the wisdom of age
takes root to blossom
in crevices of the brain
emptied by letting go
—Terri Guillemets
the wisdom of age
takes root to blossom
in crevices of the brain
emptied by letting go
—Terri Guillemets
I vowed that I would be a tree.
I went up to an oak and said,
“What shall I do that I might be
A beech, an oak, or any tree,
With branches leafing from my head?”
There was a sound of sap that ran,
There was a wind of leaves that spoke.
“So you would cease to be a man,
And be a green tree, if you can,
A pine, a beech, an oak?”
I answered, “I am tired of men,
As tired as they of me.
I fain would not return again
To the perplexity of men,
But straightway be a tree.”
There was a sound of winds that went
To summon every oldest tree,
To hold their austere Parliament
About the thing had craved to be
Elect of their calm company.
There was a sound of bursting tide,
There was a wash of clanging foam,
A crumbling shore, a bursting tide.
There came a thunder that outcried,
“Go, wretched mortal, get thee home!
“Who art thou that would be a tree,
Least of the weeds that shoot and pass?
Bide till a Wisdom come, and see
Before a mortal be a tree,
He first must be a blade of grass!”
—Louis Golding (1895–1958), Sorrow of War, 1919
my life is a mess
but this moment is perfect
my life is perfect
—Terri Guillemets
Hummingbird mama
abandons her nonviable eggs —
but keeps checking back
a few more times, just to be sure.
An arm falls from a sickly saguaro
and breaks open on the ground
like a prickly green eggshell —
after decades of desert still-life
a few seconds of death-motion.
But the night breeze is so beautiful
those breezes are — so beautiful
it’s hard not to get swept away.
—Terri Guillemets
Moonlight is a beautiful and comforting reminder that the sun is still out there somewhere.
—Terri Guillemets
WILD
is beautiful
wild is free —
wilderness is not
an empty canvas
for Man to do
what he will —
wilderness is
an already full canvas
painted by God
—Terri Guillemets
grieving makes us stronger —
it gives us a spirit of grace
and the grace of spirit
our hearts feel weaker
but living past loss is
the ultimate courage
we honor our loved ones
by living on despite —
and all the more because
—Terri Guillemets
it’s not that the people
with nice shiny attitudes
haven’t been banged up —
but they buff out their
dings and scratches with
gratitude and positivity
perspective and grace
resilience and courage
with purpose and faith
—Terri Guillemets
to cry is beautiful —
the beauty of one’s pain
leaving the heart
—Terri Guillemets
blackout poetry created from Maud Casey, The Man Who Walked Away, 2014
After reading countless health books over the past couple of decades, I can tell you it pretty much all boils down to this: Eat plenty of veggies, work, play, rest, and don’t worry.
—Terri Guillemets
Nature —
exquisite beauty and elegance
antique yet fresh
—Terri Guillemets
blackout poetry created from “Pericles,” Plutarch’s Lives, Dryden’s 1859 Clough translation
Transform FEAR into —
curiosity, love, kindness, humor, hope, joy, knowledge, focus, laughter, awareness, wonder, willpower, wings, experience, faith, fervor, challenge, gratitude, encouragement, enlightenment, goodwill, action, learning, beginnings, opportunity, aim, determination, adventure, character, smiles, hard work, independence,
—Terri Guillemets
You don’t always have to pray for something, or to someone — you can just simply pray.
—Terri Guillemets
A headstone is just a bookmark in our unfinished lives.
—Terri Guillemets
We all have those moments in our lives that transform us — something small or big happens and we’re never the same.
Sometimes we remember these moments in our personal histories as leaps, or falls — or just serendipitous wanderings — from one life segment to the next.
Or we mark them like stars on a map of self — constellations of life-changing moments. Some seem crazy small and wouldn’t even register as stars in others’ systems. But in our own they blaze bright.
Or maybe our days are raindrops and our lives rolling clouds and these moments are lightning strikes. Raindrop days, lightning-strike moments.
These maps and moments imprint our souls, our minds, our memorious hearts. Our stories of self are made from them.
—Terri Guillemets
No volume of history is insignificant, even the worst chapters. Especially the worst chapters.
—Terri Guillemets
In a hospital
it’s difficult to listen
to sad, scary sounds
“code blue” on intercoms
wailing, grieving families
beep-beep-beep of machines —
But if you listen
more carefully
you can hear
the sound of hope
of healing, love, and support
caring, confident voices
of nurses and doctors and staff
the din and melodies of
our imperfect and indispensable
healthcare plexus at work
—Terri Guillemets
Failure is not frailty.
Success never guarantees.
—Terri Guillemets
Loss — the great redefiner of life.
—Terri Guillemets
I do love my friends who wouldn’t dare judge me — but we all need to be judged, sometimes.
—Terri Guillemets
You’ve got to keep moving to keep the beauty of life in perspective. If you hold still too long, things go blurry.
—Terri Guillemets
Wind tries to show Tree how to run wild.
Tree: “I cannot leave this place.”
Wind: “Then let’s dance.”
—Terri Guillemets
“Life is a series of tasks that you absolutely must get done before they don’t matter any more.”
—Robert Brault
Life is woven of love and death, aches and smiles, persistence and letting go.
—Terri Guillemets
Scars tell us more about the future than the past, about how we can live strong despite any pain we’ve been through.
—Terri Guillemets