Winter Solace

This is Winter.

Secret and Indulgent.

Its Icy and Bare.

Blinding spots and Bright Azure
 Silent talks en solitaire.

Warm and Golden
Glows Sundown

Tucked in

Tucked in

Tucked in now.

Surrounded by the distant hum

of people and their pace

Haunting songs of nights long past

Laughing wine and warm embrace.

Nestled in this cabin watch,

Perched among the city lights,

 I resign to take my place.

A lonely outpost in the night.

An object in motion stays in motion.

But always it competes

With a body that resists it

in motionless retreat.

Night turns to night turns 

to dawn and digging out.

Figurative and Literal

Digging Out, Digging Out.

 Emotional and Physical

Always the digging, digging out.

Alive though Still
 In this white expanse,
There is room for things to grow.

Seeking Solace in the Clearing
Space for Spring's Eternal Hope.

This is Winter.

By Julee V.

Lulu's Song

Safe...Home Again.

Sleep...Sleep now, little friend.

Took your place in this world for

Such a little while.

Big Space in this heart

For your smile...

....mmm-hmmm.

Little Lulu,

Little Friend.

You are the Angel

In the end.

Busy halls of this house still

Echo with your laugh.

Find myself dreamin' 

You'll be back...

....mmm-hmmm.

Little Lulu's Home Again.

Sleep with Angels

Little Friend.

Little Lulu's Home Again.

Sleep with Angels

Little Friend.

JV - March 2007

for little "lulu" from Malayaka House, RIP.

MARIE MAY

Hey Marie, 

Its been a long time.

Looked you up in my photographs, from 1945.

Ooh the way you looked in that dress.

Oh Marie so full of grace, if only you'd said "yes".

Do You Remember me, Marie?

Outside your window, with my hopes and misery?

I know your heart, it aches, Marie.

Smiling with your teary eyes, 

For all those eyes have seen...

....Marie.

Hey Marie, 

I heard about that night.

Wish I could have been there for you

To hold you close and tight.

Ooh the way some dreams just have to fade.

But I know...Down in your soul,

You know they're with you...
....everyday.

Do you remember me, Marie?

Outside your window, with my young man's misery?

I know your life's been hard, Marie.

Smiling with those teary eyes,

And oh, what those eyes have seen...

....Marie.

Marie...

Marie...

Do you remember me, Marie?

I am the one who let you slip away from me.

I know your heart, it aches, Marie...

Smiling with your teary eyes, 

If only they'd seen me...

Marie...

Marie...

Marie...

Marie...

....Marie.

For (my Aunt) Marie May

November Morning

November Morning

Crinkly colored burned out leaves
Scratch across the ground.
Toppling twisted configurations.
Whirling wind, dance of sound.

Couch-bound here and clutching coffee
Its another November mourning.
Recalling that familiar clinging,
Tickled trance of cozy feelings.

Cup now turns to overflowing
An excited sense of dread.
Grateful all at once
For the sudden introspect.

Ready now to bundle up,
Heart longs for a snuggle up,
Then to fall
within again
into that
Deeper Silence.

A protracted chance to be creative,
As inward stillness lay.
But still this summer child begs the Sun,
"Please stay, please stay, please stay."

Julee V~11/11

Thoughts that turn to song on the road

Canyonlands

The Canyonlands are calling you home...

The Canyonlands are calling you home...

Wild daisies bow and wave by the roadside...

At the traffic that blows on by.

With every mile, I leave a trail behind...

Drops of blue along the highway lines.

Drops of blue on the highway lines.

But, the river she shines in the sunlight...

A brown and golden guide.

Leading me up this mountain high...

Stealing my sorrow with a smile and a sigh.

She steals my sorrow with a smile and a sigh.

And the Canyonlands are calling you home...

The Canyonlands are calling you home.

They say you can lead a horse to water...

But you can't make him drink.

And if he's saddled with the past,

And a love gone bad...

It can surely make him sink.

It was bound to make him sink.

And love can leave you off before your destination...

On the shoulder with your bags packed alone.

Is there a path that leads you back to an open door...

An open heart can lead you home.

Your open heart will lead you home.

Met a Wolf last night...

Had a sheep's coat on.

Eyes fixed and glowing like the desert moon above.

He'd have entered my den...

If I had let him in.

Trading my shelter for his love.

To trade my shelter for his love.

But, the Canyonlands keep calling You Home.

The Canyonlands are calling You home.

The Canyonlands are calling You home.

When You listen to the quiet night,

You'll know.

JV ~ 8/25/10 ~

Before He Said Hello

They met one night at the hitchin' post

He saw her smile and it looked like home.

'Round the river's edge he talked

The tired story of a man who always walks.

And he was already gone before he said hello...

She could see he'd been a lonely child

Hid behind a gentleman's smile

River carved in him a deep divide

Years of tears no one ever dried...oh well.

So he learned to run, but he could never make it home...

He said, "I never give in"

And he never did.

Yeah his river, it rolls...

But wherever he goes...

His grass looked just as green back there.

His grass was just as green back there.

Too many ills without a remedy

Came to pass as things do...naturally.

I looked at him with eyes open wide

But he's hard to hold when he can't hide.

Oh well.

He was already gone.

He was already gone.

And he was already gone,

Long before he said hello,

Long before he said hello.

JV- March 2007

Time Smiles

Time...it moves in silence.

Slipping past our narrow gaze.

No long farewells or hugs goodbye. 

Just up and out the door with grace.

Life...it tries to wake us.

Shakes us out of our foggy daze.

Drift back to sleep or reach for gold

With every step we choose our fate.

Love...it tries to find us.

Our tracks still fresh with pain.

We can choose to let it heal us, us 

Soothing as a summer rain.

Time...is now.

She waits for no one. 

Smiling at our hurried pace.

Her gift unnoticed by so many

except for those who know their place. 

JV 8/4/10

*written for Sandra Kiss London