The Burning (One)

I live here in this land

I was just moving along 

In the same routine as always

Moving, meandering aimlessly along

The sky was darkening

But it was getting brighter all the same

I thought I heard it whisper my name

But then I thought I must have been in the narrow hallways

For far, far too long

Again, again, this time in song

I heard sound call, and call again

A voice of reds and blues and yellows and brights

A view of sky and sheer delights

Was on a bright display

I had a choice to make this day

Keep moving

Or Turn Aside

I wanted to hide from the decision

Not wanting to face any dark derision

But at the same time knowing deep within

There was something more here than fanciful whim

So I turned to see, and I saw

A tree

On Fire

Somewhere, somehow my heart’s Desire

Was burning right here in this place

No time, no logic, no scene, no space

Could match with what I knew here

I was looking at the One

So I stayed here for a while

I heard nothing else

Nothing else but Beauty

Who kept playing the changing lyrics of the song

The day was short, the tones were long

And in the silence I could here the whisper of the call

This invitation to give my all

To simply gaze upon the Beauty

The One who is above all time

The One who is the end of all signs

And the beginning of all the differences

I shed my shame, I then gave all deference

To this One in front of me

I see the city where I wasn’t born

The place where everything seems foreign and strange

I see the palms off in the distance

Calling me to different shores, to rearrange

This insane desire to chase what isn’t seen 

And replace it with what is sure

But I have been down that road before

And it has nothing in its ending

Nothing in its middle, nothing in its beginning

Because all of it falls into the wastelands

The wastelands known as “Meaningless”

I long more for the light’s caress

So therefore I will simply stay here

I listen to the singing

In it I don’t hear the church bells ringing

But rather I hear the dance of happiness

From the ones who live their lives in contentment

From the ones who have found the keys

The keys to all true freedoms

I return my gaze, my attention to the tree

I guess this is where I always will be

I guess this is where I will stand

So I gaze once again on these foreign lands

I thank Wisdom that I have stopped running 

To get here

Turn Aside (again)

In a year where I am convinced a major theme for me is “Rest and Restoration” I have had some crazy, crazy days. So much so I haven’t written much at all. So the other day I am heading in for another busy day, and….well…I’ll let the poem tell you the rest.

Turn Aside

I was simply marching this morning

Marching as I always do

Day after day

An obedient servant to the power of the clock

Time marches on, so must I

So must I in this eye for an eye world

But then

I looked to the right

It was the sunlight

I hadn’t seen it for days

The yellow-orange clouds and haze

Diffused the light into my very soul

I felt it enter in

And beckon me to turn aside

I paused, just for a moment

The green, wet grass was the forbidden path

The concrete pointed my appointed way

But I decided to do something very different this day

I turned aside

I walked a short way

The closer I came to the mountains distant

The brighter the sunlight became

I came to the place where I could no longer go

Knowing now the day would no longer be the same

I just stood there

Sunlight peaking over Mount Lassen

Mists spreading through the valley

There was such a beauty there it could not be denied

there was a magic released when I turned aside

As I stood there I felt I must take a photo

I took it

But it did not do the scene justice

One could not feel the invigorating air

One could not hear the birds song rising

One could not sense the peace of compromising

All that I knew to be right for this beauty

I finally had to go my way

I wished in this moment I could longer stay

But the sun was rising

The light hurting my eyes

I was glad to observe the colors of skies

That I would never have noticed 

Without turning aside