Transformations:  What We Had and Have

by Jane Tawel

Transformations: What We Had and Have

By Jane Tawel

May 1, 2021

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There are things that transform,

Sometimes, good, sometimes bad.

And one thing that can change us

are things we have had;

like a memory,

a story,

or that one special look

from a person that loved us,

or a scene in its glory,

or a place we once lived,

or the self we forgive.

*

In past things that have happened

and are seared into our minds,

are the things in the present the soul longs to find — 

a meaning and truth to help light The Way — 

we make our past valid by its purpose today.

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Yes, the things that transform us

are alive and will move us

and it often behooves us

to remember and honor,

whether lasting, or gone or

pleasant or sad

who we are is in part

all the things we have had

that transform our hearts

and that keep love alive.

For we truly do thrive

When past joys, and past storms,

are held close to our souls,

there to change and transform.

*

The changes

from actual things we can touch,

or see, hear, or taste — 

all have given us much

to continue in nurturing

thoughts, words, and deeds,

and are ever more helpful,

than dogmas or creeds.

For what I thought yesterday

often has proved,

to be just a rut or an entrenching groove,

that causes my heart and my soul to decay,

and prevent me from living new truths found today.

*

It is living life wholly

that makes holiness real.

And what makes humans, human,

is what we can feel.

And by letting our feelings

create room in our thoughts,

our souls can become

the vast things that they ought.

We must hold on right tightly,

To the plantings, so needed.

For much has been seeded,

in our lives for our growth.

There is past, and there’s present,

and each moment, holds both.

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There’s an ocean inside me

Of things I have had;

and acceptance is not that I’ve been always glad;

But instead I take each little memory and part,

and I let each shift things in my mind and my heart.

And each little shift can move me away

from the things that ensnare me or convince me to stay,

stuck in a place or time no longer needed.

A Life’s rolling waves

should be honored and heeded.

Oh, the freedom I’ve found in embracing the “me”

that has had and can have, and once was and can be!

*

Our lives’ better angels

can upturn the tables,

but we must be able,

to look life in the face,

and give all of it grace.

All of life’s just a spectrum,

Of reaches and ranges.

Whether rising or falling,

Waves of change are our calling,

and they call and they call us

towards change.

© Jane Tawel 2021