Present Peace: A Poetry Collection

By Cynthia Schaefer and Venessa Kaiser

Cynthia Schaefer's debut poetry collection explores deep emotions common to the human experience like anger, fear, grief, joy and love. Written through the eyes of a trauma survivor, Present Peace offers a deep breath, a quiet moment, and an emotional and spiritural release that both validates and comforts its readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Light Foote Press
• Release date: Apr 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985653700

Cynthia Schaefer

Cynthia lives a sustainable life in South Florida. She is an author, speaker, herbalist, and retired financial advisor. She grows fruit, vegetables, and herbs on her 1/3 acre homestead.

Book preview

PART ONE

Moments that Capture Me

Present Peace

Dear Lord, do not change

me. Transcend my needy

ways. Wash over the

thoughts I harbor.

Take away the problems

I create today,

not by changing

or intervening,

but by reminding me

of present peace.

---

Let love flow through me.

Let your gentle joy tickle

thoughts away. For I

thought that thinking

would save me,

but freedom from thoughts

is the only way.

---

Hold me in your glory.

Wrap my heart in your love.

Let the present fill my cup.

Nature Sounds in Summer

Dance, little leaves,

dance up and down

on your branches.

Softly you float,

attached to your stem,

making soothing,

rustling sounds as

bugs fly ‘round.

Cicadas, play

your music for me.

A concert of insect

vibrations crescendos,

delighting my ears

with your concerto.

You taper off,

then start again.

I cherish the quiet

in between.

Shadows cast on trees

attract my eyes.

I notice a tickle

on my shin as if

the sun said goodnight.

Hot, early summer,

I bask in the warmth of

your weighted-blanket rays.

Close to Nature

Nature lifts me closer

to higher worlds, beyond

my scope of imagination.

It brings me down to solid

earth to lap up inspiration.

---

Lovely woods, I long to

walk through you as I did

before we built the fence.

A treat it was to wander

in your clusters of trees,

brush, and fallen limbs.

---

Playing in the fern-filled

underbrush with my children

as my guide. Green, gray,

brown, you beckon me to

adventures short-lived.

The sight of you, the sounds,

the watching wildlife

divert me.

---

Oh, air, you refresh my tired

eyes. My feet do not trespass

into your wild sanctum.

Close to the peace of the forest

is enough for brief, lovely

moments at evening’s end.

The Ranch

Blueberries, plump with sweet

juice and pulp, you remind me

of a simpler time when I picked

blackberries on my grand-

parent’s ranch with my cousins

in the summer. You bring me to

these joy-filled memories. The

thorny bushes were thick and

perilous. I never picked without

a prick. But I didn’t care—

dark, ripe berries hidden

behind leaves made exciting

discoveries for hungry hands.

I picked as many as I dared.

Oh, joyful days of play!

With handkerchiefs, we carried

our treasures and ate them

right away. For we gathered

what we could, leaving