Thorns and Berries

Wild orange berries are in my sights.

Burnt orange with a beige cap to match in brilliance.

They dangle amid the new snow.

Even the red berries with a green thistle like bottom

are drawing me into look deeper.

In the morning I am always brave with piercing bushes.

I can carefully maneuver around then with ease.

Capturing the treasure I need to take back home.

But today this sea of thorns causes me to hesitate for a moment.

Considering how to make my way.

Should I continue on for easier winter fruits?

A dried juniper.

A milkweed branch.

Sometimes the winter instills the easy way,

to leave well enough alone.

The elements seem to force complacency.

But I’ve never been one to pass up reds and oranges.

Not in the dead of winter when the background

fades to every shade of brown and white.

Week 3. Thorns and Berries

During the past few weeks, I found myself looking back a lot, thinking about the past. Examining much of the “thorns” in my life. But this week I found that things felt new, that I could appreciate the wild berries. When the sadness lifted, I could see with clarity what I needed to learn about myself and I wondered if maybe the darkness helped me to get that perspective. Suffering is not always necessary but sometimes we need to look at how we can use our suffering to become stronger. Maybe knowing that we can learn from our suffering can give us the courage to delve into a thorn bush.