Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Catching Up on Carry On Tuesday....


I didn't have time to write on last week's Carry On Tuesday prompt, so I tackled both last week's and this week's today. Since I was up at my parents' mountain cabin while the two older boys did weed removal to bring the cabin up to fire code (100 feet of space around all buildings), I nestled into my ancient beach chair and, after Morning Prayer, managed to write four journal pages and two poems, despite buzzing flies and gnats and the insistent hum of the electric weedwacker. But it was a fairly prolific day--and a bit cooler, too, thankfully.

Prompt #61 for Carry On Tuesday is from the first line of the Freddie Mercury song "Barcelona": "I had a perfect dream"

A Perfect Dream
Last night a perfect dream
paid me a visit,
a friend long overdue.

Gone were my recent accessories:
wheelchair vanished,
four-pronged cane invisible,
medications unprescribed,
pain a blurred memory,
not a minute-by-minute reality.

I moved freely--
straddling a bicycle,
my wobbled balance restored
as I push feet against silent
pedals, navigating sleepy streets
in dawn's gloaming--

swimming lap after lap, cool
water refreshing rather than
stiffening, pain-bringing,
stopping only when time dictated,
not when body surrendered
in exhaustion and hurt--

walking, running, even skipping joyous,
children's giggles echoing mine as
soccer ball bounced, badminton birdie flew,
tennis ball served, softball caught,
as sun slipped behind curved mountains.

I woke,
face damp with tears,
longing--
grieving--
all that was lost,
is lost, will be lost--
as consciousness melts into pain,
greeting fresh day.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett

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