shadows

REPOST FOR OPTIMISM: DECK PRISM

 

In years past

Before electricity

Crystals were faceted

And used below decks

In sailing ships

To lighten the darkness

***

Safer than candles

Or kerosene lamps

Solar power refracting

Dispersing

Natural sunlight

***

So despite keelhauling,

Brutality and impressing

Drunken men or young boys

Our sea-going ancestors

Knew the secret of the sun

Knew not to waste

Too many natural resources

***

Although the whales were sacrificed

For their ability to provide fat for tallow

There is always an oblation

A diminishment of a species

Offered to the jealous gods

Who are expected to return the favor

By keeping us safe

***

On those rare, but dark days,

Of my soul

I seek the deck prism

Feel its vibration

Huddle around its meager, but reliable, light

And allow the power to transform

Mind and mood

Into a bursting crystal of

Optimism

Because light will always reappear

If we force ourselves through the

Shadows of life

That come

But most importantly

Go…

© 2015 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

 

HYPNAGOGIA

Sharing three in the morning

With you, but

Don’t know what zone

You’re in, or where

Wandering through the hall

Whales on the kitchen floor

Myopic stream of consciousness

Concludes

They are merely shadows

The detritus of sleeping disorders

Window A/C shakes sweating walls

Noise covering the thump of my

Crying-out-to-you pulse

Silently slowing

In its vacuum…

 

© Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

 

DECK PRISM

deck prism

In years past

Before electricity

Crystals were faceted

And used below decks

In sailing ships

To lighten the darkness

***

Safer than candles

Or kerosene lamps

Solar power refracting

Dispersing

Natural sunlight

***

So despite keelhauling,

Brutality and impressing

Drunken men or young boys

Our sea-going ancestors

Knew the secret of the sun

Knew not to waste

Too many natural resources

***

Although the whales were sacrificed

For their ability to provide fat for tallow

There is always an oblation

A diminishment of a species

Offered to the jealous gods

Who are expected to return the favor

By keeping us safe

***

On those rare, but dark days,

Of my soul

I seek the deck prism

Feel its vibration

Huddle around its meager, but reliable, light

And allow the power to transform

Mind and mood

Into a bursting crystal of

Optimism

Because light will always reappear

If we force ourselves through the

Shadows of life

That come

But most importantly

Go…

© 2015 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)