Poetry Dedication for My Little Sister

Ignorance, jealousy, hurt, hate inflame

Innocence, happiness, patience, and love

Inside yourself, you’ll find all of the above

Play your cards right and don’t be others’ fool

Help where you can, don’t misuse your tools

Dot your I’s and cross your heart

Don’t let good friends, but rather enemies, part

Some, they find solace, others find shame

A lesson to learn, a trade to be taught

A good conscience and a willing soul

Questions to ask, answers to be sought

Walk your own path, meet your goal

Live a life to be proud of, a life to love

Live with delight, live a life to write of

Lessons to Share

Anya,

Lessons to Share was written for you to share a few of the short lessons I’ve needed to learn and re-learn every day of my life so far. It is about the pros, the cons, the highs, and the lows in life. I can’t say I’m an expert, I won’t say I know everything –at least not say it and mean it- but I do want to show you a perspective which you can pick apart and make your own decisions on. I have made many mistakes, but from each one I learned a valuable lesson. I would like to offer you a piece of advice. These lessons will be hard, they’ll seem impossible. Stick with them despite everything and learn as much as you possibly can from them. Without these lessons -and the challenges they present- life would be null, void, and pointless. It is those moments in sheer adversity which really define who we are. Trials are advantageous and invaluable to our lives and in how we deal with what we go through on a daily basis. They make us strong and they give us our unbreakable wills –just so long as we stick to the challenge.

To Anya, On Lessons to Share

Late one dark, warm Summer’s night

As I gazed into the stars alight

I heard a whisper in the breeze

And a shaking in the trees

I turned around with sudden fear

But what I saw was my lover dear

It melted away like springtime snow

And in his arms I was all aglow

Blissful in the darkness there

The moon shone bright, our love like air

A day’s light later, in the dark of night

I returned to the place where he held me tight

Covered by shadow, surrounded by mist

I walked slowly forward, stumbling upon a tryst

Ode to a Failed Love

It was my lover I had thought forever trueAnd a woman, hair of gold and eyes ice blueShe giggled, he barked out that warm laughMy heart tore and ripped into a pathetic halfTears burned my eyes, their ecstasy burned my soulAway I ran through the darkness, blindly I stoleIn day’s sweet light, feeling safe and secureI saw him today, he seemed heartless, impureMasked by his friendly smile, his shining eyesHe hides himself from others, he wears a disguiseThinking about him used to hurt, it used to burnForgetting him was hard, but a good skill to learnNow when I see him, I think back to the first nightWhen his hands held mine in the pale moonlightThe present is here, the past is past,My future is shining, we weren’t meant to last

Anya,

This poem is to warn you about what will happen to you a few times in your life. Pain caused by someone else to you is inevitable. Everyone hurts and everyone cries; you know this by now too. My hope is to show you that even though pain is there –and its hurt shakes you to your core at times- it is there for a reason. Pain throws us learning curves and strengthens and makes us wiser in the end. There will be times in your life –and plenty of them, too- when you’ll get hurt and you will be sorely tempted to close yourself off from everyone and everything, refusing to let yourself trust. You should undoubtedly take more care to protect yourself, but do not go to the extreme of missing out on the great things in life like the new experiences, friendship, and love just out there waiting for you to find them. Don’t be afraid to know what it is that you want and go for it. I wanted to let you know that because you get hurt, that is just more reason to get back up again, this time as a stronger, smarter woman.

To Anya, On Ode to a Failed Love

In your life you will cross many paths

They will provide learning experiences

There will be love and peace; pain and wrath

My hope is to gift you with lessons of my inexperience

Enjoy the little things; they are many but leave fast

Savor the larger things; they are family and friends

Spend your time wisely; make it mean something to last

Take chances you’ll remember when your days end

Forgive and learn from mistakes, never forget

Love and accept the faults in others and

Use the past as a learning tool, don’t live in regret

Your present and past are crafted by your hands

Your Life

Anya,

My little sister, my helper through my own trials in life, I’d like to return the favor and give you a glimpse of what to expect. Life comes with its ups and its downs; it comes with its trials and joys. Making the most of what you’re given gives you all that you want and need. This poem I wrote for you gives you a refresher on what you already know, but hopefully also get you thinking about these things more clearly and look at them more closely. You know the facts of both life and death, but have you taken the time to think them through yet? Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time for you to think and learn as well. There is also love, which you’ve caught glimpses of in your crushes, or at least some of the crazier symptoms. Peaceful moments are hard to come by, enjoy each one as much as possible. Little things and big thing alike; the scent of flowers, the taste of chocolate, and the love of those around you should be cherished. You never know when you might not be able to enjoy these things for one reason or another.

To Anya, On Your Life

May your choices bring you peace

And put your heart and mind at ease

May all you choose be with your heart

But don’t forget to give your mind a part

In all you say and all you do

Don’t make choices to regret all through

Your life, it is a most precious gift

Try new things to help your views shift

Do not let others pressure you to decide

Listen to reason, ignore your pride

From bad to worse, from worse to great

Make weighed decisions, choose your fate

Your Choices

Anya,

I wrote this poem to illustrate the importance and gravity of the choices you make in your own life. I would like to pass down these little tips which, had I known them when I was your age, would have made going through what I did much easier. When you make choices, think mainly using logic but also learn to recognize the times when you must use your logic in conjunction with your heart. As you get older, the decisions to make will increase further in difficulty, coming as tests that God sends to you to prepare you for what comes next. As far as people you surround yourself with, make sure you choose the ones who make you be a better sister, friend, and catholic. “Friends” who try to tell you what you should and shouldn’t be, who you should or shouldn’t hang out with, have nothing but constant criticism for everything you are and do have no business being called “friend”. Make sure they push you to be your best. That is how you know that you made the best choice for yourself, because people who push you to better yourself have your back and always will.

To Anya, On Your Choices

Love is patient, love is kind

Love is fun but don’t lose your mind

 

When you give yourself, give completely

If you can’t do that, you can’t love him, really

Share who you are and who you want to be

Don’t pretend; don’t hide behind a fake screen

 

Let him see your flaws, let him see your worth

The time you have is precious, more than any jewel on earth

Let him count the seconds, minutes, hours and days

Until you’ll be together, until he sees your face

Love

Be patient with him, be supportive and kindBe a generous and thoughtful companion to his mindEnsure he knows your heart is in the same placeTo reach him when he needs you through time and space Know that he also has his flaws and battle scarsHe’s not perfect; you’ll never know people who areTalk, laugh, live and love with each otherYou’ll know for sure when for you there’s no other Love is not jealous or boastful, it can’t be definedLove is not a game to play or to be outlinedIt does not have boundaries or limits in our heartsIt is worth all that we go through our lives from the start

Anya,

This poem was written for you to be given a piece of advice on what little I have learned about love thus far in my life. I’m hoping that you will find use for it and be able to add to what you have learned up to now. The poem is merely a few tidbits on my interpretation of what love should be like. I can’t tell you how it feels as that hasn’t happened for me yet, but I hope to be able to show you what standards you might want to set in order to attain a true, great love. I know you have a great capacity for love, and I know that someday you’ll make someone the luckiest man on earth. I’d like you to remember a few things first though. That love is patient, and you have to be too; there isn’t a “prince charming” type of guy to expect, but a humble one strong of character; finally, think with your head as well as your heart and find a way to combine the two harmoniously (that brings the best outcomes to decisions). Find love and make sure you hold it close to your heart!

To Anya, On love

I was angry with my friend;

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I water’d it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears:

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright.

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole.

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning glad I see,

My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.

A Poison Tree by William Blake

Nor dread nor hope attend

A dying animal;

A man awaits his end

Dreading and hoping all;

Many times he died,

Many times rose again.

A great man in his pride

Confronting murderous men

Casts derision upon

Supersession of breath;

He knows death to the bone

Man has created death.

Death By William Butler Yeats

The sense of the world is short,

Long and various the report,

To love and be beloved;

Men and gods have not outlearned it,

And how oft soe'er they've turned it,

'Tis not to be improved.

Eros by Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love thine inland seas,

Thy groves of giant trees,

Thy rolling plains;

Thy rivers' mighty sweep,

Thy mystic canyons deep,

Thy mountains wild and steep,

All thy domains;

Thy silver Eastern strands,

Thy Golden Gate that stands

Wide to the West;

Thy flowery Southland fair,

Thy sweet and crystal air,

O land beyond compare,

Thee I love best!

America by Henry van Dyke

What is our life? A play of passion,

Our mirth the music of division,

Our mother's wombs the tiring-houses be,

Where we are dressed for this short comedy.

Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,

That sits and marks still who doth act amiss.

Our graves that hide us from the setting sun

Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.

Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest,

Only we die in earnest, that's no jest.

Life by Sir Walter Raleigh

Anya,

As you could tell –since you came this far - my own poems aren’t the only ones included in this small collection of poetry. I chose the five other poems to get the point of my “advice in life and its happenings” theme across. A Poison Tree by William Blake was selected to illustrate to you the destructive power of hate. I want to use it as a reminder that hate is a poison that, if not let go completely, just grows into something worse and more terrible. If let go, it is replaced by love, which will strengthen you. If held onto, hate grows stronger and bears deadly fruit. As I have not come into much contact with death in my life so far, I selected Death by William Butler Yeats. I hope to give you more insight into it from someone else who might know more about it from experience.

Why these other poems by famous authors?

Eros by Ralph Waldo Emerson was chosen for this collection to expand a little more on love. I also wanted to give you a different perspective to look at on the subject. I have not gotten enough experience to tell you what is to be done in any situation, but I hope that little pieces of wisdom from a published author might help. America by Henry Van Dyke was included in this collection to show an important value to have in one’s life. It is important to have a sense of pride in who you are and where you come from. Be proud of your heritage as a German and Mexican, also be proud especially in the country in which you live. Finally, Life by Sir Walter Raleigh was involved in this collection to add advice from one more experienced than I in life. My hope in dedicating this collection of poetry to you is to help you along in your life with what little I have learned so far. Here’s to growing up, but not too fast!

Continued…

Life by Sir Walter Raleigh. Website: Altius Directory, 2006-2013

America by Henry Van Dyke. Website: Altius Directory, 2006-2013

Eros by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Website: Altius Directory, 2006-2013

Death by William Butler Yeats. Website: Altius Directory, 2006-2013

A Poison Tree by William Blake. Website: Altius Directory, 2006-2013

Links to websites used:

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Arts/short-poems.php

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Arts/poems-about-life.php

Works Cited