Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Abundance



In the face of such abundance --more berries 
than a host of birds could ever decimate --
how could we dare to question
nature's eagerness to share her gifts with us?

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Buoyancy


Though she's old and gray, 
she hasn't lost her buoyancy..

Monday, January 29, 2018

Dry dock blues


I wonder: do boats in dry dock get the blues?
Tied down, unable even to float,
do they enjoy the rest, or dream
of adventures past, or journeys yet to come?

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Do-overs


When I undertake a creative task with no clear goal in mind, 
the results often surprise me.
It's always nice to know that if it doesn't please me
I can always just paint over it. 
Sometimes I wish our mistakes in life
were as easy to do over...

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Invitation to risk


Though we clearly see the road, it leads
away from where we're headed: we'll have to trust
the destination's worth whatever we might lose 
if we leave the path we're on.
Are you willing to take that risk?

Friday, January 26, 2018

Wrapped in fog


Wrapped in fog, the vineyard waits,
bare vines and branches drinking in the moisture
that will swell the fruit to come.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Staying afloat


Help us not to get shipwrecked on these ordinary shores;
not to run aground in the shallows of an ordinary day,
but to consciously remain afloat despite those sinking feelings...

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Hungering for Spring


As winter hunkers down, refusing  to give way,
I find myself hungering for the scent of lilacs.
Come, Spring, and chase away the chill!

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

What is beauty?


Why is it so much easier to look at things -- or people --
and mourn the beauty they once had,
than to celebrate the power of the beauty they have now?

Monday, January 22, 2018

Gathering in winter


In the cool green stillness of a winter morning,
we huddle at the dock, seeking warmth and companionship,
and await the challenges of the day.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Dance among the ferns



Away from the path, deep in the woods,
where humans rarely tread,
the trees in the forest deck themselves in jewels
and dance among the ferns.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

A change of pace


It's okay, you know, to step off that treadmill for a bit,
to stop, and sit, and watch the waves,
to feel the ground beneath your feet
and revel in the blueness of the sky...

Friday, January 19, 2018

Simple beauty


It's easy to become so focused on our destination
that we miss the simple beauty that we pass along the way...

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Every task an art


What if we viewed all the world as our studio,
and every task we undertake as an art?

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The air we breathe


You know the air you breathe has been inside my lungs.
My pain is a script 
that's been written in your bones as well as mine.
How can you not limp with me, echoing my scented approach 
to this ragged tent below the underpass?
See how my blue tarp ripples in the wind as you drive by?

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Into the sea of clouds


Climb on, my friend: we'll rock this boat,
unloose the ties that hold us back
and launch ourselves into this sea of clouds,
setting our course, our sights on new horizons.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Creative surges


There are moments when you know you've caught the wave;
When the poem, or the painting,
Or the play surges through you
With such power and such grace
That you'd never dare to claim it
As your own, 
and you wait all your life
 for the chance to have it happen 
again.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Invitation to deepen


Everywhere I wander
I find these invitations,
inviting me to deepen my practice
and calling me home.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

In the darkness



We are fed; we are nourished
By the quiet and the dark.

Friday, January 12, 2018

A closer look at trees


Take a closer look at trees:
it's amazing, what they have to teach us
about growth, and anticipation,
about delicacy, strength, and flexibility...

Thursday, January 11, 2018

The problem with defenses


We erect all these defenses to protect ourselves from pain
never noticing the extent of the damage they contain
that comes mostly from within; 
never realizing that we've shut out the light.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Possessed


No matter how carefully
we guard our possessions,
eventually they'll belong to someone else...

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Winter's invitation


The dark and chill of winter's always been an invitation
to return home; to rest, and to rejuvenate;
to ponder what's been done before
and plan for what comes next.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Patience


Patience: Eventually the storms --
even the ones that involve emotions --
will pass and leave us calm again.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Life lessons


Sometimes the things that keep our thoughts 
and purposes from drifting,
are simply ropes, and easily untied.
Sometimes they're chains, and take much longer to untangle,
forcing us to question -- is it worth the effort? 
But the question -- and the effort -- are gifts in themselves:
Each piece of life has something to teach us.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Were we ever?


That longing we seem to have,
to return to the innocence of childhood,
to gentler, kinder times -- did that ever truly exist?
Were humans ever as guileless, trusting, 
and loyal as a pup?

Friday, January 5, 2018

Inscibed upon the silence


 What words are these,
written on the silence?
What messages inscribed upon
the forest of our dreams?

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Different lives


The benefit of traveling beyond our native zone
is to remind ourselves that other lives
look nothing like our own -- and yet,
we share so much in spite of that --
the losses and the joys, the rising
and the setting of the sun each day,
the worries, and the hopes...

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

What awaits us


Though we cannot know what awaits us,
there are glimpses, through the fog,
and friends who serve as lamps along the way.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

A wealth of resources


Each of us has been gifted with a wealth of resources,
but their nature and value -- even their existence -- 
may only become known to us
when we finally get the courage
to set out upon the journey we were born to make.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Limitless creativity


May this be the year we find a way
To tap into the limitless creativity
That always awaits us.