Heather Pound

when all you can see is darkness,

remember the light.

 

remember that all that it might take

is one single step around the thing

that may block it.

 

it is so much closer than you think,

and just because you cannot see it,

feel it

in this moment exact,

 

you will always find it again,

always.

 

and it only takes the tiniest sliver

of light

to push away

the dark entire.

 

so today, if all you can do is exist,

then that is fine

 

because tomorrow your hand just might

find the latch that opens you up

to light once again.

 

remember this,

remember the light.

hold it in your mind, 

hunger for its warmth.

 

look for just one spark

and then the next,

and let it guide you 

back to its shine.

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Joshua Rodriguez on Unsplash

 

you stare at the page,

white and empty and waiting

to be filled

 

and feel the walls close in

 

wanting so much to fill that

space, longing to write, to

express, to create,

 

but you just can’t.

 

and then you must

remind yourself

that we all need those

blank space days,

 

days that we do not push

to fill, we just let them be.

 

days of waiting and gathering

strength for what is to come

when the mind will buzz and

the page will be filled again

 

with more creativity and passion

and maybe even a smidge of

wisdom

 

so, try not to look at blank space

as a pressure to be filled. just

smile and think of all that will

come again

 

after you wait.

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

i went out into the world

and saw many broken things

and somehow i found myself

feeling like they were all my

job to change

 

and then i discovered that it was

simply too much for one heart

to bear–and completely beyond

my skillset alone

 

and i crawled into bed more than

a bit battered and bruised and

protected my heart fierce lest it

should shatter

 

and when i peeped back out from under

the covers, i resolved to never do life

in that particular manner again

 

i still wanted to empathy spread

far and wide

 

i still wanted to be part of things that

are healing and freedom bringing

 

i still wanted a life full of purpose and

meaning

 

but now i let the weight of responsibility

for everything else slide right off my shoulders

and only foster specific things

 

things within my skillset, things that i

have the power and capacity to do

and i also allow for space that

nourishes and replenishes me

to keep on moving

 

it’s not that i care any less about

the world at large or that my passion

has decreased, but now i take

what i have been given

and make it into more

 

and trust that others will do the same

and that we will carry the weight

of the world, not alone,

but together

 

brick by brick, stone by stone

one precious individual

at a time

valued

 

–i’m still not afraid to try on big things, just living with a different perspective

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Nina Strehl on Unsplash

the interweaved tension of

hope bright for all that is future

yet calm acceptance of all that

is now–this balance

is difficult.

 

a teeter-totter relationship,

of matching the weight on both sides,

perched upon the fulcrum of life

that sometimes

rattles and shakes.

 

if ‘the now’ is not counterweighted  

by ‘the hope’ of something finer,

something joyful, wonderful

and full of meaning,

 

then despair can invade with

force torrential crashing down

when life

gets hard.

 

but if hope is the focus alone

always only looking forward

it adds pressure to the now,

the now that needs acceptance

as is for peace to be present

 

or tension expands and eventually

builds around all that currently is

until white-knuckled, holding on

becomes part

of survival

 

both must be acknowledged, both

embraced, both offered the light of day,

 

both as real as the air that we breathe,

unseen except by the force of what they

can do

 

and the balance of what these two

together can achieve

is powerful,

is peaceful,

is healing

 

is worth the effort to intentionally

maintain and might be profoundly

harmful

if neglected

 

-we need them both, balanced 

Photo by Niklas Ohlrogge on Unsplash

i wake to the wonder of a world

still spinning, a tiny dot in the

vastness of space

 

and listen to birdsong drifting in

air, songs that have been sung

by multitudes, but are still beauty

discovered within the throat of one

 

and breathe air fresh, the breath

that life gives, abundant and 

cycling ever new.

 

i marvel then in the way my limbs can

move, i still rise and walk and

grasp and think.

 

and while nothing has changed,

everything is yesterday same,

today i am filled with wonder

 

and think that everyday

i should pause and notice many things

such as these.

 

because life is infused with beauty

and every day is marvelous,

worthy of the pause

to notice and honor.

 

so, look tall and wide and far

and high until your heart is

permeated by beauty as well.

 

it is always, always available

and is even closer than you think.

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Oleksandra Bardash on Unsplash

i tend to float away

up, up, up into the atmosphere

like a helium balloon on string

 

not even noticing down below

to see what the body that is

left behind is doing.

 

lost in the clouds i drift, and

sometimes ponder deep and

thought provoking things and then

 

often i create. but sometimes it is

worry and cares and thoughts that

distract, dominate and eventually

 

distress. so, in moments like these

i must shake my body awake to reach

up tippy-toes high, fingers stretched

 

to grab ahold of strings

 

and pull myself gently back down

to earth, with kindness and care

and then offer myself the ointment of this

 

present moment, noticing all that is miraculous

within. because while beauty may be observed

from clouds, feet-on-earth grounded is

 

the space where all five senses engage and

that combined lovely may be absorbed into bones,

while perspective is gained, breath upon breath.

 

the here-and-now, this moment, is where

balance is restored. and while later i might

begin to drift away again,

 

that tether will remain.

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Diya Pokharel on Unsplash

it is no small thing

to wake with sunshine

in your heart

 

to feel fresh morning rays

and anticipate the day to come

 

to experience peace in the early,

misty light-

 

this is my ardent wish

for you.

 

that the nightmares are gone and

do not bleed into the day. that the

things that are past are

historical alone

 

and do not pertain to your present.

 

you have worked so very hard and

come incredibly far, and while this

thought might

sound insignificant

to some,

 

to you it would indicate healing

deep and wide and strong

and free.

 

so, may this morning arrive soon,

and may you face that day,

and the next,

and the next

from a place of rest.

 

i believe in possibility

and i trust this day

will come

 

even if you cannot

                  —yet.

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

try not to fall into traps

of thinking that leaning into

something that disturbs you,

that you can do nothing about,

 

and letting the ‘upset’ build,

is actually doing something

to impact the problem.

 

it is not. it is simply robbing

you of peace that your soft

self is in desperate need of

wearing and does absolutely

nothing to impart change.

 

other than to change YOU,

adding to stress, stealing

calm, thieving away

precious moments of life.

 

so, where do you trust? How

do you make sense of good

and where does your hope

come from?

 

because the bigger your

trust, the stronger your

peace. this is where the

source of true strength

and influence lie.

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Ahtziri Lagarde on Unsplash

we are like

droplets of water

clinging to leaves

 

who sometimes

feel we are only just,

barely holding on

 

but in the quiet rays

of early morning fresh,

we sparkle and gleam

 

even in those very first

beams of dawn, and transform

into an element of beauty,

 

glorious to all who pause

and take the moment to notice,

we simply required the light

 

to shine

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Y S on Unsplash

i pour the coffee

while the kitchen clock

that ticks too loud tocks

 

and settle into my

comfortable chair

while you sit in your

spot that is closer

to the window.

 

and although we

don’t say all that much

we are aware that the

 

other is there. and i glance

outside often as the

morning rays paint

pictures in multicolor

beyond the windowpane

 

and think to myself

the importance of things

like these,

these rituals.

 

moments that mark

the days, that slow

the galloping pace

of time. the anchors

that remind us that

we are right now,

right here and

introduce

peace.

 

Heather Pound 2023

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash