Waiting

by Cheryl Merrick

Seeing you huddling

    behind your wall,

I toss over notes of love,

offering you the love 

    you were unable to give to me;

Til, sorrowfully,

I must finally accept

that you are unable to feel my heart;

to either give or receive love.

The Law of the Harvest

by Cheryl Merrick

So many times,
reading about
sowing and reaping, 
I bravely reached out
creating new friendships.

But there is more to this law.
Now, sensing of the justness
of the Law of the Harvest,
I no longer surrender
my harvest to another.

Immovable

by Cheryl Merrick

Like waves endlessly crashing
upon the stone cliff,
the mother's relentless taunts
selfishly strive to pull her daughter,
and all that she has, out to sea - to her.

The Matriarch,
claiming that she has the "right" to all family resources,
and that it is her children's duty to meet her needs
and enable her to live in her "deserved" affluent lifestyle,
relentlessly pounds upon her daughter
trying to use the love and faith of her daughter
as weapons to enslave her.

The Time for Ending

by Cheryl Merrick

My heart breaks,
longing for close relationships 
that can never be.

Day after day,
I tried to offer them love and support,
but all they could see was manipulation.

A gift freely given was seen as an attempt
to grasp control of their life, 
or as unconditional surrender to their will.