"The Cost Of Being..."

always a price isn't there... for every thing...

“The Cost Of Being…”

 

“Sometimes "beside" is no small distance at all... the stars feel closer.”

 

The ties that bind are ever so slim and tender-soft

even though at times I know I was merely a cat’s paw

just being flicked - a switch to gift

a being to be used - abused.

Held-in-passing - remembered when …necessary.

 

There were times …moments… of seeming oh so gentle care,

then of caring and lifetimes lost …lost in the fog-bound echoes

of no longer there…

 

Ties that swirl and entice

draw and tighten and tighten

and keep us bound in velveteen ropes

as all the memories rend and tears fill within.

 

Ties that know

and are always self-aware -

that remember where

all our shadows coalesce

and gather close.

 

Ties like fingers’ tips

that longingly curl

round hearts and throats

and claw us and draw us

down and down

into nighttime’s swales…

 

I'm wandering again -

listening, pausing - reaching

edge-to-edge

breathing in the star's light

exhaling my dreams...

 

I still taste your tears

on my fingertips,

still miss the warmth

of you inside me… calming,

holding tight.

 

I live with dawn's soft chill

as the swirling mysts spiral and rise

expand to invisibility

and leave behind shimmering sighs

and day-dreaming fingertips

...and the softest smile.

 

A telling fantasy - I’ve let

desires prompt, emotions flare...

and now?  The touches ...fade.

 

…and here I am…

breathe… breathe…

I remember how - really I do

…it’s just …just

 

Teardrops get in the way - ya know?

What I mean is

…memories rhyme and raison d'être.

 

…breathe… breathe…

…dream…

 

Sometimes warmth is in the eyes

- the ones that hold yours.

- the ones shimmering as lips curl

in a smile.

- the ones that just draw and draw you into

...dreams.

 

Sometimes ice and snow

are but fingertips softly brushing your cheek

and even winter's basest chill

is but the gentlest autumnal day

as your whole world glistens

with the magyk woven from

...forgotten wishes...

re-imagined just because

you were ...paused.

 

 

when you learn just how “paused” you are…

were...

well - then it’s time for little rhymes

 

“Times that stopped

     beginning again.

Worlds now lost

     as each moment ends.”

 

“Peek-a-boo

     little star

How I wonder

     where you are?”

 

“Puppies and kittens,

crayons and sealing wax,

feathers and dragonflies,

snickerdoodles and ginger snaps…”

 

Then came…

 

“Dandelions and lightning bugs,

thunders and raindrops,

windows and echoes,

whispers and heart stops…”

 

“Now I see you.

     Now I don’t.

I’ll ever hold you… close within.

    ‘Til our stars rise again.”

    

 

It is a time of emotional awareness and personal awakenings...

 

"The Cost Of Living..."

 

You ARE allowed 

to cry, to care, 

SHOUT, stretch,

to hope, dream,

reach... touch... hold, ...love...

and be.  

 

...Allowed to live,

touch, and feel - all that there is

...inside, outside...

near and far.

 

...Allowed to KNOW,

accept, appreciate,

and breathe.

 

...Allowed to be afraid -

of losses,

of findings,

of livings,

...and even the dyings.

 

...Allowed to question

everything and 

...everyone...

about any anything,

 

For you it IS always your today

tomorrow

and even all the yesterdays

...all-in-one-now...

and you ARE

...awake and aware.

 

Be REAL - very, very real,

for the cost of being

is ever all we are.

 

Chris

 

 

Author's Note

feel free

Reviews

[...]

Touches fade because we let them. Snakes bite because they are afraid or they're hungry. People are so afraid. Funny how I randomly pick this one. It was the title I think. Very introspective and beautiful, as always, wis dom

[Bee C.]

I will begin my comments with an apology, for I've read through much of your poetry today and simply have been unable to express my thoughts in a way I was happy with. Yet I feel I am inclined to say something here - I willingly paused to admire the music and so must reward the busker. I mean this sincerely out of respect, for... Forgive me, I am but a sapling in the forest of poetry and I feel quite humbled by you. Almost that I daren't approach, and not at all out of fear of you but out of admiration, as how dare I approach a king in an effort to mask myself as anything other than a knave.

But anyway... these words speak to my heart. There is an otherworldly quality to your work that suggests a wise, artful soul. Quite simply, your poetry is beautiful. It is magic to me, brilliantly structured and penned with a longing and majesty that melts into every word. And all with strings of truth throughout. I'll admit, yours is not the style I typically seek for reading material, but is very much of the kind I count my blessings for when I find it. Truly sir, you are a master of the craft.

[Onyia-Ali, Kingsley Chu..]

A long poem with rigorous structure and wordings. Indded a free verse, just like feel free. The poem is freedom. Well thought out.

[Chris]

Welcome to WC... I appreciate your thoughts.

[Pryde Foltz]

A write that brings that meld the romantic with the spiritual. There is great wisdom in this piece, Chris.

[LadyAnn68]

Amazing thought patterns here. Nicely penned and insightful. However, the cost of being who you are is sometimes tragic if you are a chosen-one by self, example, a Marine who dies saving his platoon. The cost of being is great yet not so great. This piece is like a class in philosophy..but good none-the-less. I am glad I read it all very carefully, this is the kind of piece that really gets me motivated. So I thank you! You certainly have a way that is uniquely your own. Any piece of yours that I might read, I would know it was form you!

[Angad Waraich]

Really beautiful and soulful poetry.
I can feel use pain and longing.
Very well done piece.

Thank you do sharing.
-Angad

[Chris]

You honor me... thank you

[Angad Waraich]

The pleasure was mine.

[Cryingkate]

Dang I'll have to read this again tomorrow it's too good not to but me eyes are weary bro...

[Chris]

I know how it is... really

[Cryingkate]

I wish we had a reader for this site.
It would be great to go to bed listening to the poems on our friends list..
Wow it would be the best poetry site around..

[Chris]

Visit World Poetry Open Mic. They post the weekly sound archives of their shows... you can hear many of the poets from here

[Cryingkate]

OK I will... I always pass on their offer.. never realized it was audio dah ! open mic... LOL 2=2=6

[Chris]

The link is:

http://www.worldpoetryopenmic.net/

[Cryingkate]

Thanks...............................................

[Terpsichore]

But the price is worth paying. Without it we are just drifters.

Incredible poem this (well,more than a poem really,) it encompasses so much.

T

[Sleiman Azizi]

An explosion of words... you must be a grenadier or something.

But of course, poetry isn't about words now, is it...

[Chris]

words are our poor attempt to better define what a thought encompasses... sometimes I almost touch the complexity and weave of existence... sometimes...

[Sleiman Azizi]

The more I think on it the more I start to think that we don't need to touch on it at all. We just need to get out of the way. It'll touch us then.

I think.

[Chris]

Life already happens - it's we that question after...

[J. J. Nightingale]

I never did care for ginger snaps
I have captured lightning bugs
Pulled up dandelions, licked at rain drops
But what stayed with me most
Were hearts beginnings
And hearts chosen, and un-chosen..stops

Hope I made sense...sigh

Thanks for these special words Chris..

Jazz