The Words

As sisters slipping from the shore
With voices silenced by the night
Always reaching for our dreams
We sail along.  We’re losing sight
 
Of what we might have been had we
Combined our strengths instead of fears,
Believed in who we really are
In spite of distance, life and years.
 
Instead the words we need to say
Are locked away.  We stand alone,
No way to open up the door,
Afraid to use the telephone.
 
© 2012  Pam H. Murray

Seeds of Hope

Tonight as I drift into sleep
There is a vigil I will keep.
I will not dream of little girls
In hand made clothes, their hair in curls,

Though that is such a part of me;
I will not picture family.
Tonight it’s you who will be seen
With everything you’ve come to mean;

A restless presence at my side,
The voice beyond the telephone,
My companion through the dark
Who made me feel much less alone.

I knew not how our pathes would wind
Through shadow lands and fading years
Yet you were there with outstretched hands
To touch me through a moment’s fears.

One day you passed beyond a wall
And though I can’t yet follow you,
Your hand will still reach through the night
To ease the hours I’m passing through.

I still reach out to be inspired
By quiet courage you have shown.
I’ll let your strength wash over me
Like seeds of hope that you have sown.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

Written in loving memory of my sister Dianne who passed away

May 23^rd, 2012, just after her 64^th birthday.

River Spirits

Sing to me of water
Passing over stone
Just as ice is forming.
The river sets a tone

For the hidden spirits
Calling me to write
Sitting in the shadows,
Communing with the night.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

The Sea And Moon

Last night I sat above the sea

And watched it dancing with the moon.
I sank into those rolling waves.
My spirit hummed its soft, slow tune.
 
The ageless cadence took my thoughts
And wove them into ancient tales
Of magic, movement, mystery
And playful antics of the whales.
 
Somehow my tears began to fall
But sorrow hadn’t been their cause.
I felt a sense of life so deep
The tears were just to fill a pause.
 
All the sorrows of my life
Seemed small.  It was so beautiful
It’s sense of endless dignity
Caught at my heart.  I felt its pull.
 
At last I faded into dreams.
My head fell forward in my chair.
I slipped into another realm.
The sea and moon were dancing there.
 
© 2012  Pam H. Murray

The Haunting

Mesmerizing voices
Echo through the trees
Carrying night shadows
Evoking memories

Rising in a cadence
Older than the earth
Deeper than the darkness
That once gave them birth.

With a midnight chilling
Frost forms on the ground
Cradling the haunting
Of their eerie sound.

From the ancient legends
Wolf lore fills the night
Though they just seek passage
Beyond the campfire’s light.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

The Silent Hours

As night accepts the stormy sky
And cooler winds begin to sigh
I wrap myself in velvet black.
I feel its strength as it pulls back

The curtains to let in my dreams.

At last the tattered daylight seems
To fade into the quietness;
No boundaries, no need to impress.

There’s simply me and solitude.

My heartbeats fill this interlude
And thoughts are free to dance at will
Or simply lie until they fill

The silent hours drifting past.

I’ve come to see myself at last
As one content to be alone,
To taste the years my life has sown.

© 2011  Pam H. Murray

NOTE:  This was inspired by Emily Dickenson and Charlotte Bronte, whom I've loved since childhood,.  I always pictured them writing alone at night.

Another Death

A rush of fetid wind rushed by last night
As denizens of darkness stilled their flight
And tremours shook the earth as shadows fell
Then day returned to cover it in light.

I listened to a child cry in the street,

Then silence as my heart refused to beat.
Tears washed my face for what I couldn’t touch,
A soulless city wrapped in summer heat.

Somewhere a mother holds a broken toy

And cries because she’s lost her only boy,
A victim of a sad humanity
That has no dreams and took a mother’s joy.

© 2010  Pam H. Murray

An Old Friend's Passing

I felt her right behind me
With arms raised to the sky
And knew the Earth embraced her
As the wind let out a cry.

I jumped to feel her shudder.

With an angry crash she fell
And the world held still around me
With a grief it couldn't quell.

I heard old voices whisper

In a softly chanted hymn
To mourn an old friend’s passing
As death reclaimed each limb

Where an old rope swing lay tangled

In an unfamiliar knot.
There a trace of memories
And a young girl’s dreams were caught.

© 2010  Pam H. Murray

Pledge to my Saviour

Just when I forget to believe
You send a friend to my side
Reminding me I am loved,
Opening my eyes so wide

That Your Light can’t help shining through

And my heart fills up with Your will
As all of the sorrows recede.
I give You my heart to fill.

You are my Saviour, my Lord

And I pledge myself to You
Asking that I be a channel.
Do with me what You wish to.
 
© 2011  Pam H. Murray

Free Wheeling

The edges curl up on the edges of time.
I feel my existence and reach for a rhyme
To show of emotions that swirl overhead.
I look the heavens and see earth instead.

Life has turned over and hidden from view

Is a sense of completeness, a way to renew
Until I just sit and let Spring settle in.
Now I am freewheeling.  Come on for a spin.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

Reverberating Life

Soft waves glowing in the sun
Shimmering in light and shadow
Movement barely catches eyes
Blinded by the early morning glow.

Reverberating life along a hidden trail

Barely caught as distance intervenes
Manes and reins that cannot be pulled in
Hoofbeats add their magic to the scene.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

Those Brave Men and Women

When I think of the soldiers in faraway places
And wonder at shadows I see in their faces
Wondering, too, if they’ll make it back home
I find too much sadness for fine crafted poem.

As I think of the family left waiting behind

Facing each night full of fear, feeling blind
I can’t help but pray for the end of all war
And feel that such promise is worth hoping for.

I pray for the end of all dark degradation

That causes the fighting nation to nation
And sorrow and suffering of innocent dreams
Nightmares that end in insufferable screams.

Above all the prayers are the thanks I express

For those who will sacrifice life.  I confess
They have the courage that I most admire;
Those brave men and women who stand under fire.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

Her Kingdom

She wrote by the light of a single lamp

ll night at the desk in her attic room.
From her pen came the worlds and characters
Who traded their light for her world of gloom.

Each night the chapters became so real

That she felt each planet beneath her feet
And moved from the cold of an icy plain
Into the mystery of desert heat.

They greeted her nightly by pale moonlight

Or covered by storms yet she always saw
Courage and strength in their weakest hour
Beauty and love in every flaw.

I found her kingdom long ago

After she’d faded beyond this life
And thrilled to the dream worlds she had carved
With only her mind for a carving knife.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

(Note: Inspired by Emily Dickenson and Charlotte Bronte, both of whom I've loved since childhood)

Life's Promises (about Alzheimers)

Familiar pathes lay gilded by the moon
And from the distance a forgotten tune
Wavered in the trees where shadows grew
Around the memories I shared with you.

Your voice still echoed innocence of youth

Although the years had carried off the truth
And left an empty shell where life had been
With vacant eyes now blind to what you’ve seen.

My tired spirit fills with empty rage

Against a fate that didn’t let you age
With dignity, love and memories
But cast you out on unfamiliar seas.

I gaze into your eyes at emptiness

And wonder if you share the same distress
And know Life’s promises could not be kept.
Your spirit seemed to flee as we both slept.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

With The Years

The years had passed and there they were.
She gave her coffee one last stir
While he just smiled into her eyes
Remembering so many sighs

Of resignation at his pride.

He’d had so many things to hide
While she’d been such an open book.
He took so long to let her look

At all the secrets of his soul,

To give her knowledge and control.
But he found out along the way
That love sees through the shades of grey.

Laughter, anger, love and lust

Became a pool of selfless trust.
Time mellowed it like priceless wine
Whose grapes grew on a sacred vine.

Then as the sun began to fall

And cast its shadows on the wall
She sang a song from Mexico
That she’d sung to him long ago.

© 2012  Pam H. Murray

Conjured Words

I cannot write of simple things
Like mountains, forest trails or springs
When, in the distance, shadows form
And life fills with a coming storm.

I know not when the rain will hit
But I'll go on in spite of it.
I'll fight the fear that closes in
Though battles might be hard to win.

As pain awakes I will endure
Though, shaking, I may not be sure
I'm strong enough to be its match.
Determined I will fight and scratch

I'll knock upon Life's final door
Determined feet flat on the floor
And thank God for each moment I
Could conjure words that let me fly.

© 2012 Pam H. Murray