by Larry Spiro
Renewal is the energy of life. Without renewal life ends. The more renewal you experience, the more alive you are. All life forms renew to exist; our renewal is based on free will to seek peace. We have the ability to degrade or renew, while all other life forms live then cease to exist. Peace is approachable through positive effect of renewal.
There are four different yet complementary ways to renew; first is to experience material satisfaction by endeavoring to work harder, second, physical satisfaction by eating appropriate foods, and maintaining a life style not self-injurious, third, using one’s mind to obtain knowledge and understanding, and fourth, connecting and embracing ones spiritual self. When we address one, all are affected. They are like mixing liquids of different density. When one changes, the others are directed to a new mixture. Because all aspects are reflective you can’t negate one to benefit the other. You can’t cheat for more money or take illegal substances to feel good. It isn’t renewal to be a cleric in name only, or to pretend to be spiritually connected for the purpose of obtaining wealth. Any action that violates the rules of appropriate human conduct is not renewal but a degradation of one’s self.
As we age, and physically slow, renewal becomes more logical than physical or material. The metaphor of changing seasons can be extended towards personal renewal. The season of summer bridges an awakening and the thoughts of poignant change. Spring and summer are like wealth and health, both physical in nature. Fall and winter are congruent to understanding and belief—logical renewals. Summer is the maturing connection of youth and vigor to contemplative fall.
The following Villanelle is about renewal and the goal of our lives ~peace.
Renewal by Lawrence Spiro
Heaven’s eye hotly shines
will and time a summer breeze
promised peace precious to find
Renew your life, heart and mind
now, in this place we lease
Heaven’s eye hotly shines
Head forward, straight line
through loving lights surcease
promised peace precious to find
Will that is yours and mine
is neither poor nor rich
Heaven’s eye hotly shines
Not to do is to resign
to dust and wilted chance
promised peace precious to find
Think, speak, act your mind
Choose life to enhance
Heaven’s eye hotly shines
promised peace precious to find
Bedroom – By Ethan Bell
Nights I wander, I find myself lost searching for comfort as I exhaust
Can’t rest in a common space, a place of my own where I can escape walls
Favors stillness blankets, warm, soft and familiar
My bedroom’s comfort is linear, linear as in the comfort is forever
I find joy in my bedroom where the sleep is an unsung pleasure
The Shadow Behind the Blossom by Willow DuBrovin
The earth quakes beneath my feet, a tremor deep,
a whisper between roots, my vow to keep.
From below a shadow calls my name,
soft as silk, yet sharp as flame.
Hades waits where sun wouldn’t shine,
a chasm yawning, dark, divine.
With words of the night behind a voice like sin,
he beckons me, and I step within.
Petals scatter where I tread,
lilac veins wither to red.
His hands cradle blossoming pain,
cool as marble, fierce in vein.
I shiver, I ache, I bloom anew,
roots entwined where none once grew.
A crown of flower upon a throne of bone,
a garden where the dead now have sown.
Upon his chariot, this love is grave,
the golden cage he creates I crave.
He is ruin, he is rest,
to curse a home within my chest.
Persephone, they whisper, lost and worn,
bound to darkness, but touched by sun.
His breath is death’s fleeting sigh,
a ghostly waltz that bids goodbye.
I feel the weight of petals torn,
scattered dreams, a life to mourn.
To ash, to bloom, to dust, to seed,
I follow where his whispers lead.
Fingers laced in endless night,
a kingdom bathed in dimmest light.
Hades calls for me to come,
to show the shadow behind the blossom.
I take his hand, a vow unspoken,
and kiss the lips of love, forsaken.
