Signs of Life

 Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

Signs of life

in every sense -

to hear, to see,

to feel and taste

- the scent upon 

the ocean breeze

 Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

the beating heart

in the earth

below our feet

Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

she pushes love

through loamy skin

as camas and as clover born 

Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

for bees to buzz

and propagate the species

Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

each wave upon 

the pebbled shores

is yours

 Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

your blood

coursing and caressing

Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

through Spring,

for life, life

in every bird song

 Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

a call to the duty 

of your life,

Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

through space,

through time

- from your heart

to mine

-Gillian Cornwall, re-post: April 23, 2017

Originally posted: c. April 26, 2015

Renewal

 

Light Unfolds from the Winter Darkness

Gillian Cornwall, c. March 2016

This Spring, let go. Put down that which is not yours to carry. This is the season of renewal and rebirth - a chance to reinvent yourself. You owe no debt of servitude to another soul. You are unique and whole and perfect on your path. Respect all women for they are the life-givers and must be celebrated for their strength and capacity (which is immeasurable and perfect).

Tread lightly on the Mother Earth for she is the provider of all of your needs for life. Be patient and kind, mostly with yourself, and your patience and kindness with others will come naturally from this prescription. 

There is life to be lived. Go outside. Breathe into your belly. Remember that you are uniquely and infinitely connected to all through your dantian: your centre of life and energy. Participate in your life; celebrate it. Don't just watch the lives of others on the television. 

I write this as it flows through me. I hear this in my  ear, in my heartbeat and through this universal energy I call soul. 

May we embrace the Spring and burst forth into this season of our lives in all of our epic, unique beauty.

Gillian Cornwall, March 19, 2017

c. March 20, 2016

Spring

Gillian Cornwall, c. March 2016

The Rain Coast

 Rhododendron Spring - Victoria BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2007

I thought it might be nice to have a taste of Spring through this wee poem. Here, in Victoria, BC, the snow drops have popped up and buds are appearing on the trees. By February, the plum and cherry blossoms will begin their annual extravaganza of blossoms and sweet-scented confetti, twirling and dancing from the branches on the Spring breezes, to the grass and pavement below. I hope you enjoy the poem:

Every lick of colour

sopping springtime blooms

wet paint in every green

fills the canvas of my town

Splotching pinkest pinks

Camellia upon Camellia

the fair flower that leaps whole

to the grassy bed below

Rhododendrons grow as trees here

floral monsters in pastel

a million pink and purple tongues 

catching raindrops from the sky

Now I lay me down among you

on this verdant, spongy ground

raincoat and gumboot clad

wash me clean into this land

-Gillian Cornwall, January 29, 2016

Originally Posted, c. June 1, 2014

 Gore Nature Park 

Territory of the Lekwungen speaking people

Vancouver Island, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. May 2015

Our Spring

Wet and verdant island day, 

Gillian Cornwall, c. March 2015

 Victoria blossoms

Gillian Cornwall, c. March 2012

A billion tiny kisses plastered to the ground.

Licks and kisses, pink on green, 

the green grass of a west coast spring

A promise kept to us every year

through the grey, wet winter:

"Blossom blizzard"

we call to the east to tease: 

"Yes, it's snowing here too...

...all pink and fluffy

from the plum and from the cherry."

A billion blooming kisses for our mother.

The love of mother,

like no other,

our only mother 

Earth.

This Spring, let go. Put down that which is not yours to carry. This is the season of renewal and rebirth - a chance to reinvent yourself. You owe no debt of servitude to another soul. You are unique and whole and perfect on your path. Respect all women for they are the life-givers and must be celebrated for their strength and capacity (which is immeasurable and perfect). 

Tread lightly on the Mother Earth for she is the provider of all of your needs for life. Be patient and kind, mostly with yourself, and your patience and kindness with others will come naturally from this prescription. 

There is life to be lived. Go outside. Breathe into your belly. Remember that you are uniquely and infinitely connected to all through your dantian: your centre of life and energy. Participate in your life; celebrate it. Don't just watch the lives of others on the television. 

I write this as it flows through me. I hear this in my  ear, in my heartbeat and through this universal energy I call soul. 

May we embrace the Spring and burst forth into this season of our lives in all of our epic, unique beauty.

-Gillian Cornwall, c. March 20, 2016 

In it.

Gillian Cornwall, c. March 2015 

The Rain Coast

 Rhododendron Spring - Victoria BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2007

I am re-posting this poem from June of 2014 as I am ardently awaiting the joys of Spring in the Pacific temperate rainforest: the colour, the wet explosion of life, as floral fireworks. The birdsong: an orchestral accompaniment to the perpetual gift that Nature provides in her capacity for giving life and sustenance. We must respect her, at the very least, we must respect her. I am grateful for the gift of life she gives - this heaven on earth. 

This poem is an ode to the great mother - giver of life. 

Every lick of colour

sopping springtime blooms

wet paint in every green

fills the canvas of my town

Splotching pinkest pinks

Camellia upon Camellia

the fair flower that leaps whole

to the grassy bed below

Rhododendrons grow as trees here

floral monsters in pastel

a million pink and purple tongues 

catching raindrops from the sky

Now I lay me down among you

on this verdant, spongy ground

raincoat and gumboot clad

wash me clean upon this land

-Gillian Cornwall, February 7, 2016

Originally posted, c. June 1, 2014

Brentwood Bay

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 2015

Renewal

As we walk through life, we encounter all manner of love. Love never disappears. As energy, love only changes shape. 

Each breath of love echoes through our hearts with each beat for as long as our journey continues. Know this and know that you are not alone. We are one world, one life and our hearts beat the rhythm of that song throughout time.

I hope this short poem reminds you of this today and that you feel the universal love, today and always.

For those of you in Nepal trying to recover from the earthquake and aftershocks, and those of you around the world, struggling to survive on little to nothing, please know that there are thousands of us around the globe who know of your plight and are sending resources (financial and physical), love and prayers to you. 

Things green
a place unseen
a home to lay your hat
and love.

Springtime Sunday
a bird song
a heart beat 
rhythm and a tune.

Now I understand 
the love that never left me
in each beat, we meet
as one.

Things green 
a place unseen 
a home to lay your hat
and love. 

-Gillian Cornwall, c. May 17, 2015

All images are the property of Gillian Cornwall

Please do what you can to help those recovering from the earthquake in Nepal. Until May 25, 2015 the Canadian government will match donations to the Nepal Region Earthquake Fund through Red Cross Canada.

Signs of Life

 Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

Signs of life

in every sense -

to hear, to see,

to feel and taste

- the scent upon 

the ocean breeze

 Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

the beating heart

in the earth

below our feet

Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

she pushes love

through loamy skin

as camas and as clover born 

Gore Park, Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

for bees to buzz

and propagate the species

Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

each wave upon 

the pebbled shores

is yours

 Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

your blood

coursing and caressing

Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

through Spring,

for life, life

in every bird song

 Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

a call to the duty 

of your life,

Brentwood Bay, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 25, 2015

through space,

through time

- from your heart

to mine

-Gillian Cornwall, c. April 26, 2015

The Rain Coast

 Rhododendron Spring - Victoria BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2007

Every lick of colour

sopping springtime blooms

wet paint in every green

fills the canvas of my town

Splotching pinkest pinks

Camellia upon Camellia

the fair flower that leaps whole

to the grassy bed below

Rhododendrons grow as trees here

floral monsters in pastel

a million pink and purple tongues 

catching raindrops from the sky

Now I lay me down among you

on this verdant, spongy ground

raincoat and gumboot clad

wash me clean into this land

-Gillian Cornwall, c. June 1, 2014

 Saanich - Vancouver Island, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. May 2014.

Heaven and Earth - Revisited

Bluebells - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c.  April 2012

May, I taste the proximity of summer, all the while walking through the oaken wood, soaked knee-deep by thick, green grasses and bluebells. A narcissus bobs to the beat of my heart. It is here I unite with all of life, known and unknown, as I stretch into the unfathomable depth and breadth of the universe. Stars tickle my fingertips as they tattoo the universal truth upon my hands. 

"You are here," they pen upon me and I whisper my understanding as I bring my arms down to caress the Camas lily at my feet. It sparkles with dew and stardust. In this moment I need for nothing, in awe of the simple perfection of life. 

-Gillian Cornwall, c. May 1, 2012.

 Narcissus - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 2014

 Daffodil - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 2014

Change Comes

 The Blossoms on Meares - Victoria BC

Gillian Cornwall, March 2014

Magnolia Life - University of Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, March 2011

 Change, like breath, comes. It happens, with or without us - regardless of our like or dislike. I find solace in the minutiae. I pass a tree, plodding to a meeting, its fuzzy buds full to bursting with coming life, pregnant like pussy willows on steroids. I pass back an hour later, finding half sprung forth, like myriad silk tongues, paper white and still wrinkled from the cramped wombs from which they have been released. I wonder who saw this tree birth like popcorn all a-sudden and I wonder, if I stood stalk still, a tree among trees, could I sneak a peak at this arboreal miracle of life? But no time for miracles, I'm already late for my return and I trundle dutifully back to my cubicle, a giant playpen without the play, without sun, without natural light from sky nor spirit.

I push homeward down my street, lined with deep green grass and replete with a blossom blizzard as the spring winds chase through the cherries and the plums and I wonder how we do not fall to our knees with the wonder of it all, in awe of the miracle of life before us and within us.

These are the moments I cherish, with each and every breath, in this sweet, sweet life where even as I write this, the cat stretches, deep in sleep, exploring a universe that is hers alone to wander in wonder. 

My heart soars and I am in need of nothing. I offer my love to all from the fountain of life that knows no bounds.  

-Gillian Cornwall, March 23, 2014

Princess in Dreamland - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, March 2013

The Wonder of Spring - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, March 2013

Spring Will Come

Spring

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 2011

Midway through the long walk into February and the short walk from my home to the bus stop on my way to work, I gaze up through the limbs of the plum tree and spy the first blossoms of the season. In those gasps of pale pink amid the barren branches, I find hope; there is rebirth. The mother of the earth is pushing forth the fruit of her labours and I pause, to revel in the sight of it, in the pure miracle of being present to see it. 

Recently, several friends have had their children lose a classmate to suicide and I wonder when and how those young people lost all hope. I cry with the sadness I feel, knowing they will never see another burst of blossom in the spring. Other friends struggle with children with cancer, praying and working ceaselessly to save a life from a shape-shifting monster. Different causes but all loss, all tragic.

When I think of the lives of children lost through suicide, through anxiety and depression or as a result of bullying or mental illness, I feel helpless. I cannot imagine the devastation rained down on families who suffer this loss. Are there more than ever before? It seems so - or is it possible we are just talking about it more? It is no longer as closeted away with shame as it once was. 

I don't know. I have no new ideas to offer as to why or how to fix this tragic epidemic. I do know that I wish every being knew they are loved and that they are deserving of love, of life, that we all have potential in every cell of our beings to make the world beautiful, if solely as a witness to the first blossom bursting forth as the season changes to birth, to life, to Spring. This is enough.

In loving memory of all those who lost hope and with love to those of you feeling lost or alone. The universal energy is one, equal and beautiful in the inhalation and exhalation of life. We are all valid and necessary and perfect in our path. Trust in this as we trust in the seasons. Trust in the change of your circumstances. Things will change. It gets better. 

These organizations offer help. Have a look. Let us hold lanterns to light the paths of those who are struggling in darkness. 

Love is Louder - http://www.loveislouder.com/

Kids Help Phone - http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/teens/home/splash.aspx 

Erase Bullying - http://www.erasebullying.ca/

Teen Suicide Prevention - http://www.teensuicideprevention.org/index.html 

Beacon Hill Park and the Olympic Range

Gillian Cornwall, c. April, 2011

-Gillian Cornwall, c. January 19, 2014