Five Poems by Susan Mayer Brumel

 

into forever 

        

forsythias burn like wildfires  

in my thoughts 

of you… 

 

       your warm smile  

       radiates the sky — 

       a million rising suns! 

 

your voice  

whispers my name  

in the gentle call  

of a waking wood thrush  

 

       and blushing buds  

       paint pastels  

       of your kind eyes  

       on tender branches  

 

soon savoury yellows  

slip beneath  

sweet purples… 

        

                  to the music  

               of a sleepy brook 

       chanting its evening prayers, 

        tender daffodils slow-dance  

              with moonshadows  

                 on the meadow 

 

              I stand among them,  

                 eyes to heaven 

              as your poetic words 

               rain down upon me,  

                   sapphire stars  

                      purifying  

                       my soul 

         

in the embrace  

of a cool breeze,  

your warm hand   

finds mine — 

                 and together, 

                        we walk into forever... 

 

 

Sacrificed  

 

In my dream  

I saw you laid out  

in your eternal bed — 

I felt nothing.  

 

I brushed the back of my hand 

against your ashen cheek,  

a black residue  

stained my skin. 

 

Beside you,  

lay the upper body  

of a legless lamb,  

prepared to be slit  

from neck to belly,  

the mutilators  

standing around her,  

waiting to discover  

what dwelled within. 

 

I imagined  

a heart still beating — 

that she would feel pain  

as they cut into her,  

though her vacant eyes  

showed no sign of life. 

 

I awakened then, aware  

that I had been sacrificed  

so that you might have  

a second chance at life.  

 

What they found inside of me,  

remains a mystery. 

 

 

My Whispering Heart 

 

If you could only know 

the feelings trapped  

inside my throat  

that menace and occlude, 

Then they would gently  

rise and float,  

like breath of morning dew 

 

If I had shared  

the words I tried  

to plot upon the page, 

they would have shown — 

But I was too beset with grief,  

and too afraid 

to let my feelings known 

 

So many things  

I wanted to impart, 

and needed you to know — 

I hope yours heard  

my whispering heart  

that day I watched you go 

 

 

 

An Unwanted Companion  

 

I sit in the silence of the golden hour, 

My heart syncs with its flickering light 

Behind silver clouds a shy sun cowers, 

Struggling to ward off the night 

 

My eyes search for life in a world so still, 

The mind conjures movement not there 

Perched high in a tree two nightingales trill 

A birdsong that no one can hear 

 

A sadness imposes that sits by my side,  

A companion I never did seek 

It fills the void left behind when you died, 

As memories fall soft on my cheek 

 

 

 

Butterfly and Rose 

 

One morning deep in summer 

a butterfly was birthed, 

Of iridescent colours 

it flit-fluttered in its mirth 

 

Winding down a garden path 

it rested on a rose, 

That paled against its beauty 

in bright sunlight, juxtaposed  

 

Flushing pink and blushing blue 

with golden yellows wed,  

It bonded with the blossom 

and remained in flower bed  

 

When winter chill upon them fell 

and garden took to sleep, 

The two in perfect synchrony 

till springtime thaw did keep

Susan Mayer Brumel has been writing poetry since retiring four years ago, from a thirty-five year career in hospice counselling. Her work is inspired by the spiritual journeys of her patients, the compelling beauty of nature, and the human condition. When not writing, Susan enjoys playing piano and singing, getting lost in the woods with her Bernese Mountain Dog, Dottie, floral design, and jumping in puddles with her grandchildren.