Two Small Lights
Poetry Prompt Challenge from Lani Nieu
Author’s Note: Wrote this for Lani Nieu’s poetry prompt challenge. Also, thanks to Laura B Writing in the Shadows and Amber Estwick for tagging me!
When Amber Estwick tells me to do something, I usually comply. lol.
Here’s Lani Nieu’s original note with prompt:
Here’s my note with the poem (so I don’t lose it in the notes abyss):
PROMPT: Write a short poem about your future, spoken in the voice of Mother Nature, using first-person omniscient (“I” who sees and knows everything).
Two Small Lights
I was there when you first cried
It was a sunny and warm afternoon
And the warmth held you
As it always will
.
It was spring
And you grew
As things do in spring
Sprouting
.
You had no fear
As you walked barefoot across my fields
As you climbed my trees
As you napped in the warmth of my arms
.
In the winters,
I watched you angel in the snow
In the summer,
You hiked in my mountains
Drinking from my creeks
Splashing
.
But my gifts included more than terrain
The sound of the waves
Quieted your mind
The moon grew dark
So that you could grow dark too
And not be alone
.
The wind blew in your hair
The clouds moved quickly
The rain pattered on your cheeks
My shooting stars distracted you
.
You didn’t know
What you would be put through
What you will be put through
.
The wolves howled that day
On those days
And I did
Nothing
.
And they will howl again
And I will do
Nothing
.
But then
The sun came the next day
As it always does
As it will
Whether you’re here or not
.
Spring came once again
As will the scorching summers
And blistering winters
As they always do
.
Not asleep, but not fully awake
.
Until…
One day, you woke
And smiled once again
With love
.
And you ran again in my fields
You climbed higher in my trees
And now I watch you angel in the snow
.
In the warmth of my sun
You glow
.
The piece I took from you
Is made whole
.
But the world is cruel
As chaos often is
The wind blows fiercely
The tides grow high
Fires rage
Waters turn tidal
.
And so you hold on
To each other
To survive
.
And when the moon is full
You look to me
And I look to you
.
The universe holds you in its arms
And bends to you both
.
Because the least I can do
Is give you each other
.
Two small lights
Refusing the dark.
"You didn't know what you would be put through,
What you will be put through.
The hairs on my arms stood at that one! Really nicely done.
This is so beautiful, Becky… that line “And I did nothing” really hit me. There’s something so honest about how you captured both the holding and the hurting all at once.
And “two small lights refusing the dark”… that will stay with me. 💛