I’ve Fallen in Love with a Ghost

“Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt; and sing like nobody’s listening.”

We take so much for granted, believing that there’s always be time to do whatever it is that will make us happy. I’ll travel one day. I’ll have a family one day. I’ll fall in love one day. I’ll get a better job one day. I’ll quit my job and do what I really love, one day. But I learned a long time ago that when people offer excuses instead of effort, it’s because someone is trying to get them to do something they don’t want to do. This even goes for things that we may think we want to do. Take my writing, for example, if I spend more time whining about trying to make time and coming up with reasons why I don’t have time, eventually I’d have to answer the difficult question: Do I really want to be a writer? The answer is yes. That’s why I get up early, stay up late, and utilize the few minutes between jobs and other responsibilities. It means that much to me.

I’m working on two novels: writing the outlines for them both. One is a novel I started working on this summer, the other is a short story that I’ve decided will work better as a novel. I’ve spent this entire Fall Break working on both of these, but today I hit a wall. I’m not going to just give up, of course, but I do acknowledge when I hit a wall. And I do something about it. I’m going to watch another lesson for the James Patterson MasterClass I’m taking online (hoping for inspiration) and I’ve been freewriting today. That’s how I came up with the poem below. Hopefully, this will help me get back on track. If not, I still won’t stop. Because it means that much to me.

I never knew you

would end up being a ghost

until I observed you

walking through the walls

surrounding my heart

all the while trying to convince me

you were there to stay

until I looked for you,

tried to find you.

But you had disappeared.

Again.

I never believed I’d fall

in love with a ghost

until I met you.

And I saw how love

was never enough

to keep you around.

I thought it was your soul

I’d fallen in love with.

Silly me. It was just the spirit

of a love that never will be

‘cuz you’ll always be

a ghost

to me, until you can prove

you know how to stay &

when you stop walking through walls

that can easily be torn down.

Peace & Love,

Rosalind

P.S. Remember, take nothing for granted and live your life with purpose. (I’m talking to myself as much as you.) And, when you get stuck and need inspiration: “Dance like nobody’s watching, love like you’ve never been hurt, and sing like nobody’s listening.)