Rose

Rose

By Elece

gold and honey stirs

the mind, soul with soft sunlight

singing in the garden

A Man Who Could Make a Rose

A Man Who Could Make a Rose

 By Elece

In April Every Morning

Promise

It is not raining rain to me, 

It's raining daffodils

Robert Loveman

Promise

By Elece Hollis

Promise of sunshine tightly curled 

In each swelling bud,

Promise of sunshine and warmer days,

Promise of gardens and summer squash,

Promise of blackberries ripening on the bush,

Of cool green shade and sips of sweet lemonade.

Promise so immense it cannot be contained 

In a tiny seed, in a tight stem, in a swollen bud

Promise of sunshine–– break out! 

I am ready for you.

©2014 Elece Hollis , author of Meet God in the Morning, Poems from the Heart of Prayer,

 a devotional book with poems by Helen Steiner Rice. Find this book.

Dance Anyway

Dance, then, wherever you may be; 

And I'll lead you all in the dance said he.

Sydney Carter

Dance Anyway

By Elece Hollis

Little flower in the grass

With leaves like hearts,

Fairies of February

Your tiny green buds 

Pop open white then 

Unfold to show pink

And I walk past.

You wave at passersby

But no one sees. You 

Are too plain––too small

The world takes no note;

You are no bright red tulip

No splendid rose; but dance 

In the chill breeze you will

And sing of spring coming!

©2014 Elece Hollis , author of Meet God in the Morning, Poems from the Heart of Prayer,

 a devotional book with poems by Helen Steiner Rice. Find this book.

Rainbow Colors

God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever his glance falls he turns all things to beauty.

 Saint John of the Cross

Rainbow

By Elece Hollis

After a rain sunlight passing through the wet

Splits light into slivers––pieces, 

Bends it into rainbows.

After the darkness and void through the mist

A voice thundered "Let there be light!"

And there was color.

After forty days of flood through the window

Flew a white dove with a green leaf 

Love bent his first bow.

October Rose

"Each month of the year has its own beauty…

a picture 

which was never seen before 

and which shall never be seen again. "

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 October Rose

 By Elece Hollis

Autumn's chilly nights come;

Cold calls for the woolen blankets

From the cabinets upstairs.

Spread atop the patchwork quilts

On the old farmhouse's beds

Woven of the warmth of summer sun.

Rose lights my kitchen windowsill,

Teems with stored up summer sunrises

And full of sunset's scarlet hues.

Rose, the brightest flower of fall

Collection of the year's brightest pieces 

In one sensational satin swirl!

Full Circle

He is the poet of the world, with tender patience leading by his vision of truth, beauty, and goodness.

Alfred North Whitehead

Full Circle 

by Elece Hollis

So sweetly comes the autumn

With bright berries and multicolor leaves.

The sweetgum was bare, then green, is red, then purple, 

Now orange and finally yellow––lastly bare.

Green stays only in the pines, the fir and holly.

Birds fatten and their feathers begin to show wear.

Spring was here earlier; she excused herself

And headed under-green.

After the acorns, the walnuts, and pecans have fallen

Old men rake leaves from their lawns and burn bonfires

Snow will come drifting softly, whitely down

Something always falling––falling.

We, like the year, come in time, full circle,

We grow from babes, to carefree tots, to teens;

Become parents––then grandparents

Then become again children and finally babes.

Seasons define us, each cradling a limited number of days,

Spring, summer, fall, and winter. 

Days drifting swiftly, softly, silently by––a dream 

We can't remember. A full circle of life.

Resolve to Live

He misses a joy, who cannot endure a thorn.

c.e.hollis

Resolve to Live

 By Elece Hollis

If my hands are closed, holding tightly to what I have,

I cannot receive what God wants to place in them.

If my eyes are closed tightly to shut out painful sights

I fear to see, I will not see beauty.

If my heart is shut up against the hurt of others,

I will have no strength to deal with my own wounds.

 If my mind is closed to the ideas of those I disagree with,

I will not know if what I believe is truth.

 Open my hands.

Open my eyes.

Open my heart.

Open my mind.

Here is life—and I don't want to miss it,

Glorious, painful, awesome, 

Fearfully wonderful

Life!

Bumble-Bee Song

Oh, the depths of the fathomless deep,

Oh, the riddle and secret of things,

 And the voice through the darkness heard,

 And the rush of the winnowing wings! 

Sir Lewis Morris

Bumble-Bee Song

By Elece Hollis

Whistle and hum a song for the bees

Bumble and bizz and buzz

A bumblely, humbely, happy day song

Of the bumblebee just because...

Summer has come to the country;

God whistled it in on the breeze.

It pulses and sings and shimmers on wings

And trembles like leaves on the trees.

It rests in the heat. It hovers mid-air;

Greets all the flowers by name!

No less can I—as long days drift by

Go visit the petals the same.