All shall be well

This morning I sat and watched as the trees 

Gently lowered the moon into the sea. 

And as I watched, the eagle floated by, 

His white head gleaming in the dark, 

His wings stretched wide, 

To coast upon the rising breath of wind. 

In such a world as this, may all who weep 

At all we’ve seen and learned find solace 

In that which lies beyond our grasp, and know 

All shall be well; all manner of things, be well.

Anxious anticipation

Feeling exposed and vulnerable, 

 Outwardly composed while inwardly restless:

There is this sense of anxious anticipation; 

Of hunkering down while readying 

To respond at the slightest warning signal; 

Of trying to stay calm while knowing 

Chaos might erupt at any moment...

What have we learned from this?

The fruits of our long months of growth 

Are nearing maturation. 

How shall we harvest, 

And feed upon their wisdom, 

And how will we package, and store, 

And hold them in reserve for future trials?

Luminous creation

Look carefully, long and hard, 

At whatever it is you see 

As you pass through the corridors of your day. 

Stay: don’t pass, but drink it in — 

The speckles on the flicker’s chest; 

The delicate arch of the cricket’s wing; 

The rose hip’s cheek, the crow’s black beak — 

Look long enough, and you will see 

The glowing luminosity of each created thing.

Forgotten visions

After weeks of gray, 

A sunset fills the sky with shocking color, 

And all who lift their eyes are filled with wonder, 

Disagreements briefly set aside to marvel 

At the vision we all share for these few moments. 

Night falls, colors subside, 

 And we return to our silos, muttering darkly 

Among ourselves of our distaste for the Other. 

Why is it our shared visions rarely last?

Seeking to reawaken hope

I look upon the innocence; 

The trusting faces of these flowers, 

Still blooming among the driftwood 

Beside the beach despite the cold — 

The cold that is, 

And the cold that’s sure to come — 

And listen for some echo in my heart; 

Some reserve of hope, deep buried, 

That might sing again, encouraged 

By their golden effervescence...

Love anyway

The gap between what we intend to create 

And what we actually produce may be huge. 

Create anyway. 

The struggle to view uncertainty 

As opportunity and potential is huge: 

Try anyway. 

The difficulty of loving 

 Those who disagree with us is huge: 

Love anyway.

As the old year turns to flame

Watching anxiously 

As the old year slowly turns to flame, 

We know that we’ll be glad to leave 

This one behind, and yet winter still looms 

With its own threat of further deprivations. 

We hope this time of separations burns 

Important learnings on our hearts, 

But can we trust Spring to return? 

Will there still be new leaves we might turn over?

A vote as an expression of hope

Spotted in the woods while on a walk, 

This image makes me weep: 

It seems a lifetime has passed 

Since the days when I, too, cared enough 

To expend this kind of energy 

Declaring my love for my country... 

Can innocence so oft betrayed — 

By assassinations, the Vietnam War, 

The machinations of various presidents 

And politicians; ongoing revelations of

The racism and greed at our roots — 

Can that innocence ever be regained? 

My vote is an expression of hope.

Finding our way back to unity

Buried at the root of our being 

Lie the oneness and the innocence 

From which each of us has sprung. 

May we, in these dark times, 

Still find our way back to that light 

And learn to trust again our shared humanity.

Preparing for the journey

Now that we see this aging boat, 

Her imperfections highlighted, 

Is all we have to keep us all afloat, 

Let’s not abandon ship, but make 

An effort to repair her leaks, 

The seats that only hold the few, 

The oarlocks that no longer allow 

Us all to stay on course, 

That we might once again embark, 

Journeying together to a brighter future.

Choosing creativity and joy

And still, so late in the season, 

The rose bravely chooses joy, 

Sending out new shoots and buds, 

Defying all prognostications of gloom and doom. 

We, too, confronted with wintry thoughts,

Can make that choice; 

Can reach into the depths of being, 

Bringing forth new life into the world 

In spite of all the dark and cold 

That looms on the edge of consciousness...

Finding our way back to unity

If nothing else, this time apart is teaching us 

That every course of action 

Is fraught with possibility:

Dark consequences always loom for someone; 

Light possibilities await another. Knowing this, 

Will we finally learn the art of collaboration; 

To lay our options out and weigh them,

Seeking greatest good for greatest number;

Ignoring personal benefits,

Prejudice and preference?

Perhaps in working together

To balance dark and light

We may finally find our way back home to unity.

Pushing at the limits of the known

Out there, at the edge of the world we know, 

Such majesty waits us: fearful and compelling. 

It’s no wonder we keep pushing boundaries, 

Then shrinking back again, 

Into what we hold to be safe, and true. 

Is it courage, or foolhardiness 

That impels us to explore 

The frontiers of experience, to question; 

To seek, to wonder: what if what appears 

To be the end is nothing more 

Than a new beginning?

Let silence speak

Everywhere we look, there are opportunities 

To see: to stop and pay attention; 

To open to the moment — to extend 

An invitation to that deeper silence 

Into which the voice of the divine 

Might pour its wisdom...

Sheltering together

And so we gather, waiting in the harbor, 

Braced for whatever storms may come... 

May each of us, though separate, 

Find comfort in awareness 

That we are not alone but sheltering together, 

United in our prayers for safety and for peace.

Seeing through our tears

When in the grip of sadness 

It can be difficult to see 

The promise of the future 

That waits beyond our tears and fears: 

It’s challenging to trust this, too, shall pass...

Why rush to perfection?

Mary Oliver said it best: 

“The ripeness of the apple is its downfall.” 

Instead of rushing to perfection, 

Why not enjoy the slow ripening of wisdom, 

The gradual bloom of wonder in your cheeks...

Now and then...

It’s always a dance, isn’t it — 

Trying to be attentive 

To the wisdom and the beauty of the now 

While remaining aware of its context... 

Past and future moments 

Can so easily overshadow and obscure, 

Dominating our thoughts 

Until we become so focused 

On that looming, larger picture 

That we never even notice 

The simple grace that’s blooming right before our eyes.

The divine within

After the terror of a night 

Buffeted by strong remorseless winds, 

Beset by fears of future and past losses, 

The morning’s calm seems nothing short of miraculous. 

When will we learn that storms always pass — 

As will the calm; nothing lasts forever — 

And that we hold within us 

Something changeless and divine 

That survives it all?

Trust your inner resources

Whoever it is that you thought you were, 

Whatever the work you thought you should do, 

May change. 

Trust that life and your inner resources 

Will conspire together to give you new purpose. 

You have more to offer than you ever realized: 

Now is your chance to discover new strengths.

Irritating blessings

The spiders, whom so many hate and fear, 

Still spin their delicate reminders 

Of the connectedness of things, 

Carefully and thanklessly 

Trapping and consuming 

The minor irritations that plague us. 

Yet still I long to brush away 

The tiny strands of light, 

In order to admire the last blue flowers 

Blooming in my garden...

Seek your sacred center

It’s hard not to feel discouraged, 

Confined and alone as so many of us are, 

Looking back over a year filled with losses, 

Knowing there are surely more to come. 

Perhaps it’s time to turn our eyes inward; 

To find again that sacred center 

From which all joy springs...

The fog will lift

Take heart, and believe 

That at some point this fog will lift 

And leave a rainbow in its wake 

To introduce us once again 

To the true blue clarity of the sky.

Enlightenment beneath a tree

Buddha was not the first, 

Nor will he be the last to find 

Enlightenment beneath a tree. 

Find a tree, perhaps a bench, 

And make some time this week to sit 

And open to what truths may be revealed 

In the kindness and connection of the branches.

Looking forward to a journey

With patience — or impatience — 

We await our opportunity to embark again 

Upon familiar journeys 

To work, to friends, to family, 

To begin new life as a married couple — 

To all the possibilities that used to lie before us 

And now languish, unexplored, 

As we sit idle at the dock, ready and hoping 

For a change in circumstance 

That’s out of our control...

So many teachers!

Each person, each experience, 

Has something to teach us; 

Points to some important truth, 

If only we would listen. 

There is such grace in seeing life that way...

Lessons in the wild

The deer have discovered 

The peanuts we left out for the crows. 

What once fed many is now devoured by one; 

A visible reminder 

That greed is not a uniquely human — 

Or particularly attractive — trait.

Blessed are the gardeners

Blessed are those who work to bring us 

Color and light when all the world seems gray, 

Enshrouded in a fog of anger and confusion.

Equal opportunity prayers

And now our proud egalitarianism 

Is put to its hardest test: 

It’s not enough to care and grieve and pray

For those who are imprisoned. 

We are also called to care and grieve and pray

For those who built the walls 

And put them there.

Radiate compassion

We are not the separate beings 

We imagine ourselves to be: 

Whatever energy we send out 

Will ripple from soul to soul 

And eventually return. 

When we react, the words we pen in anger 

Just add fuel to the already raging fire. 

Become a conscious fire break: 

Bring the flames to a halt, 

And find a way to radiate compassion.