Continue reading »]]> Have We No Better Way?

(For the People of Kandahar)

Today my heart is heavy

With loss.

But please, don’t send

your condolences to me -

send it to the world

send it to each other.

So many spirits lost in disasters

and negligence shake our globe.

Yet we kill

in the vanity of war?

Evolved as a species

We stand upright.

Yet we cause each other

to fall?

We accept responsibilities

for our planet and other living things.

Yet we fail to see

our affects on others?

We speak many languages

and use the Web to make “friends.”

Yet our words fail

to establish empathic bonds?

We have created a

code of values.

But slay in the name of a God,

greed, hate, and fear…?

We are all human

from the same DNA.

Yet in the guise of difference

We fill our lives with carnage?

Is it insanity?

Have we no better way?

Could we not stand taller

if not weighted down with weapons?

Could we not live our morals

better, without greed, hate, and fear?

There is enough death in this world

we can stop killing and heal.

Continue reading »]]> International Women’s Day 2012

We dance on the ocean’s shores

celebrating the birth of the moon.

Unwavering from the darkness

we create change that enlightens.

With strength beyond continental coasts

or landlocked borders

striving for freedoms

we create new life on our terms.

Many of us full of a passion for existence

that transcends the power of just one life,

pushing for our rights,

we create a larger world.

Empowered, we evolve

beyond external limitations.

Forming global communities

we create bedrocks for societies.

We stand united in gender yet

mixed in our definitions

yearning to hear our voices

we create our own lives.

Many times we cultivate the world

we shelter the weak while

aching for our own haven,

we create our worldly dreams.

We are women

diverse in everything.

Labeled as one.

Today is our recognition day!

Continue reading »]]> My Un-silent Heart

Today we celebrate our undocumented union.

In reality it was our first date that never ended.

The book discussed two nights before, Serving in Silence,

caused us both to lock eyes, then hearts. I asked you for more.

And my heart has not been silent since.

An eternity passed between the answer and the date.

You sat in your car…gathering courage.

I sat inside…nursing my stood-up heart.

When you finally entered the room…

my heart flew to you.

My breath gone, I had never felt such love.

You attracted many, I felt my chances few.

But you knew. A coffee bar beckoned,

where we sat discovering what we could mean.

We shared our life stories’ as

if we were long parted friends.

We walked and talked and talked even more.

My feet never meeting the ground

people around us, simply blurs

my body and eyes knew only of you.

I entirely enraptured by you.

And my heart has not been silent since.

We said our goodnights,

returning to our respected homes.

My motorcycle seemed to ride the air.

And my heart remained with you.

My soul undone.

I knew, I would never be

whole without you.

And my heart has not been silent since.

Seventeen years later…

Books and information, brought us together

now parts of our professions.

Our love, overflowing onto others,

overreaching self reflections.

Together our hearts are bound yet

our love unfettered. Disentangled

our love stretches

beyond one compassion.

Together we try

to set right the wrongs

and because of this…

Our hearts have not been silent since.

Happy Seventeenth!

Continue reading »]]> Birthday Love

You came into the world

A daughter full of love

And light.

Your own mother rejoiced

In your life and the

Gifts you brought.

In a flash of your parent’s eyes

you became a woman and

a mom yourself.

In your children’s’ eyes

A hero, a mentor, their

Mother.

Your heart so full of life,

And light you instilled in

All of them…love.

To this day we, your children,

Grow in life and spread

Your love.

You light the hearts

Of all that know you

And know of you.

You are only one year older

But you are legendary

You are my motivation.

My own love and light

Is because of you.

My feet have touched

The earth because of you.

My heart has touched

Others because of you.

I am –

because of

You.

I love you Mom

Happy Birthday

Feb 18^th 2012

Continue reading »]]> Gifts Found In Life

(Another poem for Judy, one I think she would have liked)

Life in all its splendor

puts our hearts in a blender

mixing our souls

so that we can find wonder.

To have lived and seen it all

is a gift in and of itself. Yet

life’s gift is so much more.

It is the song of Cactus Wren,

the sun’s rebirth and its

lightshow as it sets.

It is a resurgence of life seen

in a flower’s springtime bloom.

Or the of the grief of an Autumn

leaf that becomes a winter home.

All of this, a gift

given because we live.

We come into living,

one by one, creating a paradise

through the gifts we bring –

our light, our laughter our love.

We share in life as we love,

and love some more.

When storms roll in we see

beauty in what they bring

and what they leave behind.

We marvel in their power

and ponder how we relate.

A chance to live,

to breath,

to love.

To cherish all that life offers

in all its various forms. Us knowing

too soon the autumn leaf will shelter,

us as we rest, to bloom again

…inside the hearts of those that loved

us for the gifts our life brought them.

©Delaina Miller February 4, 2012