Homeland

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Within my soul, within my mind,
There lies a place I cannot find.
Home of my heart. Land of my birth.
Smoke-coloured stone and flame-coloured earth.
Electric skies. Shivering heat.
Blood-red clay beneath my feet.

At night when finally alone,
I close my eyes - and I am home.
I kneel and touch the blood-warm sand
And feel the pulse beneath my hand
Of an ancient life too old to name,
In an ancient land too wild to tame.

How can I show you what I feel?
How can I make this essence real?
I search for words in dumb frustration
To try and form some explanation,
But how can heart and soul be caught
In one-dimensional written thought?

If love and longing are a “fire”
And Man “consumed” by his desire,
Then this love is no simple flame
That mortal thought can hold or tame.
As deep within the earth’s own core
The love of home burns evermore.

But what is home? I hear them say,
This never was yours anyway.
You have no birthright to this place,
Descendant from another race.
An immigrant? A pioneer?
You are no longer welcome here.

Whoever said that love made sense?
“I love” is an “imperfect” tense.
To love in vain has been Man’s fate
From history to present date.
I have no grounds for dispensation,
I know I have no home or Nation.

For just one moment in the night
I am complete, my soul takes flight.
For just one moment… then it’s gone
And I am once again undone.
Never complete. Never whole.
White skin and an African soul.

...
Copyright Michelle Frost ~ 2001

I Wish You...

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I wish you an African morning,
I wish you an Eden land.
Ivory grasses spread at your feet,
thorn trees and copper sand.
Where the first cool moments of dawning
are scorched by the bright sun’s birth,
and molten horizons miraged by the heat
quiver above the earth.

I wish you an African sunset,
I wish you a sky on fire.
A thousand red blood-glow horizon
of the day’s passed funeral pyre.
Where the shredded clouds form a dark net
to catch the last bright blaze
of the mighty fleeing bronze-cast sun
As it sets in a scarlet haze.

I wish you an African midnight.
I wish you an heavenly sea.
To drown in a dark star ocean
And float on the tide back to me.
Where the foam of the waves is the starlight
that swirls through the endless skies.
To billow and crash without motion
And beach in a spray of fireflies.
...
Copyright Michelle Frost ~ December 2001
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Old Man in a Window

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Old man in a window,
Sunlight on his face,
Dark window shadows
Pulled about his shoulders.

Trapped in his winter,
He watches the world.
A paperweight of sunshine
Just beyond his reach.

Time keeps its march
To the rhythm of sprinklers.
Hand against the glass,
He waits for sunset.

This was written for my mom's dad, who fought to stay active through several strokes until he lost his mobility and his desire to live any longer. He passed away 11 November 1989. This poem was first published in Crossroads of the Millennium.

Copyright Michelle Frost ~ 1999
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Always...

Sweet soul, my love's true light,
I pray you'll hold me close tonight,
Within your arms, within your mind,
This charm to keep our hearts entwined.

Sweet soul, my love's desire,
I pray you never quench this fire,
Within my arms, within my mind,
This charm to keep our souls entwined.

Sweet soul, my love's dear friend,
I pray our joy will never end,
Within each others arms together,
This charm to keep us so forever.

Copyright Michelle Frost ~ 4 January 2003
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The Seed

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So dark! So dark.
I cannot see..
Closing in on me the dirt on my head is pushing me down
or am I pushing it up?

striving, growing,
compressed
in this dark space of nothing-not-knowing.

One day..

there will be light.
leaves
flowers
air
the garden.
Wind in your leaves and petals smiling.

and the seed remembers the flower,
and the flower remembers the sun,
and the sun calls to the seed to hurry,
spring is almost done,
and the seed grows up to the sunlight ,
because it remembers before..
as the flower
full of pollen
on the bee
in the wind
that touches the gardener
with the sun on his face and dirt under his fingernails.

The seed remembers
and grows.

copyright Michelle Frost ~ 18 June 2007
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Genesis Revisited

...
..

when I WAS, but did not know it

could not share it

I dreamt of you..

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I took myself apart and created you a Reality to live in

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Air

...

Water

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Fire

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Earth

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The Light and the life and the Earth and the clay

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you would be ME

and I would BE

..

"I AM"

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but...

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you were not what I expected

...

you came from ME and yet you were more

you were YOU

not clay I could mould into My own Image

you were more

...

I never expected that

It was a surprise

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It took me millions of years to get over the fact

I was the Creator, but not the Clone-Master

You did the only thing that I never have imagined..

...

YOU surprised ME

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Thank you

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I never expected to grow from this venture

I never thought I could grow

You didn't take from Me..

You expanded Me

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My consciousness

My awareness

My Light

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You even gave it a name

...

You called it..

Love

...

Copyright Michelle Frost ~ September 2007

with a dedication and thanks to Peter the potter.

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