Words Awakening....

As I emerged from sleep this morning, in that sort of semi-conscious, floaty place these words kept floating through my mind; like some part of me trying to write a piece of prose. I finally forced myself to open my eyes to see what would happen if I went with it. I guess it has to do with that time in my life when I set off to live in the adult world of marriage, career and family. Here it is....Version 1.0. Raw and Rough, for sure....

Sweet, Innocent One
Eyes wide, heart open
Your fragile and growing dream eggs
Gestating
All in one hopeful, well-chosen (or so you thought) basket.

In such a hurry
Born of boredom
And weary of waiting
So much, so long held back
Bursting at the seams of your someday.

What you only see now
Is how many of those dreams
Were lovingly gifted
From well-meaning others.

You filled your plate
Your cup runneth 'ore
You graciously and anxiously accepted
Grateful at last to have found your place
And busied yourself warming eggs
And feeding others hatching baby dreams
Unaware you held inside
Your own embryos of joy
Growing; patiently waiting
Wondering if you'd ever stop long enough to listen

He was raised as a sheep
At least that is what he was always told
But deep inside
The fangs and fur of a wolf were growing
They suited his spirit and fed the feeling of aliveness he craved

Told bedtime stories of lives lived in happily ever afters
Grazing on grass with the guidance and protection of an outside Shepard.
Sometimes his tongue caught the sharp edge of a canine.
Other times he struggled to push down the urge to run free
Faster than he had been told a sheep could go.

It concerned him, but he never quite dared
Untie the string he'd discovered
Holding the cloak of white, soft wool around and over him.


You were raised as a Shepard Girl.
It suited you
Spending your days tending to others
Occupying your mind with their safety and happiness.
It sort of helped, but inside a little girl wanted to abandon the bonnet
And take off running through the pasture
Not caring where it took you.

He picked you as his Shepard
Hoping you could make him happy in the rolling fields of green
When wandering and hunting were slowly boiling in his blood.

In the darkness you shared you basket of eggs
In exchange for a promise of safety and love

Both innocent actors
Playing parts
Wearing costumes
Long ago assigned
And growing tighter by the day

Both awaking confused
At yoke-covered whiskers
Your mysteriously closing heart
At the sight of missing eggs
But afraid to look for explanations
Not wanting, but wanting the play to end
After all, sheep don't eat eggs
And Shepard's don't leave their flock.


Only recently, through Spectacles of hindsight
Have you dared look back and stare at the set
That was your life
And compassionately embrace
The Broken hearts
The deep, mutual disappointments
The missing dream eggs
The dissatisfaction of subsiding on a diet of grass
And living a life in one pasture
With only one basket of dreams
The empty, but now gone basket
Meant to keep it all together.

In the end, the curtain descended
The wolf took the blame
But also deserves the credit
For in inadvertently eating your eggs
And life hiding your basket

You were left
Perfectly poised
To take center stage
In the starring role...
As Yourself