Light Catcher

I'm a crystal hanging in a window.

When the light passes through me

I shine and glisten and create rainbows,

When it's dark, I hold all that potential inside, just waiting to shine.

I am a light catcher,

but I'm not a regular person kind.

Most might have the potential, but you'd never know it,

acting like they're kept in a box,

afraid to show it.

Hiding where the sun doesn't reach them,

perhaps kept in an endless cloudy day,

where the light is diffused,

instead of showing off as they catch and refract the rays.

I felt like that for some time.

I was hung up, ready to reach my potential,

But I was in the wrong place in the room,

Where the light wouldn't reach.

Instead of being poised by the window, ready to catch and refract those rays,

I was waiting in a place that was in shadow,

The sun obstructed by a dresser,

There I hung around, waiting out my long, unfulfilled days.

But then one day, I dusted myself off,

and I reminded myself,

I am a sun catcher, in the sun.

I catch rays of light,

but I don't hold onto them forever,

I send them back out into the world in new, beautiful brilliant colors.

All the hues and shades I may be feeling that day,

and in that moment.

They may be varied, red, violet, green, orange, yellow, indigo, blue,

but they are not gray.

I take what the world gives me,

in its natural, raw form,

and I transform it into something even more precious:

A creation of my own.

Unique to me and special in that very moment,

glance away and you may miss my glory.

I wish to one day share this with the world,

but for now, at least I know I'm a light catcher,

Hanging in the sun.

And when I fall off the delicate perch my string is hanging on,

down into the corner where I am temporarily forgotten,

sometimes even by myself,

I fear not for I know that I will soon enough remember again,

I will remind myself of all my potential,

I will dust myself back off,

prop myself back up,

and wait, poised, in position for something wonderful to happen,

ready for when the sun does shine.

For I always keep in mind

that the cloud cover,

though sometimes seemingly eternal,

is only temporary.

The water-vapor-shapes will move, change, with the wind,

and once again, I will be struck by those soul-warming, life-giving rays.

And I, having used my time of waiting

to ready my mind and spirit,

will be prepared to receive this gift and

shine back each color that the light is made up of.

I was given the gift to show the collective's brilliancy,

and I will not squander it.

These are my thoughts as I patiently await my transfer to new hands.

I've been a dream catcher all these years.

I've been a dream collector.

Dreaming them up,

gathering them all in my notebooks,

in my heart.

Sometimes it seems like, “for what?”

Afraid to act, I give into my fears.

I've been a dream holder,

and it’s easy to continue those habits we’ve practiced,

but I realize that to fully live these dreams,

I have to let go and release them into the world.

That way they can fully realize themselves and I can see them come true,

instead of just imagining them to.

A part of me wants to collect the light and hold onto it for myself,

not showing it to anyone else.

But then I remember,

unthinking selfishness is the conventional endeavor, and

I'm not a regular person,

I'm a dreamer.

Maybe I should call myself a light re-distributor.