away

Not much to be learned from this Shiny Alone,
All sparkly in the quiet night.
Maybe some dusty awareness,
Dragged from an untidy nap, grumpy and pale.

I have tired of the clouds and rain,
Everything musty and dark, yet
Would not, could not, abide the sun.

There aren’t enough bridges or trains.
We could use more rivers, maybe a tree.
A path in the woods, no birds singing,
The smell of pine, and the soft tread of my footsteps, away.

dark matter

I reach and reach
For the suddenly gone.
The closely disappeared.
The secret arrival,
And hidden quiet,
You will never know.

From one universe to another,
We bridge the galaxies.
A sun explodes.
A star is born.
Of what import to us?
We are all dark matter anyway.

losing john

I am lacking a serious intent,
Shackled to loss.

I did not know you were a compass.

The pale labyrinth day
Curls around itself and
Everything returns to you,

Hiding behind everyday music,
Until I return home,
Released and unrestrained.

You did not remind me that
I needed you, and only now
Do I realize that I am deaf.

Burdened and buried
Dazed, standing at an edge
You never saw,

Here it is, alone.

younger

They cannot slow down.

They are in the middle of their youth.

 

I look into their fast eyes…

They do not see me.

They do not know wisdom, and 

The frequency of Elders is in a range they can not yet hear.

They do not ask the questions,

so they do not hear the answers.

 

They are angst and passion,

Goals and thought.

Always thinking.

Always moving.

I remember this.

I was once as they are now.

 

So the faster they go,

The slower I respond.

 

Slow down, I whisper.

This is not a race.

 

There are people here to help you.

There are people here to guide you.

Listen.

There are angels among you,

And you do not know who they are.

You will never know who they are.

Stop.

Breathe.

Relax.

Let the future come.

Be here now.

I will hold you in my wisdom,

I will rock you to your peace.

Listen and dream.

Sleep and let go.

You are safe.

in time

my stepping did not impede

your walking.

in fact, our flow

was unrestricted yet

simple, like the quietest dance.

hand in hand,

breathing our time and

softly entwined,

we circled that church;

first one step,

then the other.

come back

I hear your silence

The frosted pane

And rooster crowing

Outside my window

Waves against the sand

Standing upright and unforgiving

No matter

As long as thought remains

And truth is spoken for

 

You think I don’t remember

Mexico so long ago

But see: the illumination

I’ve carried all these years

Tucked into my foreign hand

And beating like a bird’s wing

Against my grandfather’s portrait

 

It all comes clear as you leave and

Leave us behind to measure

Your memory steps and the

Reason why we’re here

So close I can touch

Your departure come back

My mothers and my fathers

So far down the road

Walking forward away

Crying like a child

Come back come back

Please come back

balance

Washed with rain and rain

I am as a river

Swirling and turning

In place, this place

And let go

Existing

Spinning like a child

Achieving balance even as

I toss solid to the ground

Still giddy as angels

Circle in the sky above

And clouds can barely

Hide their smiles

six thousand miles

You are words on the page to me.

Thoughts in my head.

How real is that?

 

You are my imagination and fire;

Oh my soul

Here you come again.

 

I am falling tumbling

Along the terraced sky and

Elaborate out-of-body.

 

Let’s do this: pretend.

We shall walk together

And smoke and play

 

On rich forgiveness and oh my

Future and what the hell.

It could happen?

 

Still, I am not always here:

My daily governing is full

And there is my naked porch

 

Where maybe you never were, really

And chimes have an

Intimate relationship with the trees.

 

The same moon kisses us both

And each of us far away and

Above us all, The Light.

 

Blessings hover and surround, so

Ring the truth and the honesty,

With love ever after, thank God.

the deeper is the meaning

We all know our way around.

 

You get to a certain age,

And there it is.

 

Staring back at each other

Through older eyes…

 

There is no pretending now.

We are what we are.

 

A certain peace settles in,

And we are happy just to

 

Be alive. So

Leave it behind.

 

It won’t serve you.

The deeper is the meaning now.

 

Breathe it out, and smile

Your softer older smile.

 

Rest on your beloved face

And hold my hand near,

 

As we walk through this, our garden,

The blissful loving path of life.

every flower watching

Every flower watching and,

I have to admit,

Me too.

 

It can be scary

When you’re traversing

Sacred ground.

 

Still, march forward,

Breathing bravely,

Because otherwise

 

It’ll pass you by.

And remember:

Nod the thank you.

yesterday

I saw Yesterday with another lover,

And Today said she was jealous.

 

I saw Tomorrow giving away her roses on the corner,

And Next Year was sleeping on a bench.

 

The rain was falling and

My heart was sinking so

 

I took a quick dive down to the flooded streets,

To join the bums and the dirty people.

 

Silence was waiting for me at home, and

Stillness spent the night.

 

Hearts are heavy when in pain, and

Heavier still when left alone in the dark.

 

And it is only because I walk alone at night in the rain,

That I can speak of these things.

drumming song

My dusty woven life rustled quietly

Tugging pulled stretched and gathered

Meeting yours and his and her song

All crowded joyfully and distracted

Through brightened streets washed with the rain

And pleasing laughter mixed with tears

Danced till time returned the partners

Washed down with glory not our fear

Joined by heart and hand’s soft treasure

And birthed by next to one another

Stand together side by shoulder

Seeking time and common measure

Till dusk do part our secret longing

Play and pleasure and all and done

Lift gifted head to cry exulted

To sing this blessed drumming song 

stina marie's garden

To this house, a gardener born:

Her hand in this, the task of dirt.

 

Raised on branches and wildflowers,

She is living on the edge of her euphorbia.

 

Tilling breastly mounds of such soft earth,

She coaxes timid flora from shy buds, and see:

 

Here she floats down shaded garden path,

Draped in garlands of beautybush and rain tree blossoms.

 

Listen quietly as sighs of fairies sing softly through this,

Her earthly world, and rustling branches

 

Speak secrets only she and elves know.

Would you not spend the evening thus

 

Entwined and sleeping amongst the

Beds of this earnest and greenest gardener?

 

Then sleep you now, and her perfumed boughs will

Rock you sway to your sweetest infant’s dream,

 

And too soon you will awaken to soft light,

As this fair gardener brings dawn to her fairest garden. 

drunken flotsam

I drunken flotsam floating

Along your many rivers and

Seeking that which escapes until

Sneaking up looking faithfully

Sprung upon suddenly rising

In the midst of fellows and

Brothers I am found

Myself and

All and

One

does it make your heart sing?

Awaken sleeper!
Awaken still!

Each day becoming
It’s own song.

Does it not
Make your heart sing?

To your knees
Grace and beauty,

Eyes to sky
Open wonder.

Drunken with
The thank you;

Peaceful with
The night.

sad divide

It’s a sad divide.

 

I don’t even recognize

The sound of my own voice.

 

I’m shifting in my seat,

Measuring time in tiny doses.

 

Sometimes the only reminder of myself,

Are my own small footsteps

Pacing quietly up the stairs.

 

Why how this way?

 

Even though knowing, like a child

I resist the answer:

 

We are not vigilante and so

We are surprised when,

 

Loving in a natural way,

Sadness slips in the back door.

vanished

I have loved,

And was moved.

 

Every now and then

I still hear the song,

From time to

Measured time.

 

I need to recover everyday living.

 

You are as though

Everything’s normal,

But

Everything’s changed:

 

The very air I swim through

Is suffused with left-over

Music, love and light.

 

Memory breaks through

Small sunlit patches

Of rainbows and scattered happiness.

 

Even the smallest movement

Can collapse with

Emotion and emphasis and meaning.

 

Spotlight.

 

Can you feel it now?

Are you following me?

Does it show?

 

If I dance to the drummers,

Will they see my flight?

Will pain and joy and wonder

Be written on my face in plain human?

 

Please

Take my hand before I spin off and

Become only the plasma of life itself:

Pure energy without form,

In and of it all,

All at once and

Forever,

Vanished.

let it go

Let it go

Let it all go

Let it flow through you

For in time

You will feel

Once again whole

If not

Completely unlonely

Missing some piece

Of what has grown

To become a part of you

Searching lost in the crowd

Among the dark flutter

Of dancers and drummers

Washing you down

With sadness and glory

The bittersweet never

Having fallen

Far from the tree

And the branch

Still reaching

state of grace

There is a state of grace

Which exists between new lovers...

Until one of you breaks the spell.

 

Before that subtle change,

All is holy and all is sung;

A clever, quiet harmony

 

With a movement so pale,

You would miss it

If you looked askance.

 

The merge and the symmetry

Give rise to the natural healing,

To quiet the natural pain.

 

This succulent moment

Is a tender mercy

In our harsh world, so

 

Cherish this offering,

Which is given

By each to the other.

 

Hold it to your chest and breathe,

For you are so briefly gifted,

And so quickly deprived.

dancing

Movement as solid as the earth and

As light as laughter in the wind

 

Turning and circling in a

Ticklish dervish wisdom

 

Bowing to the archetypal melody

Birthed from the collective unconscious

 

Lost in the trance

Leave me alone

 

I am dancing with God