when my back aches there’s a pill to ease the pain when I start sneezing there’s a pill for allergies but when I’m trapped in urban loneliness when my soul cries out for wildness for freedom screams to be lost in Nature’s oneness back in the immensity of desert silence standing in awe on a mountaintop dancing with waves crashing on a wild beach then I need a wilderness pill a medicine that smells of campfires that tastes of Springtime meadow flowers that reverberates with coyotes howling at the rising moon but my heart knows this easy out can’t begin to feed the hunger it’s time to get out get away time to be on the loose again tio stib You might also enjoy: Sorely Needing Wilderness; Which Mountain to Climb
Category Archives: Life Journey Poems & Prose
little deaths
at first you think that’s strange she must be distracted the repeated question the forgotten moment it’s just not her but things keep happening shoes on wrong feet pants on backwards toilet paper wadded up in drawers she can’t count to ten she wants to walk over to mom’s house but mom lives in a another country the oddities keep coming building and now after days weeks months of little deaths she sits vacant wordless gone tio stib You might also enjoy: Walking With My Lover’s Ghost; This child Who Once Was Woman
All the Lovely People
the grocery clerk who bags my things the coffee man who sometimes sings postman, gardener, neighbors too stopping by with how are you? all the lovely people who lift me on my way their nods, their smiles, their greetings that brighten up each day and as I lay my head to rest my heart full, I must confess my simple life is richly blessed tio stib You might also enjoy: Over the Rainbow; Because Once, I Was Loved by You
A Daughter’s Love
open she said holding the spoon in front of the silent face open she said softly looking into the empty eyes the eyes that once so dearly loved her the lips parted the spoon slipped in the food swallowed automatically empty she set the bowl aside gently wiped the mouth the mouth that once had said I love you bending down she ran her fingers through the greying hair inhaled the scent of innocence pressing her lips against her mother’s head she kissed the child she’d never had tio stib You might also enjoy: A Trail of Hearts; A Child’s Smile
The Balance Between Wants and Needs
it seems the balance between wants and needs has much to do with happiness needs are part of daily life water and air necessities things without which human beings would not survive but then comes the gray zone the in between is love a want or a need? is belonging something we must have or just a comfort for a lonely heart Perhaps these are choices one must make and the answers differ among us but on balance when needs overwhelm wants when survival is paramount to desire when dreams are lost to getting by there is little room left for happiness tio stib You might also enjoy: “The Speed of Love”; “Because Once, I Was Love By You”
River Rock
I plucked it from among its friends pushed my fingers into the frigid stream felt among the hard, rounded forms blanketing the bottom and wrapped my hand around one that just felt right baking in the summer sun toes dangling tingling in icy water my mind studied the stone taken from its ancient home how many years how many millennia had passed to wear away its imperfections grind down its edges how much time tossed against other stones before all were worn into oneness how long will it take to wear away my ego how much time grinding against life to smooth out arrogant delusions until I am humbled into oneness smiling I toss the time traveler home splash! tio stib You might also enjoy: “If”; Life Journey Poems & Prose
Because once, I was loved by you
in the darkness left by death as tears flow with sobbing breath bereft and broke a light shines through because once I was loved by you your love our life was Everest a dream fulfilled a noble quest a memory that guides me true Because once I was loved by you now standing on my road alone no idea where I’ll find home but my heart smiles my strength renewed Because once I was loved by you tio stib You might also enjoy: “Our Deepest Fear,” Life Journey Poems & Prose
The Hummingbird
he visits as I warm my soul with rays of noontime sun I hear him swoosh and flash about the buzz of feathered wings drinking nectar hung for him to fuel his journeying he makes me pause to wonder marveling how does something so small vibrate so joyfully to simply be tio stib, 2022
You might also enjoy: Life in Reverse; “If” by Rudyard Kipling
A Traveller Returned
a voice I knew came back today a traveler returned a trill above the local din the squawking crows the screeching gulls the soulful doves a simple tune a melody both delicate and wildly free a voice I knew came back today a traveler returned a voice that warmed my lonely heart and brought me hints of hope tio stib, 2022 You might also enjoy: The Speed of Love; Slip, Sliding Away
The Speed of Love
given that light travels at 186,000 miles per second
and the moon is 238,900 miles from earth.
it takes less than two seconds
for the man in the moon to smile
and warm your heart
how fast, then, is the speed of love
when you smile at the person beside you
and they smile back
instant
immediate
faster than a speeding bullet
even faster than Superman
Wow!
this means that love is beyond super fast
and my smile is beyond super powerful
I’m putting my love cape on
tio stib
You might also enjoy: Sometimes they Smile; Life Journey Poems & Prose