Poem of a Young Mother Who Used to Write Poems

Poem of a Young Mother Who

Used to Write Poems

Sarah Livesay

Before, I spotted poems like a child with a butterfly net
One would flit by, glowing in the sun,
I’d run to grab a pencil and catch it

Now, though poems rarely flutter past,
I feel their presence
Like unknown treasure below the surface of deep waters
Which bobs up all too briefly, catching the light;
Then, sinking down,
Down again to the bottom of the ocean.

Forget deep sea diving.
The surface of my waters is rarely still long enough
To plunge down deep,
For other beauties call me upward.

So, I will swim alone
A few moments in the sun
Floating face up to the sky
Letting its warm rays soak through me,
My eyes fill up with crimson orange light
Saturating me with its quiet heat
While my ears resound with my own breathing
This is poem enough for now.

Still, sometimes I do linger,
Glimpsing the sheen of some sparkling thing below;
And admire it through many waters.
It beckons,
But I let it go.

I do hope that it will be comfortable waiting there
Lodging itself deep -
That, though its shape or color may have changed,
Its essence will remain.
When one day,
One day I will go down to find it

---

Sarah Livesay
Poet

Sarah's writing has appeared at The Mudroom. She lives in Minnesota and you can read more of her work at sarahlivesay.net

Photography by Klara Kulikova