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Some selections from Sehlis
Bench of gold
Upon a bench of gold there sits a maiden fair who with steadfast eyes gazes out the window holding within her bosom the sighs of deep despair With silent grace she sits hour upon hour waiting patiently for her rescue from the jealous dragon king and his prison tower Many years she has waited thus silent and regal gazing out the window at life the running deer, the flitting butterfly and the soaring eagle Her dreams take shape and grow they occupy her mind she dreams of distant places she'll go and the wondrous freeing love she'll find And knowing all the while they are but a dream ghosts of an impossible future yet held for many years how real they do seem Til at long last the love she had envisioned came riding a horse of gold and silver to slay the jealous dragon king and still his orange-red flame After all those years of waiting silently she began to weep as her hero bravely fought the maiden in the tower fell quietly to sleep She awoke to see two wondrous eagles whose job it was to fly the hero and the maiden to their new home their castle in the skyOur Child
A human being
full of promise
curiosity and love
Sensitive to feelings
strong of conviction
talented, gifted
aware of wonder
awed by life
yet unafraid
looking to the parents
seeking endless answers
always, "Why?"
Such a child
we would have
I don't know 'why'
you were never born.In Gratitude
As a child
I played with dolls
Number were toys
to occupy my mind
When reading or writing
the words danced upon the page
My imagination
choreographed beautiful dances
composed moving speeches
dreamed of romance
As a girl
I discovered friendships
and the ability to translate
music and rhythm with
the motions of my body
Characters in novels
were real to me
Their images transformed
into plays as I slept
As a woman
I had children
I had romance
I had love
Education, thoughts, knowledge, feelings
were all granted to me
and yet...
I needed more and lost it allThe bottle called me
stronger than any thought
than any desire
than any dream
than any love
My world appeared gray,
shadowy, indistinct, unfulfilling
The mirror reflected a desperate,
undeserving, lonely self.What miracle? What spirit?
stronger than the bottled god
came to my rescue
Reached across the abyss
to pull me back from this hellI looked about me as I reentered my life
All that I had dismissed from my heart,
slightly out of reach and I hoped
that someday
that child
that girl
that woman
would hold their hands out to me
and we'd touch
drawing ourselves into an embrace
that would restore the good,
the beauty and the love.The end?
As I dream
I feel the presence
of another
I turn to look
and catch only a shadow
The road I travel
has been a mirage
all my footsteps
leading nowhere
I reach out
and the hand
I grasp is quicksilver
slipping away
Each new day
brings a new illusion
faith and distrust become one
I take a new direction
and again it leads to emptiness
perhaps the truth is
there is no place for me
More from Sehlis
