Find the beauty ...
in the forboding of darkness,
even when your love is sherked ...
and turned away...
you still have it, to give away.

(c)jan leree 2012

May I be so alive,
that I know
when love is being lavished on me ...
may I soak it in ...
may I not shake it off,
... into the wind.

(c)jan leree 2012

You are a garden.
Take care of you.
Care deeply about who tils your soil

(c) jan leree 2012

Stand out …
even,
Stand alone...
Wherever you are planted …
Rise above …
that place in which
... You are choked
or disenchanted …
Release the metal
from your crushed petals …
wear your absolute born beauty,
as a velvet crown…
from which no one can scorn,
mourn or frown …
For long.

© jan leree 2012

We all cast an aura ...
even when we're down ...
may I be,
like the rose.

(c)jan leree 2012

The rose falls
Face to the pavement ...
Face to the ground.
She screams,
But is not able to make a sound...
Broken.
She casts a life giver's fragrance,
Even when she's down.

(c)jan leree 2012

Just inside the edge …
Of most every hardened,
stony heart…
Is the gift of a soul,
inscribed in beauty…
... Crying, and
Reaching to burst out…

©jan leree 2012

Like this vessel,
the broken vulnerable, heart ...
is the most beautiful ...
It catches the rain
And spills a love story…
... Giving every one who sees it …
Contemplation of fracture
and vision of a visceral glory.

©jan leree 2012

This little bowl had held rose petals
that I had cherished seven years,
like tiny satin metals ...
Until one day, they were thrust in the trash ...
by a hand that meant to erase my soul with one lash ...
...
... It did not work...

Trudy Schmidt Harvey-Olsen, thank you
for the Mother's Day Roses ...
Now they comfort me,
when tears fall in poses.

(c) jan leree 2012

 When I am word worn,
Detail weary,
outspoken and weak …
When nothing more is left
The tulips still whisper,
... They are still sent to speak.

© jan leree 2012

 Blossoms,
Blown…
Fallen…,
Thrown…,
dumped at the mouth of this gutter...
Blossoms,
Though left in a heap…
Their whispered song brings comfort to me.

© jan leree 2012

Echo:
 Blossoms at the edge,
the darkened edge of life.
Flowers in the gutter,
by the cemetery hedge.
Washed by tears of rain
and damnining rend of pain.
Let them lease their scent,
their blessing in your life...
their memory far beyond.
(c)Guest Poet:  TAO 2012

Echo:
...and when the drain filled with tears and rain
leaves memories for souls unclaimed
from far away we know they lead
from God's loving hands to
bare new seed, releasing the lost
into Heaven's plan
so love can bind and heal the land
so they may grow there
once again...

(c)Guest Poet:  Melissa Whatley Sheppard 2012