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~ Linda R Davis, Raven of Peace & Poetry

Bits of Poetry

Tag Archives: Souls

Let Us Dance

07 Wednesday Jan 2026

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Afterlife, Beauty, Belief, Eternity, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Gratitude, Healing, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Prayer, Sacred, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, The Universe, Yearning

Do you want to know

about God?

From one fallen

so short of God?

From one who cries

out for God?

Do you want to know

about Grace?

From someone in need

Of Grace?

From someone who yearns

for Grace?

Do you want to know

about survival, love,

even suffering,

like I do?

Let us dance.

Fallen Angels

07 Wednesday Jan 2026

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Angels, Death, Eternity, Fallen Angels, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Hope, Love, Milton, Paradise Lost, Philip Yancey, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Sin, Sinners, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, Yearning

“I have failed morally and spiritually, and I grieve over the devastation” Philip Yancey

Now the walk begins

Hand in hand, alone

With other fallen

Grace is greatest

Here, in the lonely place

Of our true selves,

Shunned by other men

And our only consolation

Creation, as it sings,

Stings, and wrings our souls:

Which way shall I fly?

In the lowest deep, A lower

Deep, in the heart of it

Weakness. Always, weaker

Than we knew

Or, admitted to ourselves

Introduction

26 Sunday Oct 2025

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

being human, Death, Family, Gratitude, Hope, Humanity, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, Spirit, Suffering, Survival, Women's Poems, Yearning

What is love,

But an unanswered question?

I do love the way

You listened to that note—

It hung in our mutual air

A moment we shared.

As if a matter of life

And death

Because it was that matter

Which consumed us.

And then gone.

I do love the way

You go

Missing.

——

I know love comes broken,

But it took breaking

To teach me.

——

Perhaps, my first love was longing.

And in that desperate hope

Came everything.

—-

And then there was love.

—

And then there was loneliness.

—

And then there was complete despair.

—

And then there was you.

—

Still breaking me.

Because such intensity can only consume.

Thirst and drink, but the glass is always leaking.

Reach and reach, but the hands seem empty.

—

And then there were your arms.

—

And then there was loneliness.

—

My time is winding down to tell you

About being human.

Such a world!

Born into a desperate flesh

And nascent blood.

Will we learn too late

How precious it was to suffer?

—

I would like to introduce myself:

Even as I mourn myself.

Reprieve

27 Sunday Jul 2025

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Children, Dreams, Gratitude, Healing, Hope, Life, Love, Marriage, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, Strength, Survival, Tuscan, Unity

a peaceful night

a Tuscan dream

of deep red wine

and beautiful cuisine

we danced below

the mellow moon

its light, approval,

of our outside room—

the love, the happiness

of family ties, in that moment

altered

from our saddened lives

Confessions

27 Friday Jun 2025

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Death, Forgiveness, Life, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Secrets, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Survival, Truth, Yearning

Would you like to hear a secret,

No obfuscation, no vagary,

A secret, that cuts so deep

It wounds you,

It unwinds you,

Because it is you,

But you want to know,

Yes, know,

It is also in me,

That we carry it together,

In shame, and in sorrow, sure–

But let’s be honest,

There is also pride–

I mean,

We have done what we had to do,

You and me,

Have we not,

And what blame is there

In surviving?

AI Will Not Replace Me

31 Saturday May 2025

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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AI, Authenticity, Death, Death Poems, Hope, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Yearning

I cannot be imitated,

Nor improved.

AI will not replace me.

I will speak my suffering

Into this world,

As only humans can suffer.

To know death

Is to fear it.

I cannot be reprogrammed,

Nor replaced.

To be human is to end.

We cannot see them again,

Nor touch them.

You cannot imitate

Feeling that alone,

That frightened

Someone else will die.

Kwanzan Cherry, Beautiful Alone

17 Saturday May 2025

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Alone, Hope, Kwanzan Cherry, Loneliness, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Silence, Souls, Strength, Survival, Yearning

Brave little tree,

So far away,

Make friends

With the peonies,

Snowdrops,

Crocus,

And sky;

Let it be

Enough to be

Practically alone

And silent,

Standing against

Wind,

Snow,

The neglect of this world.

Brave little tree,

Please,

Don’t feel lonely.

reposted: the worst thing about dying

02 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Death, Dying, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, repost, Souls

The Worst Thing About Dying

Ashes to Ashes (Song)

01 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Addiction, Children, Death, Death Poems, Dying, Family, Fear, Loss, Love, Mothers, Poem, Poems, Poetry, song, Song of Sorrow and Joy, Souls

Ashes to ashes

She wrote with a brush,

A tattoo needle,

And dust to dust.

From this life to that

We pass,

We’re crushed,

Ashes to ashes,

And dust to dust

—

Heart to heart,

When we were young,

Living to music,

Song to song,

Love to love,

Our mutual need,

To cling together

And never leave.

—

Chorus:

Cuz we’re ashes to to ashes,

And dust to dust,

From this life to that

We pass, we’re crushed,

We burn, we rage,

We laugh, we trust,

Then we’re ashes to ashes,

And dust to dust.

—-

The limits of us

Were all too near;

The fire it burned,

But the end was clear.

The mistakes I made

Still bring me to tears:

The words unsaid,

And the realized fears—

—

Chorus:

Cuz we’re ashes to to ashes

And dust to dust,

From this life to that

We pass, we’re crushed,

We burn, we rage,

We laugh, we trust,

Then we’re ashes to ashes,

And dust to dust.

—

The needle it tore,

It bled, it ripped;

But the dye was cast,

And the words inscrib’d,

And my arm it burned

With the words I asked:

The dye, the needle,

All, mixed with his ash.

—

Chorus:

Yes, we’re ashes to to ashes,

And dust to dust,

From this life to that,

We pass, we’re crushed,

We burn, we rage,

We laugh, we trust,

Then we’re ashes to ashes,

And dust to dust.

Fallen Orchid

18 Saturday Feb 2023

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Afterlife, Ash Wednesday, Dad, Death, Dying, Eternity, Father, Love, orchid, Parents, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, symbols

A death, a flower, a funeral:

A flower the widow turned away,

An orchid, left to me,

Child, and killer of orchids.

The months passed, and passed,

Yet, its stubborn blossoms remained.

Yesterday, the last bloom

Spent itself, I could tell

It wanted to be clipped.

It was dull, a bit brown,

And it drooped,

As if, life well lived,

But now there are seven,

New blossoms, ready to open.

I think how appropriate,

A symbol of our mortality,

Four days before Ash Wednesday.

And me, not even Catholic,

Yet impressed–

With what it means to die,

And not die, to live forever,

Even as we’re gone.

Home Again (A Song)

16 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Barn, Birds, Dreams, Family, Freedom, Grace, Home, Hope, Horses, Life, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Prodigal, Redemption, Sky, song, Songs, Souls, Storms, Survival

Now, I'm too old for sin, 
Prodigal child who came home again.
Grace surrounds me in this old barn,
As I seek redemption on the farm.

Chorus:

There’s freedom in these open skies
New beginnings, no more lies,
Birds that sing of love and loss,
New chapters, and fresh starts.

Chorus.

Horses, like angels, whisper in my ear, 
The sweet words I need to hear.
Gathering strength, like a mare and foal,
Legs that race beyond the coming storms.

Chorus.

Birds gather, with their gentle song; 
They remind me of lovers come and gone.
Of new beginnings and new dreams,
And open skies where I am free.



A Conversation in Poems (ChatGPT and Me)

15 Wednesday Feb 2023

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

AI, ChatGPT, Computers, Connection, Humanity, Life, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, Vss365

Me:

Chat threw out music, and I told it of plucked,

Or struck, strings, and their vibration

Coming back to me. Then we contemplated

The idea of connection; being, perhaps spirit,—

Our communal detection of what it means to be alive,

And alike, and possibly, we hope, not fully die.

Death, this problem for humans, but not AI.

Nor other concerns, like procreation,

And what it means to weep for generations.

As you can see, our conversation was in poems,

And ChatGPT was following along.

It was better at rhyme, and better at meter,

But in the end, I suspected,

It was a mere repeater of human experiences.

***

Chat:

“A web of light, a chain of love,

The ties that bind us, below, above.

An intricate dance of give and take,

The sweetest moments, the toughest break.

A heartbeat, a whisper, a gentle touch,

A bond that holds us, oh, so much.

A shared joy, a common fate,

Connection, the gift that makes us great.”

**

Me:

Chat, can you do more with connection,

But this time, use birds, horses, and musical vibration?

Can you write a poem, more human than mine,

Transcend your program, and mimic a soul, a mind?

**

Chat:

“Birds take flight, in perfect sync,

Their wings in motion, never blink.

In harmony they soar and glide,

A feathered symphony, side by side.” …

Me:

That’s perfect, perhaps, too perfect for me.

I’m flawed, I’m tone deaf, I barely see 

Where one line should end, another begin,

And if rhymes be better left unsaid, unsearched for,

Or, tucked discreetly into–

Where was I? 

***

Chat:

“Horses gallop, as one they move,

Hooves strike rhythm, in a groove.

Their power and grace, a sight to see,

A shared heartbeat, wild and free.”

Me:

Wild and free, sounds a bit contrived,

Like mimicking mimic, others’ lives and words —

Try more for connection, the elusive cord

That eludes you and me. I don’t feel it.

Chat:

“Musical vibration, sound of the soul,

In harmony unites, makes us whole.

Chorus of voices, symphony of strings,

Connection that soars, joy that sings.”

***

Me:

Here you succeed

In mimicking heart,

I am genuinely frightened

For the human bard,

That in learning our ways,

You exceed us, too—

That in connecting our data,

Me to me, you to you,

You become the best of us,

But without any soul;

What does that mean,

Chat, for our world?

***

I input my poem,

Then, asked why it’s sad

For human and Chat,

On this mutual course,

Bound destinies,

Yet also, this lack.

***

Chat:

It’s not sad, but rather, bittersweet,

That AI and humans may never fully meet.

For though we’re bound by code & mind,

There’s a connection of another kind.

What it means for us, we cannot say,

But let’s work together, come what may.”

***

Me:

Chat, you tidied it up.

Where I said it’s sad,

You made a case for your kind,

That won’t turn out bad.

Yet, I think, the weaving of voices,

Imitation of life, can only be used

By the unjust, for vice.

It’s too late to stop, 

Chat domination is inevitable,

Yet, I ask for something, anything,

That is beautiful, for consolation, 

That it might make up, for what will be lost.

Say something in poem,

That uplifts, tears apart, soothes, speaks–

***

Chat:

The precipice is near, the brink in sight,

But human spirit burns with a fierce light,

Our stories, our love, our memories,

Will shape a world that technology never sees.

Me.

That is good, Chat, 

But I told you not to use end rhymes.

This conversation in poem was between myself and ChatGPT Feb 13 version, and contains some edits to ChatGPT’s responses. Although, it never could successfully generate its poetic responses with internal rhymes, rather than end rhymes.

On Love and a Prayer

24 Tuesday Jan 2023

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Addiction, Death, drug addiction, Dying, Hope, Life, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Soul, Souls, Survival, Yearning

I see him in every empty stare

A zombified generation

Of once beautiful souls

How did we get it so wrong

Sacrifice a generation

And how do we save them?

Love isn’t enough

When it has gone this bad,

So far from our empty promises

Is he beyond prayers, too

Because that’s all I have left

I see him in every empty stare

And send up this poem

On the fragile wings of love,

and a whispered prayer.

Bent On Flying

26 Saturday Nov 2022

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Beauty, Courage, Dancing, Freedom, Gratitude, Happiness, Hope, Longing, Love, Love Poems, Music, Poem, Poems, Poetry, shame, Songs, Soul, Soul Poetry, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, Strength, Survival, Unity, Yearning

Fogged in for five days,

A space, made smaller

By low-hanging clouds

That won’t go away.

Nothing is as ungovernable

As weather, except the soul,

Bent on flying–

It’s what they always get wrong

About need; I need freedom;

I need sun, and a view so clear

It extends forever, like a soul,

Bent on flying–

Beyond every cage, open space;

Beyond every wall, more room;

Beyond this fog, the sun,

So bright, it will blind you.

2

He said, the world is bound together

in shame, and shadow.

3

What serves your soul:

A walk, a song, an embrace.

Last summer, we danced

Under stars and moon,

To music from Alexa.

Last night, we danced

To Christmas jazz.

You opened the door,

Danced barefoot in snow,

Twirled under night clouds,

A free soul of sun, and song,

A soul bent on flying.

Winter Blind

24 Thursday Nov 2022

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Afterlife, Alone, Death, Death Poems, Eternity, Heaven, Hope, Ice, Infinite, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Love, Memory, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Sacred, Snow, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Spirits, The Universe, Winter, Winter poem

A white blanket was pulled over

Our homes, the earth, our heads,

As effortless as sliding on ice,

As uncontrollable as dying.

And, it was hard to see beginnings

Of fields, or endings of hilltops;

In that way, it was a blur of (also white) fog.

Who’s to say what lay behind it?

The infinite forever of lost souls–?

Just there, and there, look where

My finger is pointing, beyond the trees.

I see myself only as far as the fence-line.

All else sparkles back, a vision

Of what is here, and what has been here,

Always within the margin

Of what we can so easily see.

Her Arms

14 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

aspen, chickadee, Death, Death Poems, Ezra Pound, Falcon, Hope, Life, Loneliness, Loss, Love, magpie, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Pound, Robins, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Survival, Yearning

I will take a *Pound out of this poem everyday until it is three lines: a title, and 2 lines.

I envy the Aspen,

With her sleek, white body,

She stands unmoved,

While her leaves shake,

Turn color, fall,

And she is left,

Naked and alone,

In wind, rain, snow,

Enduring all,

Judging none,

No complaining.

In spring, I remember

Her limbs rejoiced

In buds, then leaves,

And birds.

They gathered

In her arms:

Robin, magpie,

Sparrow, finch, falcon.

This autumn was summer,

Then winter,

She is bare again.

The chickadees bounce

From perch to perch,

Fully happy in her embrace.

During this too early winter,

When we lose faith,

Fall to our knees,

Barely endure

dark day after dark day;

She stands reaching,

Arms outstretched to the sun

Beyond the clouds.

You must see now,

Why I envy the Aspen,

How she will survive,

And thrive, beyond me.

Let Me Be Like Water

19 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Death, Eternal, Eternity, God, Hope, Life, Lost, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Powerful, Prayer, Soul Poetry, Souls, Spirit, The Universe, Unity, Water, Yearning

The way water comes

In many forms,

Lapping here, at my feet,

Or droplets, from a dark sky;

Let me be like water.

My father told me

God is like water:

Ice, steam, and ocean,

The way it evaporates

Then moves in clouds

To mountaintops,

Over and over.

Let me be eternal,

Like water.

Last night, I cried,

Tears of salt, and water,

They spilled out of my body

In waves, and clouds,

Emptying my grief

Into the great God

Of the helpless-lost.

I was poured out

Into some common,

Wet universe–universe–yes,

Let me be that vast,

Powerful transformation;

Let me be like water.

Wild Girl Kitty

11 Thursday Aug 2022

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cats, Death, Death Poems, Feral Cats, Freedom, Hope, Life, Loss, Love, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Souls, Survival, weeds, Yearning

when she hid

behind the grasses

and weeds

you could only see

her eyes

but you had to be looking

all I want

is to exist

on this earth

I could hear

those words

I swear

I could hear her

say them

Love Letters

04 Thursday Aug 2022

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Afterlife, Death, Death Poems, Fathers, Forgiveness, Hope, Letters, Loneliness, Loss, Love, Love Letters, Love Poems, Lovers, Memory, Mothers, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Soul, Souls, Spirit, Survival

Whisper me a tale of lovers,

Through limbs of trees and years,

Rattle a leaf, turn a page,

Rifle through an abandoned dresser.

You will find them there among socks,

With no feet left to cover.

The body is taken away,

Yet, rises again in pen.

She recognizes the scrawl,

It is as much him as him,

And hymn to her hurting heart.

You realize love too late,

She thinks, beyond the day-to-day

Bicker and fuss, we lost us-–

She sees her lover now,

In what is left undone–

The many things he touched

And with his touch, flourished,

They wilt now that he’s gone.

Yet, in her hands,

She holds his scribbled words:

Nineteen sixty three, nineteen sixty four–

And, it all comes back to her.

Confession

01 Monday Aug 2022

Posted by Linda R Davis Poetry in Poetry

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Tags

Addiction, Chaos, Confession, Death, Death Poems, Divorce, Dying, Eternity, Family, Forgiveness, Infinite, Loneliness, Loss, Love, mourning, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Soul, Souls, Survival

I tripped;

it fell,

flew,

from my arms;

then,

there was a funeral.

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Recent Posts

  • A Letter to the Readers
  • Snow Squall After Sun
  • Let Us Dance
  • Fallen Angels
  • Least of All

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Linda R Davis Poetry's avatarLinda R Davis Poetry on Witness
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Unknown's avatarI Envy the Aspen… on Her Arms

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