Trikel's Truth: Poetry

I love poetry. When someone utters the word POETRY, I'm immediately taken to that scene in Bridget Jones Diary, where Bridget and her boss/lover are drinking, smoking, and reciting poetry in boats on the lake, laughing and having a great time.

I also think of the best locations for reading and writing poetry. I love sitting by a fireplace in the winter curled up in a blanket, sipping some wine, while reading Robert Frost. How about sitting in the sand by the ocean in the cool spring at sunrise in a sweatshirt and bare feet, feeling the wind in your hair while composing a poem about God's power and greatness. Sitting by a lake, toes in the water in the summer while reading Keats or Whitman.... Or relaxing in a bistro with a cup of espresso while digging into e e cummigs.... Or my current favorite, sitting on my daughter's bed at night, just before she says her prayers, as she reads to me and giggles from Shel Silverstein.

I have written a lot of poetry. I don't know that it is any good, but I know that I was able to release deeply seated emotions and fears through the poetry and housed them in my journals over the years.

In college, I learned to play guitar. My poetry, became music, song lyrics, and became even more powerful. I remember those sunny fall days, sitting in the quad with my guitar and a notebook, strumming and writing out lyrics. I found a great piece of my soul wrapped into those songs and poems even if they weren't much to listen to.

I've written funny poems and songs, like the one about an ex's jealous wife called, "She thinks I'm sleeping with her husband," or the one about my dear friends that I traveled Europe with called, "Bug farts and Cellophane." I've written romantic poems, like "City Boy/Country Girl" about meeting my husband from New York City, when I was raised around farmlands. I've written about abuse, pain, fear, agony, depression, and even topics that I had no direct experience with like drug abuse. Most of my poems and songs, however, were about faith. My hopes and prayers for my life, for my future.

Today, I'm going to share one poem with you, called "In Time." I wrote this at a time when my heart was very confused and torn. I was recently divorced and had met someone new who desperately wanted to get married. I wasn't ready to just jump into a second marriage that quickly. I had been hurt and bruised and I needed to heal before I moved on to marriage again. I hope you like it.

In Time

I'm eager to run to you and hold you in my arms

I'm eager to follow you away from any harm

I'm eager to abandon all the painful loves from the past

I'm eager to move on and start again

But I'm scared that you could be the one

And I'm scared of losing the freedom I won

And I'm scared that if I choose, I lose

And wind up falling, failing again

Don't rush me

Don't push me

I will be ready when I'm ready