It’s Five Min. Friday. You probably know the drill by now. This is where I freely write for five minutes flat on whatever comes to mind with the word of the day. Because I have a goal of writing more poetry again , I try to use my five minutes to write a poem with the word. You never know what will come out when the timer starts though! I do tend to write poetry with lines broken up in to small pieces, which makes it look like I am fitting a lot more words on to the page than I actually am. This is how I write best in a time crunch! Today’s word: BARE
Go
Bare Trees & Bare Souls:
In Winter, I walk in stark white stillness.
Past houses and trees so unassuming.
At times it can be beautiful-
These bare trees in sunlight,
Casting their shadows behind them
Making pretty patterns in the snow.
But at night-
This bareness,
This unadorned starkness,
Can be a bit un-nerving.
Even in the day sometimes (especially when dreary),
One can get a sort of odd feeling being surrounded by bare trees
Because you can see right through them-
Things that are typically covered up.
The woods look different this time of year,
Not as much room for things to hide.
And the lush magic of woods in Spring and Summer,
Gives way to a darker magic of bareness-
Wild branches cracking in the Winter wind.
And so it is with bare souls.
They tend to intimidate us a bit.
There is a sort of discomfort for the one who bares their soul,
Even sometimes for the listener.
We tend to like to pretty things up so as to appear beautiful and vibrant,
And to be liked.
Just like with the trees-
Many of us prefer adornment to bareness.
We prefer flowers, and greenery,
and birds singing and the comfort of shade.
It’s so easy to find pleasure in bounty.
Maybe it is because with bounty we revel in the fullness of life,
And with bareness there is less distraction, less “noise”
And we are often forced to face fears or sadness-
Feelings of discomfort.
Sometimes we even avoid bareness,
By flying south in the Winter as the birds do
Or by counting the days until Spring
Declaring to each other regularly,
“It’s almost here!”
Some of us even avoid people in their time of need,
When they come to us Soul stripped bare.
Sometimes we just can’t be bothered with this bareness
Of trees and souls.
But what if we enjoyed bareness for what it is? –
Just another season.
Instead of trying to hurry things up and skip over it to something better.
After all there IS beauty in bareness-
A sort of vulnerable and rugged strength.
For bareness is what comes before growth.
It is essential before the blossom.
May we nurture bare trees and bare souls,
And embrace the cycles of life-
As we anticipate with joy and patience,
The bounty that is to come.
Stop
Poetry and Photo ©Rebekah Ann Stephenson 2013 (weliveinspired.com)
A tree from yard near the woods where we live
What do you think about bare souls and bare trees? Feel free to share your perspective, as I love to hear your thoughts too. ~Rebekah
Share This Article
I love poetry – and your poem – oh, how it shows the need to be courageous and love others when they’re bare – and when they need a heart to pour that bareness out! Your 5 minutes was beautiful, bare-filled spent! Wishing you blessings this week:
yes! Thanks for your perspective. I firmly believe in being a listening ear when need be. You said it so nicely here. Thanks and blessings to you also!
beautiful – nurturing those bare souls around us… lovely poem.
Thank you. I appreciate your kind comment.
This is a wonderful poem on the word “bare.” It was very moving. Thanks for sharing and for leaving a kind comment on my blog.
you are so welcome. I am glad you were moved by it 🙂
O’ my goodness. How very beautiful. I have missed visiting here. I love poetry so & yours has not left a branch of bareness untouched for me. Thank you for this gift of love.
Thanks Paula. I love your heart. You always say the nicest things and have a way with words. I had missed visiting you too. I actually looked for you a couple of FMF a few weeks ago and didn’t find you. So I remedied that and just subscribed to you via email :). I am glad you love poetry-as do I (both the reading and the writing of it). You are so welcome and I am glad you could feel the love in my words come out across the screen. Blessings to you.
This is really beautiful Rebekah!
Thank you Vicki 🙂
I’m not going to lie…this was beautiful.
so moved by your poem, Rebekah. Honored to visit with you today. thank you!
All for Him with hugs to you,
Nikki
Thanks so much for the kind words Nikki. As someone who loves writing poetry and is just getting back to the regular writing of it (for the first time since high school I think) it’s a joy to hear that someone is moved by a poem you wrote. Your comments tickled me pink 😀 ! The honor is all mine to have you take the time to read. Hugs right back at ya ~Rebekah
What a beautiful poem and so inspiring… Baring a soul can be undaunting at times, especially for me. Bless You!
Thank you Kathleen. I understand that and have been there. Blessings to you too 🙂
Hi Beckah! I just wanted to let you know that I’ve given you a Liebster Award:
http://frogdiva.com/2013/02/10/liebster-award
I just heard my phone’s ring tone go off . That must be why! Well thank you Tonya. I have heard of it but don’t know much about it, so I will be reading your post on it 🙂 You are a sweetie. Thanks so much and congrats to you on getting one too!!! You deserve it.
Ugh! I am embarrassed that I misspelled your name! That’s a pet peeve of mine when people misspell mine. Sorry about that 🙁
But yes! You totally deserve the award!
Oh don’t worry about it. I am used to it because of the Hebrew spelling 🙂 It made me smile if anything haha. Now if you would have called me Becky instead of Bekah or Rebekah..then I would be having a pet peeve over here haha! 😉 Thanks again!
Thank you for these thoughts and words 0 have used with those who are bereaved, a source of hopw
I am glad to be able to offer some comfort to those in need. You are welcome!