La Douceur

 

 

~ La douceur ~ 

 

is the French word to describe

 

not only 

 

sweet to the taste or a mild temperature

 

but 

 

a sense of gentleness and contentment.

 

Don't you agree that the world

 

needs more of that right now?

 

I was given a chance to participate

 

in a virtual meditation group from France.

 

The leader invited us to sit or lay down

 

close our eyes, forget everything

 

and 

 

enter into a state of "la douceur." 

 

How often does anyone take time out of the day

 

to just be 

 

gentle, sweet, kind, mild and most of all

 

content with oneself?

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Enter into a moment of sweetness

 

with 

 

the only person who will 

 

never leave you:

 

You.

 

And of course, The Divine

 

who loves you more 

 

than you can ever know

 

but can begin to know 

 

when you ask.

 

We all can make this world a much better place. 

 

 Photo Les Dames D'abord Instagram

 

 

Listen and Dance With The Daffodils

All photos at my 

 

Instagram account:

Les Dames D'Abord

Breathe

 

 

 

All original content found on my Instagram page:

Les Dames D'Abord

 

Surprise

 

 

All original content found on my Instagram page

Les Dames D'Abord

 

Please Remember This

 No music or photos today

but 

 

just the sound of my voice.

I have created, among other things

an account on 

 

Soundcloud.

I wrote a poem for the times -

 

you can read it on my Instagram page

and 

 

you can hear me recite it here.

Peace to all!

B A C K S T A G E

 

Unless 

 

you've been backstage for a performance

 

 

 

you will never know 

 

what goes into the staging

 

of

 

a person's story.

 

 

As the curtain of 2020 has risen

we have seen 

 

resilience, collaboration, innovation

 

as well as

 

defeat, division and personal loss.

 

You can be in line at the gas pump

 

or in the parking lot of a home improvement store

 

and a complete stranger will have no problem

 

insulting you

 

lashing out - even threatening you

 

or 

 

breaking down in front of you.  

You never know what has gone on

B A C K S T A G E 

for 

 

a performance as such.

That is why I've changed course.

 

From the political scene to the pandemic

 

I observe from my theatre seat

 

and I wonder and I weep

 

but all it took was for

 

one man

in his mid-70s

 

standing in front of me in line 

 

buying bottled water

to rant 

 

about the closure of his business

 

to question my use of a mask and goggles

and then to

I read his script.

 

 And the uncanny thing about it is

it 

 

was my script.

 

The muffled words sucking in and puffing out 

 

from behind his mask,

 

"I'm so sorry but it's been so hard. I'm losing everything. I deeply apologize" 

were like a tinnitus in my ears

that resonated his pain with mine.

 

His admission ticket of humility 

 

wasn't for a seat for the final act

but 

 

for entrance into the darkness 

 

of 

 

the corridors 

 

of 

 

our humanity.

 

 

 

 

Thoughts

What Butterflies See

The Pink Lady Butterfly

lives up to 12 months

and 

in this third month of the new year

all she has seen 

are 

winks and blinks

specks and atoms

glistening in unison

searching for life. 

~~~~
 
An expert in survival 

the butterfly knows 

that the pulsation upon the earth

is partly in hope

partly in fright.

However,

She has winged through

drifted under 

and 

sailed above

ominous clouds

long enough to say, 

 

She will be looking for somewhere to land 

 

when the shadows pass. 

 

Will you be there

 

standing tall

 

when she comes?

When Seasons Meet

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

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anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

The Gentle Days

What happened to them?

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The gentle days 

when a quiet seat by 

a

mute landscape

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anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

was enough.

 

What happened to the gentle days

 

of soft self-expression

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when the hush of the day 

was reserved

for you and the

love letter within you? 

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I'm off to find what happened

to 

the Gentle Days.

Juxtapositions

Please listen to the music as you read and view:

Think hard.

Think back to a time of your life

when someone bullied you

because you were 

too small

too big

too shy

too quiet

too different

All of the above and more

are characteristics often falsely perceived 

as

weakness.

But you know better, don't you...

 

anita pelayo rivera photography les dames d'abord

I however, did not know better.

So, for years I perceived myself 

as inferior to those in 

school, the workplace and even here

on social media
 

until 

I allowed myself to 

thrust forward 

in the trust

 

anita pelayo rivera photography les dames d'abord

that juxtapositions

are like a cord of three strands

not easily ruptured.

The muscle held in check 

by

the wisdom of gentleness

creates contrasts

misunderstood

by those who

see only with the eyes.

 

To get the full picture

anita pelayo rivera photography les dames d'abord

one must understand

that

when rescued and redeemed
 

a being's gentle power

and 

muscular serenity

are not bullying material

but rather a poem 

of

grateful compassion. 


Like the rescue horse here

in my photos

who was redeemed by her owner

and my friend


I will remember I 

am not weak

but

made stronger

by 

the gentle power

of 

kindness.

 

In April

I'm learning

how to garden again.

While listening to one of my students

read his personal memoir draft


the 

teaching experience quickly

reversed roles.

Suddenly

I was looking at 

a newly blossomed  bouquet

emerge on its own

while 

I merely stood in the background.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

In April

I'm learning once again

that 

You can't force

a tiny seed to grow

in the soils of the growing field.

You feed it.

You allow it 

the space of light

then before you know it

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

rose petals 

fall from the sky.

How Do You Graciously Say Good-bye

 

to someone you love 

but who's

out-stayed their welcome?

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 With flowers, of course.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 Because

now it's time to prepare

for 

a new house guest

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

whose arrival is extolled on every 

street corner

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and in every 

celestial - earthly place.

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Preparations are intense

as we greet the most fleeting

yet most 

profound season

that comes 

THEN

in the blink

of

a heart beat

takes 

your breath away.

anita pelayo rivera