When lyrics echo

Standing by a lighthouse, 

Looking at this stretch of beach,

 Littered as it is with driftwood,

 I hear, echoing in my brain, 

A song we learned in elementary school, 

Meant to instill in us a spirit of hospitality 

For those less fortunate than ourselves:

 “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me”

(Words from Emma Lazarus’ poem, 

 The New Colossus, on the Statue of Liberty) 

Which, here, might end, 

“I lift my lamp beside this golden shore.”

Behind the scenes

It’s funny: sometimes we get so focused 

On what we want to see 

 That we completely miss 

What’s going on behind the scene we’ve set…

Reflected in their eyes

I’m not a hunter, but I think sometimes 

Of the soldiers in the trenches 

In the two World Wars and elsewhere, 

Who are taught, “Don’t shoot 

Til you see the whites of their eyes.” 

It’s so much easier to be cruel 

To those whom we don’t know or understand, 

But so much harder — for most of us, at least — 

When we see ourselves 

 Reflected in their eyes.

Reclaim your joy

Sometimes it’s the little things that bug you, 

But it’s easy to get so focused on them 

That we blow them out of proportion, 

And they end up looming so large 

We completely lose perspective. 

Take a moment today to step back 

And see the larger picture… and reclaim your joy!

Sharing peace

Gilded, rosy in the morning sun, 

The cat sleeps quietly at my feet. 

I breathe in the peace and light 

And breathe it out again for all who struggle: 

Illness, surgery, loss, depression, war, fear — 

We are surrounded; overwhelmed — 

Yet still the cat sleeps on, 

Empurpled in light and love.

Calla lily’s promise

As we age the losses grow: 

White calla lilies leave the garden, 

Falling onto caskets, into graves, 

But leave behind this unexpected 

Promise of new life, new friendships; 

A garden that will overflow again in spring.

 Love never dies, but comes again and multiplies: 

Lives lost leave love in their wake.

The safety of seclusion

After three years of living as islands, 

Desperately separate with all defenses up, 

It’s not surprising many of us are eager 

To launch ourselves back 

 Into the seas of society. 

And yet, having done so, 

Do we also find ourselves 

Happy to return to the safety of seclusion?