image by Canva
I have always known that ‘His yoke is easy, His burden light’
but I used to think of him as the pilot, and myself the calf
Him a kind master, lovingly tending my needs and wounds
directing my steps, choosing what is best
while my neck carried the harness
~~~~
It’s important to remember though, that a yoke can have more space
Not one, but places for two necks and two shoulders to bear
binding two creatures together in helpful companionship
moving in the same direction, following the same commands
bearing the burden, doing the work, feeling the chafe
–together
~~~~
This God that I follow is of the sort that doesn’t leave me to
walk the path alone. He is not remote, out of reach, or jostling from behind
No, He dips his neck, accepts the yoke
and walks beside——
sharing my burden, experiencing my path
feeling the dust and the sun and the thirst
He willingly supports and offers His strength for both
the pleasant and the pain.
The yoke is easy and the burden is light
because HE is carrying the heaviest part of the load
~~~~
—when you think you’re alone and God doesn’t care
~~~~
©Heather Pound 2022
Abide
This is what I chose to do
with you
Forever and always in my heart
Choosing today, each day
to remain
This I will continue to do
as long as I have breath to breathe
I will stay
Because you have been
you are
and will always be
my abode
my home
~~~~
-inspired by John 15
©Heather Pound 2022
You can feel it clanging in your head
that uncomfortable, light-headed, perplexing noise of
‘something is not right.’ Two or more voices vying
at once for attention in your brain. It might be anger
and ‘I should forgive,’ or grief when ‘I should
be positive.’ Whatever it is, it’s not helping
you to avoid how you really feel and the ringing
in your mind will harm you in the end
~~~~
When dissonance arrives, the constructive thing
is to throw that ‘should’ into the wind and allow
whatever you think and feel be what it really is
‘I am tired of the anger, but today it needs to breathe
–and that is still okay.’ ‘Good vibes only’ sounds
delightful, but will ultimately scramble your brain
~~~~
You can calm the sound by being honest
even if your values or beliefs are not at ease
with where you are at today
Speaking the truth to self now is not easy
but is far healthier in the end and will allow
the alarm bells to stop ringing and paves
the way for peace
~~~~
-long term cognitive dissonance can damage us physically and unattended holds us back from processing our thoughts and feelings making them increasingly heavy to carry in the end
©Heather Pound 2022
-after all, you would never hire an advisor who was wrong 99% of the time
©Heather Pound 2022
image by Canva
~~~~
©Heather Pound 2022
I wonder what it will take
to rewrite the story that
you hear inside your mind?
~~~
As you speak
you hear ‘victim’
I hear ‘survivor’
you see failure
I see endurance
you smell fear
I catch the scent
of courage
You touch the tears
on your face with shame
–and apologize
I understand how your
heart needs release and
how weeping is a sign of
someone brave enough
to recall and speak of painful things
~~~~
Words create stories and my hope
is that by re-weaving consonants
and vowels you may rewrite yours in
your own unique way and in your
personal time into something similar
to what others can already see
~~~~
©Heather Pound 2022
There is a space where the disquiet sits
random thoughts about pandemic,
poverty and war with a few worries
of my own carelessly sprinkled in
like pepper and salt
~~~~
The ingredients simmer away whether
I am there to stir the pot or not,
and while a watched pot may not never boil
an unwatched one most certainly will
~~~~
It will overflow and splatter and burn
making quite a mess in the end with a mayhem
that could have been avoided if we had only
tended to the uncomfortable, stayed with the
disquiet and tasted of the ways that even
uneasiness can nourish our character, season
our passions and invite us to live our lives
~~~~
–We have corporately had enough and yet the world keeps on spinning and producing more angst for us to digest. But if we tend to all the parts of ourselves, we can then remember that there is still beauty and light to be found, and these are the things that we are hungry for.
©Heather Pound 2022
Love first blooms fresh and sparkling with dew,
but fragile like a tiny shoot that must be
tended and nourished with care
But over time, oh, the places that love can grow!
~~~~
Roots deep in the soul, souls intertwined,
bonded together by memories, experiences
and adventures shared. Home. When you can
say, “Remember when?” and talk for hours,
or sit in content and not speak at all,
when you can catch one glance and comprehend
the depth and breadth of meaning therein
When you have chosen daily for years
this person, this relationship, this life,
then you will know more of what love is,
what it can be and what it is not
~~~~
Love is a holy work, and work it is,
but a treasure beyond price it becomes
when protected, when nourished, when cherished,
and consistently chosen over time,
worth every moment invested in the end
~~~~
—-for the hopeless romantic as well as those who may have given up on love
©Heather Pound 2022
You can do your utmost to persuade me
of all the world’s ills, but this, my friend,
you need not do. For I have seen
with my own two eyes–depravity,
malice and greed. I have heard
with my own two ears–the cries of beatings
and the keening wails of grief, of bondage,
of hope defiled. I have held the hands
that death will visit soon and seen children
as shadows begging for bread granted
apathy in return. I have attentively
observed over time what human beings
are capable of and I lament
~~~~
—I am still
But then—
~~~~
The song awakens in my chest,
softly first, but louder grows
and no matter what I’ve seen and heard
or felt with my own frame,
music bursts forth from my soul once again
–alive–and from my lips an Ancient song
And with the hope of a thousand generations
past and of children yet to come, I cry,
~~~~
“There is light, there is light there is light!”
~~~~
And this, no darkness can steal
Call me a dreamer or call me a fool
—-this will always be my song
~~~~
—–Light overcomes darkness at the break of every dawn, constant. No amount of darkness can extinguish even one spark of a flame. This is hope. This is holy work, and gifted by Divine.
©Heather Pound 2022
