The Cage of my Mind

I struggle to pen thoughts to paper.
Not finding sense in the rhymes that I hear.
I battle with words and with speech.
To keep them locked inside, my greatest fear.

Do you understand my confusion?
The jumble of letters and emotion in my head.
A mess of colour, thought and feeling.
To be tamed only when I'm dead.

How do I tell you of the chaos I feel?
How do I show you the storm of words?
They flutter to and fro, here and there.
A rush of wings, like glittering birds.

A maelstrom of screams and cries,
The clash of weapons in battle.
The war is won, my enemy the victor
I am left to my insane prattle.

Left hostage to my own mind.
Unable to sing, speak or cry.
The chains and rope are tied and bind.
And you leave me here to die.

A children's rhyming story I wrote (and planned to illustrate but didn't)

I see the moon and the moon sees me.
She's so big and so round and as pretty as can be,
With her open, lovely face and her light that shines so bright
I know she's always there, though she may be out of sight.

"Oh Moon," I once said,
"You're so pretty and so round,
but how do you stay up there?
So far off from the ground?"

"Little child," She said to me
"You wonder how I fly,
"So high up in the starry night,
"So high up in the sky?"

"I float, my dear," she said
Her voice so strong and proud
"My happiness, it fills me up 'til
I am large and round."
"That's how I stay," she sang to me
"So far off of the ground!"

"Should you wish, my little love,
To shine as bright as I.
Just look on up into my home,
So high up in the sky."

"You're welcome always in my home,
So grand and yet so humble.
Don't worry of the height, my love
I'll catch you if you stumble."

"You are my dearest friend, my sweet
And know I am yours too.
Never hesitate to ask
What I may do for you."

"But now, my dear, just close your eyes
and know that I am near.
My light will shine and keep at bay
Your nightmares and your fear."

"Dream your lovely dreams,
So warm and long and deep
Knowing I am here above
Watching as you sleep."

Sample #1

 A Breath of Autumn

I am not something you can see, touch, taste or smell; but I am also something that you can.
I turn green leaves to golden hues of sleep. I chase away warm winds and breathe the chill into the brisk evening air. I cry rain to wash away the exhausting heat, my tears cooling and soothing the stinging, sunburned skin of the Earth and its children.
I put mighty beasts to sleep that others wouldn't dare approach; it is my lullaby in the ears of a great bear; mine that sings him to sleep, curled up in his quiet cave.
For me trees bare sweet and sour fruit whose ripe flesh wards against the ill of the cold.
I am Autumn.

You probably know my sisters; Summer, Spring and Winter; they are more well-liked than I. Well, except for Winter, she is a solitary season. Spring and Summer have always been popular amongst the living. A time for the hum-drum and whirring of movement. Ah, but I digress.
Now is not a time for stories or sisters but a time for me.
I come after Spring with her budding flowers and thawing of ice and melting of snow. I come after Summer with her scorching heat and buzzing bees, hurriedly bobbing here and there to pass on the promise of blossoming fertility, but I come before my sister, Winter.
I begin what she will end. Do you not love what I bring? My cool and quiet? My respite after Spring's itching pollen and Summer's blistering, shimmering heat? I have been doing this for many years, ever since time first began. Long before you came and long after you leave, I shall still rush forth to bring what this tired land needs. Create a lull in the music of the world.

I had better get to work. There is much to prepare for winter, she is as punctual as she is solitary.

Many tiny hands and little feet rush to bring the still and silent at my instruction.

And so, I still the chirping of birds and the snuffling of creatures with a finger. The thriving insects of the earth and the sky will cease their humming activity and fall, instead, into quiet. "Hush now," I croon to the little scuttling creatures in the undergrowth, to beetles and badgers and foxes alike.

I cool the warm air with a whispered breath from my crisp lungs.
A single tear will bring the drumming rains and another will cool the waters of lakes and rivers and burns. My lilting melody drifting through the air will turn the shades from green to gold, altering it to my will. Oh, rejoice in the colours of my house! My ears wait eagerly for the symphony of browns, oranges and reds and my skin for the warmth of the hearth fires still to be lit. With a word I will command the great trees to set loose their leaves and the flowers to close their petals, like the many mothers drawing curtains and latching closed shutters.

And now, my sweet, it is time for sleep so close thine eyes and drift away until Spring comes to coax you awake. No, no, do not cry! She will come for you, this I will swear. We each wait our turn but a turn we will take. We have done so before and will do so again.
Ah, all is done. I am truly here. I am Autumn.

Little Secrets

I'll take my little secrets
And put them in a box,
Where no one there will find them,
Beneath the many locks.

O, the prospectors may search for them,
The looters, they may seek
But in my little hidden chest,
My secrets safely keep.

When many years have passed
Any my hair begins to grey,
You'll know my secrets at long last,
Before I fade away.

Soon I will be a secret and
You'll put me in a box,
Where no one there will find me,
The earth above my locks.

Lets try this again, shall we?

I have touched fingertip to keyboard so many times and each time have vowed to myself that this time, this time will be different. I have started a new journal every year as part of a New Years resolution to write but as of yet, have not managed to commit, resulting in a box full of old journals with only the first few pages able to boast being touched by my pen and recording my thoughts.

So once again, I am vowing to myself (and to you, potential readers of my blog) that this time, well, this time will be different. I am determined to keep this going, and, in a show of good faith I am going to publish a poem and a very, very short story as well as this post all in one night! How is that for commitment?

So check in again in a wee while and I WILL have posted something else!!

Cheers for now, dear readers!