The Shine Journal

Grounded

by

Jennifer Bower

Rooted in my misery on fertile fields of pain,
daily I take note of you; you too, I see are lame.

Crippled be both you and I, you fiercely brave the day
and I do covet yet in vain your wings to fly away.

No temporary solace upon this patch of earth,
stymied in your injury; labored by your girth.

Wearied soul you gaze about come sun or wind or rain.
Your roost beholds a tragic vice, the world of human stain.

Do you sense our suffering, the way that I feel yours?
Abandoned and alone reluctant is our course.

Did you mate for life; eternal thought thy mate,
then lies untold, a broken heart, grounded you in hate?

Did he leave you broken thought never to recover?
Daunted by the baggage did he leave you for another?

Another day of waking, another day of rain,
we amble on in stoic form, we limp about the pain.

Would I could rescue you, in yours I see my plight.
Alas I see you need me not for you have taken flight.

“Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go,” I say,
“you’re crippled, can’t you see?”
Suffering has not rooted you, but eternally grounded me.

Come back...
Come back...
Come back to me.  Do I hear your call?
A momentary listening…
deafening silence that is all.

Broken and alone, struggling to survive,
My weary soul tries to soar, taking wing with you beside.

Sufferings never ended.  Lessons rarely learned.
Unlike you I cannot fly and navigate my world.

BIO: Jennifer Bower is a North Carolina based emerging writer who dabbles daily in fitful bouts of paradoxical persiflage while penning under the name of Johnsienoel. Her works range from the sublime to the silly and always with an undertone attuned to social commentary; she works to capture minute moments in time and nail them like Jell-O to the wall.  A middle-aged youngster to the literary scene her poetry has been published in Flash Fire 500 and in personal MoleskineTM repositories, awaiting reincarnation.  Other random musings and self-less acts of  self-promotion can be found on her newly anointed Blog “A Normal Nobody!” at http://johnsienoel.blogspot.com

MOTIVATION: Examination of  melancholy and remorse as one moves through the rich layers of life.

Image by: Constantin Jurcut