What Must Be Remembered

The heart of the child you were resides in you

You have always been this person

as you have grown and changed

You have forgotten this from time to time

Here you are so many years separate

from the first embrace with your mother

You question yourself

Yourself is I

Yourself is Me

We are One

This voice is You

Did you see the part in the clouds

No but you saw the sun 

shining all around 

Memory

What is remembered

What is forgotten

in time everything

in time everything

Don't let yourself worry

What is waking 

but a forgetting

What is living

but remembering

Cardinals

I wait for the birds

Yesterday a pair of cardinals

stayed at the feeder

They sat upon the perch

The male fed his bride

There they sat 

as though nothing else

in the world existed

Nothing else did

Como

How do you empty a mind of its thoughts

How do you you empty a mind of its worries

How do you find peace in modernity's noise

How do you still the waves of the storm

You seek answers from the world

Have you considered the answers

to be residing within

In stillness is peace

These early hours sing for you

Let them 

Shut Up. Listen.

I am not sure what I should write so I start writing because

writing for it's own sake is enough. These days are coming,

these days are going, you watch it as you live it. Your thoughts

move and shift like clouds. What does this new shape mean?

Must it mean anything? There is so much in my life I have

forgotten. There is so much in my life I have yet to live.

There is an infinite number of ways to still change. What 

will I do with this information? Is it possible to embrace

the impossibilities of what I wish to accomplish with this time?

Why must husbands and wives disagree? Would agreeing 

all the time be preferable? Are these both the same problem

in different guises? You wish to know peace. Where are you

looking? Are you looking in the outer world? Are you looking

to conquer outer space? Have you considered an inner gaze?

Do not fret at making everything cohesive. Not everything

is meant to be held forever. Not everything is meant to make

sense. Embrace duality. Embrace contradiction. There is space

enough within. Do not dwell too deeply on past mistakes. Let

them be. Know that was you then. It does not have to be who

you are now. You are growth and change. The pains of growing

into new skin are never easy. You will feel relief soon. Listen.

Just shut up and listen. Sometimes that is the most important

thing you or anyone else can do. Shut up. Listen. 

A Good Man

Speak well of a dead man

Speak well of a dead man 

who was a good man

Are we lesser for having 

lost him

Are we more for having

had him

Yes, child. Yes.

Early Summer

What they say is true

You have to die a few times

before you really start living

I have lived long enough 

to start seeing the patterns

in my thoughts and actions

almost as clearly as strata

in a canyon

I am not as unique as 

I once thought

I am as human as you

I am as human as 

everyone that has come before

Memories

Old pictures

Music from another time

These things at once part 

of me and yet separate from 

who I have become

How much younger we were

How much older we are now

Everything as it should be

Everything as we chose

Divination

Have you wondered about your dreams?

Have you wondered why they disappear

into the mists of morning?

Why do dreams not linger longer than

mere minutes?

Is it necessary for us to dream?

What are we seeing?

What are we living in this state?

It is much too pervasive

to be nothing more than nothing.

There is something.

There is some reason.

We cannot explain away 

everything in this world 

through reason alone.

My mind wonders.

My mind wanders.

What could it be?

I could tell you what I think

but you'd be right to disregard me.

Perhaps I should let you wonder.

This dreaming will not leave us.

It will move with us through 

states of life, showing us 

what must be shown.

Divine meaning from images.

Read the lines in your palms.

Read the leaves in your tea.

You will be closer

than you have ever been. 

There is joy

There is happiness

in all the small things

in our lives 

Rise early

Wait for the Sun

Greet it 

Ready yourself

for a new day

How much potential

is there in wait

What will you do

with this one

beautiful day

Watching / Writing

Watch your thoughts as they pass

Let them go

Release them

No feeling is final

You are water

There is always much to learn

and relearn over and over

Life is made of endless lessons

Even ones you have lived through

must be lived again

Learn new ways to see

Learn new ways to think

Find strength in hardship

We are brave

We are strong

to have come this far

There is goodness

There is kindness 

which lives in you

Reach into that 

Think of your Mother

Think of your Father

What they have sacrificed

What they have made

against all odds

What they have given

Such gifts give life

What do you desire

To find your place

To be of use

To help

To give a hand 

as you have been

Reach out to help

Reach out to receive

You are human

You are no island

Remember this

There is no shame

in asking for help

There is no shame in 

expressing emotions

You are human

Joy and despair

Hope most of all

beating within

These early mornings

Watching the darkness

turn away to light

So it must always be

Saturday Morning in Early Spring

After darkness comes morning

Smalls acts of our ordinary lives

A plate of breakfast

Branches aching to burst

Two Pieces

Is the view from here always so clear

How far can we see

Can we look into forever

Sun and breeze flowing 

This is the feel of life

Let it fill each breath

Do memories haunt or do they linger

Are they welcomed 

or are they interlopers

What is the lesson

What is the gift

they wish to bestow

Ask them

Expect no response

Figure it out yourself

The View

What matters most comes into view

When you see it you will know

It is what you have been searching for

When it is here you will make choices

you had long delayed 

When it is here the difficulty will fall

away into acceptance 

Then the work begins anew

Building

Can we build together?

What are we building?

A life. Everything.

Building with each passing day.

Building with words,

building with actions,

building with kind looks,

building with kisses,

building through hardship,

building through success,

building with every moment.

Let us create that which endures.

What do we wake from?

What do wake into?

What is the space between?

We are who we have

We will give everything

We are who we have

The music is coming through you

I can hear it in your voice

What will you do with your song

I will listen if you let me near

Soft notes filling air and ears

A song called into being

Snow is melting 

Your heart gladdens

Sun needn't be a memory

Winter Hour

Where are the deer at this hour in winter?

Where do they go for warmth?

Do they feel this cold as we do?

They have not all disappeared.

I wish to know but I must settle

for in complete knowledge

at least for know

We are not meant

to know all. 

For You and Danny

I sent you a message

You called me right away

I didn't expect

to hear your voice so soon

You asked if it was intuition

or if I had heard the news

I said intuition

You told me your brother

died last night in hospital

That all of you were 

by his side as he transitioned

Tears, disbelief, relief

all gave way to one another

and back again

You said he had been ill

He had been worsening

I could say nothing

He was only in his fifties

He was young

You are mourning

the loss of a future

You told your children

and they cried too

Your daughter said

it was a sad Friday

and you said yes it was

I'm writing this 

the morning after

our conversation

in the dark just before 

the sunrise 

A million more things

I could say 

But I told you

I love you

and you said it back

and 

Para Mi Esposa

Yes I love you

How long we have loved

and endured

What is a lifetime

Still the noise of this world 

Guide your heart to a place of rest

Let silence overtake you

Strings Singing

I hear the bowing of the cello

as strings sing 

Waves crest and trough 

through my heart

Does happiness take work

When I listen it comes

When I close my eyes

I see it before me

Are you breathing

Don't hold your breathe

Don't clench that jaw

Listen listen listen

over and over 

as much as needed

Listen listen listen

What is time and distance

with memory alive

to bridge the gaps 

between us

Hooves

It has been snowing overnight

I've woken late

The night yet lingers

Are there hoof prints in the snow?

Somewhere 

Somewhere

Cello

What dream is this

to wake to a cello

playing Bach 

in the forest

How strange

This is no dream

Fingers moving

over the neck

Bow angling

back and forth

What patience

What mastery

You have wished

to learn to master

What secret dream

There is yet time

A Friend

What has changed over these many years?

Many things, if not everything.

This desire, so stubborn, so bullheaded,

yet remains.

To sit here, to ponder, to wonder,

to watch the branches of the trees,

and dream of others places, 

other people, and other times. 

To find the words as they venture forth

and give them form and life.

Or is it the other way around?

Tea Leaf Fortune Teller

Steam is escaping the kettle.

The cup waits in anticipation.

The tea is indifferent.

Life is changing states.

What comes next

is entirely predictable.

Un Autre An

we are still here

walking the path

looking everywhere

feeling everything

breathing

are you

Dance With Me

I can't dance and 

it shouldn't matter

If the rhythm has 

gotten your heart

move with it 

across the floor

Feel yourself

alive 

This You

You grow older

You remember things

You forget things

Your childhood hangs onto you

Your childhood feeds your present

Your childhood shapes your future

You grow older

You change the story

You change yourself

You forgot your conception

You forgot your birth

You know you are here

You remember

You wonder

You wonder

I'm listening to the words of a dying man

He lived enough to know the truth we avoid

Voice of a prophet but he never preached

Raising his voice to song I listen

Can I heed his warnings

To Be

All the love in the world is here 

You contain everything you ever wanted

How can this be so

There doesn't have to be a reason

No logic needs to exist

for something to merely be

Accept this as truth

Bask in your newfound knowledge

The Writer

This old habit 

standing by my side

Faithful old friend

How many people

have we been

How many more

will we become

An answer will be

some other day

Start of December

Waking to a cold Fall morning

The Sun still rests

Do the deer sleep?

Do their ears perk 

at the slightest sound? 

What is the silence

sitting between us?

Shall we give it a name?

What is dawn

What is beyond the horizon

The sky rests heavy

You wake and wonder

Through Everything

You are still here

Through everything

How strong you are

How loved you are

Why do you forget 

such simple things?

Don't let worry 

carry away the future

You are creating it now

You are still here

Through everything 

Dark Spaces

Dark spaces linger in memory

You sat up after being pleased

I laid back for you

We closed our eyes

as the light was swallowed

in the dark

Who were we then

What did they need

What was never enough

falling

brown yellow orange

falling 

            falling

softly

Willing

I see faces

I hear their words

I remember what I've forgot

Other lives

Other days

Still here

Still alive

Still willing

How do you measure distance?

By feet, kilometers, or miles?

Or do years make more sense

to see the passing moments again?

What is today

Today is now

Does it need

to be anything

but itself?

Lifelong

This ongoing habit

has never let go

So many

mornings

afternoons

nights

So many

moments of 

peace

worry

darkness

and light

It takes my hand

Guides it

Sieve

Don't begin with artifice

Tell me something real

The pain in your wrist

Your belly full of tea

The empty cup

The silence of the room

Thoughts that do not come

Your mind a sieve

until a pebble 

comes to rest

Summer Rain

Rain falling in darkness

A flash through the trees

A distant rumbling

Trembling

Transmission

All these words

merely drops

of thought

from one life

to another,

in another time,

in another place,

in another world.

Consumption

I must hold a small space 

for myself

if I am to see you 

past tomorrow

Does water dream

when it has frozen?

What must it be like

to change form

endlessly 

through countless

eons of existence

I close my eyes in bed

and wait for night

to consume wholly

once more

Small Reminders

I give myself small reminders

to unclench my jaw

to stretch my fingers

move my legs

listen closely

look for small details

hold her hand

kiss her while she sleeps

tell everyone

I love them

These days

are only now

and that's 

all life will ever be

Hooves

You marvel 

at something 

as mundane

as time

Listening

to the rain

to the wind

to the leaves

Have you 

ever heard

the sound

of a deer

stepping

through

forest?