Healing through Vers Libre

The Color of Our Skin...

10/30/2023

Since the beginning of time it seems, the human race has found some means of drawing distinctions between us. Culture, religion, sexuality, language, wealth, ethnicity have all had their days in the spotlight. However, the color of our skin has managed to be a constant from time immemorial. However, in the ways that really matter and connect us all as human beings, the color of our skin doesn’t really matter.

The Color of Our Skin Doesn’t Matter…

The color of our skin doesn’t matter
when we are sad,
when we are happy,
when we experience success,
when we experience failure.

The color of our skin doesn’t matter
when we feel loved,
when we feel unloved,
when we’re surrounded by friends,
when we are lonely.

The color of our skin doesn’t matter
when we lose a loved one,
when we welcome a new birth,
when we laugh aloud,
when we cry silently.

The color of our skin doesn’t matter
when our gifts drive us onward,
when our doubts hold us in place,
when we dream of the future,
when we stay stuck in the past.

The color of our skin doesn’t matter
until we highlight this difference,
until we refuse to see our oneness,
until we see cultures, not people,
until we make assumptions.

The color of our skin doesn’t matter
until we use it to set ourselves apart,
until we choose anger, not love,
until we lose our humanity,
until we close our hearts and minds.

The color of our skin doesn’t matter
for we are all human beings,
for we all live and have children,
for we all feel pain and love,
for we all dream our dreams.

The color of our skin serves a purpose.
It offers us a lesson to teach us love,
to teach us to look within another’s heart,
to not judge others by outer appearances,
to live life from the highest level of Love.

©2023 Dannye Williamsen

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Sadness is Everywhere

10/16/2023

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Have you ever had someone mention a certain kind of car, and it seems you are suddenly seeing them everywhere you look? The same can happen when sadness is strong within you. The sadness out there was always present, but it didn’t resonate as much with you until your heart was filled with your own. I can attest to this even with my loss several years past now. Perhaps I could never empathize as deeply until I experienced such a deep sorrow.

Sadness Is Everywhere

Sadness is everywhere it seems to me –
online, on TV, and in every book I read.
Maybe it was the same before my loss.
I’m not sure for there was nothing to compare.
Now my tears are a constant companion,
waiting for any excuse to release my sorrow.
A stranger is dying. The tears appear.
A fictional woman dies giving birth,
kindness is shown to the downtrodden--
all open the floodgates of my tear reservoir.
Sadly, it only leads me to my real sorrow
becoming front and center without reprieve.
Every regret about the past rises up
to join with all the fears about tomorrow.
The tears flow until I can barely breathe.
I finally reach an empty place in my mind
that helps me push thoughts and feelings aside
so I can put one foot in front of the other
and pretend I’m okay until hopefully I will be.

©DWilliamsen

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Escape?

10/2/2023

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After spending such a long time in a certain routine, a sudden change can leave a person drifting. With all the familiar challenges gone, it can be difficult to find a path. Escape can become a viable option – at least for a while.

Escape?

My eyes opened to the morning light,
and I recognized I was once again
at the cusp of another day where
I was faced with the same crossroad
yielding similar results at end of day,
no matter what the decision I made.
Hopeful enthusiasm filled a few hours,
waning more quickly as days went by
until the future became a blur …
then just hopelessness and sorrow.
Amusing myself each day with work
that went nowhere, read by no one.
Figuring things out is my forte,
but there were no options remaining
from which to choose a direction;
Only holding tight until life was done.
Biding my time, reading for hours
living vicariously through their worlds
until living in those fantastical worlds
was my world. I awoke each morning
with only the desire to enter once again
the worlds reading books afforded me,
until sleep pulled me away each night.

©Dannye Williamsen

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Dannye Williamsen

A Diary in Verse

Pablo Picasso said, “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” For me, free verse is like a diary. It serves you by allowing you to release your emotions by setting pen to paper. At times, it helps you clarify your thinking on a subject. Regardless of the motivation, it is an intimate exercise. As a writer, it takes courage to share them with others. The words lay you open to the world.

Life is a purifying process. It serves as our crucible – a place where we can experience the heat of change. Life is our source for opportunities to transform ourselves. For me, writing, particularly free verse, helps me transform my feelings about difficult situations by putting them down on paper. Oftentimes with those verses serving as release valves, I can feel myself changing as soon as I place the last period on the verse.

One thing all humans have in common are emotions. Emotions exist on a complex spectrum, and the spark leading to their expression can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. It can stem from experiences in the past or those in the here and now or even those on the world stage.

I chose to share these in hopes they would resonate with others. I hope some of them can serve you on your journey, if for no other reason than to know you’re not alone in how you are feeling.

The Color of Our Skin...

Sadness is Everywhere

Escape?

Dannye Williamsen​A Diary in Verse

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Dannye Williamsen

A Diary in Verse