Take the hand offered

Imagining ourselves to be unlovable,
Knowing not our own expansive brilliance,
We swallow our own light
and hide in shadows of our own making.
Like a foot longing to be a fingertip,
loss.
And, at what cost? As we tumble up the first stair to the coffee joint..
How could the nose yearn
for the gifts of the ear
when perfumed steam from a cup of espresso visits
on its way to meet ether,
or when resting on the hair at the temple of our lover,
or sitting with a new book, cracking it to page one?
Had coyote visited but once before sunrise,
the turning of its rounded, black-tipped furry tail
would not have been paired
with a seated yawn-
a send-off into the riches of day.
Sometimes we like blindness
for its familiarity, yet
settling for impersonations of ourselves
robs this life of the jewel we each are birthed to be.
Let us take the hand offered,
Enjoy coyote’s satisfied yawn, and
Erupt with a giggle at each reminder to stretch
into the Sequoian grandeur
of simply being.

Yellows Browns and Green

Tall lush rounds dance,
in silence-
the lotus pond full with leaf and pod.
Frogs leap.
Up the hill,
dry corn and poplar
clap their yellows and browns.
Shooshing oak,
decisive in sound, still
holds to its green.
Owl and hawk
alternate the night with day,
same as home.

Between cemetery and resting field

Birds chatter in the walnut tree,
here,
between cemetery and resting field.
Butter yellow sunlight crosses
folds of canvas.
Mortared stones warm,
church bell rings.
The beagle’s collar jingles
as he circles a man-
hand-knit brown wool sweater,
dark trousers,
rifle hanging down from his shoulder-
slowly walking.
Today,
a hunt for rabbit and pheasant.
Through the open door,
a woman’s voice rises in song.

Dig in

There is a dance here
Between getting what we want
And not.
Often, not serves up the wonder-
What’s a life that goes to plan?
Uncreative, controlled, missing the unexplained sparks,
a parched abiding, inviting scant vision, inside an airless cave.
Blasting past the walls
Free falling-
Rather to have an unexpected journey than the tourist package-
Come
Dig in
We’ll get messy together.

In the Labyrinth

A little lost
in the labyrinth..
Come
I say
Come…
The unpaved road you walk-
soft powder underfoot and
bowl of sky-
was not given.
It belongs to you,,
yours,
forever,
yours,,
Hear what must be
understood-
this separation you identify with,
that cracking glass,
you have let it define you..
Come forth
Come forth,
with each step a prayer
and release.
The beating in your chest
is my rhythm,
No difference
No difference
between

Waters

Pushing away the waters,
we try,,
No tide stoppable,
short of pulling moon from sky.
If birth,
then death.
When drawing this in-
with breath-
We are free,
with exhale-
To take life’s tender hand.
Precious day,
night’s eggshell,
offers light exactly as long
as intended.

medicine of Silence

Were her voice
silenced
the medicine of Silence
would stop at the sand on which it breaks,
the drum of night unable to find its way
from heartbeat past her lips..
Our shore is one and the same,
the Ocean
our origin and return…
For the ears attuned
the music will be heard,
again and again
dancing bodies will join,,
The rugged journey along coastline and mountain ridge
not
for naught.
From formless to form
we are instrument.
Standing on peak and cliff,
we are moved.

Purging Ghosts

Purging ghosts.
Remains unknown.
Before the honest untangling
and exit, lies
sorrowful lies told and unquestioned.
Growing up isn’t quick,
or clean.
Longing tugs,
yearning twists.
And in the great redefining
of love
comes a self-mastery
more valuable than all treasures
sought and killed for.
My heart was yours,
our gentle laying natural and,
for you,
too unfamiliar.
Can’t hold the gifts,
passionate or otherwise,
without the water passing through the spaces.
Other waves,
long ago risen,
must also present themselves
in salt prisms and opalescence.
Where, after all,
would the sun set without definition?
Gaze upon that changing horizon line…