I am a dark night sky
full of mystery and sparkle

I am a cloud
crying tears that soak the earth

I am a mountain stream
carrying a future
carrying dreams

I am an ocean vast
holding pain and sorrow
and hope for tomorrow

I am a tree
silent, immovable
yet I whisper and sway with the wind

I am a hidden cave
dark and damp
full of secrets

Deeply hidden
I am a woman

Full of passion and song
and memories beyond my years
exploding with joy
and drowning in tears

I’ve been under a lot of pressure
not listened to
not heard
but looked at and groped at
lied to, abandoned and
laughed at
taken for granted
just like my mother
the earth

I’ve burrowed myself
into the soil
like a worm
searching for nourishment
and warmth

I wriggle about
I squirm, I learn
the beginnings and ends
of all things

I am a volcano
full of furious words

So I took myself far away
upon the ocean vast
to spew them all out

I spewed and spewed
all the burning lava
the ash, the dust
till I was gone
completely spent (or so I thought)
all around me a landscape
barren

And here I learn
to breathe again
to move with the rhythms
of the planets and seas

And all the while I weep
there is so much more of me to be spent
I think the grief will never end
and all this time
it is hard to see
to understand

Until the words come
sometimes they are light and feathery
lifting me up on wings as I release them
other times they drip like blood
form my heart to the earth

Honest and fearless
I have to give words
to my pain and my hope
it is determined thanksgiving
that clears
my eyes
opening
to the smallest things
my ears, my nose, my mouth, my feet
I learn my own rhythms
how to walk, to run, to dance, to sing

Also my gut, my mind, my heart
how to know
and how to dream, to hope,
to feel again.

And all this wondrous newness
not only in me
I look up and around
and everything is green
splashes of colour
life everywhere
so much to discover
I am struck with wonder

Does this place really exist?
Is it not a mere illussion? Another lie?
All I did was rage and cry
to let the old things out and to let them die

And now I’m in a brand new place
discovering always a brand new way
to live, to be

So with gratitude
I accept this as true
and I name this place and this way
‘Shalom’ and ‘Namaste’.

Who are you? What words or images would you choose to describe yourself, your life and your journey? Can you relate to my poem? Have you ever held emotions until they wanted to erupt like a volcano? Do you carry deeply buried pain that is holding your life in destructive patterns?

How do you process things? Do you find that creative expression brings release and healing?

I process a lot through writing, which is also my creative expression. Of course, I do a lot of writing that I do not share on this blog, but this is my little offering to the world, because even though we are all seperate, we are also all connected.