Dear Leo, About John… and LOVE

“Love is life.

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.

Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone.

Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.”

~ Leo Tolstoy



Dear Leo,

Did you know that  I’m a Leo, too? Yep.  Born on August second. Smack dab in the middle of The Leo Zone. I am FULL of Leo-glow… strong, creative and enthusiastic, open-minded, faithful and loving. I’m a little bit dramatic, like to make an entrance, and want to leave an impression.

I can be dogmatic, pompous, and am sometimes patronizing. I’ve been called stubborn and opinionated, and overly idealistic. Although I hate to admit it, I’m a little vain. And I must be boastful since, on occasion, I really do think “It is good to be queen,” while secretly yearning for a ruby-studded tiara. I am uncomplicated. I have few secrets. What you see is what you get.

How is it that I am aware of all these things? How do I so thoroughly understand my assets, flaws and foibles? Simple. You, Mr. Tolstoy were right. We only understand when we are willing to love, and I have learned to love. I’ve benefited from  exceptional living examples, numerous historic role models, and a lover and friend who loves me unconditionally. I have learned to love. Not all of us do. How lucky am I? I live love, give love, take love, make love. I AM love.  I live. I breathe. I love.

So thank you, Leo, for so famously putting into words what is certainly the universe’s driving force and eternal truth. But I have to say, you and I are also alike in our verbosity. John Lennon put all that in a nutshell. And then in a song. Using only 5 words. “All you need is love.”

And there you have it.

Love to you, Leo!

On The Brink, Looking Back

As he teetered on the brink

Of this existence

Did he quantify success

Based on

Fast cars and hot women?

~

Any regrets?

~

Did the futile search

For his ideal

Cause concern?

~

Did he measure his own value

In the manner of the world:

Dollars

Cents

Titles

Rents,

And feel remorse?

~

Or did he say,

“Hot Damn!

This was one wild ride!

I’m so flippin’ glad

I lived large ’til I died!”

Inspired by Three Word Wednesday… Ideal, Measure, Teeter

KOK-see

 

An Ode to Valley Fever

 

Breathe them in

To the lungs

Airborne filaments and spores

In the warm, moist pleura

Spots and spingles form

Then plan

Their next move

 ~

For most

It is mild,

This inner invasion

~It means~

Fever, cough, chills, ache

Perhaps a rough, red rash

Six months

A year

You’re better

~

For others

Even twenty years later

Fever, weight loss, cough, chest pain

Blood-tinged sputum

Nodules to blame

But you don’t die

For the vulnerable few

Lung growths, ulcers, abrasions form

Skull, spine and bone lesions, the norm

Knees, ankles, other joints ache

The brain and spinal cord join in

Forsake

~

Recourse?

Rest

Fluconazole

Itraconazole

~But perhaps most important~

Learn the lessons

Do your best

This may be

The final test.

A few years ago, my dear friend died from a mad conflagration of valley fever and lung cancer. This piece emerged from that experience.

For the latest information regarding Coccidioidomycosis, commonly called Valley Fever, click here.

Beaten Down~Rising Up

beaten-path

Search for  LIGHT ~ shine brightly,

A beacon toward release.

There it is! Go forward!

Decrease, decease, find peace.

~

Move on in to join it,

Follow to the gate.

Denied!?

This must go on?!

Wait!

~

Upon return, again…

Pain, punch,

Humiliation

Rush

And pummel down.

~

The breath

Becomes the struggle.

Broken body.

Broken crown.

~

Finally then, it’s over.

Every cell, gene, chromosome

Release, re-live, re-love.

To Home!

Letting Go

Cradling you in my arms

~ all six feet of you ~

Is easier than you’d think.

~

You,

This moment,

Are perfect.

~

It will be our last, this exchange,

Until we meet on a different plane.

~

Caught in the heroin snare,

You’ll leave this time, this place, this space.

And so I hold you here, now.

~

Cradling you in my arms

~ all six feet of you ~

Is easier than you’d think.

~

Letting go.

Letting go is hard.

Inspired by Three Word Wednesday...Cradle, Perfect, Snare