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    Two Bowls of Joy - A collection of 50 poems
    Two Bowls of Joy - A collection of 50 poems
    Two Bowls of Joy - A collection of 50 poems
    Ebook111 pages44 minutes

    Two Bowls of Joy - A collection of 50 poems

    By Danie Botha

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    About this ebook

    Too often, joy is lacking from our lives . . .

    This debut poetry collection takes a slanted view at five aspects of being human: life, love, loss, longing, and laughter. Pain and struggle and suffering is a given in life—for some more than others. Joy is inseparable from sorrow and pain; joy finds its footing in the latter.

    Each day, each morning, we have a choice to make: misery or joy. Joy is the better option.

    First thing after sunrise,

    scoop two bowls of joy—

    manna from the desert floor;

    one you soak your heart in,

    the other pour it out: on friend

    and foe and foreigner—

    the only, only way

    for peace to stay

    Two bowls of joy to you!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCharbellini Press
    Release dateMar 27, 2020
    ISBN9781999462000
    Two Bowls of Joy - A collection of 50 poems

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      Book preview

      Two Bowls of Joy - A collection of 50 poems - Danie Botha

      Two Bowls

      of Joy

      A Collection of 50 Poems

      Danie Botha

      Copyright © 2019

      Danie Botha

      Two Bowls of Joy

      A Collection of 50 Poems

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

      Danie Botha

      Published Under Charbellini Press

      https://daniebotha.com

      First Edition 2019

      For Isaac, Aramis and Xeniya.

      You too, are our joy!

      ––––––––

      I’ll tell you how the sun rose—

      a ribbon at a time.

      The steeples swam in amethyst,

      the news like squirrels ran.

      The hills untied their bonnets,

      the bobolinks begun.

      Then I said softly to myself,

      That must have been the sun!

      Emily Dickinson, A Day.

      A Collection Of 50 Poems

      In Five Parts:

      Life, Love, Loss,

      Longing, & Laughter

      Table of Contents

      Author’s Note

      Part 1: Life

      Mid-summer’s Forest

      The Five-fifteen

      Smile, We’re Strangers

      African Interior

      Color Within the Lines

      In Pursuit of Healing

      Anatomy Hall

      Remedy

      Resilience

      Snow Paths

      Part 2: Love

      Cradle

      Calling of a Scribe

      Bosom Bared

      Skin

      Blackbird

      Love that Lingers

      Two Figures Dancing

      Mended

      I Should Have Loved You More

      Prayer Without End

      Part 3: Loss

      What Stays Behind

      Rachel, Weeping

      Greetings and Goodbyes

      Thirst

      Twelve baskets

      Hands

      Footpaths

      Voetpadlangs

      In Memoriam: Father

      Measuring a life

      Part 4: Longing

      Wonder

      May You

      Cormorant

      Be Still

      Last Week’s Embrace

      Brother

      Enough

      No Slaves to Yesterdays

      I Will Rise

      What’s in Your Hand?

      Part 5: Laughter & Joy

      Two Bowls of Joy

      Joy Comes in the Morning

      Silly Poem

      Slice of Sun

      Traffic Light Troubadour

      Beach Day (at the Lake)

      Morning

      To Joy be Drawn

      Moonlit Beaches

      Gift

      Thank you for reading!

      Also by Danie Botha

      Author’s Note

      P

      oetry writing came to me only later in my life, years after I started writing and publishing my novels. Writing long-form fiction, in the beginning helped ground me, it became a channel to pour my soul into—writing has saved my life on more than one occasion. Writing helped me heal. Two years ago, amid profound personal loss and dramatic work-related stress, I discovered, through trial and error, how writing short-form fiction and poetry brought relief from mental anguish much faster than long-form fiction ever could.

      The discipline of brevity, meter, metaphor, rhythm, and rhyme, forced me to delve deeper faster into the recesses of the soul and heart and mind to

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