In a way, inspired by Maddi's 13 on 14...

1. I am not quite the same person I was last year, last month, or last week. I keep growing and learning.

2.I should really force myself to write faster. Because after a while, I lose enthusiasm, and it shows. Plus, when I take too long, usually I’ve grown so much in the ways I think and write that all I want to do is go back and edit. Which is sometimes good, and sometimes bad.

“I’ll stay.” She said.

The Queen leant forward. “Are you sure?”

Elise gulped. “It’s my destiny, isn't it?”

Her soft grey eyes searched Elise’s face. “Yes.” The Queen turned as if to follow Rilla out the door; then turned back. “Yes indeed; but remember my dear, that anything is possible; it’s all what you allow in your imagination.”

****

Back in the Gateway of Time, the female creature bent over the crystal ball.

"Arghh!" She cackled. "Tis the Chosen One, my lord! She said yes!"

It's an odd sensation. As are all sensations, in their own quiet ways. More than a tinge, not quite a tickle. The perilous between-stage that always seems to claim the most indecisive victims.

I'm one of those. And I fear that I always will be, as I tuck my head between my knees. You know, heartbreak isn't literal. I've read it more than once, but it never seems to sink in. Heartbreak is actually headbreak--all of everything originates from our minds.

A tall, beautiful mermaid walked through the doorway. Her body was clothed in rich purple robes, tinted with gold. On her earlobes were dangling the purest pearls, studded with diamonds; on her ankles and wrists were bangles of gold. They twinkled sweetly as she swept gracefully across the soft seaweed floor. Rilla hurried to assist the stranger to a seat.

“Meet my mother, the Queen.”

Elise felt herself rise to greet the Queen of the Ocean. Her Highness waved away her formalities.

Doggy runs toward the smell
Of promising fun
Runs alongside the sky
Parallel to the sun
And her stubby white legs
They can carry her fast
But far is a question
That's long ago past
The clock, it's her savior
A keeper of time
Of her breaths, and her heartbeats
Of the dark and divine
So slowly her back
Curls upward and meets
Purchase with neck
Legs, toes, and feet
And her eyes they grow wider
But remain the same brown
Her paws are now fingers
She makes not a sound

I spend a lot of time alone with my thoughts. Some people would call me borderline antisocial, but I just can't stand the world we live in. There's so much immorality, so many lies. I prefer the company of my own self, most of the time.
The rain obscures the view outside the window. I cannot tell what it looks like, although I see the same thing outside every day. It is a familiar window, however, it is impossible to tell what it is now.

Drowning

Standing in a thunder storm
pelted by the angry drops,
wishing it would all stop
Staring at the dirty ground.

So alone in this world
Just me and my thoughts
So alone in this night
Just me and my dreams

The waters rising higher
My fears are all consuming
I’m left to start assuming
That my life is going to end

So hopeless on my feet
Just a drop, yet it cuts so deep
So tired of the dreary cycle
Just a day, yet it feels so long

world of white:
white sky
white ground
white whirling through the air
white noise

trees, houses, cars
sprout from the crystal earth
muddy tracks
mar the pristine beauty
poofy coats tuck in their chins
and hurry on

sun sets
moon rises
sparkling beauty returns
deep blue sky
studded with stars
invisible obstructions
coated with glitter
artificial lights
rising heavenward
in golden spirals

beautiful world

This is the land of Freedom and Justice
or is it?
where we swear under God.

Under God we stand
a nation once rose tall
yet if our sins we keep
our nation soon will fall.

Prophets of today
stand up and tell us plain
'a nation who slaughters her children
never more will gain.'

Still we press on forward
"rights" for each and all
yet in the hurry to let each do as he will
we forget the rights of the small.

A few minutes later, Gianna was standing in the gardens. Only, there wasn't any snow (as in the present), and there were actually people in them. Of course it was cold, but it seemed everyone was anxious for a little exercise after the winter snows had subsided. She spotted Grandmother with the gardeners, no doubt discussing how the gardens were to be opened for the spring and how they should be managed.