Life Challenges

People Tell Their Stories:
Family and Relationship Issues

words of the prophet a poem by Cheryl Latif

cresting with the moon
i leave you now
a new life before you
a path of your own
illuminated still by my love
but diffused now
like the sun to the moon to the earth

i turn to find you
standing tall like the sequoias
reaching for the sky
the stars at your fingertips

awed by the splendor
cresting tides swell within me
receding just short of the flow
the process repeats
again and again
like waves lapping against the shore of my heart
just for now it does not burst
just for now

we have raised each other
taught each other
fought each other
and more
bathed in the light of a life of dreams
seamless and searching
reaching through unspoken promises
shooting roots
shooting stars
we danced through the years
bringing us here
mere shadows in the moonlight

under the spell of the crescent moon
i turn to leave you
words of the prophet echo around me
'your children are not your own'
it's time, i know
it's time

Cheryl Latif became seduced by words at an early age. She's been in love ever since. Her work has appeared in "Between Sheets," "Limestone Circle," and "[sic] vice & verse;" on the Web at poets4peace, and in the Map of Austin Poetry, a weekly Web-based newsletter. She also had the surprising honor of her poems placing first and third in the 1998 SPAWN poetry contest. A collection of her poetry, "transformations," was published earlier this year. Cheryl is the host of Poetic Brew, a weekly poetry reading that is home to some of the finest poetry heard in San Diego from local poets as well as poets from across the country. http://www.latifpoet.com

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