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TLC Forum We'll leave the lamppost on for you. 2023-05-01T02:15:19 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/app.php/feed/forum/37 2023-05-01T02:15:19 2023-05-01T02:15:19 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88180#p88180 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> A Love-poem from The Strays and Rescues
[4/30/23]

Sometimes love walks up to your door
On four feet.
Sometimes you find that it only needed
A kind hand to meet,
A bowl of food to fill its belly,
A place to play with joy
And sleep in peace.
We walk among brief wonders,
Shining sparks of lives
Clad in their whiskers.
The lifespan of a love
Is often so much shorter than our own.
But it still lived.
It prowled and capered,
Listened to what you had to say
Even lacking a common language,
Mirrored your happy moments
And faithfully watched your door.
Love matters, even if it cannot last.
Love matters, even while you know it's temporary.

----

Letter to the Field
[4/30/23]

This is a poem for the seeds,
Scattered and flying and falling.
I'm not sure I believe in fated meetings.
The hand that threw you high
Might be divine or it might be my own;
But oh, my pleasure at the roots you've grown.
I cannot see into the heart of things,
And I know as the old tale goes
(Although in rather different context):
Sometimes the soil may be too shallow
For a friendship to take deep root.
It must shoot up and flair with flowers,
And quickly wither once we pass each other's spheres.
Some seeds though they may long to bond with soil
Are still found by the birds of cruel chance,
Or strangled out by thorns when they have once begun to grow.
But sometimes -
Glad and hopeful times -
They last the years, and we can spring up
Together, watch each other change and bloom,
And reap one another's harvest of extraordinary dreams.
Dear ones, whether in my old walled garden
Or growing somewhere free and wild:
May we be fierce and sturdy together
As dandelions against the dark.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Mon May 01, 2023 2:15 am

]]> 2023-04-28T02:54:34 2023-04-28T02:54:34 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88179#p88179 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> May the Good Times Last
4/27/23

Please don't leave me,
Please don't go away.
Please don't be the next one
On the list of broken dreams.
I'm so ashamed to beg,
But I'd love for you to stay.
We have adopted you so thoroughly.
Even my folks believe you're family.
Reminders of you flash joyfully
On many facets of my life.
I see your work in my library,
Your joy in shared myths and dreams.
I see you in the yarn aisle at the craft shop.
You're smiling at my side in every gleam of amethyst.
I want you in my birthdays, in my weekdays, in the moments I can still praise
A Lord we both love though we see him differently.
I fear fracture lines I've met in other folk before.
I hope I am always at home at your door,
And if you want, someday you could live with me.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:54 am

]]> 2023-04-28T01:22:07 2023-04-28T01:22:07 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88178#p88178 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> Editing
4/27/23

I always pare down my edges for acceptability.
Who I'm talking to only determines how severely.
Everyone has their limits, even in therapy.
I'd like it better if you'd just tell me openly.
How much of me is too big for you?
What's overshare, what are your boundaries?
When am I likely to leave the path of safety?
Don't pretend your love is so true
I could tell you anything.
I've been burned that way before, when I took them literally.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Fri Apr 28, 2023 1:22 am

]]> 2023-04-27T05:58:04 2023-04-27T05:58:04 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88177#p88177 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> I Found Rest in You
4/27/23

This city might not be my home, but you are,
I thought as I lay beside you on your bed.
My nerves constrained me from exploring far,
But I found peace and joy in a narrow room
While your soft dark eyes could gaze into my head.
You bought my path to freedom while I brooded in the gloom.

In your love I found the joy in a place where I'll never live.
Springtime sang to me although the flowers were strange.
Bookstores and birdsongs and four-footed friends could give
More than a touch of wonder,
As we wandered while the seasons changed,
And fog lifted and left me free to ponder.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:58 am

]]> 2023-04-26T01:34:25 2023-04-26T01:34:25 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88176#p88176 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> Susan's Second Adolescence
4/25/23

Of course we don't react the same
When our throne's a broken memory,
And the golden dream vanishes
In the cold grey English morning.
My kind and practical girl,
You wore your shining flowers
With gentleness and grace,
And tried to lead the best you could
While kingdoms sought your hand.
You've been a woman grown before,
And you want to be one among the cobblestones
Just as you were in the forests.
It's just the rules are different here.
Is it abandonment to move forward
Once the door has closed behind you?
Do you paint yourself into a fantasy,
Or make up with battle armor?

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Wed Apr 26, 2023 1:34 am

]]> 2023-04-25T05:18:08 2023-04-25T05:18:08 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88175#p88175 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> Bonsai Apples
[4/24/23]

I used to feel proud on behalf

Of a bonsai apple tree.

If it could bear fruit I could too,

No matter how small I might be.

But sometimes it may be no sin,

To rest and take the easy path. 

My branch is small and frail within,

Roots still reaching for what's true.

Apples are heavy when you're trying to be.

Perhaps I cannot fruit till I am free.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Tue Apr 25, 2023 5:18 am

]]> 2023-04-24T06:47:08 2023-04-24T06:47:08 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88173#p88173 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]>
The Long Goodbye
4/24/23

I going to build a life without you,
Though I wouldn't choose to lose you.
You were interwoven into almost every part of me.
The way you spiraled and cut ties with loved ones was a tragedy.
But somehow I will take these threads,
The jewel tones from both our heads -
All I learned from your aspirations
And your failures;
Precious citizens of dreaming nations,
Fears and pleasures -
And I'll weave them into something new.
I will use the memories,
And build ruins into something true.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Mon Apr 24, 2023 6:47 am

]]> 2023-04-23T05:39:45 2023-04-23T05:39:45 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88172#p88172 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> Long-distance
4/23/23

A thousand gentle feelers of connection
Branch out through mechanical minds.
My heartstrings splay out in extension
Along aetherial ties that bind
Me to my knowledge of all of you.
I glow golden with joy,
Though my face is lit in monitor blue.
Such power we've found, for good or ill!
We weave cyber networks of community.
From far away, I can care for you still
In many small ways minus proximity.
My words, my art, my listening ears
Still matter in spite of a world so large.
We can shelter and comfort from fears
And the swirl of circumstance's barrage.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:39 am

]]> 2023-04-22T07:51:00 2023-04-22T07:51:00 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88169#p88169 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> Where Dryads meet the Hope of Glory
4/22/23

Brother River, Sister Tree
Star Cousins singing silver in the sky;
Guardians and little spirits, let it be
We seek our Parent, finding why
We play our part in season's song and dance.
Made for love and wonder, we will roam
Through the strangest fractal tapestry,
Embracing interlinked particularity
Until a new world opens, as if by chance
And every Springtime finds its way back home.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:51 am

]]> 2023-04-21T21:59:18 2023-04-21T21:59:18 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88168#p88168 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> The Worst Recipe
4/21/23

My heart is simmering shame
On the back burner,
And it's stinking up the house.
But I cannot lift it,
It is too heavy for me alone.
All the things I haven't done
And should do,
Wishes left so long unattended
They are rankling unfulfilled,
Chopped like vegetables
In a stew.
The smell makes me ill,
I cannot pull myself together.
Please take me away from here.

---

Head in the Clouds
4/21/23

Rainbow paint is the stickiest sort,
As the Centipede learned on the flying peach.
Don't step between artists and their art
Or soon you'll be frozen on your feet.
Tread among cloud-palaces with care,
My friend, while the folk with their muses
Are all in a flurry,
And if you think to linger,
Just remember,
That wonders won't let you leave in a hurry.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:59 pm

]]> 2023-04-20T18:21:02 2023-04-20T18:21:02 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88166#p88166 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> ---
Breaking My Masquerade
4/20/23

I will be weird and wild,
With or without permission.
You cannot amputate
My idiosyncrasies.
For myself, I may file down my horns
To mask my shadow for your world,
But if you come for my sisters
I will rise with tooth and claw.
My love will set my heart on fire
Until I cannot play your games.
I am a child of wonder,
At home in deep dark caves.
I'm willing that we coexist,
But I won't pretend to be the same.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Thu Apr 20, 2023 6:21 pm

]]> 2023-04-17T09:58:22 2023-04-17T09:58:22 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88161#p88161 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> When Bookshelves Look Like Hope
[4/17/23]

Someday we'll have a library -
Y'all and me, and maybe her.
We'll blend up our tastes and wonder,
And spread them over shelves together;
Browse each other's treasured things,
But only with permission.
We'll need room to store
The loads of books we love.
They'll be heavy in the boxes
Coming in to our house,
But the weight will be so worth it.
We might prune our stacks a little,
To lighten the load,
But we'll keep the ones shelved deepest
In our hearts and memories.
All my poetry is staying.
So is the brave young child
Facing fearful fay and secret doors;
I read her on the way to my Grandpa's funeral
And she was signed by my ex's alter.
The most beautiful illustrations
Must stay too, for the awe
And curiosity they raise
In my innermost artist.
Little sis will surely bring
The unexpected enchantress
And misunderstood evil wood,
She has read at least six times
Since it came in on her birthday.
And she still protects the battered
Memory, equestrian adventure
And desert quest
From a long-gone childhood haven.
Our eldest has theology in spades,
School linguistics she could never quite let go,
And a spread of children's classics
She saves up for her new family,
In case she ever finds it.
What might our friend bring in?
She loves books, but doesn't keep as many -
Which does she love most deeply?
I want to see them all,
Standing proudly in a safe place;
When all the books in sight are ours,
I'll know I've found a home.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Mon Apr 17, 2023 9:58 am

]]> 2023-04-16T21:44:34 2023-04-16T21:44:34 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88158#p88158 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> Youth Pastors
4/16/23

I cared for you, perhaps parasocially;
Saw you as doors to reach a holier place.
I longed for your approval as I sought God's love and grace,
Danced to the tunes you played on our puppet strings,
All flash, charisma and lights, and the drum in my heartbeat.
Who anointed your authority?
You had crowd appeal, a little Bible school,
And more time in the school of hard knocks.
The blunt-spoken country boy
Ex-bullrider and his cheerleader beloved
Moved among impassioned teens
With the glow of celebrity.
You egged us on to competition and to God, I think, near equally.
I got high on it. And every Thursday morning came the crash,
The rollercoaster of the band and daydreamed visions fading out,
And a cooler head left to fight to understand
How to find a practical path for living.
Did I want a vocation,
Or friends and hope and adulation?
What was prophecy, what was fantasy,
And what was me channeling my broken head?
I wanted a savior, and you gave me church instead.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:44 pm

]]> 2023-04-15T07:16:09 2023-04-15T07:16:09 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88148#p88148 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> Kindred Spirits
4/15/23

We were just children,
Sunburn on our shoulders,
Seeking connection
With someone our age.
Two hearts on fire
In a hotbed of zealots,
Debating books and music
After a sudden embrace.
Oh, we were children,
Thought we were so grown-up;
Heads frothing with thinking
Denied and dismissed.
Sand-castle dreams,
Hoped or feared predestination;
Eager to be authors,
Brief island of bliss.
We both wore such shadows
Over those shoulders,
One-pieces, camp tee shirts,
And struggles at home.
Our sisters conspired
And inspired a chance meeting,
The spark struck at greeting
Came aflame as we roamed.

---

The One Good Thing
4/15/23

You were my luckiest accident.
What would I do without you?
Almost a chance encounter,
Far from home, stars were right.
I was clueless, no intent
To stumble on a bond so true,
Deeper hopes rose up in chatter,
Lonely souls who longed for light.
If those years beneath blue stained glass
And red brick gave me nothing
But your summer-bright smile
And a ticket to your door,
In the melancholy as I pass
The bulk of memory looming,
I could sing all the while
Because I had your love in store.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Sat Apr 15, 2023 7:16 am

]]> 2023-04-15T00:57:00 2023-04-15T00:57:00 https://www.thelionscall.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934&p=88143#p88143 <![CDATA[Original Works • Re: Lily's NaPo 2023]]> A Rabbit Quest (haiku)
4/14/23

Catastrophe's rise
Pushes brave seekers forth
To a green new home.

Statistics: Posted by Lily of Archenland — Sat Apr 15, 2023 12:57 am

]]>