Stillness

Stillness

I need days like today

Quiet

Dark

Raining

Cool

Pain surging through my lower back

With every little move

So stillness is the order of the day

No frenetic activity

No urgent motion

Just quiet sitting listening to the waters flow

Just listening to the heartbeat grow

Toward a restful anticipation of good

I sense these things amongst the woods

The forests of soul and spirit 

I hear the beckons, I might be near it

I might be far away

Yet I would know nothing of anything this rainy day

Without the colors of the quiet

Autumn leaves outside my window

Bright reminders of brighter days

Shorter, still

I gaze out from the windowsill

There is always a spring after the winter

My soul for so long broken, splintered

Now the humus is ready for growth

Up into that never seen, never known

Up into all that has been known by the ancients

Up into all that is made to be me

I see the stately redwood trees

Are still with steadfast smiles

They’ve never moved an inch, a mile

Yet they know the vastness of the oceans

Because they understand the life of stillness

Quiet

Dark

Raining 

Cool

I have a day in wisdom’s school 

I have a day in the stillness

And I am so grateful for it

11/27/18

Freedom's Choice

 Freedom’s Choice

Such startling contrasts

Often get our attention

We often question why

When pain and suffering enter in

Yet in the midst of all of that raucous din

We seem to forget to ask why

All the beauty and majesty are there as well

Sometimes as small as the hermit crab’s shell

Sometimes as grand as the redwood

Sometimes in the message of a flower pastel

Who despite the presence of blackened death nearby

Simply shines on in all of its glory

Maybe I should learn the lesson here

Maybe I should hear the story

In spite of circumstances, war, or shame

I can still go on, living my name

Reveling in my freedom to choose the good

11/18/18

Hope

Hope

Today I felt the heavy pain of the land

Entire forests burned, charred

Entire mountains with blackened scars

The leaves of the valley oaks dulled orange

Not from autumn skies

But from death

Demise

Destruction

Yet then there is this

An angel in the skies bringing life

Color

Salmon and periwinkle

Coral and slate

Her arms outspread to tell us all

All is not lost

In fact, Nothing is lost

The light shows nothing but goodness

Displaying it clearly

A clarion picture of sweet restoration

Suddenly all the pain turns to hope

Hope lifts up joy

Dancing together to the sounds of new life

The flowers are coming

The forests are coming

The animals are coming

Light and life, they are coming

Nothing can stop their singing, their songs

We have felt the dark stinging of smoke for so long

Yet here we are in the crimsons

The blue

The incredible hue

Of sheer beauty

Everything will be restored

Better, even better than ever before

The songs will always carry over the waters

11/3/18

Molting

Molting

I keep coming back to this well

And every time I find it dry

But I keep coming back

And I keep coming back

Empty

Empty 

Emptiness 

There seems to be no word association

With Emptiness

Because when there is nothing there

There is nothing to associate with

Just like everyone else’s search for eternal bliss

Mine seems to be sorting through laundry

Making car payments

Daily grinds

These thoughts that come forward to my mind

Are gut wrenching

But so Blase'

I think I’ll go and find a tray

Filled with bright hors’d oeuvres 

A sporty car to drive the curves

To navigate the way to nowhere

I sit here in the smoke and stare

Into this long and deep abyss

It is the clouds and skies I miss

They do make such a difference

I grow tired of this poetic inference 

That leads me to this same empty well

I’m ready to let go of this shell

Let my soft insides be revealed

I could be loved

I could be peeled

But at least I would be me