POETRY
Here, a small sampling of my poems that aren't lyrics: observations on life, God, the cosmos, love, peace and purpose.
Many of my poems are somewhere stationed along points of my past path, packed in boxes or hard drives. I hope to find them again, someday, and add them to this collection.
All of these poems are my original work, and subject to further editing.
They are placed, here in no particular order. My books, "On Point Polly," and "The Tale of a Runaway Toenail" are also poems.
The Poet Tree
I hail from a family of unpublished poets.
Unheard, understated and misunderstood
With a line of sublime
Navigating our veins
A rhythm, a cadence, a drum beat
A rhyme
A word,
Unheard
But unearthed and birthed
By sorrows and pain and
By the mundane
And by Poverty.
A lineage of souls
With a sign of divine
Inspiration.
A poet tree, if you will,
With a story in search of an ear that will hear it,
A song to be sung by a voice that will sing it
I hail from a family of unpublished poets
Unheard, understated, and misunderstood.
Looking Out On a Winter’s Day
Peer through a sapphire into the sun
And see scattered about, the reflections of light
That give nature serenity
Pure and unfettered.
Peer and discover the vast ocean sky that surrounds us in silk robes of blue.
Breathe into winter;
Envision your breath caught in swirls
Inside a glass jar.
Now, see breathing, my God, on the mountaintops, mighty
Encasing His breath just along peaks and falls
Breath so pure and so white
Full of light.
See frozen teardrops of laughter and pain
Watch them fall to the ground,
Each a varied expression.
Then gaze at the flakes that float down from the eyes of the angels
And cling to our lashes.
Picture this landscape, where one can see clearly
By light of the moon or the high risen sun
That the darkness is covered in blankets of white
Picture my winter.
See life.
A Prayer
Source of our being, in whom we exist, we align our intentions with YOU.
YOU ARE LOVE.
Our thoughts, our words, and our deeds, are a constant, fervent prayer to YOU.
Our being communes with YOU through all of creation.
Through YOU we receive and we give true Love to YOU and to all others.
Wisdom, awareness and insight increase in us constantly.
Miracles, Magic and Light flow through us continually.
We abide in perfect health that we may serve YOU to the utmost.
YOU guard our body, heart and mind from darkness with Your brilliance.
Our Moving and Being are always at Peace, on this plane and all others.
Your provision flows abundantly, allowing us to live and to give freely.
YOU join us with others of like mind and vision uniting Your Kingdom on Earth as in Heaven.
Your divine energy flows out from within us, touching and healing all we encounter.
We are Love, we are Light, we are Truth, we are Peace, we are Joy and we are Beauty.
We follow YOU forever, to realms of higher glory, moving upward and toward YOU in blessed assurance, grateful for ALL THAT YOU ARE and for ALL THAT WE ARE IN YOU.
YOU ARE I AM.
I AM because WE ARE.
WE ARE ONE.
Amen
Love or Fear?
What forbids us from following our heart’s lead but Fear?
Facing Love can be frightening business.
Its path foreboding to many hearts and minds.
Fear walls the heart’s passions in stone edifices,
captive like criminals, dulling and deadening,
stifling and stagnating the life-giving, light-bearing, soul-surging force.
Pursuits of the heart are indeed daunting.
But remaining in Fear is far more haunting.
Be Whole
Healing brings Wholeness.
Wholeness is Unity.
Unity requires binding Love.
Love has no Fear.
Fear brings Division.
Division is Brokenness.
Brokenness requires Healing.
Healing is Wholeness.
Wholeness is Unity.
Unity requires binding Love...
Love is God
God is One.
One is Whole.
Wholeness brings Healing.
I Say
I say to my Father, “speak to me.”
And he says to me, “Child listen.”
I say to my Mother, “Show me.”
And she says, “Open your eyes.”
I say to my God, “Give to me.”
And She says, “Hold out your hand.”
I say to my Lord, “Live through me.”
And my Lord says to me, “I AM.”
Eyes to See
May we have eyes of the eagle by day,
and eyes of the owl by night.
Not so that we may seek our prey,
but to see most clearly from the heights
and in darkness, to see as if it were light.
If you want to be wise
If you want to be wise,
then ask all the whys,
and open your eyes for the answers.
And open your ears to let yourself hear,
and quiet your mind,
and silence your fears,
and open your heart for the truth to appear, and embrace it when it comes.
Sufficient
“Deep calls to deep by the noise of the falls,
‘All your waves and your billows are gone over me!’”
Yet their torrents rush onward,
Their journey to lands unfamiliar and fathoms unknown.
Where is rest drowning Earth, from the river’s rough waters?
Shall the passions of current and tide e’er run dry?
Shall the deafening crashes of waves
And erosion of mountain-sides cease to take place?
And the land become placid with warmth from the sun
As it recalls the weight of the rain?
Shall communion of blizzard and thunderstorm fall
To command of that great, flaming orb?
And land become arid and oceans yield reign
To the powers of fire and wind?
Shall the Earth become parched?
Wanting, dying for lack of the burdens once granting
Her beauty and life?
Will God, who created all, bring to an end
The enhancement of Earth
For petition of calm,
Declaring His grace insufficient?
Deep calls to deep by the voice of the falls
May your waves and your billows still flow over me.
A Conversation With Our Mother
I sat on a river bank of the mighty, majestic Yosemite Valley and visited with our most ancient mother, Earth.
I asked her if the signs I saw among the landscape were her words of direction.
She answered, "As always."
I asked her how quickly her responses to my questions came.
She answered, "Instantly."
I asked if she had a message for me.
She said, "Everyone enjoys me, but few appreciate me."
I understood and considered it for a while.
Then, as I observed the trees planted by the river, I pictured myself, roots grown deep and branches spread wide. Among my leaves, long and narrow, I saw no red, tempting fruit, and no children climbing or swinging from my branches.
I said to my most ancient Mother, "I wish I were a sweet fruit tree, so children would be drawn to come eat of my pleasures."
Earth answered, "Be what you are. Your leaves are medicinal. Your fruit is bitter until cured, and your flavor an acquired taste. When pressed, you express the soothing, healing oil of Spirit. You are an olive tree, aged and twisted. Be what you are."
I understood.
I asked if she had another word for me, and she answered, "We take on what we take in."
Then she expounded, "Everything is energy. Whatever we consume, from foods, to air, to thoughts, from tangible to intangible, from visible to invisible, from material to spiritual, blends its energies with our own, and in true essence, becomes a part of our make up. We are what we eat. We become what we consume. We take on what we take in."
I understood.
I sat on a river bank of the mighty, majestic Yosemite Valley and visited with our most ancient mother, Earth. She has much to share with us if we will ask and receive and appreciate.
Dark Night's Role
When Inspiration holds her tongue,
And darkness hides your way,
Be not afraid for night is made
For silence, stillness and repose.
Trust night will lead to morning,
When songs arise,
And lightened skies
Call us to open up our eyes
And see, again, the way that we should go.
MY MAGNIFICENT MAN!
My courageous counterpart.
Love that surrounds me,
Mind that astounds me.
Your vigor drives and protects,
My vision inspires and directs.
Mate of my body, psyche and soul,
Together we are whole.
You are the wild balance to my domesticity,
You are the exuberance to my simplicity.
I soften you, you sharpen me.
Like sweet repose and work begun,
Like midnight dark and noonday sun,
Together we are one.
Who I Am at 50
In less than two weeks I will step into the other side of the century.