Timeless Ressurection

A faded curtain dances and waves,
from the wind as it does play,
making life from long ago,
seem still existent,
in this old southern home.

Beyond the rotted window frame,
lies a story of love unfeigned,
childhood friends they were you see,
maybe a story,
of you and me.

Can you smell it, I think I can,
there was bacon frying up in a pan,
biscuits made for them and we,
in a time when life was simple,
life was free.

Oh look! With me if you can,
through this window and see our land,
cotton fields the space of wide,
it feels just like,
1855.

See there beyond its a willow tree,
your picture is buried there with me,
thus the curtain all faded it flies,
awaiting resurrection,
by and by...

© Dawn Michelle, All rights reserved.

Author notes

Picture Prompt contest winner April 2011 the picture you see posted here was the original prompt for this piece

O Meu Fado

There is only one way to release the pain of my soul
I must write for you my fado allowing myself to sing

I am not Portuguese yet in the presence of Lisboa is where I belong
The voice of the crying guitars is the only thing alive to bring me peace
even so, my heart is heavy

I have no right to love it as I do
I have no right to this country, this city that gives me breath
Still I hold it upon a pedistal, the one of my existence, and it
beholds all pieces of my being when I must leave it behind

Of all the loves that have been taken from my heart, this one I know
will never leave, for the loyalty to those
that give to it their true soul, is forever

I am not Portugal, I am not Lisboa,
yet my soul is an alley with no name,
it is barefoot varinas,
the waves of the sea,
even the prayer voiced on the knees of centuries from long ago

No I am not Portuguese, I grew up not on the streets of Mouraria
though the barrios of Lisboa hold captive all that I am, and the only way
to release the pain, is to sing my song for you

And this, is my Fado....

© Dawn Michelle, All rights reserved

Author notes

Written in Lisboa Porgtugal while sitting at a cafe in the barrio Alfama just before leaving to come back to Texas October 2009

Saudade (singular) or saudades (plural) (pronounced [sɐ.uˈdaðɨ] or [sawˈdaðɨ], is a Portuguese language word difficult to translate adequately, which describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which is lost. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return. Saudade has been described as a "vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist ... a turning towards the past or towards the future".[2] A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as a lost lover, or a family member who has gone missing. It may also be translated as a deep longing or yearning for something which does not exist or is unattainable. Saudade was once described as "the love that remains" or "the love that stays" after someone is gone. Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again. It can be described as an emptiness, like someone ( e.g., one's children, parents, sibling, grandparents, friends, pets) or something (e.g., places, things one used to do in childhood, or other activities performed in the past) that should be there in a particular moment is missing, and the individual feels this absence. In Portuguese, 'tenho saudades tuas', translated as 'I have saudades for you' means 'I miss you', but carries a much stronger tone. In fact, one ca

759

I sat on the bench
looking down the street to find
and then it appeared that old 759

how could it be I thought
a bus to be such a friend
but it seemed to lift my spirits
every time I entered in

taking me to places
that my soul did so adore
to places from life
long ago in Portugal

the heartbeat of Lisboa
only the trolley to take its place
that old 759
how I loved its embrace

here and there on every corner
a love that ner' left me behind
when I needed a little lift
came that 759

it shared all my memories
shared all my dreams come true
and when I felt like crying
that old friend it always knew

it would come around the corner
just when I thought all was lost
and take me to a place
where my soul could always cross

into a time of passion
oh how that filled me up with joy
yes that 759 I will ever employ

old friend to me it seems
though only a bus it be
saudade 759
my soul ever rides with thee

© Dixie Dawn, All rights reserved.

Author notes Saudade (singular) or saudades (plural) (pronounced [sɐ.uˈdaðɨ] or [sawˈdaðɨ], is a Portuguese language word difficult to translate adequately, which describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which is lost. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return.

Saudade has been described as a "vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist ... a turning towards the past or towards the future".[2] A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as a lost lover, or a family member who has gone missing. It may also be translated as a deep longing or yearning for something which does not exist or is unattainable.

Saudade was once described as "the love that remains" or "the love that stays" after someone is gone. Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again. It can be described as an emptiness, like someone ( e.g., one's children, parents, sibling, grandparents, friends, pets) or something (e.g., places, things one used to do in childhood, or other activities performed in the past) that should be there in a particular moment is missing, and the individual feels this absence. In Portuguese, 'tenho saudades tuas', translated as 'I have saudades for you' means 'I miss you', but carries a much stronger tone. In fact, one ca

Dusky Years

Backward among the dusky years, pieces of life reminiscent do lay, in a place longing to be remembered, a place where many hearts do wish to stay.

Trunks full of memories sit lost and alone, dust clothes the facets of their face, reflections lost to time and wear, now sleep in a restless grave.

Ladder back chairs, wooden spools of yarn, lemonade on the porch at night, once colored those worlds with life and love, now they're packed away, no longer burning bright.

Yet a cloud does linger, amongst the aged piles, making that sacred veil so very thin, voices of soldiers and daddy's and wives do linger, Beckoning ones soul, come abide with them.

And as one sits amongst the rust and the muck, the picture is laid their before their eyes, and soon they know they've been pulled into, that lovely simpler time.

So hard to leave yes it does seem to be, for the energy is much more than strong, one leaves a piece of themselves behind, among those dusky years, here and gone...

© Dixie Dawn, All rights reserved

Author notes **PROMPT: Backward among the dusky years

Rustling Wheat

Lost in a field of dreams she waits
for a touch, for a love with a forever kiss
though she knows its not something she will ever receive
still, she waits,
wishing upon billowy clouds
as sounds of rustling wheat
sings to her soul
while the breeze on her skin
becomes her lover
and at that moment she is filled
seeing the esssence of her own grace
with a feeling in her heart
that she won't be left behind
but yet guided to that which see seeks

© Dixie Dawn, All rights reserved.

Sweet Bye and Bye

Nostalgia deep, for this moment of love the sound of chirping, songs from above weeping willow trees dipped slightly in the creek and magnolia blossoms, flow with the breeze

ozark mountains we have known oh so well summers and springs spent with us there these faded memories of a time gone by etched so carefully, in the corners of our minds

pure love for the land, traditions, and home these things of life, were important to hold felt as we stood there among the brush and the grass feelings we know, that forever, in eternity will last

and as we lay to rest in this place we adored we float through a time when the land was Lord a precious gift, if only, for us it was then the most beautiful heaven ever sent

can you feel it now, as you look on, and see our time our place, our moment to be the magnificent soul this place did possess back once upon a time before soldiers laid to rest

return there I will, forever it must be for the land, for the love, for my soldier and me I wish to rest there in that simpler time where a river ran through it oh the sweet bye and bye

Author notes
BYGONE DAYS OF DIXIE
© Dixie Dawn, All rights reserved.

Somewhere In Yesterday

Pale moonlight shone through curtains hung with care and the flicker of a single candle faded in and out of her auburn hair

his breath they could see with the coldness of the room nestled under her mothers quilt their love in full bloom

the last time it was then he would hold her so close circled within the arms of his protection never to let her go

with eyelashes she laid butterfly kisses on his chest and the feel of her hair, wrapped in his fingers made eternity a never rest

kissing her once, then twice on the forehead with care her face cradled in his palms forever he would remember her there

his soldier's story so much like many others leaving his love behind, his wife his daughter's mother

when the morning sunlight then peeked as it did through the trees her heart ached with a fear as he readied to leave

standing on the second step of the porch of their house tears for him he watched drop on his little wife's blouse

one more time just for him he held her sweet cheeks kissing her nose then her eyelids, with one more tight squeeze

"have no fear my sweet love.." he whispered with a grin "we've been together forever and we will be again..

he promised her that he'd return again soon, of course for he felt sure he had left one in her womb to bring forth

then saddling his horse he took great care dragging his time out not wanting to leave her there

and swinging up he put himself in the seat securing everything down then her eyes he did meet

"Until Forever" he whispered "right here I'll be have no fear my dear angel i'll be right beside you, when you need me"

"I Love You,.." she did squeak through her crying and pain "your my true love and best friend I'll be a waitin' for you to come home again.."

rode off then did he with a little nitch to his horse following that old dirt road their souls belonging to its dust....

Author notes
WRITEN AS A STORY IN HONOR OF NOT ONLY THE SOLDIERS OF THE CIVIL WAR, BUT THEIR FAMILIES AS WELL, FOR ALL THE PAIN AND HEARTACHE THAT SURROUNDED THEIR LIVES.
© Dixie Dawn, All rights reserved.