Meditation

How lucid is your soul tonightas guards are put to rest? When not one is stirring ‘round you and the sun is setting west,

your true being is emerging as facades yield one by one as you long to merge with oneness and to greet the golden sun,

free from inhibitions imposed by the mind you call your own freedom from the past mistakes that haunts your Earthly home,

cross-legged, in the lotus you begin to clear your wearied mind wishing for a sliver of a moment to leave the struggle far behind

your pulse begins to slow as the void becomes your breath your heart begins to soothe you ever-beating in your chest,

dancing somewhere in the stillness breaking shadows far and near where a worry’s no longer a worry and a tear is not a tear,

a wave is all consuming a bright beam breaks clouds above you reach your precious goal and for a moment become Love.

In The End

A really old one…

A Toast

A toast: Do noble things, not dream them all day long: And so make life, death, and the vast forever one grand, sweet song —Charles Kingsley

Spring Thunderstorm

A wayward sigh escapes youAnd truly blends with ease Among the sights and sounds around you, greying skies and rustling leaves

as your body starts to shiver you can feel it’s looming near the calm before the storm has come, it happens every year

there is an ever-present beauty in the calm before the storm anticipation, stillness and the thoughts of keeping warm,

although there’s clear and present danger in getting in her path there can be great enjoyment in watching Mother Nature’s wrath,

the calm is coming to end it’s more than plain to see as lightning breaks the clean grey slate of sky behind the trees

the rain begins to mist the wind begins to howl lightning brightens threatening skies as thunder snarls and growls

the postman looks up to the sky and shakes a tight-clenched fist for the raindrops dance upon his head falling stronger than a mist

somehow fear eludes me as I take in all the sights and suddenly, looking to the west I see soft clouds of white

blue comes shortly after then warm rays of sun just as quickly as it came, the thunderstorm is done.

All That Really Matters

a perpetual strangertraveling down this dark and narrow, twisted trip of blissful contradiction with heart wide open

absorbing all this life has to give while wandering the razor's edge in peace and harmony

ever so thankful for wounds that sting and the laughter that heals

in all these many years I've never lost faith that each step brings us closer to that place of perfect completeness

where we wake up in wisdom to cast all aside all of our favorite demons and finally realize that love is all that really matters.

Confluence

When the Truth stands before youall else melts into solemn nothingness an easy calm settles down upon your soul and wraps you tightly in the beauty of each moment what once seemed all-important can never again regain its luster you will not only believe in miracles but you will know them to be true for at long last, you once again found you

Nothing Else

As the sun's raysilluminate your being and warm your face pause to take a nice long drink of life, close your eyes and smile. Know that this moment in time is real and all there is, really all there ever was and will be Nothing else matters. People will feel how they feel and will believe what they want to believe our only job is to be Fall leaves will continue their dance in the crisp wind, the squirrels will continue to play and the woodsmoke will wisp long after we're gone But now, there is the sun and the Earth beneath our feet and our breath. Time is still and nothing else matters.

Native Sun

I am four generations removedfrom a world unrecognizable, a world without walls, truth of word and of law but ultimately just another domino to fall in the name of progress

Imagination can only give a glimpse But the seed of memory is strong in me Often bubbling up as effervescent Wisdom whispering in my thoughts

The forest is where I come to worship its great canopy, my cathedral branches gently swaying in the breeze to the melody of birdsong, its beautiful choir I connect with Nature in all her majesty, the supreme intelligence behind it gives order to the chaos again grounds and humbles me leaving everything right again

just a brief respite from our unbalanced existence but it helps to quell the sadness of the sorry state we’re in then the Native Sun tells me to open my eyes and see that humanity is finally beginning To awaken from a slumber long huddled in Cimmerian shade

Our family is being remade before our very eyes And the children of new world are an amalgam much stronger than the first, now a harmony unimaginable can be visualized Shimmering in the not so distant twilight, and felt flowing towards our shores Truth and destiny cannot forever be hushed

And to the Native Sun I whisper back, “please hurry”.

Silent Salutations

Our days are filledwith silent salutations as our nights wander on to tomorrow's shore dreams lap at the edge of desperation as hope promises an ever-open door

dragonwell fills my yi-xing pot as aromatic steam curls in lofty streams making me, for a moment, forget the grey no insinuations, pretense, nor enigmatic dreams

the landscape is awash with black and white on a breeze floats a harbinger of days ahead a whisper of how mistakes can wither and drop dead from their vines to nurture the wise ground and give such sweet reprise to those who still believe

The Greatest of Secrets

You languish, awash in worrythat time is slipping by and all that once was has long gone down the road never to pass your way again

they tell you you’re a sinner and you remember when your innocence wouldn’t allow you to believe but time and their wicked words have so deliberately whittled you away

it is they who tell you to keep coming back, dangling the hope of salvation just beyond your fervor’s grasp.

But there are a few things that they have failed to tell you you are miraculous, you are divinity’s spark the power of your soul is a sleeping giant, long exiled

if you only knew the power that you possess your eyes would stream tears of joy as if awakened from a terrible nightmare to realize the greatest of secrets, that you are an emperor in beggar's clothes indeed.

Beautifully Bittersweet

These lines on my faceconvey much more than words can say

In every laugh, every tear it is written that life is more than some fluid interplay of randomness

I've long felt trapped by the ceiling, have grown accustomed to the cool indifference of its glass

like a child I've fogged it over with breath and etched a message for some savior to find

But that savior never came and the hands, they continued so persistently in their sweeping revolution that now no time remains to succumb to sameness

The realization of a dream appears when it is meant to, always written in beautifully bittersweet form. The glass so easily shatters.

Four Thousand Breaths

I feed upon the sky at nightas the last ribbon of sun is gone, the darkness envelopes this place I sit four thousand breaths from dawn

my eyes embrace the ancient light as countless have before, as crickets sound a seamless chirp from grass down by the shore

time’s a faint and faded concept, the years converge as one, miles are merely memories to be brushed away and shunned

reality is obsolete before the evening’s shepherd moon, my eyes open to realize it’s four thousand breaths from noon.

Anything More is Gravy

It grew me right up This blessing, this curse

This thing that compelled me

To become a reluctant deity

Contriving a world and all that

Gives it breath

Once the ambrosia of creation

Brushes against your lips

You rely on its complexity

to complete you

this monkey that clings

so desperately to my back

screeching its words of wisdom

Gleaned from lifetimes

Of living in this harsh world

To have nothing more than that,

would be enough

a stone cold faith in these words

and that they have somehow changed me,

grew me right up

Anything more is gravy.

The Simple Life

Simple but not simplistic, this life Time, not to be wasted,

is forever fluid and relative

we are all one, everything connected

the Universe is the most wondrous web ,

more vast than we can yet fathom

knowing this, I feel comfortably small

For now, I find myself delightfully contented

to feel the sunshine on my face, to laugh,

experience love.

Forever grateful I am to still have mysteries

left to ponder and a single cup

of good green tea well within my grasp.

Things I've Learned From Puerto Rico

1. The weather doesn't get any nicer than this.2. The people are standoffish at first but warm up quickly. 3. There seems to be a real "Love/Hate" undercurrent in their relationship with the US. 4. The music is loud. 5. They eat lots of meat. "Vegetables" usually consist of either a root vegetable or shredded iceberg lettuce with sliced tomato. 6. Driving is aggressive but people are not as heavy on the horns as most US cities. 7. Coffee is served with milk, almost never black. 8. Life is less orderly and lived at a much slower pace. After coming from mainland America it took a solid 3 days of varying degrees of frustration to get used to it. Now that I am I'm much happier for it. 9. My priorities will be re shifted with less of an emphasis placed on things. 10. I love being immersed in foreign places, learning subtleties of the culture. 11. I'll be back.

Amnesia

The charm of afternoon hours keep slipping awaySo lazily past the rolling sea

A growing pile of steel bottle tops litter the Sand at my feet along with nagging cares which are beginning to feel as far away as home

At this rate, if the warm island breeze Continues to rustle the palm fronds just so And the fresh ceviche keeps coming, cool and sweet The dark circles are disappearing and That old, endless string of 4:30AM yesterdays Could now be mistaken for some haunting dream

It should take just two more days, I surmise, Of this tropical clime to regain enough strength To realize that I've been foolishly stumbling Blindly under some kind of strange spell Then it comes clear and crisp as the cathedral bell I breathe easy and my mind is freed what we consider vacation is truly life, indeed.

Memories of the Sun

Smothered in this deep winter bleaknessas the sun walks away from us an ancient journey to be traveled once again

but I will hold fast in my memory the days when it seemed close enough to pull from the sky and whisper to

I remember each moment it warmed us and the wondrous twilight when we squinted as it danced broad along the water's edge

these memories of the sun, they will offer me solace through the gathering darkness as we patiently await the lushness of the equinox with a certain feigned indifference that fools no one.

Alarm Clock Dawn

Desire, draw us ever deeperTo the keeper of our hearts. We seek but a glimpse Of timeless twilight in this long day's night.

The Peace we seek begins within And ripples forth in silent waves Bathing each soul with light.

“THE POWERS THAT BE” wish us To continue our slothful slumber But our numbers are too great For our hunger to be quelled.

Put your ear to the tracks and hear The low rumble of our humble awakenings.

Take this, your first gasp of pure Truth. Utter your first cry, then a long cleansing sigh As we say goodbye To the darkness of this world.

Wander Lost

When the routines of lifeshroud my peace and cause me to wander lost

I long to be a small fish in a big pond,

to lose myself in the bright spot of the next road’s vanishing and to be born again in foreign eyes

I then awaken in remembrance that happiness isn’t meant to be rationed out like thin grey gruel

each day's dawn is a sweet symphony and as long as I hear the music my dreams will have to die another day.

A Commissioned Poem...

....ready for delivery!