooms

of spring, shimmering with dew—

every year a wonderment, unexpected.

 

and you would think that pain

would wither, consume fragile hearts

into dust, but no,

 

it was like a secret whispered by source

unexpected that love began to sing,

full throated and free

 

she vocalized. and with each breath grew

until at last i fell in love with all of it,

both the steps that sang and

the ones that wept.

 

for now i am changed, i will never

be the same. if you think about it,

isn’t that the purpose of a journey

 

after all, to end up in a different

and hopefully better place than

where you started?

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Nelli Chaitanya on Unsplash

you wonder what it means to be honest entire,

to recognize deep what you carry within,

to know the drip, drip of sound and exact

volume of your tears, to recognize both the

pleasant and the painful, to welcome both

within your mother heart—and  to offer  

that heart towards yourself.

 

for how else can you go forth into the world

other than what you truly are–damp and new?

how can you nourish and become the better version

that you desire if you do not honour what that is

whether you are drawn to her person—or not.

 

she did not arrive in vacuum. no, she

is conglomerate wide of all experience,

of ups and downs, of highs and lows and of

many leagues traversed in the in-between.

 

she is both full of the luxury of choice,

and of periods limited by ‘survival’—and

yet she often judges herself more harshly

for the latter.

 

is that fair? is that honouring?

is that even remotely kind?

 

so, learn from her mistakes,

 

but offer her limitless volumes of grace.

she did the best that she could at the time.

 

when you look back upon the journey,

you clearly see that anything that was not

authentically you was nothing but a heavy

stack of baggage piled high, weighing

endlessly down, step upon weary,

drudging step.

 

and you know this as truth—that you

are the sum of many things, and you carry

enough already so, lay these down and

recognise in peace that the things

that remain, that invite you to smile,

are shoots grown strong from the root

of the most genuine, the most honest,

the most authentic version of you designed.

 

and in truth, you like her indeed, and all

that she has needed all along to thrive

is to be allowed to simply raise her head

released from the weight upon her neck

—and breathe.

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Matthias Oberholzer on Unsplash

sometimes,

all that is needed

is an ever so slight

adjustment of focus,

and that, all the

difference makes.

 

for example, just try

doing everything today

from a position of love

as opposed to a station

of fear.

 

or practice self-forgiveness,

offering grace for all the things you

consistently, constantly

berate.

 

or maybe focus on who you

want to be today and tomorrow

and after, rather than lingering

upon what’s past.

 

perhaps adjust to see through

eyes that look for all that is

beautiful and good, for you

will discover evidence of

whatever you choose to

seek.

 

or quietly stop asking ‘why’. why me?

why this, why now, and focus on,

embrace, what comes next

instead.

 

try even one of these

for a single, entire day

and remember that

you have the power

to choose,

 

that attitude really is

everything, and that

where your focus lies

matters.

 

just try it, i dare you,

and be amazed

at what horizons

remarkable come.

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash

Photo by Hannah Wright on Unsplash

for all of the things i can do

nothing about,

i am grateful.

 

because if i could wave

a magic wand and

change everything to

what i think in this moment

that i or others might need,

 

then i would much

damage do indeed.

 

the assumption that i always know

best would be a misconstrued

figment of a finite mind.

 

and can you imagine the

stress that would ensue

to become the chief, the boss,

the general manager of

the universe after all,

 

with the complaint box full

to overflow and everyone

railing against your decisions

big or small?

 

no, i think it is far better

to be just little ‘ol me

and to wait and see

with the best of us

how things will

work out

in the end.

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Cathi Geisler

on the days that the light shines,

do not look for dark.

 

do not waste even a single second

wondering when the forecast

will change

 

and if the sun, since it shines today,

does that mean the clouds will

soon follow?

 

because the truth remains that they

always will at some later, uncharted

time

 

but that does not dampen today’s

remarkable shine.

 

in fact, doesn’t that make today

all the more precious and worth

the savour?

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by todd kent on Unsplash

peace so thick

like early morning fog

descended down to earth,

breathe it in deep

 

this is no small feat

to experience this quiet in our

tattered, tumultuous world

 

so, when it appears, even

fleeting, we must inhale

in quick before just like a mist,

poof, it is gone

 

and may i gently remind us

ever so soft, that peace is never

at its most enveloping, most

life bringing as when it is felt

right after a storm

 

–storms have value, too.

 

Heather Pound 2024

Photo by Aleksandr Ledogorov on Unsplash