The Explorer (excerpt from Rudyard Kipling's Selected Poetry, 1898)

'There's no sense in going further -- it's the edge of cultivation,'
So they said, and I believed it -- broke my land and sowed my crop --

Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station

Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop:

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

'Something hidden. -- Go and find it. -- Go and look behind the Ranges --

'Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!'

So I went...

The shades of life...

From purple to red,

blue, pink, yellow, white

and all of the various greens,

springtime is bursting with colour!

Unlike in autumn,

with hints of orange,
yellow and red and brown,

whose lovely fall tones

bring solace and peace

in spring, the fresh hues bring us hope!
All together their harmonies sing to us
of the different shades of life.

Thank you, birds...

For the promise of Spring, the awakening of our grey, winter lives,

for reminding us of life outside of our own

where the sun shines above the clouds
and new birth is just budding beneath the cold.

For your sweet, varied melodies that sing to the dawn
and bring hope of a new, brighter day.

Lament of the Soul

Where is the green forest garden
that my soul calls home,
the place where I am free to just be,
to run like a child and dance without care?
Is it real? Is it here for me?

Or is it all just a dream, too good to be true?

The wild forest calls me...
I long to be home.

One Spirit

We rise up and breathe,

we seek and reach out,
we plan,

we play,
we dream.

We move through our days
in countless ways.

We fight,
we fall,

we mend,

we love,

but all in One Spirit
we live.

Gratitude

When the hounds of time
are on my heels,

and tension rises in my throat,

You send the rays of evening sun
and the cooling breeze of an autumn day
to kiss my brow and restore me.

When my day full of ups and downs

comes to an end

and I'm tired and stressed and angry,
You open my eyes
to see all the ways

that You whisper to me
"I love you".

Fast-forward Life

From the moment I awake,
the lack of your presence haunts me,
following me every second of the day,
pushing, shoving, taunting
and I don't dare take a moment to rest.
The gaping hole goads me on as with the sting of a whip,
laughing in my face at the list of my tasks.

The absence causes me to fear
and I lash out in anger,
hurting those whom I love the most.

Why do you exist?
Why is there never enough of you?

From where I stand,
you only exist to give me reason
to prioritize...
the ones I love, the moments I cherish, the passions I choose,
and for this, I must love you.

And yet,
I hate the way that you torment me,
Time.