watching restlessness
watching boredom
watching the fantastic follies
watching expectations
watching pleasure
watching agony
watching words
watching words dissolve
until silence speaks
what shall i call you?
what shall i call you?
you wondrous shapeshifter
as you move
through the seasons of your life
what shall i call you?
as you compose
the chapters of your story
from life’s many hued experiences
what shall i call you?
you - who are condensed stardust
you - who are consciousness wed to human form
you - who are in constant flux
you - who are kin to me
you - who are unique
yet colorless at core
what shall i call you?
to remind us both
of your noble birth
the gates
YES and NO
are two mighty powers
we wield
and yield to
life without likes
and dislikes
seems unimaginable
while we bounce between
for and against
love and hate
grab and toss
in an ever-present restlessness
yet throughout time some have found
and lived alongside these two mighty pulls
stepping through a third gate
its password is:
thank you
right now
right now
mustangs roam the open wild
and fruit bats rest in mango trees
vultures soar on thermals high
and cave shrimp do what cave shrimp do
right now
rivers roll with snowmelt to the sea
and dust whirls up around the steps of pachyderms
lightning crackles on the plains
and polar ice sighs in the night
right now
dreams stir sleepers with their imagery
and love is lost and found and made anew
inspiration knocks on doors to find a home
in this great flux and thriving,
the Beautiful Mystery lives on!
on gardening
after years of searching
a decision was made
unanimously!
to make a garden of this life
growing crops of perennial peace
nourishing generosity
healing forgiveness
alongside deep rooted gratitudes
surrounded by a hedge of good humor
now, every garden attracts
the buzz
of beneficial visitors and the voracious
appetites of potential pests.
what to do?
out of fear build a barrier tough enough to keep out
destruction?
is that even possible?
maybe just grow some more
for can there ever be too much gratitude?
too much forgiveness? too much peace?
keep a few seeds in reserve
voices
springtime
brings a chorus of new voices
as we orbit and navigate space
never before encountered
it is the season of birth
and rebirth
passing through
the Veils of Coming and Constant Change
on our Celestial Blue Mother
brilliant
eternal
sparks
seek experience
adding their voices into the Great Theater
sidestep
we walk through life and so much knocks
on our doors of perception
once we have learned to sidestep
the merchants of fear and swill
there is so much to love
to deeply drink in the beauty of
there are the infinite cloudscapes above us
and the warmth of the sun on skin
there is the texture of the ground beneath bare feet
there is the warmth of a smile and the welcoming
hospitality of a friend
there is the touch of a dogs wet nose
let me salute these moments
they all cause my heart to soar
before me lies an ocean
of opportunities to love
waiting for me
waiting to be seen
to be with, be part of
to be a love requited
i have no doubt
stay
before me
glitter
endless distractions
endless entertainments
endless ways to exhaust
the daily dollop of energy
nothing wrong
with the sparkly stuff
it can fill many lifetimes
with satisfaction
yet,
there is also the call
to stay
with inner wonderlands
the antidote
looking at our human story
it seems that we have no difficulty rationalizing
anything
still now
millions
of our animal kin
are held in great suffering
by us
noble
spirited beings
ignorance and forgetting
has dimmed our light
what is the antidote?
look
feel
love
the spirit of unity
ink
eyes fly
across words
with ease
in childhood
reading and writing
seemed formidable tasks
now words unfurl
into worlds of meaning
almost instantaneously
written messages gain longevity
and the ability to time travel
from one mind to another
a potent magic
with endless possibilities
the power
of literacy
Four hundred and seventy one
Under a february full moon on the Mediterranean Sea
amidst hungry sailors, i learned about the human heart
laden with a cargo of oranges
our freighter was on passage from Israel
to Italy in heavy seas.
anchored to bed, seasick, for three days my ears
fixed on the regular thump of the ships engine
while i marveled at the tireless working of the machine
a wisdom in my body spoke up:
listen to your heart, it said,
it has been beating throughout it all
four hundred and seventy one
full moons later - my heart still beats
what a marvel!
as our hearts pulse and roam
across this magnificent Earth
i find myself in gratitude and awe of their grand design
beauty abounds
Sometimes we hear a message
countless times, over decades
from many fair lips
before it opens
and we become a home for it
now
beauty abounds
within and all around
you carry light wherever you go
friendships
friendships born
out of playing together
again and again we delight
in the same activities
and in the process
become buoyant with mirth
our souls chiming
in trust and tenderness
cloud watching
traveling with in
i watch mind clouds
drift by swift and fabulous
a revolving cast of characters
on the horizon
we keep company
and the rascals tell me of
greener pastures in far away lands
the land of play
last night i met the queen of the land of play
to visit my shores, she said
begin with a dash of stillness, bordering on boredom,
and a feeling of uncertainty,
Now, that’s a good start!
from there your filaments
stretch
making up songs, telling stories
drawing from the infinite well
the river comes alive
the clouds have meaning
trees and stones talk to you
and anything and everything is possible
chaos shapes into order
and dissolves again
you play with ancient, ancient forces
dreaming myths into being
shaping worlds out of the flux
in parting she asks:
how would you like to feel now?
imagine - you are already there . . .
teatime with gratitude
as a stray thought
a sudden well-being
a coincidental meeting
i come to you
like a whisper in the fog
you sense my approach
and soften
i see you
as we commune like old friends
and i glow in your company
i hold your beauty
as your sentiments stream into the world
and grow
in my wild dreams i imagine us
whirling through each others worlds
joyous and free
sweet catastrophe
"the thaw"
in a world that easily can make us into enemies
learn to love
love
well
boundless and deep
gentle and enduring
even when it is difficult - love
actively
even the times of folly and fall
love them all
selflessly
love the whole sweet catastrophe
"the ways of water"
finding our way home
This week I found myself considering ceremonies, a subject close to my heart.
For decades I have been interested in how we celebrate across the globe. What, as a culture,
we pause for, remember and reinvigorate. It seems that ceremonies and gratitude are intimately linked.
"the spirit of the land"
walking the ground
witnessing the natural rhythms
i celebrate the spirit native to this land
connected through time
i feel the long, living thread of the ancestors
who also celebrated the procession of the seasons
our ceremonies acknowledge a sacred reciprocity
between the land and its people
in the spirit of gratitude
flora, fauna, mineral - ecologies of all ilk
become animate, by the simple prayer of:
I see you! I thank you! I wish you well!
we connect to the weave that sustains all,
to origin and continuity, into the Great Mystery
"reinvigorated by ceremonies"
storytellers
"wave upon wave"
words
that need to be told
to each generation,
a truth that never grows old
the message - so simple,
takes long to learn:
you, it says,
are the storyteller of your own story
"free to choose"
before you a table of plenty,
a sweeping rainbow of attitudes to choose
from the thousands of hues what will you pick?
will your tale be bitter, sweet, bittersweet . . . ?
what roles will you decide to play?
will you be jester, judge, living ghost . . . ?
ponder the power and privilege
of the storyteller
"the hue of gratitude"
black and white, rainbow hues, colorless
on the canvas of this life
i choose
gratitude
canvas
"peace"
life,
which for us remains a Great Mystery,
seems a fine time
to find out
and live
what we value
peace plays itself out
on the canvas of my life
soft on the outside, firm on the inside
it does not demand from another,
but makes demand of my conduct
requiring restraint and infinite tenderness
so, i counsel myself
to grow peaceful
in thought
and tongue
