Gaia

She gazes at the world,
Through the frosted glass of her window,
At the far horizon.
Its seductive whispers call her;
Fuel her futile hope.
The world’s breath tickles her lips,
Caresses her skin.
She stretches her hand out,
Trying to touch the intangible.
Little flecks of nail, skin,
Muscle and bone form wispy trails
Leading from what was her palm.
Little bits of her floating away,
Into the vast open sky.

Life is a turbulent ride.
It tosses you around.
It leaves you bruised and hurt.
Your body aches in silent agony.
Your mind screams in mute anguish.
Your tired soul searches for a base to rest on.
How quick you are to leave it, to disdain that solid comfort.
You take it for granted, but it waits for you.
It allows you to venture out where its gravity does not reach.
Yet it always waits for you to return to it, to stand on it.
It opens itself to you and takes you into it,
Just as soon as you open yourself to it.
It leaves you unshakeable.

It’s a constant war I’m in,
Though I never did figure out who’s fighting who.
A peace came, a frigid one, and the front seemed to clear
But they never left.
They were like those paltry sparks amidst the ash.
They got their fuel, and now I’m trapped in a roaring inferno.
There’s nothing logical about the flame.
It burns without ever losing its intensity.
It burns me, scorches me, but I also quell it.
The cold within and the frost from outside fight it.
Till the ice shatters.
The battle raged long enough, and foes are now friends.
The flame enters me; it fills me with its warmth!
A blaze of emotion courses within!
My life is mine again!

The water from the shower runs down her body.
She’s had a difficult day- work, family, chores.
Her aged body can no longer keep up with the demands.
But now is a moment of solitude, a moment of quiet.
Time for her to rejuvenate.
The water flows around her feet in dizzy little circles.
The steam rises up, condenses on the black and white tiles,
And then trickles down again.
Her body imbibes it, like a shrivelled seed.
It’s her elixir of life, a discovery made years ago,
The day she and that water became one entity.
How else could she do so many things?
The water imbues her, empowers her.
One moment rock-hard ice,
The next, sinuous, fluid liquid,
The next, ethereal, invisible gas.
She’s always shifting, adapting,
Improving, evolving.