family

Will I have done enough?

~ ~M ~ 18 Comments

I’m trying to be better about reaching out,
to be more intentional with my words,
but oh, how I fail miserably.
There is never enough time
for every person I love
and for every person who loves me.
I wrestle with being able to give enough of myself,
but at the same time,
I’m trying to save some of myself just for me.
Oh, what a predicament!
One day, I will be done trying;
my body will at last wear out,
and I’ll be lost to the wind,
scattered on some sorrowful breeze,
on some unexpected lonesome day.
Will I have done enough?
Maybe it won’t matter
because maybe in the grand scheme of things,
I am just me — a tiny particle of dust
who doesn’t stand a chance
of making any difference at all.

© 2025 Michelle Cook

Photo generated with AI

Separation sufferances

~ ~M ~ 10 Comments

Being separated from the ones you love is a lonely place to be.

I suppose some may never understand what this is like, but I believe most will know this feeling well.

I have had enough of this torture to realize that we don’t get to decide how or when we will be separated.

There are even those we love who will never be able to grace our paths no matter how long we yearn. 

The distance from those loved ones may as well be a trip to the moon.

These are life’s true tragedies, and the heart cannot comprehend why this is the way it has to be.

It’s especially difficult during a dark night, one void of loving arms and reassurance.

We cannot then comprehend the reality of our circumstances.

That’s when the heart realizes how truly alone it is and suffers in silence as it mostly always has.

These are the sad truths that often live inside us all.

Few speak of these sufferances, but that doesn’t make them any less painful.

The only way to survive the distance is to reach out as much as you can, sending deeply felt “I love yous” and sincerely honest “thinkings of you.”

© 2025 Michelle Cook

Photo generated with AI

I can’t remember you

~ ~M ~ 37 Comments

I forgot you
You made me forget you
And now
Whenever I think of you
I can’t remember
Why I’m thinking of you

I think a piece of my heart
Has a muscle memory of you
But my mind can no longer be sure
Your memory flitted away
On a day long ago
When there was nothing left to say

I have this vague recollection
That you once mattered to me
But maybe that was only a dream
The more I try to remember
The more I forget
And the pain I once felt is finally gone

© 2024 Michelle Cook

Image generated with AI

Prismatic ponderings

~ ~M ~ 12 Comments

I begin to slowly die
whenever you’re away
disheartened by the absence
of your colorful array

An achromatic rainbow
is all that I can conjure
my mind’s eye being
desolate and somber

But then you return
like a prism in my mind
blotting out the bleakness
with a feeling undefined

My world becomes a haven
and my heart beats anew
saturated by all the colors
spilled on me by you

© 2024 Michelle Cook

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/water-fight-friends-beach-woman-636761/

Just reflecting

~ ~M ~ 27 Comments

Do you ever wonder why things
can’t be as they were
Time always changes things
and causes such a stir

People eventually change
and that’s because everyone grows
still I miss the old ways
and change I do oppose

I miss when my kids were little
the times of simple bliss
now the world has gotten so hectic
everything’s amiss.

I struggle with the here and now
and the moments way back then
still knowing I’d never want to do
all those years again

As great as they really were
life was hard then too
I guess I need to remember that
whenever I’m feeling blue

One never really thinks
about the day their children will leave
and it’s sad when they forget you
It’s something you forever grieve

I know my very own parents
probably feel the exact same way
but the distance makes it harder
and so we drift away.

And friends are difficult to follow
everyone’s here and there
but there’s only one of me
though I’d love to be everywhere

And now that I am older
I find myself learning to be still
sinking into the background
not looking for a thrill

Still I am very happy
and maybe more content than most
but very humbly I say that
for I’d never want to boast

I do enjoy my life though
and yet some days are still so sad
but they’re few and far between
and for that I’m really glad

And today I’m just reflecting
missing those who’ve gone afar
and I think I’ve come to accept
I have to leave them where they are

© 2023 Michelle Cook

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/young-woman-meadow-lie-relax-girl-2194038/