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?

Buoyancy

Though she's old and gray, 

she hasn't lost her buoyancy..

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?

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...

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?

Wrapped in fog

Wrapped in fog, the vineyard waits,

bare vines and branches drinking in the moisture

that will swell the fruit to come.

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...

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!

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?

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.

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.

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...

Simple beauty

It's easy to become so focused on our destination

that we miss the simple beauty that we pass along the way...

Every task an art

What if we viewed all the world as our studio,

and every task we undertake as an art?

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?

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.

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.

Invitation to deepen

Everywhere I wander

I find these invitations,

inviting me to deepen my practice

and calling me home.

In the darkness

We are fed; we are nourished

By the quiet and the dark.

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...

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.

Possessed

No matter how carefully

we guard our possessions,

eventually they'll belong to someone else...

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.

Patience

Patience: Eventually the storms --

even the ones that involve emotions --

will pass and leave us calm again.

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.

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?

Inscibed upon the silence

 What words are these,

written on the silence?

What messages inscribed upon

the forest of our dreams?

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...

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.

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.

Limitless creativity

May this be the year we find a way

To tap into the limitless creativity

That always awaits us.