Sifting Through the Chaff

... the sun comes up one  morning ... in the blink of an eye ~ it all dawns on you ~

Sifting Through the Chaff

Looking at all the changes

Searching through the rubble

for the scattered traces

of how far we’ve come

Dare not slip or slide

a single step backwards ;

sometimes what’s gone

needs to be left far behind
The past is a slippery slope ...

There is a delicate sense of balance

that remains vividly renewed .

Better days have been dawning

all around one sole heart

All heart’s ache have known

a life once too misunderstood

Treading water ... patiently waiting 

while running out of time waiting in the wings ~

Sifting through the grain and chaff ,

throwing caution to the wind

Let the dust and ashes vanish

The smoke and smoldering embers

fly away free, like chaff in the tempest breeze ;

vague memories of burning bridges

are nothing more than memories ~

A broken dream tuned into aching debris

Time never keeps ...

The last stroke of midnight ends

even living each day like it’s the last

Weighing thoughts and measuring words

just ruminates what’s past 

When a shining light flickers ,

the sun comes up one  morning

and in the blink of an eye it all dawns on you ~

only love will mend a fragile heart … 

Harlon Rivers...January 25th, 2013

Frozen Inversion

... For the past two weeks an inversion has hovered over the homestead ... various life events have me in a daunting insomnia cycle .   Morning interludes with the events of each dawning day are my best moments right now...This is a free form narrative prose poem , from my minds and cameras eye ~

Frozen Inversion

Watching black and white in slow motion

Nature's sunrise hypothermia grips the crack of dawn ;

brushing away the frosty star dust ~
as it stretches and yawns ...

Rays of borrowed sunlight

enlighten winter’s darkness ,

igniting a pale dim glow on the hazy horizon ...

Daybreak’s sunrays ~ tease sleepy tree tops

Deer cuddle in the tall frost covered switchgrass ,

shivering to stay warm among the frozen fiddleheads

Soon the shining sunbeams will filter through

the ice crystallized fir brows ,

tantalizing dormant hope for brighter beginnings ...

Evergreen pinnacles lean towards

phantom solar encounters of organic cosmic delight ;

timber spires shadowing the quivering deer beneath,  

instinctively grounded deeply in mother earth's cocoon ~

The tall white leftover summer grass spikes

provide shelter from the cold winter night’s air ...

A familiar sense of safety overpowers

the numbness of their frosted fir hides

Thick haired winter coats

adorn sacred flesh and blood ,

warming the frost heaves

under the matted down carpet of chilly moss ...

The sun plays hide and seek

throughout the out stretchered gnarly arms

of the massive native oaks 

Thick frost coated lichens glisten

Ice sparkles and shimmers as if rays of hope

twinkle on the sleeping giant’s stature ...

White tuffs, like sugar coated cotton candy ,

slowly tease imagination and memory

as the ice crystals

hug each other for warmth

while the moment fades

to pearl grey ...

The frigid air slowly swirls ~

The morning's glow of the frozen sky

manifests into a kaleidoscope's vision
of cognac to magenta hues

A captivating , mesmerizing dawn

disappears in the blink of an eye ~

Turning an enchanting  moment’s paradise

into a whiter shade of pale ...

Harlon Rivers ... January 22nd , 2013

...photographs by Harlon Rivers

" Whiter Shade of Pale " ... David Lance 

instrumental piano

" Dawning Rays Of Hope "

On this cold winter morning as the fog symbolically clears, the dawning sun illuminates rays of hope.   Maybe today is the day when new beginnings are rooted into the bedrock of the true nature of heart and soul ...

" Dawning Rays of Hope "...photograph by Harlon Rivers

" Some Days" poem was moved to  "The Diary of the Falling Dominoes " chapters linked here ~

link ... melancholyrivers.blogspot.com

Broken Rear View Mirror

Some song lyrics to some acoustical guitar tracks I recorded before I had to stop playing temporarily because of an injury... Purging emotions...Emotions put away alive never die...

"Broken Rear View Mirror"......song lyrics ©  Harlon Rivers 
.... genre alternative Americana

There’s a blur in the cracked rear-view mirror
Sometimes we learn so, so… slow
I’ve been measuring up the distance behind us
Measuring up the distance between me and you

You served up a coldness.. you just turned and walked away
Your heartless soul never looked back as you whispered
Oh you just walked away with a wrath left untold …
“I love you but I’m not in love with you”… yeh yeh

[chorus]
It’s hard to realize the changes when you get there
It’s hard to recognize you've arrived
Seeing is believing the changes
Now the traces are too hard to find

Do you remember that fading distant horizon?
The meeting moment of lost hearts and minds
It’s been a long long journey from there to back here and now
Fleeting memories lost since you vanished into thin air

Life reveals lost and forgotten memories
In a moment you’re found stuck in your mind
That day that the screen door slammed shut behind you
That day you were no longer mine

[chorus]
Its hard to realize the changes when you get there
It’s hard to recognize you've arrived
Seeing is believing the changes
Now the traces are too hard to find

When I looked into your big dark green eyes wide open
There’s lots of ways to hit the ground
I guess I’ll get along without your loathsome vision of me  
Living with just a melody …and  this lonesome mysteries’ song

There’s a blur in the cracked rear-view mirror
Sometimes we learn so, so… slow
I’ve been measuring up the distance between us
Pondering the distance stuck between me and you

[chorus]
It’s hard to realize the changes when you get there
It’s hard to recognize you've arrived
Seeing is believing the changes
Now the traces are too hard to find

I've been gauging the distance behind you
It’s become something so hard to say
It just breaks my heart to see you standing there
Now you’re the one lost and left standing alone

Left hanging in the thin midnight air’s coldness
Listening to the fading memory of leaving me home
Abandoning…slamming my screen door closed
Now all alone…Green eyes wide open crying blue

oh yeh… whoah oh oh
My eyes are wide open
I no longer can lean into you…no no no

I no longer fade into blue...

  

" Unstoppable Sun Set "

...since the poem below  " Unstoppable Dawn " was written on Thursday, January 10th, 2013...I have been focusing on the unseen energy of the sun ...

 It's appearances are rare and daylight hours are very limited in this part of the universe right now , with the Winter solstice just passing a short while ago ... This was the first time I have seen the sun set in 2013 .

 As I, this photo has some imperfections ... It will always remind me of the moment when I embraced my imperfections as who I am ... enough right now ...

The energy of the sun has an amazing healing power if we only allow it to shine and illuminate the conscious moment...

Photo's....Harlon River's...2013

Transatlantic sessions ~ Eric Bibb ~ " Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down"

" Unstoppable Dawn "

This is a poem written for those of us that suffer from imperfections ...  Never give up no matter how dark your world becomes ...  Look out for the spirit of love shining it's light,  it is always darkest before the dawn ...

Unstoppable Dawn

Caution signs flash a yellow warning light
At the crossroads of an enigma’s individual mind
The secret code is not always vivid
Through the fog of sleepless eyes, feeling all alone

By that time it’s too late to stop the fall
The runaway train has left the tracks
Leaving a path of damage and self destruction
In the wake of the aftermath

A life long vicious circle
Where the record player repeats the same ol’ song
It skips on the same flaw of imperfection
Stuck in a moment ... without playing the music on

The circle spins unbroken
Life teeters on a high wire’s threads
Balance hanging by a shoestring
That often becomes undone

You can push me into cold, turbulent waters
But you cant push me over the brink
You can’t pull me down under
You’ll never see me crawl or hear me beg

There’s a word whispered in my breathe each morning
As darkness fades with the dawning morn
I can still see you watching me from the corner of your eyes,
"See me still standing here ... world !"

" I’m unstoppable as the rising sun "...

Harlon Rivers…January 10th, 2013

"Pacing the Cage"...

This song is written and sung by a very inspirational Canadian singer-song writer, Bruce Cockburn,
I have found inspiration in his lyrics and musical arrangements since the first time I saw him play at a small venue in Portland Oregon, many moons ago.  This morning I wanted to share the lyrics and a beautiful video while Bruce Cockburn sings and plays 

" Pacing the Cage "...  It has been playing through my mind for several weeks now while I have endured medical trepidation and have reached a point in life where the more things change the more they remain the same...a time when you wind up " Pacing The Cage"   Video from YouTube ..Song written and sun by it's author, Bruce Cockburn...check him out.

Pacing the Cage by Bruce Cockburn

Pacing The Cage lyrics

Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you live too long
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage
I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And every one was taken in
Hours chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage
I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage.
Pacing the cage.
Pacing the cage

"New Years Shine"

... Thoughts about new beginnings and ultimately moving on ... understanding we only get one journey around the circle of life,  to shine on ~  

" People Let Your Light  Shine "...

The abacus of time

engraves another full circle

on the walls of eternity

Hope illuminates inspiration

as fresh possibilities evolve,

anticipating the birth

of the dawn’s first moments

The morning sun’s glow at break of day,

steals upward over the mountains,

replacing the past night’s

concluding moon’s shine

with the effervescent airglow

of a new day’s blossoming embryo

Resilience… pushing back the temptation

to cling to the memories

that are finished moments ;

struggling … mightily to be set free

Knowing …without a single thread of doubt

there is no other way to go forward

but to find the strength

like a wounded bird flying free

Enabling … Freedom in presence ;

severing the tie that binds

the final traces of yesterday

that once stubbornly lingered

The diamond in the rough,

that could no longer shine,

glistens with a multifaceted burnish ~

A single ray of hope

illuminates essence

with bright incandescent soul shine …

Harlon Rivers...January 1st, 2013

jesse colin young ~ let your light shine