WEP - Moonlight Sonata

 

Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

Goddess of the Night

I'm a practical, well-educated man and an athlete that enjoys a challenge, adventure, and travel. It's why I joined the Navy after 9 11.

But after twenty years in the service and giving my best in the fight for freedom. The exodus from Afghanistan exposed a weakness. I began questioning my choices. Retirement from command was my solution. However, the change wasn't easy. I sought direction at the Meher Spiritual Center of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I wanted peace and healing from what I saw as a spiritual crisis.

Now I'm wondering if I've completely lost my mind.

After a week of meditation and silence, I began to see a new path to my future. On Friday, August 11, the evening of the sturgeon moon, I took a healing walk along the ocean. This night as it was explained, was the season of Leo. Astrologers claim the August moon stands for perseverance and the ability to adapt with time and change just like the sturgeon. Tonight, was all about going inward. Clearing the ballast and making room for opportunity. Which I was open to.

The evening was hot, but the breeze off the ocean made it comfortable. I had a flashlight to help me find the way, but once the moon was high, the light was brilliant and my walk invigorating. Then I heard music, faint at first, but the further south I moved, the more recognizable the tune became.

Then, it dawned. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was being played. Even though I was no longer on the property of the Spiritual Center. I kept walking south. The area was privately owned, but I just had to know who was playing this hauntingly beautiful piece.

I came around a high dune and stopped in my tracks.

Standing in the direct rays of the Sturgeon Moon stood an angel. Or was she a mermaid turned human? It didn't matter. Her beauty captivated. She wore a gown of brilliant white trimmed in gold. Her arms were raised to the heavens as though in worship. I thought she was praying.

Her long luxurious hair was the same color as the moon, red with glimmering gold highlights. The breeze lifted the tresses, caressed them, then laid them carefully across lightly tanned shoulders. She was perfection.

Her feet were bare, and the surf kissed her toes lightly, reverently. Watching her, I was frozen in place.

The Moonlight Sonata flowed in an evocative lament.

When she turned toward me, I saw tears on her cheeks, shimmery diamonds she quickly brushed away. What could bring this beautiful goddess to tears?

She smiled, and her deep blue eyes held me fast. Suddenly I was drowning. I felt the cool, clear water pulling my willing body deeper into its depths. Fighting for breath. Her smile calmed me.

Though my heart raced. I relaxed as she moved toward me. Was she walking or gliding across the sand? Did it matter? No, not at that moment, for I knew instantly that she was a gift from God. The answer to my prayers. My future.

Communication went beyond words. Clasped in an embrace, our bodies were one. I could feel her heart beating as furiously as my own. When our lips met in a kiss, the word ecstasy would never describe our response or the carnal nature of our union. The world, the entire universe disappeared, and we were alone. Soaring through a cosmos of indescribable color and beauty, the Moonlight Sonata played its soulful refrain, and we rediscovered our love.

In that kiss, I uncovered the past, saw our future, and recalled our eonian vow of love eternal. She was mine, and I, forever hers. If she'd come to me as a succubus, vampire, or the living dead, I would have willingly given her all and more.

Then the music ended. I opened my eyes, and she was gone. I stood there, unbelieving. Confused. Even the moon had disappeared behind clouds that hadn't existed before that moment.

But she was here, and in the flesh, my moonlit goddess. I could still feel the warmth of her lips, the softness of her skin, the silkiness of her honey-colored hair, and the want in her kiss.

Her absence left me hollow as though she'd taken my soul. But it was my heart that she stole.

I searched until dawn but failed in my quest. Was my goddess a dream? A siren of the Moonlight Sonata or my heart's yearning made flesh under the thrall of a full moon?

Yolanda Renee © 2022

754 words/ FCA

Photo by Rafael Alcure on Unsplash

Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

This is the beginning of a love story I hope to turn into a novel.

I would love to know your thoughts.

Tagline: Moonlight thrall or real-life goddess?

XXX

Choose Beauty

 

Look at that sky

sorrow and sadness must fly

it's time to stand up

kick abuse to the curb

no more woe-is-me

no more words that disturb

God gave us a choice

He gave us a voice

I'll make my way

beginning today

and for all the tomorrows

believing in truth

forgiveness and peace

a gift from above

given in love

ours to claim

and without blame

see how easy it is

to wash away the gray.

***

 Yolanda Renée ©2022

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. 

Summer Is Here - Covid Be Gone

 Photo by Ethan Robertson on Unsplash

Summer Is Here

 

Covid be gone

summer is here

I've more important

things to do

and now, no fear

 

just listen

hear the winds howl,

gust and blow

hot air above one hundred

sweltering and sultry beyond words

 

Covid be gone

it's too beautiful to be pallid

the waves crash

whitecaps on an evergreen sea

so just leave me be

 

palm trees wave

but never sway

their trunks stand tall,

even in a squall

or hurricane come this fall

 

flowers are bright

as the bee's light

hear the bird song

the frogs' croak

nature, so full of hope

 

Covid be gone

it's time you departed

for regions unknown

health and happiness

God's promise, our own.

***

Yolanda Renee © 2022

Covid Is Here

 

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

COVID IS HERE

 

Contemplating life

pondering death

all because

Covid is here

touching all things

I hold dear

I did my best

followed all the rules

used all the tools

vacce'd and masked

still, it pierced my defenses

now I face all the consequences

 

Covid is here

as it ravages and burns

I've come to terms

there will be no rest

not with this unwelcome guest

so I stumble and stagger

a human half dead

filled with disease

and plenty of dread

 

Covid is here

It haunts through the night

tossing and turning

my body fights

this invasive intruder

as it tests and taunts

all my weakest spots

the pain unbearable

the rest denied, unendurable

 

Covid is here

and I'm trying to survive

praying for reprieve

I have to believe

all my preparations

will eventually payoff

but days in

this evil is not backing off

and I've no more tools

 

Covid is here

It's not fair

I did everything right

but no matter the caution,

or how hard you fight

this sneaky devil

always had you in its sights

 

Covid is here

a parasite that

subjugates your body

befuddles your brain

I thank God

at least

the soul is free

of this unholy beast

 

Please understand

I don't fear death

I'd welcome the change

I just don't want

to give Covid

any more fame!

***

Yolanda Renee © 2022

STAY SAFE!

WEP - Please Read The Letter

It's that time again. A new prompt for all those who love a challenge. Are you ready to take up the baton?

It's simple really, the important part is to remember to have fun! Here's my version called My Letter.

Tagline: Unrequited love - a curse

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

My Letter

 Please, read my letter

return to sender

cuts to the core

why have you discarded me

why am I spurned

 please read my letter

it details my love

I gave to you wholly

my heart and soul

I belong to you only

 please read my letter

you’ll see it’s all true

I didn’t betray you

lies were construed

vengeance out of the blue

 please read my letter

my devastation runs deep

the devil has spoken

and I am broken

still, your memory I keep

please read my letter

your answer might be the cure

for the constant replaying

of love-filled nights

and memories so pure

please read my letter

nothing could be worse

unless love one-sided

was meant to be

my curse

Yolanda Renée © 2022

It Really Does Matter

 Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

It Really Does Matter

Another Mother's Day

has come and gone

no word from the two I've born

no text, no call

no card or bouquet at all

makes me sad

and tears do fall

they are better than this

they really are

but without a man to mentor

they've failed the biggest test of all

The man, my husband

once yelled

 when asked why?

"Don't look at me. You're not my mother."

then the tears did fall

each year the pain does lessen

from this sharp arrow to the heart

someday

maybe anon

they'll truly understand

and be better champions

to the little ones

and the women that make them

men.

 

Yolanda Renee © 2022

WEP - A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

 It's that time again. 

A new challenge was posted by the gals at the WEP. Write...Edit...Publish

Flash fiction at it's best! Are you game?

Then join the fun!

***

A Hard Rain

She gazes and sighs

at the angry clouds

the surprisingly calm ocean

and the horizon so far

A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall

she questions her motives

is she validated

or just an attention seeker

all she wants

is freedom

independence

a life less hidden

but to achieve that goal

others will suffer

many will shake their heads

and say, what’d you expect

the girl's been off balance

her entire life

never did know

when she had it good

always seeking

never satisfied

I swear

even in death

she'll look for a third option

unsatisfied with Heaven

or Hell…

Yolanda Renee © 2022

****

Your turn, just give it a try. 

A poem, a short story, flash fiction, or another artistic expression!

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall has been described as the ‘most idiosyncratic protest song ever written.’ Bob Dylan, the Nobel Laureate and another 60's icon, wrote, composed and sung it in 1962 when he was only 21. It’s been covered by many artistes including Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and has never really stopped being sung ever since. Dylan has sold  more than 125 million records/albums making him one of the most popular artistes of all time.  

The form is modelled on the traditional ballad in the question and answer format, the themes being human suffering – pollution, warfare, isolation, angst. Sixty years after Dylan presented it at a performance at Carnegie Hall, the lyrics are striking in that how relevant they are still, how contemporary their feel and the depth of their appeal. Read more about the song here and here.

This one is wide open to all kinds of interpretations. Because human suffering – it’s as wide, deep and long as life is, of a trillion takes potential.

Use it to zoom in on our current ‘hard rain’ of covid. Chisel out your own pandemic flash from what’s going on around you.

Or weave a tale of some other woe – bleeding hammers, broken tongues, dead oceans, homes in the valley meeting damp, dirty prisons. The lyrics are epic, apocalyptic and offer rich pickings. Set your tale around the climate issues; the refugee crisis; the endless hardships that the hard rains of bullets and bombs, volcanic eruptions, oil spills have brought.

Or bypass all the bleakness and melancholy and simply spin a conversation between a parent and a child on some deep life issue. Or a light-hearted one. A million directions to go. The possibilities are endless.

 A freehand is what we give you,  you give the song a listen and see what happens...

Copied from the WEP Challenges page

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