A light in the darkness

The sky is gray today, 

And my windows are all clouded 

With the salt from the recent storm: 

All echoes — or projections — 

Of the sadness that sears my soul. 

Though I will honor that sadness for now, 

 Seeking comfort where I can, 

I won’t give up, but will continue 

 To do my best to be a light 

 In the midst of darkness 

And keep love as my guide.

Lay divisiveness to rest

And now today, 

Whatever the outcome, 

We pray for peace; 

That the bitter house of anger we built together 

May fade into the earth, 

 Beneath a flowered carpet 

 Of forgiveness and remorse; 

That its remains might feed a new crop 

Of compassion, collaboration, truth and trust; 

That we might rise above our differences 

 And pour a new foundation 

Made of hope.

That common light

There is a common light, an energy, 

That fills and fuels all things: 

The earth, the skies, the seas, 

All breathing ones that walk, or swim, or fly, 

And all that’s lived, or loved, or lost to us: 

Each, however still, enlivened by 

A spirit that unites us all, 

Unbroken, circling the globe 

And all that lives and breathes or rests 

Beneath, beside, within us or above.

Trust, rewarded

Having moved to this community during CoVid, 

I haven’t spent a lot of time exploring, 

And I’m still a little timid; a bit stuck 

On driving the familiar routes 

To get to familiar places. 

But every once in a while, 

On my way to somewhere else,

 I take a turn down unfamiliar roads 

(I’m learning to trust 

 They’ll all lead to the same place) 

And oh, what delightful surprises await —

 Like this one, with its view: 

The snow- capped mountains, 

And the castle in the distance, 

And the tree, unlike its neighbors, 

Which has yet to lose its greenness and its leaves…

Focus on the light

So many of us wait with bated breath 

For the storms we fear lie looming in our future. 

Having done what we can to forestall the worst,

Can we not try to focus 

On the light that still surrounds 

Those threatening clouds?

Leavings

At this stage in my life, I’d like to think — 

Or maybe hope — 

That, like this tree, 

 I may have littered the ground around me 

 With my leavings, the poems and the photos, 

But there are still plenty more 

Awaiting in my branches, 

Which aren’t barren yet, 

Though I’m haunted, like so many of my peers, 

By the emptiness yet to come…

Haunted

The mistakes of our past tend to haunt us, 

Springing up from the depths 

 To point fingers of blame 

For all the things done and left undone 

And all of the ways the choices we made 

Have hurt others. 

Try not to berate yourself too harshly; 

Apologize if it’s appropriate, 

Learn from your missteps, 

And leave those old wounds behind: 

It’s time to step forward 

 Into a more compassionate future.