Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Harmonies upon the Heart

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Music lays light upon the heart
And shreds the confines of our conflicted sensibilities
To expose the raw and accentuate the essence
Encompassing complete serenity and desolation
Awareness both vast and immediate
A clash of thoughts mingle
Composing novel patterns
The distorted illusions of prominence
Fades to reveal vain drudgery
While the shackles fall from truth
Emanating the brilliance of transparency
What splendid flows do harmonies entrant
To turn vulnerabilities into resplendent gems

Sunday, May 18, 2014

The Dark Lining, A Pressure Within

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Why the troubling pattern we're in?
Hidden deep within the shade
Idyllic dreams from young hearts
Jaded by our very reality
Twisted within folds that bend

Diligence untangles the web
Crafting a beautiful tapestry
But it only takes a single thread
To completely unravel everything

A new mess, so much more complex
Each to face a difficult choice
To create anew from what remains
Or to abandon for a new endeavor

Whatever the choice, my question remains
Does anyone manage to rid themselves
Of the burden left by such a weight
As the mourning of a string of shattered dreams?

How does one not constantly reflect
On all that was lost and what little is left?
Can one shake the ghostly presence
Of that elusive potential in what might have been?

Even as greatness may be restored
Perhaps someday much more than before
While thankful for all that's given
Happy moments still lined in darkness threaten

As the pressure continues to build within
Will we learn to breath freely yet again?
Or will this lead us on a path
That will surely send us to our own end?

Sunday, May 11, 2014

For Mother's

Posted by Erin Mansfield


Enjoy Mother's Day!

This drawing was created using the LINE Brush app for Android. 

Monday, March 31, 2014

The Passing Remains

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Is anything safe from the fade,
The passing of an eternity
Gone as walls crumble
As the last candle dies
Will there be anything left
Anything to go home too
Anyone to go home

Was there ever anything?
Perhaps the passing is all there is
We walk, laugh, work and dream
Yet when the final breath

Is bestowed upon this earth
Or in whatever world remains
What meaning is there 
That will not also expire
Whatever haunts this troubled place
Even dreams quiet when nothing remains

Yet when everything is lost
And darkness invades
There is no more or less
Than the greatest dreams
Or the deepest pains
Than ever there was or will ever be again

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Drowning in Dark and Gray

Posted by Erin Mansfield

There is a shadow deep within my heart
It stalked me even when I was very young
I stared into those hollow depths
I saw a stranger dressed as I
Although perhaps that was a lie
Perhaps it was and always will be
Just my reflection terrifying me

Within this place of depths unknown
There lies only night in waters too cold
Every death and every tear
Every heartache and every fear

And yet, there is something more frightening still
A place I stumbled upon behind the shade
Where there is no sun nor moon
Only concrete ruins and dreams unmade

The people stand there dark and gray
Reaching out to any who care to pass
My heart aches, yet my body shivers
I can not reach even a single life

Nothing shows within their eyes
As I struggle to pull them out
A threat pulses into my heart
A shrill scream runs through my brain

I fall into the cold embrace
Of waters none should ever face
The breath now gone
The shock takes over
I simply surrender
I no longer know that I should be in fear

Yet then the sharpness prickles my lungs
My body thrashes through the waters
Yet this lends not to the surface I so desire
Finally my brain begins to overcome instinct

With the last of my strength
Every muscle twitching with strain
I take two strokes upward

Toward some shimmer of light
Then I let my arms fall to my sides
My head raised up, I close my eyes

It feels forever and eternity
Darkness fills my world again
My head swirls as my body goes limp
Nothing but silence now remains
For a moment, for all time
In the stillness, it is all the same


Yet once again I find myself aware
My head jerks back and upward           
A rush of air stings my lungs
Feeling, life, strength return

So many layers in such ancient places
Where time warps and fades
Where lives are lost, found, remade
I can never quite explain
How to traverse such depths

I only know the wonder
Of how all can be lost
And yet is never truly lost
There is a gift that forever remains

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

A Rich Tapestry

Posted by Erin Mansfield

Stories filled with splendid wonder
Trick our spirits into thrills
Never earned, cheap and frail
Anything more than a pleasant breeze
Shreds wild fantasies into tattered fragments

As life laughs at the ruins left behind
Reality replaces dreams and songs
For a moment it seems that all is lost
As defeated hopes hang by one last thread
And truth pales before imagined glories

Yet as the winds blow, strands of color dance
Then as inspiration transforms interpretation
Determined hands twist and weave as yarn
Knotting in the pieces that fell
And row by row, a fabric steadily grows

Unlike the instant indulgence of delusion
Lonely time inches forward in it's work
Never reaching the perfection of the original design
Always crossing into the realm of the impossible
That such a rich tapestry could be crafted
From battered hearts and forgotten lives

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

A Heart Sustained, The Invisible Embrace

Posted by Erin Mansfield

When tears fall as hands tremble
A heavy head collapses into awaiting arms
The only place where comfort and strength are still found
While soft whispers mix within the folds of agony
Gently caressing a heart of ruins, sustaining every beat

The pain delays in it's demise
The body shivers and suddenly sobs swell
As sorrow strives to relentlessly overwhelm
Yet tender embrace does gently sway
And lovingly guards the pieces that remain
Before the final lurch of tormented horrors
Unleash a scream of astonishing grief

Then the tears do turn to quiet whimpers
Whatever pain, now dulled and drained
Growing aware that you rock in place
With arms grasping tightly at the knees
It is only you within this space
Yet someone held you together that night
Disappearing only when your heart found it's light