You have wrapped
your desires
in an invisible shroud
of your longing
under layers
of regret
hidden tightly with
all your losses
shame and pain
Your hooded
vulnerability now
buffered from the wind
forges ahead
missing someone
you have never met
Winter is
your safest season
skate over
the lake of frozen tears
stay on the edges
of your longing
near the guarded trees
and the reliable rocks
keep your eyes ahead
ignore the signs
that scream you are
beloved
the thaw will come
the cycle will complete
nothing is lost
when you let it go
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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When on grazed knees
you sink
begging for a miracle
raise your eyes to the left
and see the people in your life
the random meetings in what
were billions of
statistical opportunities
yet you stumbled on this one
that holds your heart
even
if it was briefly
Raise your eyes to the right
and see that all you ever needed
has been there for you
even when you couldn’t see it
the earth
has never withdrawn her support
Look inward and notice
when you breathe
that tiny
moment
of nothingness
as you breathe out
your body decides
to breathe in again
and that each morning you awake
with a clean slate
to break the patterns
of your self-created incarceration
You too are the flower
that chose to bloom
in the only chink within the concrete
and you think you need a miracle
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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You are there
though layers of adulthood
may have concealed you
But it does not take an
archaeologist to unearth you
chip below
the psyche’s dust
and there you are
shy, sensitive child
who could not watch
a Western movie
the fighting between
the ‘Cowboys and Indians’
too much to bear
and God forbid the horses
got maimed in the skirmish
Perhaps your five-foot six frame,
the heels, the executive suits
and make-up belie the fact
fact that you still exist
But you are there
this tiny beating heart
that took on too much
observed too much
could see the
interconnectedness
between all things
And now you understand
that you still feel
and that feel and flee
are made of the same letters
for a specific reason
But you have rediscovered
your own music
in solitude
the symphony
of your thriving
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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In the darkest forest
of forgiveness
I forged a path
where one had
never been
I led you
to the edge
releasing you
absolving you
Not for your sake
but to free myself
to trust my heart again
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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What if you knew?
Deep intuition
that every fibre
inside of you
confirmed
with every
heart beat
But there were
those who used
facts and science
to pave over
your wild, raw
and unmeasurable
knowingness
What if you knew
your prophesies
could unseat
the power hungry
the divided
the excluded
and create a new way
Would you still rise
to the truth
that needed
to be told
when no one
believed you
Could you welcome
the scent
of coming rain
instead of fearing
the brewing storm
Finding your way
to honour the divine
creating mindset shifts
that could unhinge
a protected paradigm
worshipping only
science
money and war
Could you birth
this prophecy and
gently raise it to
adulthood?
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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It’s not the handcuffs
or the prison walls
it’s the silent glance
hastening your compliance
an eyebrow
a tilt of the head
assumptions you run
beliefs long past
their use by date
keeping you
second guessing
in your own head
the norms that form you
cupcake clichés on how
to live your life
silence the voices
including your own
drop into your body
hold the pose
find the place of
most compression
sit and trust the wisdom
of your body to
water the now
desiccated dreams
you were born with
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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I was born on a
cold winter’s day
when the light
was fading and
the frost lay thick
and frigid high
above sea level
You think
I can’t remember
but my cells do
I know the moment
my spark entered my body
I know the moment I knew
what I was here to do
It was never spoken
Spoken can get broken
Sparks can set a bush fire
others don’t like raging fires
keep flames safely in the hearth
I have kept the spark
tended it and
I know for sure
I am the one
I have been waiting for
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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The first cracks of light
started on the inside
thoughts that rubbed together
and created a spark
piercing through the dark armour
I had been forced to don
The cloak
the mantle
of the good girl
the ‘Bless me father
for I have sinned’
the stoicism
from deep within
the rosary beads of my DNA
the absolute
‘do what you are told’
Anxiety performs a citizen’s arrest
Each time you step beyond
the boundary of how
everyone has defined you
The dropping of the guard
standing naked in myself
picking up the pen
crossing the bridge
The defiance of finally
not asking for permission
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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The owl came last night
it’s never been before
the sliver of the
waning moon
hung right
above my door
the moss had grown
beneath the rock
you once stood on
the gurgling creek
still moved along
the course it always knew
the dragonfly
suspended
in the sky
the sun would set
the sun would rise
the traffic weaved
the buildings stood
the people moved
unaware
the ripple of you
gone back into
the universe
the particle and
the wave
I sipped my coffee
closed my eyes
inhaled my memories
and found you in eternity.
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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You were always
striving
to find the pinnacle
the mountain
the river
the ocean
that would
make you
whole again
the elusive source
from which
you sprang
The external
the answer
in a book
in a face of another
and yet
it eluded you
Until
You turned
and took
one simple
inward step
Where the vastness
of the retreat
to your own
stillness
fed the parched
desert of your longing
© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks
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