Dinner woes!

May19

What should we have for dinner?
I don’t know!
I actually don’t feel hungry
How about you?

The pizza I made yesterday
Is all but gone
What do you think about
A stir-fry?

Sounds good
But we have to prepare so much
All those veggies
Need to be cut

How about a curry
That sounds fine
But you like it hot
And the children, mild

Chicken nuggets
Is their favorite
But I know
You don’t like them

How about fesengoon?
That sounds great
But I feel so tired
It’s so late

We’ll pick up something
At the grocery store
Pre-fab food
Today, we need you!

It’s not healthy,
But I don’t care
Tomorrow is
Another day!

I’ll be good and
Cook some food
That tastes like what
My mother cooked!

Home-cooked meals
Prepared with care
The smell used to
Perfume the air!

Those good old days
Are all but gone
Today we sometimes eat
Out of a box!

Lida Berghuis
October 5th, 2003

Connection!

May16

Connect!!
I tell the computer
“Authorizing”…
He says

Long pause…
Nothing
Longer pause…
“Server unable to connect!”

Server, please!
What is this?
I cannot connect
I’m sorry dear

But I NEED
To send this e-mail!
Well, dear
you’ve got to wait

But dear server
It’s hard to wait
Yes, I know
It’s hard to wait

Dear server
Try harder
Dear Lida
Wait longer
Wait, wait, wait
I wait, I wait
Wait, wait, wait
How long should I wait?

That’s the mystery
The mystery of patience
Patience in this age of
Instant access

Patience

I try again
“Server …
Unable to connect”

Server
is this how you serve?
I’m sorry darling
You’ve got to wait

But my e-mail
How can I send it?
You just must wait
That’s all there is to it!

But that’s so hard
How can I wait?
Go write a poem
That might help!

Lida Berghuis
September 2002

How do you go on?

May15

When darkness lingers
Day after day
When there is no ray of hope to be seen
How do you go on
And for what reason
What helps you not give up?

Where does that last ounce of energy come from?
Why do you try one more time
When it seems that day after day
Nothing changes
Nothing at all

Worst of all what do you do
When you see a ray of hope
Just to wake up the next day
And be enveloped in darkness
And lose that hope

And how do you smile again
After the frowns
How do you get up
After each fall

How do you put one foot
In front of the other
When they feel like lead?

What do you answer
When someone asks you
How you are doing today?

How do you go on
When there is no joy in life
When anxiety reigns
And all the colour has gone?

How do you see yourself
Living the rest of your life
When pain persists
And so do trials

How do you believe
That things will change
And prayers will be heard
One day?

I don’’t know the answer
I just know
We keep going because we have to
Because there are people who love us
And need us to
Because we are stronger
Than we think
And even when everything seems so very bleak
We have no choice
But to persist

And when it seems
That prayers are not heard
It’s probably those very prayers
That give us courage and give us strength

Lida Berghuis
March 2nd, 2007

“Mommy, you will feel better”
Nicki said
I wanted to believe him
And day after day
I would look at the paper airplane
That he made
With this message of hope
And promised myself
I would keep it until the day
I could finally say
Yes, I feel better today
And that day did come!!

Dance!

May13

“Dance when you’’re broken open
Dance if you’’ve torn the bandage off
Dance in the middle of fighting
Dance when you’’re perfectly free!”*

Dance, dance your sorrow away
Dance and forget regret and loss
Dance a dance of thankfulness
Because your suffering is a guide

Dance when you have tears in your eyes
Dance and feel the weight lift off
Dance when you don’’t feel like it
Dancing will set you free

Music has power and sway
Music lifts us up
Music feeds our soul
Music the antidote

Dance in celebration
Dance in preparation
Dance at the beginning
Dance at the end

Change is a constant in life
Dance at each stage of life

Dance my friend, like dervishes do
Round and round, on and on…
Dance to commune with the angels above
Dance and listen to their song

Angels will sing the purest melody
Angels will be your guide
Listen to them carefully
What you’re looking for is not that far

Lida Berghuis
May 12th, 2010

*Rumi

LET’S COOK UP A STORM!

May12

So tell me dear, do you cook?
Can you make fesenjoon*, or tah cheen*?
Can you make curry or a quiche?

Only when I choose to
Only when I wish…
When friends are over
And bring some cheer
That’s when I cook!

When Venus is in Saturn
And Jupiter dances with Pluto!
When the stars are just so
And the moon just so
When I’m happy and inspired
When I’m rested and not tired
That’s when I cook!

When the mood is right and
Friends come to play
When I think of the smile
I’ll see on their faces!
That’s when I cook!

Cooking is an art
So I hear
And relaxing too
I find that weird!
When I want to make others happy
That’s when I cook!

Lida Berghuis
December 9th 2002

* These are Persian dishes.

When I retire!

May10

When I retire, I’d like a plane
I’d like to travel and go insane!
Eat breakfast in Paris, dinner in Spain!
Fly like a bird, touch the clouds, release the pain!
Roam the sky, reach for the sun, be the plane!
Float like a kite, forget my fright, play a game!

Walk the planets, touch the moon, save the day!
Play with star dust, reach for trust, will you play?
Shop in Pluto, dance on the moon, is that sane?
Run all day, fly all night, come my way!
Talk all day, listen all night, will you stay?
I’d like to run, run, run, fly so high, every day!

p.s. Actually, I can’t wait till I retire, I’d like to do all this now! 🙂

Lida Berghuis
October 13th, 2002

Living out loud!

May9

If you ask me what I came to do
In this world
I, an artist, will answer you
I am here to live out loud!
These are the words of
Emile Zola

I like the idea of
Living out loud
I think I do that
When I write

As a writer,
One exposes one’s soul
One has to give generously
Which brings blessings too

In Haida culture
What one gives away
Determines one’s worth
That seems to me
The right measure of worth

We don’t see things
As they are
We see things
As we are!
This is the wisdom
Of Anais Nin

When I live out loud
When I write
You can see who I am
And what is in my heart

Lida Berghuis
July 16th, 2004

Indescribable!

May9

The joy that writing
Brings me
Is indescribable
Once my thoughts and feelings
Take the shape of words
On paper
My spirit rejoices
My heart smiles
The clouds disappear
The sun shines

What is this magic
I ask myself
But there is no answer
To this question
Always curious
I want to know
But the answer to some questions
I will never know

Once again I try to let go
Of the questions
That I pose
Instead I’ll be thankful
For this gift
Instead I’ll be grateful
For this joy!

Lida Berghuis
April 15th, 2004

Buts and ands …

May8

Buts and ands….

Sometimes I wonder when to persevere
And when to let go
When am I supposed to hang in there?
When am I supposed to go?

When everything seems to go wrong
When all the doors close in my face
When I try and try and the answer is no
I have to finally let go!

Reading the signs the universe sends us
Is not easy at times
We have all the buts and the ands lined up
To see things the way we want!

But eventually we run out of buts
And eventually we know we were wrong
To push and to persevere in a certain case
We got to let go sometimes
Before all is lost!

And yet there are other times
When the door remains open
But not very wide
Then we have to be patient and
Wait and not give up

If the door opens wide
We walk through
If the door closes shut
We turn around

Reading these signals and signs
Is not easy most times
But who said life was easy?
Not I!!

Lida Berghuis
July 28th, 2007

Let me be impractical!

May7

What should I do when I grow up?
Be a doctor, a dentist?
A writer, an artist?

Be a doctor darling
They make good dough

Be a dentist my dear
They make even more!

But I’m really a writer
What should I do?
What about passion?
What about soul?

A writer?
That’s so impractical!
An artist?
That’s even worse!!
Who will pay the bills?
Who will work?

But I’d really like to write
I feel it in my bones
I’d like to write a book
That’’s my goal!

You are so young
And you have not lived!
You need life experience
You need to live

That may be
But what about joy?
When I write I feel happy
It brings me joy!

Here she goes again…
She wants to WRITE
But really dear
You SHOULD NOT write
Maybe as a hobby
Or in your journals
But please my dear
That should be all!

Money does not grow on trees
Does not come out of the wall*
You need to earn a living!
So be practical!

Lida Berghuis
Jan. 28th, 2003

*Natasha (then six years old) and I were somewhere once and she needed some money to buy something. I said I didn’t have enough money with me. She said, “but mommy we can get it out of the wall!” She was referring to the bank machines. It does look like the money is coming out of the wall, doesn’t it? white flower