Goodbye Is Never Easy

Such a simple word
To cause my heart such fear,
One I never like to say
And never like to hear.

Goodbye is never easy,
It's the closing of a door.
Like the end of a favorite story -
When sadly there's no more.

And we cling on to our memories,
But the mind's a fickle thing.
And it gets harder to hold onto them,
To recall the joys they bring.

As each today becomes a yesterday
Distance and years can't mend,
Time apart will consume the heart,
The relationship, the friend.

Not by choice or act of will -
We are standing in life's river,
And as the current rushes past us
That part is gone forever.

To walk forwards is a frightful thing
As the path is yet unknown,
But to stand still and not move at all
Is to spend your life alone.

So you see Goodbye is necessary
Though we may wish that it were not.
We can't be afraid of letting go
'Lest I be forgot'.

Fore the forest needs the fire-
To give the seed a chance to grow,
Like a phoenix from the ashes,
Or Spring-time after the snow.

It's the pattern in the tapestry
That is revealed as time goes on.
You will meet new people, see new places,
And do things you've never done.

So goodbye my friend you will be missed!
But if by chance it's not the end,
And fate should smile on us in another time and place
May our paths cross once again!

(By R. Cheong
5th October 2011)

The Mask...

I don't know where I'm going
You don't know where I've been
Can't tell what the future's holding
I'm not as brave as I seem

I only feel like running
But I'm frozen in this place
Please don't remove my mask
The truth is hard to face

People think I am strong
Why can't they see the act
Once damaged can't be sold
Its courage that I lack

Sometimes I feel like crying
So numbness becomes my friend
In time I forget how I once was
And it becomes me in the end...

Crystal Chalice

The sound of distant laughter
Once familiar - now unknown
Love that was had but since is lost
Feeling utterly alone

A voice whispers in the dark
Despair is pushed away
A silent prayer offered up
A life exchanged this day

A single flame in the dark
Come to life once more
The crystal chalice shatters -
Diamonds on the floor

Reflections in the broken glass
Like thoughts half remembered
No longer hiding from the past
And those who've been offended

A drop of blood from crystal shards
A vessel for the soul?
Now shattered, broken on the ground
Will never again be whole

Then swept away the shards are cleared
Reality is shifted
Not a cup bit cage of glass
The crystal prison lifted

A new vessel - Spirit forms
Making the soul it's home
Stronger than crystal - never to break
And never to be alone

~*~

By Rebecca Cheong
(written 2010)

Rushing

Sitting at the bus stop,
Cars pass me in a rush,
An endless stream of people,
While I'm waiting for the bus.

Where are they coming from?
Where do they go?
Are they happy with their lives?
I'd really like to know!

All day, every day,
Moving all the time
As I sit here motionless
Lives rush past mine.

"Gotta go!" "Cant be late!"
"Beat that traffic light!"
Appearing from around the bend,
Then speeding out of sight.

It really must be tiring,
Rushing every day.
Have a break, chill out a bit
"Take the bus" I say.

They wouldn't have the time to hear,
Too worried they'd be late-
With people to see and places to go,
Ruled by deadlines and dates.

And so I sit and wonder
That rushing must be hell...
But my bus is here, I gotta rush
Or I'll be late as well.

















By Rebecca Cheong (4/2/2010)

Reflections On Life

Lie awake
Decisions to make
Focus the mind
Answers to find
Too many thoughts
Ideas to sort
Memories sad
Times had
Friends lost
Count the cost
Conscious drifts
Sands shift
Days pass
Too fast
Time flies
Goodbyes
Eyes close
Life goes...


People often spend too much time focusing on what they dont like aout their lives, regretting past decisions, and longing for how life was before...
What they need to realise is that while they are making themselves unhappy life still goes on.
The truly sad thing is that by always looking back they miss all that is beautiful here and now and by the time they realise it it is too late to get that time back.

Those peope out there; I wrote you this poem for you.

Living Waters

Calm waters gleaming,
Beneath the golden sun.
placid lakes, Quiet streams,
Running into one.

Rainbow worlds of coral,
In Tropical Lagoons.
Silver waters glistening,
Under a silver moon.

Sink below the surface
Into a world of your own,
A short 'get-away' from life,
A place to be alone.

The waters will look after you,
They'll hold you in their hand.
From the surface of the waters edge,
To the beds of shifting sand.

So take a dive and witness
The beauty and the grace,
Of this blue planets' hidden world,
This wondrous living place.

The Fan

When I’m cold, or when I’m hot
The fan makes me what I’m not
There no way to explain this thing
It feels like a big bird flapping its wing
Low, Medium, and high too
Without the fan I don’t know what I'd do
Because when I’m tired its so very soothing
Especially when it keeps on moving!
There’s no way I could live without
Keeping you comfy is what its about
If you have no fan, you're living a lie
And if you don’t plan on getting one
I don’t know why...

What He Means To Me

He means so much to me I just wish he knew

because when I'm around him the sky’s a different blue

and when he talks to me my knees begin to shake

the last thing I want is another heartbreak

if he would love me like I do

I could tell him that I will always be true

but when I try to talk I just don’t know what to say

because I know he doesn’t feel the same way.

Somebody Has To

Somebody has to go polish the stars,
They're looking a little bit dull.
Somebody has to go polish the stars,
For the eagles and starlings and gulls
Have all been complaining they're tarnished and worn,
They say they want new ones we cannot afford.
So please get your rags
And your polishing jars,
Somebody has to go polish the stars.

It's Not Too Late

It's not too late... the angel said.
Even though the world's a mess...
Even though you're not that young...
Even though you've made mistakes and have been afraid
It's not too late...

And then I saw the world through the angels' eyes...
I saw the colors I could paint
The bridges I could build
The lives that I could touch
The dreams that could still come true
And it became very clear to me...
That it's not too late.
Ron Atchison

Perfect Imperfection

I am a contradiction
a perfect imperfection
On looking in from outside
I think I’d pass inspection

My nails are neat, each hair in place
My clothes the latest styles
But look a little closer,
And you can see my trials

The window to my balanced soul
Is stained from too much smoke
A birds eye view down at my heart
Will clearly show it’s broke

My best intentions lead to pain
And complicated messes
My head is filled with wishes,
My decisions second guesses

There was a time I tried to hide
each wrinkle, scar and tear
But I’m learning to appreciate
That I’m more than I appear

Each wrinkle tells a story
The path from there to here
I’ve earned a little wisdom
With every falling tear

My soul will soar in brilliant skies
But then I’ll need to rest
The embers of my passion
Still smolder in my chest

Perhaps I’ll let my hair go wild
And skip the manicure
I’ll wear my favorite color
They’ll say "Hey, look at her"

My hair, my heart, my clothes, my soul
Will walk in one direction
No longer contradicting
My perfect imperfection

Power

Strength and self assertion
lie within us all
yet we are afraid.

We do not use the resources
given to us to lift our lives
from the comfortable, stagnant routine
locked into work, relationships, ourselves.

Fearing what others may think of us
we lack the courage to step
from our accustomed role.

Strength and self assertion
can be demonstrated
with gracious kindness.
Softly spoken truths will take us further
than aggressive defensiveness.

Be true to yourself... Dare to be different
by courageously stepping forward
to say... "I am"... "I will be"
then "be"
remembering always to move softly
with gentleness and love.

Free yourself from what others want you to be
from the things that disappoint you.
Find and use the magnificent
loving P O W E R withing you.

Angels

I believe in angels,

The kind that heaven sends,

I am surrounded by angels,

But I call them friends.

Summer & Best Friends In Australia

Late nights,

Boy fights,

Beach times,

Pick up lines,

Belly tops,

Flip flops,

Blue skys,

Hott guys,

Up all night,

Pillow fights,

Lemonade,

In the shade,

Midnight kisses,

Secret wishes

Our tans may fade

but the memories will last forever

A Prayer For The Twenty-First Century

May the road be free for the journey,
May it lead where it promised it would,
May the stars that gave ancient bearings
Be seen, still be understood.

May every aircraft fly safely,
May every traveler be found,
May sailors, in crossing the ocean
Not hear the cries of the drowned.

May gardens be wild, like jungles,
May nature never be tamed,
May dangers create for us heroes,
May fears always have names.

May the mountains stand to remind us
Of what it means to be young,
May we be outlived by our daughters,
May we be outlived by our sons.

May the bombs rust away in the bunkers,
And the doomsday clock not be rewound,
May the solitary scientists, working,
Remember the holes in the ground.

May the knife remain in the holder,
May the bullet stay in the gun,
May those who live in the shadows
Be seen by those in the sun.

~By John Marsden~

Two People In One

Two people in one,

one happy, one sad.

Two sides of me,

one mad and one glad.

There's only one side

I try to let show;

my feelings inside

the others don't know.

I'm two people in one,

as strange as that sounds,

the real me inside

no one has found.

My Country

Every time I hear this famous Australian poem I get tingles down my spine. It means everything Australian to me and I feel that only a true Australian at heart would feel this way. It’s the calling of the land, an ancient source or power and energy.

My Country
The love of field and coppice, Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance, brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it, my love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons; I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest, all tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains, the hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes, where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops and ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us, we see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather and we can bless again
The drumming of an army, the steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country! Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine, she pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks, watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness that thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country, a wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her, you will not understand-
Though earth holds much splendour, wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country my homing thoughts will fly.
~By Dorothea Mackellar