author / speaker / hope-filled poet
there is no right or wrong way
to do this
it does not need to quickly turn
into deeply meaningful lessons learned
it does not have to be comfortable
or easy
or ever really ‘make sense’
and there are no certain amount
of sanctioned days before
you must then be okay,
sometimes grief is simply meant
to be……
and then
it is meant to be carried
-this is how healing softly, slowly steals in
heather pound 2024
when we are invited to walk
into the home of someone new,
we come in softly, sit on the seat shown
sip on the cuppa offered
and listen
—our mothers taught us this
we resist the urge to comment
upon cracks in walls
and plaster that’s chipped
--we understand the occupant
is surely aware of these
we do not suggest when to start a remodel
or what décor they should install
--we know this is not our place
and above all, we would not pick up tools
open tubs of paint
and push aside the owner
to begin
we would never-ever do this
when visiting a home,
so why do we sometimes assume
we can try to ‘fix’
the heart and mind of another
uninvited?
Photo by Lena Polishko on Unsplash
We lived for several years in the city that remembers Mother Teresa well. Reading her words while there profoundly impacted me (and they do still), but what people of Kolkata remember is not her words–but the way that she cared.
Not a bad reminder at all.
he empties the dishwasher every single
morning and makes the messy bed
rain or shine
without ever being requested
‘yes of course-go ahead’ he says
when i want to try something new
add to my interests
express my talents
spend time with a friend
‘i have noticed that you might be tired’
he says, when i have done or felt too much
and am headed towards exhaustion
--long before i would have
noticed on my own
‘did you remember sunscreen?’ he asks
as we walk out the door for a day outside
even though he never needs it
but i do—and often forget
--some of the ways he says ‘i love you’
without even saying the words
heather pound 2024
Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash
you sit in the sun
feeling springtime warmth
soak into wintered skin
with a light and gentle breeze
as winged soloists twitter and trill
and the scent of fresh and blooming
things floats past
in steady rhythms
nature has waited
and is now prepared
to blossom once again
and she whispers soft, “do not forget
during seasons when winter
wraps around your heart
--this too shall always pass”
heather pound 2024
Photo by Edu Grande on Unsplash
if you gather fresh leaves
and force them down
into a damp bin
all squished in, crushed
and sealed tight
then over time if you press in
more and more and more….
pretty soon you will have
a slimy, gooey, smelly mess
disgusting
but if you allow the leaves
to be out in the open
exposed to the elements
even if they are messy
and crinkle when you walk
(for a time), they will
wither
and
dry
then one blustery autumn day
they might blow away
or enrich the soil
in the course of winter rains
nourishing the growth
of green, green growing things
in the coming spring
---the difference between squashing down
painful emotions and letting them breathe
heather pound 2024
you gaze around bewildered
because they cannot comprehend
just do not understand,
this person or those people
whose opinions you value
or this society even
but there are just some things
that cannot be grasped
before walking through
that searing, white-hot flame
of thinking you were ‘fine’ one day
but waking with a ton of bricks
pressing down upon your chest
the next
you say, why do people not realise
that this astounding, complex organ
this vast, little understood universe
of neurotransmitters, neurons and cells
controlling every action, every cognition
each and every sense or emotion
can be injured too?
you say, if only there were a cast
upon your leg
or something they could
clearly see
then you might be allowed
without question, without suspicion
without judgement
without well-intentioned
but unhelpful suggestions,
all the time you need
to heal
--things i hear regularly in my practice from those with
burnout/anxiety/depression. this is what they want people
to know but often can’t communicate.
heather pound 2024
Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash
you fell to the floor broken
and there for a while you stayed
because it took a whole lot of gathered
strength to raise your head again
and as you looked around, shattered
at all the bits and parts that made up you,
looking at one here
turning another one over there
the realization came
that there were
multiple pieces you
didn’t
even
remember
that you had no idea you had ever possessed,
talents, traits, skills, things such as these
and you were curious
--so you explored some of these
trying this pattern together here
testing out another over there
and when, over time, you put yourself
gently back together, piece by careful piece,
you glanced in the looking glass
and hardly recognized
the face that was there
restored
you recognized a more ‘you’ version of you
than you had ever imagined
made possible by the breaking
of the person that you were
and this, while sometimes painful
has led to the formation
of the person that you are
heather pound 2024
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
the truth is you will never
be the same again
and you cannot even comprehend
who that person was
how they could think what they did
or act the way they acted,
opinions so innocently or ignorantly
formed
but life and tragedy interrupted,
and now you must grieve
the legion of losses
of who you were
(and this is no small thing)
before you can even begin
to consider embracing the ‘you’
that you are becoming
--but from what i can see
that person is spectacular
heather pound 2024
Photo by Maryan Ivasyk on Unsplash
if you walk out your door anxious
looking here and there for information
that proves you are somehow defective
or not enough
that you don’t quite fit in
or are inherently strange
in the opinion of others around,
the truth is---if you seek evidence
of things like these
then you will always find it.
but here is what you must understand
before you waste another moment
trapped in cycles such as these:
this fact, it is true for e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e
everywhere
always,
each and every human
has experiences like these.
but the beauty of this phenomenon
of finding what you seek
is if you alter what you’re
perpetually searching for
then you will find that too.
heather pound 2024
Heather Pound 