So Happy, So Sad

Mt. Chase - Lower Shin Pond, Maine

So Happy, So Sad

It’s hard to believe
that one can experience true happiness
while carrying deep sadness.
Two polar opposite emotions coexisting
fairly peaceably within.
Right now, for me, it’s the
the joyful anticipation of our daughter’s
upcoming wedding
coupled with familiar, rekindled
heartache of missing you.
I know you’ll be there as you will,
but it won’t be with your arm
gently draped across my shoulders,
your kind blue eyes sparkling
with love for me, for her, for him,
for the amazing loves they have found.
We will all be okay.
I know that.
In fact, we will embrace the moments
each in our own way.
We will smile and laugh,
dance and cavort,
allow true happiness to unfold.
But we’ll be sad, too.
Each in our own way,
we’ll be sad
because we miss you.
So happy, so sad
at the very same time.

Sarah Carlson
August 29, 2017

Sweet Safety

Sweet Safety

Peaceful, restorative energy widens,
oozing into once hidden spaces.
Unbidden,
it simply flows wherever
there is a need.
Kind-hearted, loving being
knows now to simply allow
and welcome
without worry or defense.
More to do, more to grow,
more to heal -
but, in those moments
 she settles in to the sensations,
relishes the revelations,
honors her health.
She recognizes and embraces
the sweet safety that
should have been hers all along
and is deeply grateful for
its expansion
into her everyday life.

Sarah Carlson
August 15, 2017

From Pain to Power

Hiking Mt. Phillip in the Kennebec Highlands

From Pain to Power

One little being, part of a whole.
So very small within the bigness of it all,
of us all.
Varied pains of weary wounds

continue to heal with the help
of my indomitable will
and the supportive hands
and caring hearts of others.
As that happens I access more and more
a power within that is pure, vibrant and right.
Sometimes I feel it emanating from the
very center of my being -
a strength and sureness that,
as it widens,
quite literally cures my ills.
I learn to more
deeply trust connections
both within and without as I move,
sometimes quickly,
but more often slowly
from pain to power.
Minute and immense
at the very same time.

Sarah Carlson
August 1, 2017