September of my Years

 “One day you turn around and it’s summer, next day you turn around and it’s fall”

(With thanks to Sammy Cahn)

Want, Need, Loss, Fear, Atonement:
I have a lot going through my head this month:
I have remembered and eulogised, recollected and ached, recalled and cried;

So many deaths, so many losses, so many fears,
so much sadness, so many tears.

Regrets are universal, as are fears but September… 

oh September we have so many of both!

9/11, Hurricanes and Super Storms, Battle of Britain, Libya,
and this year wildfires, refugees, the so-called Caliphate;
so much death, so many afraid, countless in need.

What does one do, what can one say to ease the collective pain;
especially if we have done little to help and assuage the pain and need?

How do we as human beings help each other through the Septembers?

“For the sins, we have committed under duress or willingly…

Forgive us, pardon us, and grant us atonement”

May we all be written and sealed for a good year.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 22 September 2015

9^th Day of Tishrei 5776

Listen People

(with thanks to Graham Gouldman)

I do not choose my friends for their religion or politics;
but I may drop them for their intolerance or indifference.
People come in all shapes, sizes, colours, doctrines, and opinions; I take their views, compare them to my own, and if honestly felt will try to understand if not accept.

My judgement may come from different sources, different information, different cultures but my understanding is mine own and their beliefs may feel just as valid to them. I may never agree with their conclusions but as long as they've derived their opinions from honest research and not from the pleasure of ignorance I will respect their choices, but only on the condition that they respect mine.

I may try to add to their information base, attempt to give them other sources and viewpoints to consider but I will never attack them on their own ground, call them names in public, or demean them just because I disagree with their core beliefs. Anyone that does not accord me that same respect will be erased if not ignored, (unfortunately I do not ignore easily, my brain replays on auto).

I am infuriated by the mudslinging, name-calling, virulently vicious attacks made by people who disagree on some topics and don’t give themselves the opportunity to agree on others. People on opposing sides or people of conflicting opinions on the same side need to take off the blinders, take their fingers out of their ears, and learn to be silent long enough to hear.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak  
© 11 September 2015

In and Out of Focus

“A cold, cold darkness and past confusion is quickly calling yeah, all of my illusions.” 

(With thanks to Blue Cheer)

Everything feels like yesterday except yesterday;
everything feels like today except today.

Decades-old memories are easily summoned;
last week’s barely recognisable.

Childhood dreams still glitter like stars;
last night’s dreams read as unmemorable.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 27 August 2015

Who are you now?

"At Sixty One" (with thanks to Janis Ian) 

 

Anyone who knows me at all knows my worst enemy is Self.

I am Compassion, Empathy, Understanding, Reason,

Patience, Forbearance, Reckless Endurance, Pain;

Complacency never contemplated as a possible option
 or underachievement a considered goal.

If you believe in it then do it, if not, why are you acting?

If it’s your truth, then shout it, if not, then why do you speak?

 

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 8 August 2015

I'm ‘FIXING a HOLE’ where the rain gets in

(with thanks to Lennon and McCartney)

There is a hole deep inside me that reverbs and echoes

filled with mirrors and memories,
with darkness, and light.

I try to fill it with joy and appreciation,
with music, with colour,
with starlight and sun.

The emptiness pleads for praise and affirmation
requesting endorsement,
demanding replies.

All I can tell it is that Echo answers
the wind sweeps the raindrops,
and Light fills the gloom.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 11 August 2015

“Maybe the Last Time, I don’t Know”

(with thanks to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards)

Each sorrow, each loss, each terror, each tear
I ask myself, “Is this it?  Is it over?”

Each joy, each blessing, each present, each smile
I ask myself, “Will I know this happiness again?”

Things always happen without warning,
both the bad and the good;
even the expected happens suddenly.

Each moment is its own surprise.

How can one prepare for cataclysm or bliss?

If we go through life always expecting endings and beginnings;
making each “so long” a potential “goodbye”
how do we ever find time to live?

And yet, when one is aware of time, how do we not?

We can only pay attention and appreciate each moment:
happy or sad, frightened or peaceful, angry or content
for that is how we understand our blessings.

That is how we learn to say goodbye, as well as hello;
that is how we learn to live.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak 
© 3 August 2015

Cloak of Invisibility

(No one should live their life at the side of the road)

The last in the queue,
the last person picked,
the last phone to ring,
the last door to knock;
the last person asked
the first person told.
The last thank you sent,
the last present bought,
the last person noticed,
the last to be heard;
the last person trusted
the first to be blamed.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 26 July 2015