There are moments of such beauty
I’m moved to tears.
Little bursts of light in the darkness
that are bigger than my fears.
To be alive to see even a moment
of the beauty that can be
is worth the other moments
of darkness in between.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
I am my own country,
just a visitor in this one,
passing through on my way
to home.
In my country I am enjoined
to be kind, to be honest, to share,
to dare to be fair, and to care
for those I pass on my journey.
I am my own country.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Going minimal-
ist. My only task in this
moment is to breathe.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
It’s dark and still when I wake
I feel wrapped in soft velvet
No hurt feelings or rejection, no pain,
discouragement, disappointment, or dismay
Before I let the news or messenger or FB
Determine my day
I let myself bask in the love of Love
For a moment – feel the peace and joy
And all-encompassing beauty,
Of the one Mind, Life, Love.
I have no opinions of my own,
No personal beliefs or feelings –
No fear, indignation, or dejection-
All I can feel is what Love feels –
I am Her reflection.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
In the stillness of the night
I commune with the Cosmos –
feel the presence, power, might
of Love enfolding me –
and this is what I trust –
my own experience with the Divine.
I don’t need to be told
what to believe, what to think,
what to feel,
when to stand
and when to kneel.
I know in my own heartt
what’s genuine, what’s real.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
And now a poem-
Imagine a world without labels
Imagine a world unboxed
Imagine a world where people
Don’t assume to know you
Before you’ve had a chance to talk
Karen Molenaar Terrell
she points at me
like a celebrity
on the red carpet
and grins her sweet grin
then toddles to me
and reaches her arms up for me
to lift her onto my hip
we go out to the deck
and sit in the sunshine
and I sing to her an old Beatles ballad:
“Who knows how long I’ve loved you…?”
and she bops her head to the beat
and then rests
her head on my chest
and I melt with the sweetness of it
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Googling Hamas, Israel, Gaza,
Harris, Trump, polls,
politics, war, peace, causes,
Ukraine, Russia, death tolls,
species endangered,
glaciers receding,
earth’s poles melting,
I’m adrift and seeking,
googling for inspiration,
googling for help,
googling for answers,
googling myself.
But none of what I’m looking for
is housed in this computer –
not peace, not hope, and not myself –
nor the guarantee of a future.
To find those things I’ll need to stop
and get off of my whirring laptop.
I breathe in deep, and close my eyes,
and feel Love pulsing around me.
Right here. Right now. As near as my thoughts –
the Good I seek is right here with me.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
a world shaken
and six more lives taken
(“May we be blessed
by their memory.”)
the world seems
to be hemorrhaging
what gives it meaning
and beauty
for some misguided duty
to kill all who don’t have
the same beliefs
as the ones who hold the guns
when will war be done?
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
So here I am
at 5:20 in the morning
one cat asleep
the other pacing for breakfast
and the world is still dark
age-old questions weaving
through my thoughts:
why are we here?
why am I here?
Does the universe exist because
of a random series of physical events
that brought us to this place
where I sit in the dark and wonder why?
Some of my friends would say
that to ask “why” is to start
in the wrong place. Does there have
to be a why? They would ask.
Does it have to make sense?
Does there have to be a purpose
to this existence?
But it is built in me to ask why,
and so I ask.
And all the questions – the whys
and whats and whatifs,
the whos and wheres and
even the whens,
always lead me back to Love.
What? Love.
Why? To love.
Who? To love all.
When? To love all now.
Where? To love all now and here.
It is 5:34 now.
One cat sleeps,
the other paces for breakfast.
They are here to be loved.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 