pictured words

a simple pairing of pictures and poetry

Tag: Mental illness

A HOLY HUSH

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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.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

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

DELIVERED (Sonnet to Jesus, Our Redeemer)

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Photo by Deanna Marie Metts

I prayed for one I love for countless years,
For healing of her heart, her mind, her soul.
My faith was often blinded by my tears,
Just longing for my loved one to be whole.

A Savior’s unremitting hunt pursued.
In sacrificial, unrestricted love,
Each moment and heart-rending  instance used
To draw her broken spirit’s eyes above.

The enemy at work may mystify,
But his sick plot is frail and deeply flawed.
His seeming grip on us is just a lie –
He’s simply powerless against our God.

Her life in Jesus wondrously revealed,
Now with His Holy Spirit, she is sealed!

Beneath a Common Moon

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Could we respect our elderly,
Our mentally
Unwell and worn;
Our foreign-born?

Opinions that oppose our views?
Please let’s not choose
To denigrate.
Let’s celebrate

Divergences.  Let’s love despite;
And so ignite
A shared esteem –
A common dream.

Treating our Mentally Ill

Haunting, disturbing photo by KEN SCHULER CATERS NEWS

Haunting, disturbing photo by KEN SCHULER CATERS NEWS

To Shed What Light? (sonnet for a darkened past)

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She can’t quite grasp event(s) she feels occurred
That may have cast the pattern of her life.
No clear recall – just senses that are blurred,
Yet sharply pierce her present, like a knife.

Hypnosis could enlighten, she was told –
Could bring to forefront what she had suppressed.
Perhaps what had been quelled could then unfold,
And with it, this foreboding put to rest.

And here am I, unable to convey
My hesitance to urge her in this quest –
When everything inside me wants to say
Some incidents might best remain repressed.

 Yes, were my past so dark I could not see,
I would not seize the lamp and turn the key.

Photo credit: http://succube.deviantart.com

Casting Stones
Painting by Deanna
softly detaching

  apprehensively she walks the path assigned her softly detaching