Don’t think apartness breaks what hearts have made. The sun will span all space to warm the stone, So too does love traverse each distant shade, For I am with you when you are alone. #vss365 1/5

When winter’s hand stills all the woodland’s rush, The dunnock’s note crafts a symphony, Each throated praise through silver- frosted hush Makes earthly pain ‘come heaven’s harmony. #vss365

The morning breeze, clueless of human haste, Caresses me with soft and silent art; The river bends, untroubled, unreplaced, Its waters tender as a beating heart. #vss365

Snow Fresh snow, soft magician, stills all the land, Turning our griefs to pearl, our scars to sleep; The world stands clueless, newly white-washed, and Forgets the wounds it swore were cut too deep. Gentle absolver, hiding pain from sight, Who teaches grief to practice feeling light. #vss365

Snowfall O gentle fraud, that crowns our pain with grace And lends despair a borrowed, blameless face.

Porcelina I touch the place where your deep currents sleep, And find my soul cast into fathoms wide. Though seas divide, their tides our hearts still keep, And any ling’ring grief is scorned, decried. And love, like shipwrecked gold, sinks, rises, flies, A weight unseen beneath uncharted skies.

Vincent ~~~ The world lay cracked, unworthy of his sight, Too blunt for the gentle mercy of his eyes. He saw what ought to be; burning, pure, bright, While all made do with dull and grey disguise. So beauty tore him open, day by day, ‘Till, painfully, he just went away. ~~~ #vangogh

Your name ignites the calm within my chest, And every wandering thought comes home to rest; The shadows fade where once my heart would roam, For love did build itself a lasting home.

I’ve ricocheted like dust through b o r k e n light My heart, a shame, spun across every gale; Now, year newborn, I plant my weight in sight, An anchored will abstraction turned to nail! #vss365

Snow visits Ireland as a tender guest, Unlooked for, shy upon the greening land; It stills the bog’s dark pulse in quiet rest And cups the thorn with a careful hand. So little time it stays, yet leaves me whole; A soft absolution for an aching soul.

Is.41:10 Fear not, soft one, though mountains quake, My hand enfolds you as the shore holds sand; What autumn dreams in gold, the spring will wake, My righteous strength becomes your trembling hand. As roots drink deep from unseen, faithful land, So I uphold: Be still, you will withstand. #vss365

I cast my heart’s cracked glass into the night, Where ebbing tides have schooled my grief to shore; The frost that bit my veins now learns the light, As dawn persuades the wounds to ache no more. Past heartbreak’s struggle, I’ll choose new spring, And teach my heart again to sing. #vss365