Love grows and Other Poems

By Pauline Olthof-Youn

Love grows

When at first love appears
 like the sun behind the clouds
bright and beautiful,
bringing warm sunshine to life,
smile brightly.

When later, love blooms like a rose among weeds,
vibrant and full of colour,
bringing happiness to life
be grateful.

When love branches out,
like leaves on a limb of a tree,
strong and grounded
bringing stability to the earth,
be in awe at the miracle,

And when love withers with age
like plants in the garden
turning yellow and passing away,
feel blessed for the time that you had.

Slumber

In slumber,
peace prevails,
love lives,
eyes experience,
dreams dare,
fantasies fulfilled,
rest relaxes
waking’s weird.

Dew drops

Only the dew dared to dance with delight
on the indifferent grass.
The tired flowers
were forced to move by the wind.
And the unhappy trees
hung their limbs like burdens
weighted down by equally miserable leaves.
Only the remnants of rain
could appreciate the sun
and respond to its brightness.

Grief

When I look up at the sky,
I know you are all around me.


I see you, and feel you
in the silence of the dark night
in the light of the stars
in the shape of the moon
in the spark of the fire
in the wind in the trees
in my dreams, when you appear.
 
You have never left this earth
even though your physical body has,
I feel your presence everywhere.
 
When I look up,
I think....
We are all just like sand particles on the beach of life
Particles that shine in the sunlight
and are warm to the touch,
insignificant on our own, but powerful together.
Particles that live forever, in our memory.

20 years of marriage

Love is a marathon, not a sprint.,
A symphony, not a song.
A concerto, not a note
Or a game, not just throwing the ball

It’s more silence, than words
More looks, than feels.
It’s knowing before being told,
being sure, more than guessing.

Marriage is a seesaw, not a slide
It goes up and down, and it takes two
needing balance, and  patience
instead of  a quick roller coaster ride

It’s a hurricane, not just wind
A storm, not just thunder 
A flood, not a sprinkle
A shooting star, not just the sky

 It is a stew of emotions, not just a taste
A salad, not only lettuce
And when it works,
It’s not just a snack, but a buffet of love

 A Sunflower Haiku

A sunflower field,
yellow rings around black holes,
stargazing, breathing.

Pauline Olthof-Youn had articles and poems published through a youth section of the local newspaper when she was a teen in the 1980’s but motherhood and work kept her away from writing and she has recently rediscovered how much she loved it. Olthof-Youn did have 2 poems published in a magazine out of Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1997

In her free time, Pauline Olthof-Youn loves walking, yoga, reading and travelling to Holland or South Korea where most of her extended family live.