Life.

Behind the scene: This poem is about my grandfather. At age 76 he lost his identical twin brother to the same cancer he is battling currently. I observed him, as I have the entirety of my life. As always, he is an inspiration.

Suitcases under his eyes

Swollen with travel

With stories, memories

Lessons learned, his story

Lines straight and curved

A winding path of where he’s been

A mirror image is seen

The mirrored reflections smiled knowingly

A bond of friendship

Shattered, he found the mirror one day

Glassy diamonds forged under pressure

They fall along the lines

The lines of life, laughter, love, and pain

The glassy diamonds of pain and love now fall

He knows one day the mirror will be restored

Shiny, brand new, but for now, a void is there

An emptiness

Sadness is seen in the windows to his soul

An ocean mid-storm

Memories freely flow

The mask he once held is pulled away

Raw and battered he stands

Clothed in otherworldly strength

He rises from despair

The pain exists still.

But even through his storm I see peace

For the knowing smiles were shared also with the omnicient creator

The creator of both the beautiful friendship and the storm.

By: Julia Grace

Determination

Black teardrops run down her porceline cheek

You follow them from her eyes to her chin

Roadmaps are drawn out of the hurt and betrayal

Shattered glass on the floor— the final straw

Her heart is reflected onto the shattered pieces

Fragments of joy and peace are missing– lost

Shattered dreams you see in her eyes

The masks she wore burned in anger and frustration

They lie in piles of ash on the glass

Scars run across her stomach and thighs

Smaller ones from the needles through her neck–

Thise from when she tried to show her life back together.

Confusion etched across her face

Wondering which turn to take next

One thing can be seen in her glassy eyes

Determination;

By: Julia Grace

Truth

Truth

It hides in plain sight

Begging to be found

Sought by the wisest

Hidden by the insecure

Truth

It gives light, life

Is it so abstract?

Truth

It is alive

Displayed in character

In time, wisdom.

It moves.

It breathes.

The essence of our foundations

Truth.

By: Julia Grace

A Winter’s Night

Intricate lace lines the window panes

The dust of angel’s wings

Illuminated by candlelight,

It glistens

As the flame dances,

A sky of ebony kisses the earth.

It’s as if the moon dropped from the sky

For upon every branch and on the ground,

There it lay.

Winds of time swirl in an intricate dance with the heavens

Glassy waters, frozen in time

Stand still.

A winter’s night.

By: Julia Grace

Time

Peace in the midst of storm.

Balance.

A longing within begs

Confused it searches

The answers written in a map.

A map of its own language, yet unable to comprehend.

Is it just an illusion? Paper of time

The ink,

Borne in pain and love

Some words, with tears and blood–

Maybe the reason for the confusion

Is the revealation is not meant to be,

Yet

For there is a time for everything.

By: Julia Grace

(Ecc. 3)