July 6, 2025
| Valerie Hayes
| My Story, Poetry By Valerie Hayes, Thoughts & Ideas, Valerie Hayes, View All Articles & Photos
The edge of ourself
Is a jagged ledge,
Near the mountain’s abyss
With its tortured pledge.
Oh the victory climb!
With vastness & depth,
Seeks the peak of the blessed.
Rests in what we believe
As we take each step ~
To a rock we can cleave
Self taunts us with fear,
Warns don’t look down
For the schism is sheer
With no sight of the ground.
So we look to heaven
Where destiny is found ~
The Spirit lifts us
In the wisp of the wind
Lightens our load
Forgives our sin,
Knows the edge of ourself
Is no place to begin.
Valerie Hayes
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2025). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
December 9, 2024
| Valerie Hayes
| Health & Wellness, My Story, Poetry By Valerie Hayes, Thoughts & Ideas, Valerie Hayes, View All Articles & Photos
Odds & Ends ~ Life & Death
In all that is done
Under the sun ~
Though we wither away
Ego leads us astray.
The rich man dies
The same as the wise.
The wise man expires
The same as the liar –
The fool’s demise
Who shall rise?
Bent is not straight –
Fish will take bait
No matter your state.
The sun when it shines
Is not yours or mine ~
Likewise the rain
Will dampen the bright,
& Water the plain.
For long ago
Little we know
Dust took on form ~
Mortals were born,
Of rib and bone –
Not a heart of stone
But of moral decay,
Oh the price we pay –
Yet wagers abound,
Spins us around
Forces us ahead
Until we are dead
& Back in the ground.
What are the odds?
What whirls in the wind
Knows it has sinned –
Thoughts are deep,
Before we sleep ~
What shall we seek?
A time to be meek –
For to every soul
A message was sent,
For us to repent
And though it began
It will come to an end.
Valerie Hayes
I recently listened to many awesome versions of the song “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”. One of the versions I was not familiar with is by The Dustbowl Revival. It is well worth adding to a playlist.
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2024). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
August 28, 2023
| Valerie Hayes
| Health & Wellness, My Story, Poetry By Valerie Hayes, Thoughts & Ideas, View All Articles & Photos
Vanity Crows
Oh to be so vain –
Is the shortest space
Between the plains,
The proud look ~
In the eye of the mind
Is broken and blind.
The trickster crow
Scans the lines ~
Passing the time –
As flattery goes
From Aim to Be,
A winged defeat –
As the crow flies
Soon we will find,
He has left his feet,
Beside our eyes.
Valerie Hayes
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2023). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
October 7, 2020
| Valerie Hayes
| Health & Wellness, My Story, Poetry By Valerie Hayes, Thoughts & Ideas, View All Articles & Photos
Doorway To Denial
You think –
I think.
I’d rather not…
Show you –
The thought
–I’ve got.
Your technique;
Interprets me –
To be…
A freak.
Like a germ –
Might I squirm;
Until you learn,
Which way to turn…
To catch it.
Make it clean;
Fix the screen.
The door unlocks,
Content shocks!
– So Latch it.
A vacuum finds;
Proud empty minds –
Closed up tight –
Sans insight.
Sucks up time
& Leaves truth behind.
Valerie Hayes
This poem was written long before covid with the germ metaphor. It seems rather facetious now.
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage (2020). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
September 6, 2015
| Valerie Hayes
| Poetry By Valerie Hayes, Thoughts & Ideas, View All Articles & Photos
The Hourglass
The Hourglass Figure ~
So hotly admired;
The “Our” need-les through –
The heart of desire,
Holds all that she dreams…
As thread from her gown,
Came apart at the seams –
She could not have known;
What she needed to mend,
‘Til she went back again –
In her search for the end ~
& The good she could find.
It was then she was shown —
How the darkest of skies –
Has put stars in her eyes ~
As she rides in that chariot,
Called the “Passage of Time”.
Valerie Hayes
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage (2015). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
