From Here

Grey morning mist 
A damp coolness covering
Everything outside

The last of these days
The beginning of many others

Paths and roads
Feeding one another

Love is a shadow

Simple Joys

I held my niece in my arms this morning
while she drank her milk through a straw
She held the cup in both of her hands
as she drank and drank until there was no more
She is big now but not as big as she will be
I remember her infancy and the mornings
I would care for her and feed her
Cradling her in my arms
Holding the bottle of formula
As her small hands touched
Either side of the bottle
It is simple and joyous
To see her grow and change
And gradually become
The person she will one day be
For now I try and
Let these moments come
And enjoy them
Sweet girl
There is light enough in you
To shine in both our lives

Junk

All the junk accumulating in this world
Gathering dust in bedroom closets
Rusting away in forgotten sheds
Old photos aging invisibly
Mementos of memories
Lives lived and relegated
To obsolete ephemera
We die and the junk
Is thrown away
Or taken by someone else
To sit somewhere else until
The process is repeated
Bury or burn me
I will be another thing
That has outlived it's usefulness
That day is yet to come
Your day is yet to come
Gather the junk
Throw it away
Or let it cloud
Space

Morning 12/29/17

Living on in memory
even as these bodies
age and disappear

Flip the invisible switch within yourself
Thought and Action are the key

Doors opening and closing
Let in the light

Morning 12/28/17

To fail is to be humbled.

You begin again
Again
I have been here before
And I am here now
What has been learned
How must I move forward
To undo these mistakes
To come closer to the ideal
To move away from this
This is the moment once more
To step back
Take stock
And begin again
Again



If all your love was gone
and the wells went dry
Could you still live out
your days on this barren land?

The Drive

Alone together we go
Up the 5
Miles of emptiness
Stretching vast
Past the towns
And gas stations
Along the way
Miles and hours
Fall behind us
Town to City
To nothingness
Drive through it all
Searching for the place
We hope to find
And we'll know it
When we stop there
Small town by the sea
No stop lights to be found
Just a solitary stop sign
At the town square
Rolling hills of green
By the cemetery
Waters lapping the tiredness
Away from our eyes

Morning 12/27/17

There will be peace in the valley

There will be peace in your heart

There will be peace in the valley

even if everything falls apart

There is light coming through

the cracks in the wall

There is light

There is light

There is light

within

Contemplation / Morning 12/26/17

I woke up thinking

about wanting to free myself

from my bodily desires

To free myself from my bad habits

of drink and food

To move more

To feel the wind and sky more

To explore more

To slowly move from my room

to this outer world once more

I want to be more

I want to feel more

But only I can bring this dawn

This remains in my hands alone

This is my choice

This is what I must remember

This is how I must act

What was good enough can no

longer be acceptable

I must let myself be more fully

present in the present

This - the eternal now

Always

Always here

Discipline

Control

Growth

I must master myself

to foster these

To receive love

To give love

To receive love

To give love

To receive love

To give love

Dying days of a dying year

We look towards the sun

towards the moon

towards the stars in the heavens

Looking for an answer

Looking for reassurance

to get us through the days ahead

Winter  at our feet

Dreams of Spring 

just further ahead

God is within

What does this mean?

Have you considered

that you are the expression

of universal consciousness

that you are in fact 

an incarnation of God

We are all God

in this fashion

Flawed and finite

as part of an infinite

timeline stretching 

far behind and ahead of us

plucking of strings

drops of rain

resonance

sound bleeding into air

lungs breathing 

I am the steward of this body

My spirit

My body 

This place I call my own

Here
We are free
Together

A Christmas Message

As I have grown older I have had to define what my relationship
to the holiday season is. My mother said 'Christmas is for the
children." In a certain sense she is absolutely right. We generally
skew the Christmas holiday towards giving presents to children
and young ones. This material expression of love is a benign thing
if kept in check. As time has gone on I have grown fully disinterested
in the material aspect of the holidays. That is not to say that I do not
still desire material things, I do, but I prefer to get for myself that
which I want instead of placing expectation on others. The sentiment
I carry this season is the idea of spending time with those you love.
Those family and friends whose presence in your life is truly the gift.
The importance of creating experiences and memories is something
that we can always carry with us through the changes in this sea.
We are now in Winter, the season of cold, the season of a barren
land. In earlier times there was much to fear in this time. In our age
it feels more a stark reminder that we should always prepare for
lean times before Spring brings the new dawn. I suppose this has
been a wordy, roundabout way of saying Merry Christmas and
Happy Holidays, no matter what you do or don't believe, or who
you're spending it with. Chances are I'm grateful for your continued
presence in my life and the chats and things we have yet to do
together. You are the gift, today and always. Take care, Everyone.
Love you.

When the Earth was young 

and we were old. 

Hear and Understand

What is the value of speech
if no one can hear?

What is the value of hearing
if we cannot understand?

How can we rise above
our differences?

Are we still capable of
seeing beyond that
which divides?

We have to believe this
is still possible.

We have to believe there
is still hope.

Morning 12/23/17

Snowfall
Silence of morning
Warmth of your body
This is the world
Nothing exists
Nothing matters
Only this

This is home
This is beginning and end
Close your eyes
Morning is burning bright through winter


In the summer of my life
I worry
I fret
I am alive
Healthy
Breathing
This  brief window
To feel everything I can
To exist

Creation and Healing

The power to create change is always within our grasp.
We do not always see or feel this power within ourselves
but it is there. One does not have to remake the world
to feel this power. It is present when we wish to take
small steps to bettering our lives, whether physically
or spiritually.

If you are looking for healing
Start now
Look within yourself
From here all emerges

Beautiful Gina

You're about to leave the bar
when she sidles up next to you
in the empty stool
She looks at you
She's beautiful
As beautiful as every time
you've seen her
Her eyes brim with wet sadness
She pulls you close
She doesn't ask your name
because she knows your name
because you've seen each other here
before on late nights after many drinks
She tells you that there are choices
she has to make
She pulls you close
all of a sudden
Her lips touch yours
You are kissing
You feel her sadness
That need
as simple as it is
to be comforted
in time of conflict
and confusion
You let her kiss you
a second time
You look into her beautiful
brown eyes brimming
with the burden of choice
You tell her you have to leave
She kisses you again
You let it happen
The night is over for you
Yet her night will grow
and change and shift
as dawn beckons
and words will
be exchanged
and choices
will be
made

Morning 12/21/17

"To decipher does not always mean to understand." 
- Luigi Serafini
https://birdinflight.com/media/luigi-serafini-on-how-and-why-he-created-an-encyclopedia-of-an-imaginary-world.html


We are still alive in one another.

Salvation by any other name.

Read a language you do not know
and cannot hope to understand.

Illustrations from a strange universe.

The impossible is never impossible.

Imagination is the proof of all possibility.

What life did we know before our birth?
What life will we know after it ends?

Keep breathing
Keep living
Breathe in
Breathe out
Inhabit the moment

morning 12/20/17

There is peace within
You are striving towards it
It is within your grasp
Reach out
Take it
Hold it
Never let it go


There is sound
There is resonance
within me
It's vibrations spread
through flesh and mind
I become the sound
I am the sound

"Our journey's end is our journey home,
Our journey home is our journey's end."

that which feeds

Your ego is hungry
Feed it
It's belly growls
It is becoming impatient
It doesn't care where you are
It wants
It craves
It needs attention
It needs affection

                             /

                                You're beautiful
                                You're amazing
                                You're creative
                                You're one of a kind
                                Everyone wants to know you
                                Everyone wants to be around you
                                Have you always been so amazing

Will love become the dawn?

We must learn to do what is right by doing what is wrong.

To learn in this way is not foolish so long as the lesson is learned.

words

the words

the words

the words

the words

are you letting them come

are you letting them go

the words

the words

the words

you worry so much about them

are you listening to yourself

the words 

the words

the words

they are within you

are you bothering to listen

the words 

the words

the words

are always here

are always within reach

the words

the words 

the words 

become the mantra on your lips

become the reason

Ocean

I am the ocean 

I am the water 

I am the reefs

I am the whales

I am the sunken wrecks

I am the placid waters

I am the schools of fish

I am the kelp washing ashore

I am the deepest reaches of the dark

I am the sharks swimming near shore

I am the crabs and the lobsters

I am the salt in my waters

I am the seven seas

I am peaceful 

I am the tempest

I am foaming tides

I am friend

I am enemy

I am unconquerable

I am the ocean

Questions

How can one measure the growth of the soul?
Why must we let our insecurities be part of us?
How can we define the yearning in our hearts?
If I ask you a question can you answer honestly?
Is lost love carried with us endlessly in our lives?
Can happiness be more than fleeting moments?
Why do we desire that which is only temporary?
Can we break the wheel of our harmful vices?
Will our hearts grow beyond what we can see?

beach dream

I walked down the hill to the beach
The sand was warm to my feet
As I came closer I did not break stride
Embraced by the warmth of summer
I began to swim past the pier
further and further out
to the eastern edge of the horizon
How beautiful it felt at the edge of the world
boundless and free
Finally I woke up

Vessel

I am the vessel for the infinite divine
I exist in this moment
I feel the needs of the body
I feel the lusts
I feel the anxieties
I feel the insecurities
I feel the bodily pleasures
I feel the loneliness of a cold bed
I feel my finite humanity
I am all too human
I feel more within
I am more than this
I know this
I see myself in you
I see all of us in your eyes

The Expected

A sunrise is never sudden
nor unexpected.
Early morning Sunday
driving through abandoned
freeways and streets
with unusual ease.
Night began to fade
into darkest blue.
Darkest blue began to
lighten even further
until at last the sky was a
saturated soft blue
blanketing everything.
For a few moments
there was peace
everywhere in this place
I have always called
my home.

Morning 12/16/17

They have taken root
and their fingers are extending unseen
through the ground around them
Their grasp firms and tightens
as they grow taller and stronger
beneathe the nourishing sun
and water pouring at their trunk

Untethered
Free
Is that it?
Is that what we
have always wanted?

Caught between Salvation and Habit.

Give me a chance and I'll take away your loneliness

Your name becomes the ghost in my memory
A presence turned to absence
A face once loved obscured by rain falling onto glass

Morning 12/15/17

And time moves on
And we are still here gazing at the sky
And time moves on

Dreams and dreaming
Innocence forgot and remembered
Flowers in the garden
Bees leaving the hive
Walking up the steps to the house
What is memory saying
Listening for a voice
Has it been yours all along

Wind and Sand

Cast the words from your mouth
I've got nothing to say
I've heard what you meant
Cast a wall of steel and concrete
Division and separation
This is what you want
All promises are wind and sand
Don't say anything more
I've heard it
I've heard it
I've heard it before
And the past hasn't changed
And neither have you

Prophet

And God spoke
And She said



And I waited to hear
but could not hear
Her lips moved
but I was deafened
by divine voice

I wait now
for revelation
for enlightenment

I wait for another chance
to hear the words

pendulum

I am waiting for the right time
I always believe it to be near
then find something to dissuade me
Back and forth
Back and forth
A pendulum swinging in my mind
So I watch and wait
for the right time
Is this pure folly
Some might say
to wait for the right time
is to wait forever
Where will action
take me
Far from here
or so I think
or so I think

morning 12/13/17

Time and memory
Specificity
Image drawn in wet concrete
Names turned stone
Outline of a heart
Feet walking upon this
Sun and rain
Night and Day
We are reaching
for the sun

Morning 12/12/17 / 35th Anniversary

This moment is the gift.

Born into this life
Present in this moment
Incarnate

To be aware is to be aware
of the vast interconnectedness
of all of us

Is each day a past life?

I am the rain
I am the river
I am the lake
I am the ocean

Along the wave
Riding from sea to shore
I breathe
I exist
I am
To be
I am
To be

To walk the path is to live the path.

Unseen Landscape

Cheryl was lonely

She sat by herself at the diner

Her usual french toast breakfast

was as good as any other day

She finished and walked out 

to the parking lot to her white

Chrysler missing one hubcap

from the front drivers side

She drove home to her 

apartment and set down 

her bag She took off her shoes

and sat down on the comfy

overstuffed couch

She liked the way her body

would comfortably ease

into the cushions

She turned on the TV

and let it speak

It didn't matter what 

was on it all came

and went through her mind

Oftentimes she would 

begin to remember 

memories and dreams 

from younger days

and all the possibility

that was once ahead

Now so much of it 

could only be seen with

a backwards glance 

She closed her eyes

and began to breathe steadily

The sounds from the TV faded

into nothingness

She could see everything now

all at once 

Vastness was no before her

How lovely it was 

Try Again

What must be understood is that
control is always within the self.
To exercise willpower requires
a consistent inner strength that
will be tested over and over.
It is always possible to try again.
So try. Again. And if you fail
try again. Do not let yourself
be discouraged. Try and trust
in yourself.

This Moment Is Now

The present is the present Do not forget this
This now is the moment you have always
waited for What happens now is up to you
Create the life you want but be patient and
put in the work to make it so Do not let your
self be blinded by habit and by your own
bad habits To change them is to find the new
way forward Forward is always right in front
of us We must be bold Boldness can often be
the smallest of actions and changes that can
frighten us into inaction If all else fails take a
moment to breathe In Out In Out Close your
eyes Steady your heart and mind Let yourself
become the now These moments are eternal
This present is always now See through the
trappings we have accepted blindly and move
past them Shed the unnecessary Let light into
the dark places of the soul This is not easy
This is uncomfortable Feel the warmth of the
sun Feel the wind on your skin and through
your hair Let life touch your body Let it send
a shiver up your back and onto the back of
your head Open your eyes and breathe in the
air It is here It is now The future is always
coming The past is unchanging This day
is what matters What matters is this day and
what we do with it and ourselves

The Name the Wind Calls Itself

I incarnate
This place
This time
Through these eyes
With these hands
In this body
I speak to you
Hear this
In my voice
Every syllable
Pronounced clearly
In your mind
This is now
Now is forever
The moment
Has passed
The moment
Is forever
The moment
Is now

Morning 12/9/17

Creating Light

a dream of better days
hope that this shall pass
that we will till the soil
and reap what has been
sown over a lifetime

What can heal us?
What can heal the wounds we bear
invisibly within us?

The first sound of this world
The first sound of existence
Calling forth from them to now
On our lips and from our throats
It emerges whole
Calling to the universe

I wake and I dream

It is early yet
From my bed I rise
Look through my window
The sky has begun to lighten
and turn shades of blue
How many of these
mornings do I have
How many of these
have I seen
The gift is
now
Do you realize
Do you understand

moment

A dog barking outside
Midday warmth
Sitting with nothing in mind
nowhere to be other than
here
now
Is it enough
It is
It always will

Caught Thinking

You get caught thinking about
your weight
money
how much of it you have
how much of it you need
You get caught thinking about
time
and how it is passing
and how it worries you
and how helpless you are
to impede it
You don't want to think about it all
so you drink
so you keep busy
trying to stave off the inevitable
so you keep working
and try to not look up
You get caught up
wanting to be happy and
worrying about it
yet never feeling closer
to the feeling you've been longing for
You get caught up thinking about love
and how much you have to give and
how much more you wish you had
yet that isn't the whole story and
even you know that but that
doesn't keep you from
worrying so you
worry anyway
and isn't
that
fruitless?
In the middle of the night
you wake up in worry
and for once
you learn
to stop
and
go back
to sleep

That Which Longs to Be Born

Within the self
How deeply have you searched
Vast continents and lakes
lay unexplored and
waiting to be found
Close your eyes
Begin

Morning 12/5/17

So many lives within this one
Eyes are mirrors
we gaze through and into

Does the flower know
how it blooms?

Creatures of a fragile world
We live here together

The Symmetry of Water

We are struggling to gain collective peace
both within and without

I want peace and love for you for everyone
This life is too short to want more than this

Rivers of thought in endless waters
Shimmering in their motion
This journey through us

Life is the gift
Now is the present

Return to the place of peace within.

Morning 12/4/17

The lives we want are still out there.

Caught between choices of our making
We wonder before we can decide
of where we will go

Everything we leave unspoken

Digging through the years of our lives
Seeking a place of peace within

There is time for us still
in our cottage by the beach
at a peaceful place in our lives

To become so fully oneself
as to become utterly whole

The words find themselves and
come together
When they do you know
what they mean
what they have always
wanted to say

Looking through old pictures of us
Remembering
Remember
Remember

Everything will pass away
Until then
Light

Morning 12/3/17

Song of morning
Life here
Within you
Within me
Within us

This gravity is holding me down to the ground
I want to join you again in the heavens above

Keep searching for peace and stillness
The path is everlasting

The ocean kisses your feet on the shore
I hold your hand as we feel coolness surrounding warmth

The Invisible World 

Beautiful Sky

Clear blue glass overhead.

If a crack appeared in the sky 

Would you worry?

Would you worry 

if you saw the crack

break further and spider out?

What would you do

when you saw a piece

loose free and crack 

upon the ground?

Two Halves

The days and nights continue to fall away from us
the way leaves fall away from branches in autumn
Winter will come and in the season of hibernation
we will dream hidden from the world of all that is
and live within the possibilities of what could be

Who are you who found me in my dream last night
You are a memory of a woman whose name I have
long forgotten yet the image of her lingered long
enough to reappear Where we were I could not say
but that is insignificant We met and we kissed and
it felt sweet and warm and kind as all loving kisses
should I can see your face and body yet i know the
dream will remain only such You linger in memory