… and write the words that center my soul.
I must have walked a million miles, barefoot on eggshells all around.
Hoping I will soon take flight
and build my wings while falling slowly down.
Hoping I will float across these eggshells all around,
still, it never makes sense.
All the thoughts and words and feelings and pain and hurt and anger and longing and love and fear and comfort…
… and write the words that center my soul.
Give me peace from all these thoughts, all the mis-directions of my dreams, all the words that surfaced out-of-order.
I never wanted to be a lesson you had to learn.
I never wanted to be the reality of hate.
I never wanted to…
I must have walked a million miles, barefoot on eggshells all around.
… and write the words that center my soul.
To turn it all around,
to make the ending seem not so out of reach.
… and write the words that center my soul.
I must have walked a million miles, barefoot on eggshells all around,
these cuts so small you can barely see.
But me… I feel them.
Each one, I know what look put it there,
Each one, I know what word carved the scar deep into my skin,
Each one, I know what thought made me wish I could fly instead of walk,
across the jagged edge of the frail eggshells.
… and write the words that center my soul.
Sitting here, searching for them,
prying open my mind.
… and write the words that center my soul,
and hope they drown out the deafening sound of these cracking eggshells that surround —
all around.
I must have walked a million miles, barefoot on eggshells all around,
just to find my own words,
just to hear my own voice,
just to soar above the breaking of the eggshells…
I must have walked a million miles, barefoot on eggshells all around,
to get to where I am now,
to see the place I want to be,
to know it’s not so out of reach.
… and write the words that center my soul.
.
.
.
I am thrilled to be part of a wonderful community of poets over at the Promising Poets’ Poetry Cafe and even more thrilled to be awarded this Perfect Poet Award. Please head over there and check out all the wonderful writers — you’ll thank me.
Loveliness. Even in the fog, you can imagine the outlines.
I really like that image… imaging the lines in the fog. You should write something about that. 😉
Thank you Cheryl — your presence here is always felt.
A lovely poem rightly deserving of the award.
Thank you for sharing.
Warm congratulations!
Thank you!
What a nice thing to say — a great way to wake up this morning.
beautiful, Becky, as are you. Thank you.
Thanks Lisa. Thank you for being here!
perfect…
your words are flying with lovely imagery.
Happy Potluck!
Thank you jingle… I was hoping you’d stop by. 🙂
“I never wanted to be a lesson you had to learn.”
this entire poem is brilliant, b, but that line just blew me away!
“… and write the words that center my soul.”
also an amazing line and your repetitive use of it makes it even more powerful.
this is definitely my all-time favorite poem of yours! {so far}
and congratulations on the VERY well-deserved Perfect Poet Award! now you HAVE to admit you’re a poet, too. *hugs*
Thank you Dani.
Writing some words and putting my thoughts in order — maybe poetic. 😉
You deserve the award, Becky, congrats!
The poem is amazing, as all you poetry is, I love how well you can describe feeling so many emotions, transition.
Wonderfully done!
Thank you so much my friend. I think, often, my poems are scattered to match my thoughts. Trying to piece things together, hoping for a poem along the way.
Hugs.
I never wanted to be a lesson you had to learn.
That line tied the whole lovely poem together for me, all the ways it could be spoken, heard, understood.
I felt this in my heart, as always.
xo
Kelly
Thank you Kelly. That line was significant for me, kind of a realization of a situation with a friend.
Thank you for your encouragement.
xo to you!
An elegy of sorts and a new beginning. Very powerful.
Thank you for sharing this poem.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.
I like the thought of a new beginning — I like the thought of a steady middle too though. 😉
Wow Becky… :~)
and congratulations on the poetry award
so glad to bask in your wonderful glow
heart wrenching to see the painful paths
that lead us to our own awakening
all roads lead to here….
and what a wonderful place it is
surrounded by awesome talented people
sharing heart and soul
and so many ways.
Thank you June. Yes! Painful paths that lead us to our own awakening — that’s it exactly.
Congratulations on your Perfect Poetry award, what an honor and so deserved.
“I must have walked a million miles, barefoot on eggshells all around,
to get to where I am now,
to see the place I want to be,
to know it’s not so out of reach.”
Some very encouraging words, reading them, gives me hope and a center. Thank you for that Becky. Amazing poem! xoxo
Thank you Joanne. I think I always start out a poem and I’m at a totally different place at the end of the poem than I thought I would be. I started out feeling very dark and estranged but somewhere along the way I ended up seeing my path — at least I caught a glimpse of it. 😉
Everyone else has called this lovely, and they are right. It is lovely, from start to finish. Thank you for sharing such beauty and insight.
Phew! I was worried when I first started reading your comment!
Thank you for coming here and taking the time to comment, such kind words you’ve shared.
Oh U echo me.. So truly!
Congratulations on the award. U Do deserve it 🙂
Do drop in at ~
Thank you!
Can’t wait to explore your blog! I’ll be there before the night is over.
i am glad i found hope at the end of your poem…walking on eggshells is such a hard life…my fav lines that stirred the emo…
I never wanted to be a lesson you had to learn.
I never wanted to be the reality of hate.
I never wanted to…
Thank you!
I think, with poetry, I start in a place and the words guide me to the end and most times it’s not the same ending I though it would be… hmmm, poetry!
Thank you for sticking around long enough to see the hope.
Beautiful. I especially loved the first 11 lines…I could really relate
Thank you so much.
I’m glad you stopped by. I’m looking forward to reading some blogs in the next few days!
pretty cool, I like this.
Well thank you kindly. 🙂
“barefoot on eggshells.” genius – loved it!
Wow! That just brightened my day! I’m going to store that comment in my memory and recall at all the right times!
Thanks for stopping by!
Since my childhood, I’d been hurt, by many people, many times. At 17 I joined the army and learned I was not alone in this. I met others who also knew pain and betrayal and, it was then that I knew I had to make a choice, I could either stay angry at the whole world for all of its wrongs against me or, I could chose the way of love and vow (to myself) that I would never cause another human being to suffer pain and suffering in the ways that I had done. But, I guess my point is, that you/we wouldn’t be the person that we are today if not for that exact past. It’s that past that brings us to the present and shapes who we allow ourselves to become. The past can rule our present or, it can help us to become who we are truly meant to be. To shine and share the light we have within us on as many other people that we meet and in that way, we share the common cause of why everything exists, love.
You seem to have endured many hardships, (most of us never get out unscathed by life) But, I think we are each spirits here in a body having an earthly experience. We chose to come here to learn and if we truly learn from those (oft times) extremely painful life-lessons, we then grow into another ‘level’ of our deeper spiritual being. Of course, you may have a completely different view of everything and, that’s ok, we all can only gain something from the sharing of beautiful words. That cause healing in ourselves or, someone else.
This prose struck a cord in me that tells me, you think deeply, you love deeply and you hurt deeply but, through it all, you are learning the ‘why’s of it all.
I’ve read several of your posts and enjoyed reading them.
Thanks for visiting mine and, I hope to see you again. 😉
Wow, I’m completely humbled by this comment.
Thank you so much — I don’t know what else to say.
this poem leaves a lingering feeling in me. it’s inspiring to say the least.
Thank you, that’s an amazing thing to hear about something I wrote. Poetry takes us places…
Thanks for visiting me. I love this poem, congratulations on the award !
Thank you for stopping by!
Congrats on your award, well deserved! Beautiful soul-searching poem =)
Thank you — I think a lot of poetry begins as soul-searching and ends with, hopefully, a better understanding.
“I must have walked a million miles, barefoot on eggshells all around” – this repeated line really grabbed my attention. I think I’ve lived much of my life this way, until recent years. Thought provoking and well written!!
Me too, lived my life walking on eggshells — as a daughter, as a friend, as a mother.
No more eggshells for us, deal? 😉
Thank you so much for being here.
Becky: “A Million Miles”
One of your best efforts…your poetic skills are definitely exquisite!
Bruce
Thank you so much for leaving this bit of love and encouragement for me to find this morning.
I felt very connected to this poem, in particular.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for leaving this bit of love and encouragement for me to wake up to this morning. I felt very connected to this poem in particular.
Thank you!
“I never wanted to be a lesson you had to learn.” I just keep going back and reading, reading, reading that line. It crooks a finger and tickles.
*smile*
Thank you for always being encouraging.