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Hide and Seek

I quit. I don’t like this game. I never win. I can’t find you anywhere, but somehow you always find me. Even when I hide you find a way to uncover me; if I bury myself in busyness or hole up on facebook, medicate with chocolate or embalm my memories, there you are. Even when…

hide and seek

I quit.

I don’t like this game.

I never win.

I can’t find you anywhere,

but somehow you always find me.

Even when I hide

you find a way to uncover me;

if I bury myself in busyness

or hole up on facebook,

medicate with chocolate

or embalm my memories,

there you are.

Even when I sleep, you find me,

disguised as men with guns who somehow

(despite my dreamland skill)

always know exactly where I am.

And then you leave,

 with only your salty-wet footprints

on my cheeks to mark your exit.

This hide thing

doesn’t work for me.

So

I will change the rules.

I’ll make a hot cup of tea

and sit in my prayer chair

and count to ten

slow

and

I may

just

learn to truly seek.

I will seek you in

the sigh of a child,

peals of laughter,

every act of courage,

every selfless prayer.

I will learn to love well,

listen with my heart,

speak for those with no voice,

champion the weak,

embrace my mess

and

then,

then I will

seek this God

whom you loved with abandon,

with faith that could not be broken

by accident or

miscarriage

or tumours

or physical agony

and then,

there,

(ready or not)

I will

find you…

Responses to “Hide and Seek”

  1. joannerambling

    I liked this so powerful and moving

    1. melodylowes

      Thank Joanne!

  2. Anonymous

    Been a long time since we Journeyed to Arizona and by chance crossed paths. This really grabbed me today. I am still seeking/hiding and inching my path daily. Thank you for sharing your heart.
    Judy
    Ps someday I hope to find my art, and inner beauty. As you have done so eloquently.

    1. melodylowes

      Judy!! What a wonderful gift, to find you here today!! I am still inching along, like you – wobbling my way to freedom! Your inner beauty is already there, shining – you just need to let it out in ways that honor who you are… keep inching, my friend! 🙂

  3. Heidi Viars

    thank you for your honest wrestling … it moved me deeply, friend!

    1. melodylowes

      Thank you, Heidi. It was personal enough that I hesitated before publishing it. I admire transparency and openness in others, yet find it hard when the shoe is on MY foot. I find that writing is such an important part of my processing, whatever the processing is…

  4. Marie Hunter Atwood

    Your struggle was dynamic and wise not to mention determined. It reminds me (from one of your comments) of how I made the determination to dig deeply within, as necessary. I hope you don’t mind if I show that decision to you. “I feel that writing is a reflection of the soul, and must therefore, probe the senses deeply, even painfully, in order to achieve definition.” I feel in some way that we owe it to those for whom we write..the honesty, and the clarity are in, my opinion, the gifts that we pay to those who follow our unending need to express what lies within us of which we write.

    1. melodylowes

      Wow. Profound. And richly satisfying. You have just given me permission as it were to bare my soul with my pen. Or keyboard as the case may be. Thank you…

      1. Marie Hunter Atwood

        Not exactly Melody, don’t you realize that truth doesn’t show all the details? That would spoil the message! Help!

  5. Cristina

    Lovely poem 🙂

    1. melodylowes

      Thanks for dropping by!

  6. ladyfi

    Wonderfully deep words. And I like the photo too.

    1. melodylowes

      Thank you for dropping by!

  7. Gallivanta

    Hide and seek was a game I hated as a youngster. I was always found so easily but I couldn’t ever find anyone. If I were you I would change the game not the rules! But then you would have to write another poem. 😦 Hide and seek is a perfect expression for grief and a wounded heart.

    1. melodylowes

      Hmmm. Change the game. There may just be a poem in there. Tag. You’re it!

      1. Gallivanta

        LOL. I wasn’t a lot better at tag. Do you have a poem about your prayer chair? My poor memory has a faint recollection that you do. That’s another game which teased me “Memory’ ( looking at items on a tray and then writing down as many as you could remember)

      2. melodylowes

        I don’t have a poem about my prayer chair! I mentioned it in a recent poem. Maybe it deserves its own poem!

      3. Gallivanta

        I am sure it does. 🙂

  8. Marie Hunter Atwood

    Amazing!

    1. melodylowes

      Thanks Marie!

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