Take in the night

Tuck it under your wing

Stir the embers

Of those you miss

As the stars prick your memories

And the moon swells

Brimming like an uncaught tear

Up and over

Full of all your longing

It sails clear the web of cloud

The tangled tree

And tops the sky 

Take the light

Hold it hot in your palm

 It promises something

Sara Mathews     December 2020

Artwork by Duy Huynh (used with permission)

https://www.duyhuynh.com/
 

I hold my breath

For many things

Warm blue skies 

And graceful landings

Paths that lead 

Without deceit

Healing nights 

Of truthful sleep

Winds that sing without regret

And gentle rains of welcome wet

I wish for goodness to prevail

For hearts to swell 

And love to bind

For greener earth

And seas pristine

For minds to grow 

To full mankind

Sara Mathews   November 2020

Perhaps you didn’t notice

How I slipped away on the wind

Spinning wildly

A gleam in my eye

With the first hint of ice

I caught fire

I doubt you will find me

In all my forest conspiracy

Soft hollows

And dusk

Unclaimed shadow

I will disappear to the depth

Winnow down in the soul of it

And weep

As only the wind can

 Sara Mathews     October 2020

Artwork: Pamela R Tarbell (used with permission)

https://www.pamtarbell.com/

I dove into reflection

Shattering the surface

So cold and motionless

It beckoned me

Taunted me

Dared me

And I couldn’t turn away

I looked too long

Lost in memories 

Swirling up beneath the innocent façade

I held my breath

My faith

And went wholeheartedly

I slipped the silver skin 

And never caused a ripple

So anxious as it was to swallow me

And there I rocked in arms

Of mothers

Gone ahead of me

I cried a thousand colors

A thousand splintered suns

A thousand fragments

Of my history

Sara Mathews     August 2020

Artwork ~ Jennifer Mujezinovic  

Listen to the morning
The soft tears
Drop on willing ears
The little violet
Sighs it’s deepest blue
Blossoms weep with sympathy
The birds are solemn
With concern
And clouds surround
In whispered mists of empathy
The hush of time
The reticence of sun
Have all conspired
To blur the hour
The moment stops
It’s onward tread
The wind breathes soft
As lullabies
To comfort you
And the gray and sorrowed skies
Are quiet as a loving friend




Sara Mathews     May 2020
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
~ For Judy

Oh ~ how the wind cries tonight
What can her troubles be
That she is up so late
Weeping and wallowing
It’s clear she needs some comfort
How she wails
And wanders restlessly
Relentlessly
So let me go and be with her
To hold some of her grieving
And shoulder her travails
I know  ~
I’ll sympathize
How nights like this can be
I’m here for you ~
I’ll croon to her
And we’ll go everywhere
And anywhere
She asks of me



Sara Mathews     April 2020
Winslow Homer

I belong to the morning

The sun woke me early

Needing company

The tiny buds ~

Dew covered wishes

Needed admiration

The birds that sang 

Arise 

Arise

Wanted my applause

The soft oyster colored sky

Begged for description

And the tender breath

Of the newborn wind

Became my prayer

Sara Mathews     April 2020

Hippolyte Petitjean ~ Paris

I ask little of this day

Except to remain

This solid fog

I ask to simply be

No thought required 

My heart is heavy as a tome

Sad words spill from the page

And flood the weary sky

And flocks of sad birds cry

A heartbreak song

Of loss 

Of loss

I cannot comprehend

The news they toll

These limbs lie idle

Hands beseech

I pray

Let all my comfort

Gather round

The shades 

Draw down

And fog

Cocoon me

In a womb

Of grey 

Sara Mathews (For Richard)  April 2020

Emanuele Pagni (used with permission)

https://www.emanuelepagni.com/

The frog ensemble

Is back in town

I heard them 

Warming up

Tonight

Clearing throats

Of winters mud

And sounding quite

Off key

The sharps and flats

Of down below

The ponds

Extremities

They’re practicing 

Their etudes

In croaking 

Harmonies

And by tomorrows

Show they’ll be

Performance

Reedy

Sara Mathews     April 2020

Hope

I dreamt all night
In yellow
Each face 
Each thought
Wore rings of gold
O' hope 
O' joy
O' promise
It’s meaning wove it’s way
Around my yesterday
It traveled years to color
My tomorrow
And now 
Upon my waking tongue
I speak in yellow prose
And yellow aura 
Glows 
Upon each face
Each thought
And every gilded destiny




Sara Mathews     April 2020
Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Did the rain come to you
Did she pour her heart
Into your dreams
Sobbing dire warning
Did she lean against your slumber
With her worry
Up and down the pane
Until you let her in
Did you lift your face unto her then
Throw your arms around the night
And gather her to you
Did you hold her close
For consolation
Or was she only mine
I drank the fullness
Of her weariness
And lent my teardrops
To her sorrowful refrain




Sara Mathews     March 2020
William-Adolphe Bouguereau /The storm

I am but a shell
For errant thought
A wax
A wane
A mouthful of full moons
Spiriting the wave
I am but a hope
A gasp of salt
A rise and swell
Adrift
And pulled ashore by faith
As darkness wanders round
It’s meaning
Sifts behind my eyes
Beneath my nails
I breathe the shadows
Rich and moist with tides
They whisper lives
They croon
Of loss
I savor what they tell
I am but a shell
The wind has dropped
Sun bleached
Sand peppered
Gull gulped
And tumbled raw
Exposed to hungry sea




Sara Mathews     March 2020
Leon Spilliarert / Belgium 1881-1946

Here is sadness

With her doleful eyes

And dismal tread 

She carries heavy news 

A face full of grey

She weeps her way

Into the rain

Sighs her burdens to the wind

And cries

I too 

Could love the blueness

Of an April sky

Ringing out with song

The reds of budding saplings 

The silver stream that laughs all day

Alas, no joy is mine

My harp was strung 

In somber key

Be gentle with her then

Let her stay awhile 

And rest her weariness 

Against your heart

She’s come to bide with you

For company

For empathy

For your strong 

Enduring hope

Sara Mathews     March 2020

Antoine Auguste Ernest Herbert