MARIGOLD

I bring to the garden my birth-month flower,
And admit to being drawn to her modest, unassuming style.
She seems unconcerned that she is common.
She simply embraces her meaning:
Winning grace.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019

I bring to the garden my birth-month flower,
And admit to being drawn to her modest, unassuming style.
She seems unconcerned that she is common.
She simply embraces her meaning:
Winning grace.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019

Entombed in darkness –
and yet never extinguished.
The Light of the World.
(c) Marie Elena Good, 2019
#seventeeninnineteen
Image Credit: Spun By Me
(Marie E of Spun By Me: If you happen on this post of mine, I hope you don’t mind that I used your image. I had a very difficult time finding one with the stone still rolled in front of the tomb, to represent Holy Saturday. I also could not find a way to comment or contact you on your site to get permission to use the image. On a side-note, I found it of interest that your name is Marie E., as mine is as well [Marie Elena]. May God bless you.)

Countless countries,
make-ups, cultures, and creeds
learning the language
through laughter and love.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019

What do I know of my mother falling
dead at my teenage feet.
What do I know of being
blown apart in body
and spirit
at the hands of an enemy I didn’t choose.
What do I know of channeling
raging pain
into charity for my fellow man.
What do I know of love
born of anguish.
This, benevolent and boundless.
What do I know of smiling
eyes, lips, heart
for every being in my path.
What do I know of heroism
but for you?
© Marie Elena Good, edited 2019
(original penned 2013)

By no means do I like to travel
On water, air, pavement, or gravel.
So by all means, go.
I’ll stay put. (You know,
Ain’t pretty to see me unravel).
© Marie Elena Good, 2019

When I consider He who made all things,
In awe, I bow before this King of kings –
This One whose creativity’s arrayed,
And in whose image, we have all been made.
Creator, He, and so creators, we.
He gifted us with this ability.
So all creative ways point to our God.
Let us then recognize, give thanks, and laud.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019

PHOTO BY KEITH R. GOOD
She fights to connect.
Even her thoughts are wordless,
she says. And I nod
as if I can grasp
telepathically , and
put music to it –
noting nuances
in tune with fluent fretting –
non-verbal vetting
of elusive words
she only needs for we who
don’t speak her spirit.
© Marie Elena Good

One year ago, today,
we unexpectedly secured
a one-bedroom apartment for Dad,
and moved him into it.
It was just down the hall from Mom and Dad’s place,
where Mom had passed in the wee hours prior.
A back-and-forth blur
of family
furniture
clothes
drums
wood carvings and wood-carving tools
kitchen supplies
medications
wheelchairs
walkers
jazz,
and love,
until one space was empty,
and the other, full
of sunlight and life
that dared each other
shine.
Food followed.
A feast, really,
provided by cousins.
All of us squeezed
‘round a long table
with Dad at one end,
and Mom’s brother and her identical twin
at the other,
between which
more conversation and laughter managed to flow
than tears.
Who could have known
a mere thirty five days later,
the one-bedroom’s sunlight would be called to shine
alone.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019

It’s the meaning of her name,
and I claim there is something to it,
as in days of old testament.
But multiple impediments seized her
mind
energy
sight
voice.
Her very soul.
The whole of her,
splintered.
The light of her,
wintered.
But her God is not flawed,
nor silenced.
As her spirit returns
and yearns to be,
I see her flame ignite,
and hope shines
Bright as Day.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019