Poems

When I work with my hands in total surrender to the moment

Quietly and alone in my craft-room in utter contentment

When fabrics turn into flowers and little beads into stars

Not stressing on the outcome and not setting worldly bars

Soaked in eternity in the midst of now with each weave layer

In peace and hearts stillness, my work becomes prayer.

Path

claire burroughs perez ©

One path, the beginning
Two souls, finding meaning
Long journey, a pilgrimage
Seeking only God’s image

Young eyes, full of wonder
Divine hearts, oh so tender
Innocent thoughts, budding wisdoms
Curious minds, finding kingdoms

One heart, two tomorrows
A crossroad, two arrows
One North, the Monastery
South, to New York Ferry

Northward, light and beauty
Love, peace, joy and serenity
Southward, earthly beauty
Gold, puzzles, fogs and frailty

Different ways, both divine
Miles apart, same bread and wine
Separate missions, one call
Two worlds, one soul

Photo: Santorini, Greece claire burroughs perez ©

I lost You In The Closet
claire burroughs perez ©

Somewhere along the parties, old mink and high hills
Low hemmed skirts, old factories and fashion walls
Rough sketches, ticking clocks and fine swatches
Somewhere in that dizzying world I lost you.

Why did I have to choose and can’t have two shoes
Pink, red and maybe the Jimmy Choo blues.
Packed my silence, and wrinkled heart into my tote
I am seeing someone you might have thought.

I read Vogue Mag and your closed mind
My heart contracted like shirred silk kind
My eyes I denied tears and heart died with beers
I faked a smile, clicked glasses and  Cheers!

If only I knew that each caress on the fabric samples
Each clicking steps on the cold building floors
Each smile and nod on the great glittered gown
Is exchanged with a fine jewel that is you.

I rolled my emotions tight with chantilly lace
Walked past doors with 18th century grace
Discussed, argued and reasoned with blank face
But somehow through the lace holes you have escaped

I looked through my full closet and empty heart
Hanging knickerbockers and checkered smiles
Denims and vintage gray satchel still on the side.
Your sideway smile embroidered into my mind.

Wish my heart had been 100% cotton or velvet
Straight cut, fit, flare, skinny or stretch eyelet
I look Ok with this charmeuse, grabbed my bag
my grey stiletto but where’s my other shoe?

Photo: Joshua Tree by claire burroughs perez ©

No response
claire burroughs perez ©

I prayed and no response
I sacrificed my plans
When will I be given chance
for my heart to advance

I've been praying for so long
Am I doing things wrong
I even tried it in a song
My faith is not quite strong

Again I prayed and no response
In this life alone I dance
blessed and then left in a trance
my heart's pricked with a lance

In this world I had been thrown
to do things on my own
my dreams had been blown
in sorrow I have grown

Again I prayed and no response
Knelt down and raised my hands
I guess I am deaf and blind to see
the answers are just in front of me.

 Pour Vous
claire burroughs perez ©

The pain, my thoughts, your misery                            
My heart in guilt clung to its memory                       
I wondered, I acknowledged, I denied              
For you my love I have gently cried                    

My fear, your hope & emotional clarity              
There is comfort and pain with familiarity          
Our games, the jokes, the time we spent                 
We’re so alike and yet so different.                      

Your firm resolve and my playfulness      
I dwell like a doll without a flesh
Upon your intellect where I am closely tied
The sea of minds in which we collide

The same hope which wraps my heart
enraptures my soul and fills my mind
There is something though I’ve to admit
That you I find here in my mind.

But I fear, for what I feel I am not sure.
Of everything I am unsure.
I want you to come and want you to go away.
I want all of you yet don’t want to be with you.

But love itself is quite allusive
Is it love to give up reality for a mere dream?
A fantasy that might not exist?
As celestial sky and glittering butterflies?

But here I stay against all reasons
Ignoring all changing seasons  
Treasures, jewels and paradise
Promise me then with all your lies.

Photo: Thyrrenian Sea by claire burroughs perez ©

You Are The Sea And I The Sky

claire burroughs perez ©

You turned, I turned, that moment time withstood

Like two chameleons merging if we could

You stepped, I stepped, in harmony we stood

Into a synchronized gaze eternity has pulled

across the courtyard perfect mirror to behold

Like a giant love waiting to unfold

With one gentle gaze poetry was told

Up in the North on the first meeting

of what I thought would be just flitting

In confusion and in all my searching

Found a key to unintended homecoming

my everlasting closed fortress unlocking

empathic blending and energy merging  

surrendered as you fixed my fragile broken wing

I discovered the entire ocean within you

yet like magic when I move your ocean moved too

Your dam broke and poured all that you carry

plunged me in uncharted depths of your mystery

engulfed in the sea of emotions like storm wiped ferry

underwater there's no time...your water rushed..I wasn't ready

yet as you read my soul we absorbed each other freely

We are different yet the same, we are the same yet different

you are the sea and I the sky, like yin yang lost and innocent

your voice submerged in the unconscious deep waters

you spoke in silences, in symbols, codes, and soundless letters

My voice resounded with the clouds with wit and candid clarity

 air expands everything and fill the space with keen accuracy

Yet the ocean often reflects the sky and there converge as one --jointly

Hidden in the seawalls of fear and bravery

I discovered part of your ocean within me

and also some air in the bubbles of your sea

Like the ocean-- it mirrored, it fed, it drowned

It mirrored with the glassy surface all around

 It fed the voids with the fruits of the sea abound

Possessed with its foggy currents and riptides drowned

Submerged in the fog of where you end and where I start

My skeptic mind finds on your sleeve you wear your heart

we always felt the same thing at the same time even when apart

With my changeable veil I understand your safeguarding heart

Our wounds collide like perfectly matching art

the discovery of me inside of you, I was you and you are me.

There I will wait in the back where my sky may meet your sea.