Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Joy through kindness


Kindness and love have a beauty all their own:
When we seek and offer these,
Joy shall surely follow, whatever our circumstances.

Monday, June 29, 2020

Light beyond the shadows


Beyond the immediate darkness 
That looms before us there is still light:
Still the promise of a sunrise,
Hidden in the sunset;
Still a glorious dawn awaits
When all will be revealed 
And the shadows will be once again 
Imbued with color, not with fear.

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Rock-hard truths


When will we learn to see beyond
Our own reflections and perceptions 
On the surface of things
To the rock-hard truths that lie beneath?
And when we finally realize — 
Are we capable of acting on what we know?
Whatever happened to changing your mind,
Admitting you’re wrong, and forgiving?

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Be patient and trust


Like rain, light falls on the just and the unjust,
Singling each out in turn 
And highlighting our differences.
Be patient, and trust: the earth and time will turn,
And truth and beauty will reclaim
Their rightful place in the sun.

Friday, June 26, 2020

A tapestry of love


Life is constantly scrawling
Its impressions upon us: now light, now dark,
Now light again, all sprinkled with
These golden moments of illumination.
Our truth, our history, our hope —
All terribly and wonderfully complex.
But though there is no one way of perceiving,
There is a glowing unity that lies beneath it all;
A glorious web of connection that somehow
Weaves it all together into a tapestry of love.

Thursday, June 25, 2020

When light casts a shadow


That which captures the light 
May also cast a shadow, but no worries:
The sun is always on the move.
What catches our attention
May not always be what’s real or what’s true:
The whole is almost always more complex.

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Rest and restore


My dogwood, which refused to bloom last year,
Is gracing us with a panoply of blossoms,
Almost as if to remind us that to take a break,
Unplug, unwind; to sit a spell and just drink in
Without contributing is beneficial, even restorative;
A break from which we might return
More energized than ever...

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Stop, look, listen


Uncertain times can offer us a vital invitation
To slow down, stop, evaluate:
Is this who and where I’m meant to be
And what I should be doing? 
Do I feel safe, and am I contributing 
To the safety of those around me?
What’s the most important thing
To notice about this moment? 

Monday, June 22, 2020

Rest and refuel


Rest a moment,
Here, on the edge of what is and what will be.
Feel the earth beneath your feet 
And know your connection to all that is, 
That ever was, and ever shall exist;
The oneness that fuels the world.

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Inspiring generosity


Everywhere we look we can see evidence
Of the extraordinary generosity of Nature;
Of the depth of her determination to survive.
I take heart and inspiration from her efforts...

Saturday, June 20, 2020

The root of the problem


When we take a closer look
At the roots of the challenges we’re facing
We begin to realize how very complex
And even ugly they may be.
But until they are exposed,
Until we face them honestly,
How will we ever begin to understand
How best to go about healing?

Friday, June 19, 2020

Nothing lasts forever


Yes, there will be times 
When the chaos seems overwhelming.
We simply have to trust we’ll find our way,
Somehow, over, under, around, or through:
Nothing, not even the best or the worst,
Ever lasts forever.

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Let’s not assume the worst


We don’t always know what’s happening 
In the lives of those around us,
So just to be safe — and kind —
Why not trust that their intentions are the best,
Instead of assuming the worst, accusing,
Blaming and attacking.

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Weeds to remind us...


How does it keep on happening,
That just when we grow most discouraged,
A simple weed decides to sprout 
Right outside your back door,
Determined to remind you — 
Not just that there is beauty in the world,
But that you don’t always have to be
The One who plants it...

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Focus on the light




All life — and the best art — 
Is a mix of sunlight and shadow,
And we can’t always choose where we sit.
But we CAN choose to seek out
What light does exist; to focus on that
(While acknowledging the shadows)
And make every effort to share that perspective.

Monday, June 15, 2020

Why divide?



Let us appreciate it all — 
The blowsy freckledness of age
And the oh-so-beautifully wrapped
Promise of youth;
The delicacy of pink and the hardiness of green;
The wisdom of age and the naive exuberance
That enlivens youth...
Why do we continue to divide the world
Into yes this and not that?
We walk the same earth and breathe the same air,
And together we’ll always accomplish more
Than ever we could alone.

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Looking back...


Given the uncertainty that lies before us,
It’s not surprising that we sometimes
Choose to look back;
To fondly remember less fraught times,
Conveniently forgetting the struggles we once faced
As a woman forgets the pain of childbirth.
Be not afraid, but keep on following
The path that we’ve been given,
Trusting that life will take us
Wherever we need to go to fulfill our destiny.

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Some days the heart aches



Some days the heart aches
Like a field of daisies in the rain
For all the fragile beauty in the world
That is simply viewed as weeds,
Ignored, or mowed down;
Trampled thoughtlessly or viewed
Not as individual, original, gifts, each sharing light,
But simply as a random mass of color...

Friday, June 12, 2020

Hold steady


If you truly wish to create something new,
You may need to get your hands dirty.
Hold steady, focus, and trust
That what you are building 
will serve the world.

Thursday, June 11, 2020

White spaces in our lives


We forget sometimes that it’s okay
To be a work in progress;
To not have all our ducks in a row:
Think of the not-knowing times, 
The white space in our lives, as opportunities 
For something new and different to surprise us.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Blooming in the cracks


Caught in the eternal dance
Between possibility and disappointment,
Let us take heart and inspiration
From those who somehow manage 
To bloom in the cracks;
Whose vibrant color springs 
From that deeper place of connection
That lies beneath the hard challenges of life;
That, fed by our common grounding in love,
We, too, may reach out into the light.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

When something rotten topples


When that which is rotten topples,
It may well damage important structures
That need to be kept in place.
We need to be careful, removing the diseased
While shoring up what’s needed
To keep us healthy and strong. 
The question is: who’s deciding which is which,
And what is their criteria?

Monday, June 8, 2020

Listen to your soul


The most appealing paths
May not always be the ones that lead us
In the most important, critical direction.
Choose wisely, listen closely to the voice in your soul,
and do not let yourself be led astray
By charm, or promises of wealth and beauty
That ultimately benefit no one but yourself.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

A colorless world


When we reduce the world to black and white,
When we are always right and they are wrong,
So much is lost. 
The truth is, color feeds our souls: 
The blue of skies, the green of trees, 
The many shades of flowers and of skin
Offer a bouquet of delight 
Whose constant variations both inspire us to grow
And remind us in times of loss
That dawn, and spring, and new life will return.

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Endearing lessons

When will we learn to watch over each other
As tenderly as this mother nurtures her young?

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Life on the edge


In times like these, balance is critical: 
We need to be conscious, eyes downcast, 
Admitting that we’ve not yet reached our goal;
Aware that we are perilously close to the edge.
But we also need to keep moving forward,
Stay focused on where we hope to go,
What we hope to achieve,
And who we are determined to become.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Listen, and love


Violence is never the answer; listening is:
Receptivity, and acceptance.
Attuning our ears to the stories that lie beneath
The heartache, anger, and pain.
Power over is never the answer; humility is.
Empathy is. Community is.
Whatever our differences,
We need to learn to respect
Our common humanity:
Standing together and lifting our faces,
Drinking in, sharing, and offering out
The love that ignites and embraces us all.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

What can we do?


What can we do with the rage we feel,
The fear, the shock, and the frustration,
The helplessness and horror?
What’s the next step when painting and writing
And crying to our friends is not enough?
Where do we turn when all the doors
Are locked and all the streets are blocked?
How will we find our way back to
The values that once defined us —
Peace, justice, and equality for all;
Respect for the dignity of each —
How did we get here?
How did we lose our way?

Monday, June 1, 2020

The role of beauty


Why pursue art and beauty,
When all around us cities burn,
Injustice reigns, and death tallies are rising?
Perhaps because so many souls are wounded
And desperate for reminders
That there’s still hope and light
Blooming somewhere in the world...
Death comes to the garden, too,
But still the flowers lift their faces to the sun.