I once dropped into
A nondescript café
If you can call it that –
Windows facing a grey wasteland
Of ugly buildings
One table over, a man sighed
And complained about the starkness
Of the place in mid-winter
The mounds of dirty snow
And the leaden skies
And I replied –
Without missing a beat
As if I’d known him all my life –
“Let us play a game:
Looking through this window
We will make the sun shine
And change the dirty snow
Into a white sand beach
Look, there it is
Do you see it?
Those ugly buildings are
The blue waters of the Caribbean
There! You see the white sails of boats?
And to the left, on the beach
A little girl with a ball?”
And the stranger picked up the story
Without missing a beat
And saw small boats and white sails
Seashells and coconuts
Children in bright swimsuits
And felt the warm sunshine
On his arms and face
And off he went to join them
His toes pressing into sand
Frolicking on the beach
And forgot that he was
In a not-quite dignified café
Facing a cold and barren wasteland
One table over
From a stranger.
With thanks to my publisher, Don Bastian, for his patience and kindness at a tough time in my life.
Cynthia Reyes 
Quite lovely.
Youre getting leaner, tighter, tauter.
Gooder.
Tim
Thanks, Tim,.
Good, gooder and maybe one day goodest!
To think we went to school to learn such grammar.
Walk good, my friend.
We all need that kind of escape at this time of the year. Thanks for transporting me to another place!
And thank you for visiting my blog and commenting! I appreciate it.
I loved this, and I’m afraid it’s popped up in time for me to nominate you for a short thing about cake… no need if you don’t want to but it’s kind of on topic and I love your blog. Anyway, you can see it here and decide whether to do it or not ;-). http://wp.me/pJIxY-mn
cheers
MTM
I tried, MT. Says “Page Not Found”.
Glad you like the poem!
It’s only just gone live, it might take a few seconds to appear.
Cheers
MTM
Life is what we make it!
Yes, to a large extent that is so.
I love this, Cynthia. Not only the working of the imagination, but the choice. Beautiful poem 🙂
I’m so glad it makes you smile. Thanks for telling me.
I love this idea. We might all convert to your thinking. Love it. Makes me smile. 😀 ❤
I’m so glad it makes you smile.
I love this one! I will try to remember to see what I need to see . . .
I will try to remember too. I learned visualization at the rehabilitation hospital, as one of their drug-free pain relievers, and it’s come in handy on several occasions.
Today, when I go out in the 20F air to spread gravel on the snow on our lane, I shall think about building a sandcastle.
Oscar
What a great image, Oscar. I hope it helps to transport you to warmer climes.
You painted an alluring picture with your words.
Thank you, Bernadette. Glad you like it!
Beautiful! I love the picture you painted Cynthia. I also know about the comfort of visualization and how useful it can be when pain or insomnia are making life a misery. It was a wonderful aid when Elinor used to have asthma attacks in the middle of the night when she was little.
Thank you, dear Clare. I learned it during my time at the Rehabilitation hospital and have had to use it from time to time. A good thing to do. Am using it today to pretend the falling snow outside my window is a warm beach and this daycation is by choice…..
A warm beach! Heaven! The damp here is getting to my bones….
I loved this so much!
Thank you very much. Wishing you a good day! I’m having a forced ‘daycation’, thanks to the never-ending snow today, so I’m using my visualization skills to pretend it’s just a sandy beach!
Thank you! Find some pretty sea shells for me. 🙂
Amazing how the power of imagination can transform our perceptions. 🙂
I enjoy the warmth of this, on so many different levels. And isn’t that what poetry is about?
From you, oh Mighty Poet, that’s a huge compliment. Thank you. I look at the poetry of yourself and my dearly missed blogger-friend Cynthia Jobin, and wonder how you can be so good at what you do.
Practice? And patience and paying attention to and playing with the rhythm and weight and meaning of words…
Hmm… sounds like a tall order, and yet it results in some sublime poetry that I like to read.
I’m glad you do. Thank you for your appreciation!
Such a lovely story told there.
I don’t comment or like very often, but I just want you to know, I love reading your blog. It is never angry or discouraged and that is such a rare, wonderful gift.
Thank you kindly. As you know, I really like yours. Keep up the good posts!
It’s no small accomplishment to be a transformative presence in people’s lives, Cynthia. And you do it with such creativity, grace and kindness. ❤
Thanks so much. Your saying this makes me feel ennobled.
Thank you for such a lovely response, Cynthia. I’m grateful to hear this. ❤
Beautiful!
Lovely poem… simply lovely, Cynthia!
Coming from you, dear Poet, that’s a big compliment.
I’m humbled … your writing takes the reader’s imagination to such an exotic place … island in the sun? 😉
Thanks, Iris.