Comfort | pictured words

Walking up my street,
I see a man walking toward me.
Aww. Looks like Grandpa, I think,
knowing it couldn’t be.
As we get closer, there is no mistaking.
Yes, it is Grandpa.
I don’t want to wake up, and miss out.
He approaches me.
“Grandpa!”
He gives me a hug.
As is nearly always the case when I dream
of the dead, all senses are engaged.

“Grandpa, what are you doing here?”
He says he came to tell me not to worry about
circumstances that were consuming me.
Everything would be just fine.

Then he says, “You know I can’t stay.”
Yes, of course.
I just don’t want to lose him again
so quickly.

“But I will come back,” he assures.
He hugs me again, and,
just that quick,
he’s gone.

My long, detailed dream continues.
It seems to last a good portion of the night.

Suddenly, there he is again.
This time, he doesn’t speak.
His silence stills me,
while it declares a grand reassurance.

I wake from the dream,
recognizing it hadn’t been merely a dream.

And I smile.
When he said he would return,
I hadn’t realized he meant
that quickly.
That night.
That dream.

November 6, 2022

Kettle (Hygge)

Steam from the kettle
tells its story of comfort
on my cold window.

4 Comments

September 26, 2021

FALL

There’s a chill in the air. Just enough to grab a sweater
and cute boots.
Enough to birth sweet, crisp apples.
The kind of perfect chill that calls my dad to mind -
the pride I felt watching him direct the Star-Spangled Banner
for the football pregame on a perfect autumn afternoon 
that smelled of popcorn and stadium dogs. 
The kind of chill that warms my heart and feeds my joy.

Fall:  The season of my heart.
Fall:  Collapse.

As I drink in the season, life collapses at the feet of a friend.
She writes of the woeful loss of her husband
with words that both singe and chill.

I know her only from afar, 
but I know her. 
How often have her stirring words
and soothing photos of the beauty surrounding her
touched my heart, and lifted my spirits?
How often has she bravely shared the slow slide of Alzheimer’s
as it stole her sweetheart far too soon?
When the news came to me,
I spent much time vainly stringing words
and counting syllables -
only to realize there’s a chill in the air,
and no words warm enough.

© Marie Elena Good, 2021

Dearest Janet:  May you feel the strength of our Father’s love, and the warmth of your Poetic Bloomings family.  Gentle hugs …

April 3, 2021

UNTITLED COMMUNICATION POEM

Words may speak comfort
to the wounded. But, more so,
a shoulder. A tear.

© Marie Elena Good, 2021

In response to Robert Lee Brewer’s 2021 April Poem-a-Day Challenge at Poetic Asides (Day 3: Write a Communication poem).

2 Comments

October 6, 2019

A HOLY HUSH

Photo by Keith R. Good

Sleep came,
but the dreams that accompanied it
were disturbing
and all I could do was pray for peace
as worry for her threatened to devour me.
Disquiet was my life for months

and months

and months.

Then one night I found myself
walking a path of undisturbed snow.
The moon was my only light –
just enough to illumine the path,
glisten against the falling snowflakes,
and reveal the immense evergreen forest.
There was silence,
save the calming crunch
of snow beneath my feet.
I walked the breathtaking beauty all night,
accompanied by One who knows me intimately –

the only One who offers stillness
in the midst of turbulence.

“… and he said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” ~ Mark 4:39

4 Comments

September 30, 2019

COMFORT FOODS

Easter Ham Pie. Mom

It’s Mom’s recipes –
stained, and written in her hand –
that nourish my heart.

2 Comments

May 5, 2019

MILKY WAY

milky-way-2695569_1280

In last night’s sky
I saw hundreds of stars
above me,
and I remembered
Michigan’s night sky,
when you and I stood
beneath not hundreds
but billions
or trillions
and I wished
I could take them home.

In last night’s sky
I saw hundreds of stars
above me.
Today, not even one.
Not even the sun.

But now?
Now, I know they are here –

billions
and trillions
and even the sun,
and even when I see
not even one.

And I see no need
to take them home,

for now I see
they are my home.

7 Comments

October 22, 2018

AUTUMN’S BIKE TRAILS

leaf-972393_640

When fall visits,
we crisscross the trail –
never tiring
of the crunch of crisp leaves
beneath us,
savoring childlike fun.

The brisk, fresh air
invigorates –
motivates us to
ride further,
sometimes pausing
to capture photos
of fall foliage, fields
dotted with orange pumpkin;
orchards with red apples.

Bushed and beaming,
we head home,
cautiously peering
around multi-colored leaf
piles raked to the curb –
some taller
than the cars avoiding them.

Home,
warm and cozy,
fire in the fireplace,
popcorn popping,
already reminiscing,

hoping tomorrow
is more of the same.

FOR POETIC BLOOMINGS AUTUMNAL POEM-A-DAY CHAPBOOK CHALLENGE, 2018, DAY 9: SOUP

October 21, 2018

COMFORT FOOD

soup-3750040_640

My comfort foods are piping hot.
They never fail to hit the spot.
I’ll savor solace that they’ve brought,
And when I’m done, my coffee pot.

For where is comfort in cold foods,
That cannot warm cold attitudes
And never will they change foul moods.
There’s nothing cozy in cold foods.

But I could swear that buttered rolls
Can hinder malice in cold souls,
As can hot pies and big warm bowls
Of soups and stews and casseroles.

FOR POETIC BLOOMINGS AUTUMNAL POEM-A-DAY CHAPBOOK CHALLENGE, 2018, DAY 8: COMFORT FOOD

4 Comments

October 7, 2018

SAVING SOUNDS

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They’ve not been gone long.
Just a few month’s time.
Sometimes I hear her laugh.
His voice, singing,
“I don’t buy sugar —
Just touch my cup.”
Her coffeemaker’s sizzle.
His, “Go Bucks.”
Her, “I love you. —
You know that.”
His drums.
Her sigh.

I clutch these sounds —
Secure them to my heart,
And listen to its beat.

4 Comments

pictured words

Tag: Comfort

January 15, 2023

VISIT WITH GRANDPA

November 6, 2022

Kettle (Hygge)

September 26, 2021

FALL

April 3, 2021

UNTITLED COMMUNICATION POEM

October 6, 2019

A HOLY HUSH

September 30, 2019

COMFORT FOODS

May 5, 2019

MILKY WAY

October 22, 2018

AUTUMN’S BIKE TRAILS

October 21, 2018

COMFORT FOOD

October 7, 2018

SAVING SOUNDS