Ritual of the returning people

The prompt for Poets and Storytellers United is combination/ collaboration 

Shared with dVerse for Open link Night

Ritual of the returning people

Dream new songs  

risen from the chorus of many.  

Draw in the sweetness,  

of collaboration

each breath a mingling  

of gifted waters.  

For this is the rite  

of the water bearers

gathering their vessels  

to fill a mighty sea.  

So open.  

Break the shell 

that kept you solitary.  

Return to the weaving,  

threads rejoining threads  

the ancient tapestry  

of the people.  

Here we carve our lines  

into the one great story.  

Here we transmute  

our offerings  

into a golden chain,  

hand to hand,  

remembering the oneness  

we never truly left.

Every decision is a doorway

The prompt for What’s Going On is about wishes for the New Year, about any fresh start. There are many things we have no control over. However when you live with awareness, every decision can be a fresh start. So I wish that your decisions will send you on the right path.😀

Every Decision is a doorway

Every decision is a doorway
to a new beginning
Every decision you make
creates a different strand
You are the weaver of your world
of many unseen threads.

I know,
you can’t choose your challenges.
Some cut into the flesh of your being.
but you still have the freedom
to act or to react,
to trust your hands know the work,
or to wrap yourself in a blanket of care
and to know the sky
will still hold the stars for you.

There are small decisions to make.
Listen to the honeyed echo of your values.
Ask if your words will soften
what they touch,
falling like velvet rain on hard earth.
Know the ground remembers
every kindness.

There are big decisions to make.
Insecurity fills your mind.
Doors close.
There will be new stones
you can stumble on,
but your journey will also be stitched
with invisible gold
you only see
when you look back.

2026 Tūmanako

I post my 2026 poem for you as I am going into a blogging break for about a month. My brother is coming over from the Netherlands. My daughter with her family is coming over and holidays coming up. It was a pleasure to hang out in the blogging world with you this year and hope to see you all again in 2026.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all

Marja❤️

Tūmanako (Hope, desire and aspiration)

Reset your clock for 2026,
so you may cross its threshold anew,
an empty page, quiet as dawn
waiting to receive you.

Charge it with intention.
Scatter little astonishments like seeds
over the turning year.
Anything that lets your heart
sound its hidden note.

Your thoughts are your building stones.
Choose the ones that strengthen you,
the ones that rise
from the deep chamber
of your heart.

Breathe hope, compassion, love;
wrap them as a tender offering
and send them into the world.
The future becomes visible
when dreams build
their houses of joy.

Show up, whatever happens.
Walk as though you travel
an ancient quest
remembering itself.
Learn the way,
and the way will generously unfold.
Doors will open,
bridges will lift themselves
from the mist.
The world will empty its pockets
and spill stars.

And then, my friend,
this year will blush with possibilities,
it will shine with the quiet delight
of something sacred
opening to meet you.

Christmas

 The prompt for Palavras Aladas - Winged Words is Christmas 

Christmas

I string words like stars
decorating a Christmas tree.
Stars like poets gathered
around a table and beyond,
creating garlands
of poems of beauty, of wisdom,
of lyrics that sing.

The world needs poems,
and the spirit of Christmas,
for it has lost its soul,
its sorrow bleeding through us.
So we stitch its wounds,
set up trees with flickering lights,
and sing our carols.

We toast to the planting
of seeds of joy,
of seeds of renewal
We gather
and celebrate
to create peace
from shreds of fabric
and wish each other
a very Merry Christmas.

Then we let our small lights
rise together
slowly
softly
into a new constellation
of hope.

A Merry Christmas to everyone

Marja ❤️

When the light found me

A meditation on receiving rain, lullabies, light and the gems that appear when we do.

When the light found me

I stepped into a room
when the light found me.
I didn’t look for it
I simply opened
and let it in,
just like that.

I remember it now:
the way the ground
receives rain,
the way the wind
sings lullabies to stones,
until they fracture

and in their fracturing
a gem appeared,
radiant
full of colour
jam-packed with
possibility.

I’m letting the light
flow through me now,
whenever it chooses
I lean into the new self
who keeps tasting
tears of delight.

Living in the In-between

 The prompt for Poets and Storytellers United is "be inspired by the concept of “in between”.

Living in the In-between

Some days I swallow the light,
let it burn small holes in my heart.
Other days I release it,
watch it find wings
and rise above the clouds.

Sweet as sugar words
fall softly like glitter on cupcakes.
But scratch the surface of trust
and sarcasm sprouts
quicker than wild weed,
cutting through
the cake of pride.

So, eat my words!
The ones that fail
to grow sometimes,
yet hang like fairy lights
among the stars,
glowing only
when connection calls.

Some days
I perform in the limelight,
bow to the ghost of an audience,
only to descend the next moment
and disappear into the quiet
hum of the forest.

Living in an alien world,
I play the game
of hide and seek
the rare one,
married
to the in between.