Leap Year

“Now I’m Wondering Where the Day Went” (with thanks to Sunni Pompeii)

Age changes our perceptions, our perspective;
it reveals a different view in the reflection of truth.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…
is the fairness to which we now aspire that of physicality or justice?

Do we still strive for beauty of face and form
or is our desire for beauty of heart, and excellence of character?

Are the pleasures of flesh defined by sexuality and luxury
or rather good food, comfortable surroundings, and a lack of physical discomfort and tenderness?

Does time bring neediness or expansiveness, softness or brittleness, bitterness or appreciation?

Which is more important: being adored or being loved, getting or giving joy, being right, or being true?

Is the echo of our childish desires mimicked in our grown-up yearnings
or have we outgrown the looking glass of our youth?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 29 February 2016

“The World through a Tear”

"Now here am I, no one standing near; it's a lonely world, such a lonely world."

(with thanks to Neil Sedaka)

I can no longer read or listen to news, opinions, or commentaries without wanting to bury my head;
the blatant malice, viciousness, cruelty, and its underlying hatred and ignorance is suffocating.

No longer does my Voice speak out, it reverberates within my head screaming for release;
but I cannot speak my mind with any peace of mind.

I am so accustomed to petulance and brutishness that any clarity of thought or kindness leaves me in tears.

Any minor innocuous comment made is attacked with vulgarity, scorn, or unwarranted vitriol;
friend, foe, or total stranger attack without thought or compunction.

No longer is there concern as to truth, reality, or forethought, only the venting of spleen, defensible or not.

People believe the worst of everyone, they accept every conspiracy theory available without research
or concern as to whom they damage by the repetition of lies.

Strangers feel free to attack inoffensive personal opinions regarding art, music, literature or even food.

No longer can one feel safe to state a bland observation on the weather, or a pet’s name without being called vile names, or threatened with bodily harm.

We have truly lost our way when friends and family can no longer discuss anything without ranting hatred, and complete breaking of personal ties.

The Dark has won the current battle for our collective souls and convinced those espousing the Light that greys are more evil than complete and utter malevolence.

I can no longer bear to watch our determined, self-imposed, collective doom,
so I anticipate going forward alone for my sanity’s sake.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 22 February 2016 

Anticipation 'Just Facing some Finer Day'

(With thanks to Carly Simon)

It gets more difficult for me to concentrate
too many concepts, too many concerns, too many knives to juggle.

I want to spend some time without mindful thought
nothing to decide beyond which book to read, 

or what to have for tea.

I want sentience to be less an encumbrance and more of a gift;
time to be embraced, not an endurance marathon.

I want to choose my expenditures with determination and joy
not with caution and dread.

I want to sleep until I wake, relish each moment;
exuberantly alive ‘til I rest.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak 
© 8 February 2016

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right Here I am, stuck in the middle…

(with thanks to Stealers Wheel)

I am so disheartened by the civil war around me:
friend against friend, family against family, rather than united against foe.
The sky may appear blue, my blood may seem red but neither truly is;
All I see is dingy with internecine thrown mud, crimson with fury, and black with hate.

What has torn apart connections after years of struggling together for a common goal?
Why do people care more about ideology than actually pulling together to win?
Why has intransigence and intransigence become the norm, locking arms against each other when previously we locked arms for strength in numbers and safekeeping against the abhorrent?

When did we decide loathing each other and name-calling 
were better strategies than standing together?
When did dogma become so gargantuan in size and scope that must cast us all into shadow;
tearing apart alliances, friendships, and shredding respect and reason?

At what point did it become safer and healthier to speak to people with whom I mostly disagree 
then to those with whom I thought I had common ground?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 1 February 2016

Cosmosis

"And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167

The globe is a microcosm of life;
a veritable encyclopaedia of ideas,
Oxford and Larousse dictionaries worth of words,
all of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations,
and a compendium of knowledge worthy of the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Hermitage, Newberry Library, Bodleian, and Alexandria.

Why are so few ideas acceptable, why so few words in use?

We are woven into Life’s structure;
animal, vegetable, mineral
Air and Water our warp and weft.

We are enmeshed in sundry networks
of nerves, veins, and mass.

We are formed from and into each other,
stardust to ashes, mineral to sand, tears to oceans,
labouring from birth to last laboured breath.

How is it we gather like magnets around iron;
remaining in opposition to any other cluster?

Why is each sub-group convinced of their superior rightness
the unfailing Truth of their own righteous beliefs?

If Humankind is animal what says we are better than the other beasts?

If vegetation grows towards the light, bathes its skin in rain and dew,
appreciates words and music how are they lesser lifeforms?

If we are all made of minerals what makes our compilation worthier than the content of salt and sand?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 13 January 2016

“I Read the Posts Today ‘Oh Boy’”

(with thanks to Lennon and McCartney)

Lies
Cruel world and words
Grey deeds;

Venom

Broken promises

Rash acts;

Enmity

Brittle silences
Harsh rejoinders;
Spite

Brother against sister,
against friend;
Tears

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 4 January 2016

When the Light comes Rising

(With thanks to Susan Cooper)

I am not a Christian. 

I am a Pantheist, a Jew, a believer in Spirit and Light; 
I find satisfaction in the yearly defeat of the Darkness. 
I love the colours, the fragrances, the feel of the winter holidays, the giving, the sharing, the warmth of Good Will. 
I invoke the Light and embrace the Spirit of the Season. 

It is neither Father Christmas nor the Hogfather delivering presents, not the birth of a promised child of prophecy, not the candles of Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or the bright glittering trees, not the songs of joy, or the laughter of children building constructs in the snow, not the smell of rare or common spices that yearly infuse me with the spirit of giving and love. 

It is the Light once again come Rising, 
and with it Hope that in the future Light and Peace will again prevail. 

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 25 December 2015