Maggie Watson's Blog, page 23

Fading

(written August 2024)

Lines written on parchment we set on a fire
to blaze.
In the dying embers, ash burns
to smoke until it evaporates.
We keep any embers that still smoulder safe.
All things fade over time.
What we lose, we cannot replace.
Store the memories to recollect and evoke
emotions the years have claimed.
Let go of anything that causes pain.
All things fade over time except the lines on your face.
Love is the fingers that will trace each one until your dying day.
All things fade over time.
We are all chapters in someone’s history book,
to recall with a smile, we hope.
Enjoy the present.
It is a gift unwrapped
we cannot buy back tomorrow.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved

Roberta Cheadle’s Review of Ephemeral Encounters: Her Book of Words

About Roberta

Roberta Eaton Cheadle is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.

Roberta has short stories and poems in several anthologies and has two published novels:

Through the Nethergate, a historical supernatural fantasy; andA Ghost and His Gold, a historical paranormal novel set in South Africa.

Roberta has thirteen children’s books published in collaboration with her son, Michael, under the name Robbie Cheadle. She also has two poetry books and two books for young teenagers published under this name. Robbie is a member of the SCBWI South Africa and is registered as an author and an illustrator. You can find some of Robbie’s artworks here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/art-gallery/. Robbie also contributes wildlife photographs to Unsplash for free use. You can find her photographs here: https://unsplash.com/@r_cheadle

Follow Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Website: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19631306.Roberta_Eaton_Cheadle

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Thank you so much Roberta this wonderful review and to anyone else who has bought a copy.

Your support is appreciated

Roberta Writes – Book review: Ephemeral Encounters (Her Book of Words) by Maggie Watson #poetry #poetrycommunity

Roberta Cheadle’s Review of Ephemeral Encounters: Her Book of Words (*updated)

About Roberta

Roberta Eaton Cheadle is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.

Roberta has short stories and poems in several anthologies and has two published novels:

Through the Nethergate, a historical supernatural fantasy; andA Ghost and His Gold, a historical paranormal novel set in South Africa.

Roberta has thirteen children’s books published in collaboration with her son, Michael, under the name Robbie Cheadle. She also has two poetry books and two books for young teenagers published under this name. Robbie is a member of the SCBWI South Africa and is registered as an author and an illustrator. You can find some of Robbie’s artworks here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/art-gallery/. Robbie also contributes wildlife photographs to Unsplash for free use. You can find her photographs here: https://unsplash.com/@r_cheadle

Roberta was educated at the University of South Africa where she achieved a Bachelor of Accounting Science in 1996 and a Honours Bachelor of Accounting Science in 1997. She was admitted as a member of The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2000.

Roberta has worked in corporate finance from 2001 until the present date and has written seven publications relating to investing in Africa. She has won several awards over her 20-year career in the category of Transactional Support Services.

Follow Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Website: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19631306.Roberta_Eaton_Cheadle

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Thank you so much Roberta this wonderful review and to anyone else who has bought a copy.

Your support is appreciated

Roberta Writes – Book review: Ephemeral Encounters (Her Book of Words) by Maggie Watson #poetry #poetrycommunity

Time to Fly

(written August 2024)

To lift spirits, sew wings of love and light.
Nothing grows in disparage or the dark.
Apply stitches with threads of hope, even gossamer
wings can fly.
Avoid banks of clouds.
They only hold sorrow.
Search for rainbows instead.
Beyond the bright colours, all your dreams wait.
Into the vastness of the universe, they need to escape.
Once free, your soul will set them on fire.
For spirits to soar, release them from any prison self-made.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved

Cliff Edge

(written August 2024)

Time sits on the edge of a cliff,
hands resting on its lap.
Glancing back at the years, it views much sorrow.
Tracks of tears in hollow spaces and shards of glass,
the remains of broken dreams.
Time moves its hands from its lap
before glancing back again.
The cliff edge begins to crumble as time leaps
into the void.
We cannot stop time, but prisoners of our past
we should never remain.
Only you hold time in your hands.
What you choose to do with it is your fate.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved

Creativity Sparks

(written August 2024)

I dig around in the earth.
My words have become lost.
Nothing more than dross amongst the compost.
When the rain comes, they will disappear
into the ether as if never written.
How easily things we forget.
Lines delicately displayed on paper, disposable,
never irreplaceable.
One’s uniqueness does not matter in a world
where we celebrate fake.
Creativity is art.
Sparks calibrated from the depths of our souls to secrete
within hearts and minds.
Not buried in places where nothing grows or
eaten by carrion crows.
Creativity is a flavour to savour,
a delicacy to appreciate long after the paint has
dried, and the ink has ceased to flow.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved

Thoughts

(written August 2024)

In the still of the night, the mind takes centre stage.
From the depths of the subconscious, thoughts stray.
Into the spotlight, the exact place where the curtain fell.
As babies, what were our dreams?
Could we have imagined how hard life can be?
As our mothers rocked us with lullabies before the world
stained our thoughts.
In the still of the night, minds take us back to places that came after
“once upon a time”.
And sleep is the only release from unpleasant memories.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved

Diaphanous

(written August 2024)

The heart, a diaphanous rose held within thorns,
fragile yet strong.
Beneath the petals, love stems from a gentle touch
or a sweet cadence of words.
Every rose has its thorns, but a heart handled with care will
not puncture or wound.
Watered with tenderness, it will blossom and bloom.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved

Souls

(written August 2024)

Buried under layers of preconditions,
dictated by societal norms, the mask worn bears
no resemblance to the child born.
At street level, all seems normal, but behind closed doors,
the masquerade of a fake persona crumbles.
The authentic self fights for release,
stifled and exhausted from trying to please.
We are not actors on screen.
Our souls need air to breathe.
Set them free.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved

Change

(written July 2024)

Change, tides ebb, then flow.
The moon waxes and wanes,
and nuances of life occur every day.
Only when the hat drops do we see.
Life changes quickly, thrown off course,
ninety degrees.
The hull of our ship crashes into rocks as
we reduce to tears,
a sinking reality of our fears.
Resistance is the magnetic force pulling you
into the embrace of change.
Nothing can stay the same.
That is the universal law of this earthly plane.

Copyright © 2024 Ephemeral Encounters
All Rights Reserved